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Baron Dave Romm
Syd Barrett
By Baron Dave Romm
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Syd Barrett founded Pink Floyd, established their sound and direction, then burned out. In 1965 Syd Barrett's band The Screaming Abdabs disbanded and he renamed the group Pink Floyd after two obscure bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. What started out as a country blues band became a psychedelic band, perhaps the psychedelic band. The fame and/or the drugs and/or his autism and/or his delicate mental state would not let him handle the fame and pressure of success. His fellow band members never forgot him. As the Syd Barrett Wikipedia entry says, The Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here is a tribute to Barrett, and Shine On You Crazy Diamond is explicitly about him. He's produced a few solo albums, with the help of his Floyd friends, and will be remembered as a pioneer.
Much has been written about Syd Barrett, who continues to enjoy fan support more than 30 years after he retired from performing with Pink Floyd. Here is a FAQ and the Stuffit for The 60s-early-70s publication Terrapin, the Official Magazine of the Syd Barrett Appreciation Society. Here's a Syd Barrett fan site, with pictures of early releases.
I don't have a lot to add to the story of Syd Barrett, but I want to introduce him to younger listeners, or reintroduce him to those who might have forgotten, who might think that Pink Floyd began with Dark Side of the Moon. Much of the information comes from the web sites above, though he's been a hero of mine for a long time.
There is no other album like Piper At The Gates of Dawn. You don't have to be on drugs to appreciate the wall of weirdness, but you do have to pay attention. This is as far from elevator music as you can get. Combining early space program effects, blues riffs, rock drums, electronic instruments, and trippy poetry Astronomy Domine remains one of the great psychedelic songs on which to wrap your head around. Lucifer Sam is one of the few rock songs about cats, to a more traditional rock beat; a bit more angry and it could have presaged punk: "That cat's something I can't explain." Matilda Motherr, as near as I can figure out, is about the magical wonderment of your mother reading a bedtime story. You want to hear more about "wandering and dreaming" and other tales. Continuing with dreamlike lyrics and swirling music, Flaming continues to touch the inner child.
The last four songs on the album cement Barrett's reputation as a producer of commercial music, even as the songs and lyrics are psychedelic. They combine a journey inward with pop sensibilities to form tight little songs that defy adequate explanation. The Gnome
is about a mythical creature going on an adventure: "I want to tell you a story / About a little man / If I can." Less Bilbo than Tom Bombadil. The myth making continues in Chapter 24.No, I have no idea what this means. But it's very important. I generally interpret it (when I bother to think linearly) as going one step beyond Chapter 23, 23 being the number of segments of the Worm Orobourous who eats his own tail and a great Illuminati number (though we didn't know that at the time). Barrett is taking us beyond the meta world of ourselves as the universe. Perhaps I'm trying to read too much onto some trippy lyrics. That's fun too.
The syncopated percussion of Scarecrow is the introduction to the most personal lyric and sweetest melodic line on the album.
Bike is about trying to find the right gift for a girl. The childlike innocence of the attempt trails off into a beautiful cacophony. Does this represent the playful child that any girl would want in a boy or the dark inner self that no woman should come near? Possibly neither. It's a great song.
Nearly 40 years after its release, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn remains a singular album of musical strangeness and magical imagery. It does not age.
A Saucerful of Secrets only has one Barrett-written song, though his presence is felt on every cut. It's still one of my favorite Pink Floyd CDs. Jugland Blues isn't exactly traditional jugland blues, but is very Syd Barrett with introspective lyrics and kazoo added to the rock instruments. Good lyrics to end a musical career with, sadly intoning:
But wait, there's more!
While Syd is a recluse and doesn't go out or receive visitors, his Floyd buddies come by every now and then to help him produce an album. The Madcap Laughs, from 1970, has flashes of lyrical and musical brilliance. But only flashes, alas. My favorite song on the 1990 reissue CD of The Madcap Laughs is Here I Go, a fairly straightforward honky-tonk rock ballad about a girl who didn't like his songs but he wins her anyway. Octopus, the title song, is close his early work with trippy lyrics and a tuneful psychedelic pop melody. "The madcap laughed at the man on the border". Like the Scarecrow, he's blowing in the wind. The lyric of Golden Hair is from a 1907 James Joyce poem, and the austere intonation and stately minor key hit the right note.
