Summary.
One of the most luminous and idiosyncratic minds in the history of rock music,
and one of its most durable myths,
Syd Barrett
was the eccentric and idealistic soul of early
Pink Floyd.
After leaving the band, he recorded two masterpieces of psychedelic folk music,
Madcap Laughs (1970) and the even better Barrett (1970).
Barrett's ballads are inspired by (and sung in the tone of) fairy tales and
nursery rhymes, but betray paranoia and loneliness. His voice is nonchalant
to the extent that it is pointless to fight the agony.
His mind broadcasts visions of another world, and it almost sounds like
Alice In Wonderland reporting from the underworld, but this is Alice after
realizing that she can't go back anymore, Alice paralyzed by fear and
anguish.
Musically, Barrett, blessed with the gift of spontaneity, has a simple
way to organize a broad palette, that runs the gamut from
spiritual (Baby Lemonade) to ragtime (Gigolo Aunt) from
blues (Rats) to circus music and the music-hall.
His most perfect melody, Love Song, and the definitive
anthem of his naive melancholy madness, Waving My Arms In The Air soar
over the Dali-esque landscape.
Because they defined, once and for all, the relationship between the "eccentric"
and the "private" in music (in a manner similar to surrealism and
psychoanalysis), those two albums would exert an unparalleled influence on
subsequent generations of singer-songwriters.
Barrett, whose mental health was rapidly deteriorating, would never record
again. He died in 2006.
Translated from my old Italian text by DommeDamian.
One of the most superb figures and brilliant minds in the
history of rock music, and one of the greatest psychedelic myths, Roger "Syd" Barrett was the eccentric and idealistic soul
of Pink Floyd . Unfortunately his personality as a dreamer led
him to make use (and abuse) of drugs to the point of no longer being useful to
the group he had contributed to creating. Unfortunately (with or without
those drugs) mental health will completely abandon him and force him to one of
the most sensational and painful retreats ever. Despite the absence from
the scenes, his two discs will exert a colossal influence on future generations
of singer-songwriters, defining once and for all the true relationship between
the "eccentric" and the "private" in music.
Born in Cambridge in 1946, where he
studied painting together with Gilmour, Syd Barrett
was the eccentric and junkie of Pink Floyd. It had been reduced to a state
of permanent semi-catalepsy since the end of 1967, and would never
recover. If at the beginning his personality had been a driving force
within the group, after the first album the unruliness gradually marginalized
him from the recording studios, until Gilmour was called to replace
him. Barrett left and recorded his first solo in solitude, Madcap
Laughs (Harvest, 1970), published in January 1970. However, good
relationships existed between the Pink Floyd and Barrett, so much so that
Gilmour himself helped him to record the his second solo, simply titled Barrett (Harvest,
1970), playing a bit of everything, from drums to organ and on that same record
Wright gave some of his most poetic tests to "humble"
keyboards. After recording these two records, Barrett spent a period in a
psychiatric hospital, coming out on an uncertain date to lead an even more
uncertain life.
Those two records on his own paint
him paranoid and poetic. They are collections of psychedelic songs
apparently much simpler than those of Pink Floyd, surreal tales crossed by an
oblique melancholy that rely on very elementary harmonic constructs.
The Madcap's skinny folk thrive on this anemic
mood. Starting from Terrapin the ballads drag themselves
without nerve into sleepy blues, sung in an almost hypnotic state. More
sinister and threatening are the songs wrapped in hard and distorted electric
guitar riffs, and often perturbed by surreal keyboards, such as No Good
Trying, oriental, and No Man's Land, a pounding and martial
nightmare.
Her imaginative taste for vaudeville colors gems like the dissonant and
estranged ragtime of Love You and the danceable piper of Here
I Go. In Dark Globe, ramshackle but passionate starling
folk for singing and guitar only, and in the even more solitary folk of the
absurd that haunts the second facade (the emphatic and childish blues of Octopus and
the other spirited delusions that follow him sinking deeper and deeper into a
paranoid void) Barrett, abandoned by everyone, plays with the only force of
despair in a deserted studio, which already looks like a madhouse
cell. These pseudo-songs are skeletal carrions of sensations, soft flashes
of a congested mind, slowed down dramatically, stripped, torn by lipemaniac spasms.
Late Night should be the epic ending, but instead takes place in a
quiet whisper, lulled by waves of Hawaiian steel.
