A Tale of Two Syds

June 5, 1975....45 years ago, Syd Barrett showed up in the studio, unannounced, during the recording of Wish You Were Here announcing he was ready to do his bit. The band hadn't seen him in five or six years. He had shaved his head (like Pink in The Wall film) and put on a lot of weight. They didn't recognize him at first.

He also brought a toothbrush and brushed his teeth while jumping up and down.

It is one of the last sad, crazy Syd stories.

After writing most of the first album, Syd only wrote one song to the follow-up and added some Zippo slide guitar to two of the others. After that, he made two solo albums. The Madcap Laughs, took over a year and three sets of sessions, produced, by Malcolm Jones, Peter Jones, and the last by Waters and Gilmore. The second, Barrett, was produced by Gilmore and Wright.

Malcolm Jones tells a story of a lucid Syd, able to nail songs in one take. He expressed disbelief in the chaotic nature of parts of the album, insinuating that Waters and Gilmore sabotaged Barrett. Waters has said that they felt threatened by Syd, maybe because so much had been written about him leaving. He said that the Floyd couldn't have gotten their start without him, the band couldn't keep on with him.

Gilmore says that maybe he and Waters left the rough parts in - false starts, Syd sounding confused - to show people what they'd been dealing with. Wright says the production was all about just getting Syd to sing, never mind going after specific sounds. On that album, Wright, Gilmore, and Jerry Shirley fleshed out Syd's tunes.

I only wish that Gilmore, Waters, and the guys from Soft Machine had done the same to the solo half of Madcap Laughs. I would listen to it more often. Sifting through the two, there is over an album's worth of material that is better than either Ummagumma or Atom Heart Mother, which were produced at about the same time.

It's unlikely Syd could have done his bit. He'd left the music industry behind. We can, however, mix in some of Syd's songs of alienation. We can call it Wish You Hadn't Shown Up, It's Awkward.

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