I unabashedly recommend The Piper At The Gates of Dawn as one of the great rock albums of all time, incredibly influential, which still holds up and doesn't need the context of "the first Pink Floyd album" to hold it's place in rock history. A Saucerful of Secrets probably does need the context of the transition from early to middle Pink Floyd to fully grok its impact, but is still recommended if you're blown away by the first one. I will only recommend The Madcap Laughs for Syd Barrett (not necessarily Pink Floyd) fans. Some iPw songs, to be sure.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a Live Journal demi-blog, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E , and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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David Dvorkin
This one is a whole bunch of pages collectively titled "Building a Good Author Web Site".
Since I'm an author and I have a Web site, I obviously know all there
is to know on the subject. So I put my opinions on the matter up on
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David Dvorkin
Business Secrets From the Stars (a novel)
Why I'm Glad I Had Breast Cancer (by Leonore Dvorkin) -
Thanks, David!
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from Bruce
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Scroll down
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Pamela Paul: Interview with Sarah Silverman (slate.com)
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LOATHSOME DUD
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Added another flag - Antigua & Barbados
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Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction guru, Arthur C. Clarke, who had made Sri Lanka his adopted home, has been awarded the island's highest national honour, a press report said.
Clarke, who turns 88 in December, has been honoured with "Sri Lankabhimanya," and the investiture ceremony will take place Monday, the local Sunday Times said.
The only other person to receive such an award was the late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was awarded it posthumously, the Times said. He was assassinated in August.
Arthur C. Clarke
Marrakech International Film Festival
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Martin Scorsese has returned to Morocco to repay a debt by attending the opening of the fifth Marrakech International Film Festival, where he is the star attraction.
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Martin Scorsese
Sings to Space Station Crew
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It was "Good Day Sunshine" for the international space station crew Sunday morning. NASA astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev were treated to a live wake-up call of the Beatles classic in a first-ever concert linkup to the space station.
On Earth, former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney performed the hit and another song, "English Tea," on Saturday night before a cheering crowd as part of his 11-week "US" tour.
The performance was beamed from the West Coast to the space station crew 220 miles above Earth and broadcast on NASA television, which showed live feeds from space.
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The character Gabrielle on "Desperate Housewives" was seen last season as an auto show model touting Buick. Some reality shows base entire episodes on contestants working with sponsors. Contestants on "The Apprentice," for example, have been given tasks involving Burger King, Home Depot and the DVD release of the latest "Star Wars" film, among others.
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'Kung Fu Hustle'
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Taiwan has played host to the Golden Horse awards, which showcase Chinese-language films, for 42 years, but contestants from Hong Kong and China have stolen the spotlight in recent years as Taiwan's renowned art films lost their appeal.
"Election," which was this year's most nominated film, won just two awards -- best original screenplay and best sound effects. The Hong Kong gangster tale was directed by last year's Golden Horse best director Johnnie To.
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Prehistoric Weapon
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The state Game Commission is currently drafting proposed regulations to allow hunters to use the atlatl, a small wooden device used to propel a six-foot dart as fast as 80 mph. The commission could vote to legalize its use as early as January.
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Atlatl
Added to Toy Hall of Fame
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"I think every adult has had that disillusioning experience of picking what they think is a wonderful toy for a child, and then finding the kid playing with the box," said Christopher Bensch, chief curator of the Strong Museum. "It's that empty box full of possibilities that the kids can sense and the adults don't always see."
The museum, which boasts the world's largest collection of toys and dolls, acquired the hall in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore.
Cardboard Box
Police Respond to Burglary, Find Pot
Palm Springs
In retrospect, it probably wasn't such a good idea to call the police. Ronald Meyers summoned officers to his home in an upscale neighborhood Thursday morning, claiming that someone was trying to open his windows and that he could hear voices outside.
Responding officers found no burglar but asked if they could check inside, said Sgt. John Booth, a Palm Springs police spokesman. When Meyers, 59, let them in, officers allegedly found more than $100,000 worth of marijuana, he said.
The alleged stash included an 8-foot-tall pot plant, more plants growing in the garage and harvested marijuana - some packed into large closeable plastic bags - stuffed in large storage bins in a bedroom, Booth said.
Palm Springs
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