Everywhere Barrett disseminates
catchy melodies and sings them suspended in a limbo that is a hybrid of
lysergic "high", transcendent prayer and hallucinated dream, with a
very subtle vein of sarcasm. By mocking the musical genres according to a
practice that hangs more on the side of the Holy Modal Rounders
than on that of psychedelia, Barrett creates a new
genre of psychedelic folk-blues, which owes a lot to the merry-go-rounds and
the tongue twisters of childhood.
On the second disc Barrett,
although starting from the same premises, is much more musical, above all
thanks to the atmospheric organ of Wright. The medium tone of the work is
well represented by the pale indolent decadence of Baby Lemonade (a
spiritual composition with a village band rhythm) and Gigolo Aunt (with
traces of ragtime and nursery rhymes for children), Dominoes or
the slow schizoid blues by Maisie.
At the same time, the dark occult dances of the swamp blues acquire greater
importance, as in Rats' voodoo tribalism ,
while the passion for the Dadaist vaudeville, which can only let off steam
in Effervescing Elephant, is extinguished . The
melancholy refrain dominates the album, from Wined And
Dined to the sweetest Love Song, perhaps the most perfect
melody of his career, wrapped in epic organ spirals and with a pressing piano
counterpoint.
But the infinite innocent madness of Waving My Arms In
The Air, chasing lysergic kites and fairy ghosts, is feared to
have been his extreme will.
The harmonies are entrusted to guitar riffs and the sentimental accompaniment
of the organ (dubbed sometimes by the harmonium), the rhythm is clear and
elementary, the melody is immediate and fairytale, the song is a little
distracted but tenderly emotional, more as an inoffensive psychopath but as a
romantic songwriter. Even the few short improvised instrumental sequences,
while containing several harmonic discontinuities, are docile and meek in the
ear, never bristly or brainy.
After several years of
hospitalization and house confinement (entrusted to the care of the mother), in
1975 Barrett will appear for a moment, fat and bald, in the recording studio of
Pink Floyd and in 1982 he will release his first (and last) interview after
twelve years.
Opel (Capitol, 1989) contains some precious unpublished
works. Wouldn't You Miss Me (Harvest, 2001) collects material
from all three albums. Crazy Diamond (EMI, 1994) is a three CD
boxset that contains all the material recorded by
Barrett (the two official discs and Opel ).
Barrett died of pancreatic cancer in
2006, aged 60.
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Una delle menti piu` fulgide e geniali della storia della musica rock, e uno
dei suoi miti piu` grandi, Roger "Syd" Barrett fu l'anima eccentrica e idealista dei
Pink Floyd. Purtroppo la sua personalita` di
sognatore lo porto` a far uso (e abuso) di stupefacenti al punto da non
essere piu` utile al gruppo che aveva contribuito a creare. Purtroppo (causa
o meno quelle droghe) la salute mentale lo abbandonera` del tutto e lo
costringera` a uno dei ritiri piu` clamorosi e dolorosi di sempre.
Nonostante l'assenza dalle scene, i suoi due dischi eserciteranno
un'influenza colossale sulle generazioni future di singer-songwriter,
definendo una volta per tutte la relazione fra l'"eccentrico" e il "privato"
in musica.
Nato a Cambridge nel 1946, dove studio` pittura insieme con Gilmour, Syd Barrett
era l'eccentrico e il drogato dei Pink Floyd.
Era ridotto in uno stato di semi-catalessi
permanente fin dalla fine del 1967, e non si sarebbe ripreso mai piu`.
Se all'inizio la sua personalita` era stata trainante all'interno del gruppo,
dopo il primo album la sregolatezza lo emargino` progressivamente dagli studi
di registrazione, finche' Gilmour venne chiamato a sostituirlo.
Barrett se ne ando` e registro` in solitudine il suo primo solo,
Madcap Laughs (Harvest, 1970), pubblicato nel gennaio 1970.
Fra i Pink Floyd e Barrett correvano comunque ottimi rapporti, tanto che lo
stesso Gilmour lo aiuto` ad incidere il suo secondo solo, intitolato semplicemente
Barrett (Harvest, 1970),
suonando un po' di tutto, dalla batteria all'organo e in quello
stesso disco Wright diede alcune delle sue piu` poetiche prove alle tastiere
"umili".
Dopo aver inciso questi due dischi, Barrett trascorse un periodo
in ospedale psichiatrico, uscendone in data incerta per condurre vita ancor
piu` incerta.
Quei due dischi in proprio lo dipingono paranoico e poeta. Sono
raccolte di canzoni psichedeliche apparentemente molto piu` semplici di
quelle dei Pink Floyd, fiabe surreali percorse da una malinconia obliqua
che si appoggiano a costrutti armonici molto elementari.
Il folk scarno di Madcap vive di questo umore anemico. A partire da
Terrapin le ballate si trascinano senza nerbo in blues sonnecchianti,
cantati in uno stato quasi ipnotico.
Piu' sinistre e minacciose sono le canzoni avvolte in riff duri e distorti
di chitarra elettrica, e spesso perturbate da tastiere surreali, come
No Good Trying, orientaleggiante, e No Man's Land,
incubo martellante e marziale.
Il suo fantasioso gusto per il vaudeville colora gemme come il ragtime
dissonante e straniato di Love You e il ballabile da piper di Here I Go.
In Dark Globe, sgangherata ma appassionata stornellata folk per soli canto
e chitarra, e nell'ancor piu` solitario folk dell'assurdo che infesta
la seconda facciata (il blues enfatico e bambinesco di Octopus e gli altri
spiritati deliri che lo seguono sprofondando sempre piu` in un vuoto paranoico)
Barrett, abbandonato da tutti, suona con la sola forza della disperazione in
uno studio deserto, che sembra gia` una cella di manicomio.
Queste pseudo-canzoni sono carogne scheletriche di sensazioni, tenui bagliori
di una mente congestionata, rallentate a dismisura, scarnificate,
squarciate da spasimi lipemaniaci.
Late Night dovrebbe essere il finale epico, ma si consuma invece in un
bisbiglio dimesso, cullato da ondate di steel hawaiane.
Ovunque Barrett dissemina melodie orecchiabili e le canta sospeso in un
limbo che e` un ibrido di "sballo" lisergico, preghiera trascendente e
onirismo allucinato, con una sottilissima vena di sarcasmo. Dileggiando
i generi musicali secondo una prassi che pende piu` dalla parte degli
Holy Modal Rounders che da quella della psichedelia, Barrett crea un nuovo
genere di folk-blues psichedelico, che deve molto ai girotondo e agli
scioglilingua dell'infanzia.
Sul secondo disco
Barrett, pur partendo dalle stesse premesse, e` molto piu` musicale,
soprattutto grazie all'organo atmosferico di Wright. Il tono medio dell'
opera e` ben rappresentato dalla decadenza pallida indolente di
Baby Lemonade (uno spiritual a tempo di banda paesana) e di
Gigolo Aunt (con tracce di ragtime e filastrocche per l'infanzia), di
Dominoes o del lento blues schizoide di Maisie.
Al tempo stesso acquistano maggiore rilevanza le tenebrose danze occulte
dei blues di palude, come nel tribalismo voodoo di Rats, mentre si spegne
la passione per il vaudeville dadaista, che puo` sfogarsi soltanto in
Effervescing Elephant. Il ritornello malinconico domina il disco, da
Wined And Dined alla dolcissima Love Song, forse la melodia piu` perfetta
della sua carriera,
avvolta in spirali epiche di organo e con contrappunto incalzante di pianola.
Ma la infinita pazzia innocente di Waving My Arms In The Air, a inseguir
aquiloni lisergici e fantasmi di fate, si teme sia stata anche la sua estrema
volonta'.
Le armonie sono affidate ai riff chitarristici e all'accompagnamento
sentimentale dell'organo (doppiato qualche volta dall'harmonium), il ritmo
e` chiaro ed elementare, la melodia immediata e fiabesca, il canto un po'
svagato ma teneramente emotivo, piu` da psicopatico inoffensivo pero` che da
cantautore romantico. Anche le poche brevi sequenze strumentali improvvisate,
pur contenendo diverse discontinuita` armoniche, si presentano all'orecchio
docili e mansuete, mai ispide o cervellotiche.
Dopo diversi anni di ricovero ospedaliero e di reclusione casalinga
(affidato alle cure della madre),
nel 1977 Barrett comparira` per un attimo, grasso e calvo, nello studio di
registrazione dei Pink Floyd e nel 1982 rilascera` la sua prima intervista dopo
dodici anni.
Opel (Capitol, 1989) contiene alcuni preziosi inediti.
Wouldn't You Miss Me (Harvest, 2001) raccoglie materiale di tutti e tre gli album.
Crazy Diamond (EMI, 1994) e` un boxset di tre CD che contiene tutto
il materiale registrato da Barrett (i due dischi ufficiali e Opel).
Barrett e` morto nel 2006.
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