Atom Heart Mother - Syd Barrett

There is a fomidable and sometimes rather tasteless mystique surrounding Syd Barrett, the man who, knowingly or un-knowingly, spearheaded an incredible movement in rock and roll. Stories about him are legion. That it was impossible to work with. That he suffered a mental breakdown. That he once went for an afternoon drive and ended up in Ibiza. That he went back to live with his mother in Cambridge as a part of a mental healing process... Strangely enough, Syd turns out to be as normal as most of us. Unpretentious, and above all, very human. He was a star who burned only for a very short time but burned brilliantly enough to leave more than a legacy on popular music. It seems only fitting that this same man now presides over a low key lifestyle in the English countryside.

Previously called Sigma 6, T-Set, The Meggadeaths, and The Architectural and Screaming Abdabs, Syd Barrett renamed the band Pink Floyd.

"All we can do is make records which we like. If the kids don't, then they won't buy it." (Syd Barrett. Melody Maker 12/9/67)

single two "We've had problems with our equipment and we can't get the P.A. to work because we play extremely loudly. It's a pity because Syd writes great lyrics and nobody ever hears them."
(Roger Waters. Melody Maker 8/5/67)

"It was probably me alone who wanted to make singles, I think. Obviously, being a pop group one wanted to have singles."
(Syd Barrett. Melody Maker 3/27/71)

                Syd Barrett went out with Vivien Bran in 1965, a girl who was part of the '60s Cambridge set, mooching from coffee house to coffee house. Later David Gilmour went out with her.

Pink Floyd were signed by EMI in 1967 and "Arnold Layne" was quickly released as their first single.
Syd was the band's leader. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was born from his vitality and inspiration. It's a wondrous montage of psychedelic and early 'grunge' rock. Nice, dreamy, and surrealistic.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was released short after their second single - "See Emily Play".

During the band's U.S.-tour at the end of 1967, Pat Boone attempted to interview Syd on national television but received only blank stores in response to his questions. The following day Pink Floyd were embarrassed on Dick Clark's American Bandstand when Syd decided not to lip-sync to "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", but rather gaze psychotically into the living rooms of mainstream America. The remainder of the tour was cancelled due to Syd's catatonic behaviour.

Syd Barrett used LSD heavily, and his addiction caused his removal from the band.

"I suppose it was really just a matter of being a little offhand about things," was how he recalled the split to Melody Maker. He retired from music permanently in the early 1970s and has lived in seclusion with family ever since.

Syd Barrett's solo albums: The Madcap Laughs (1970), Barrett (1970; a production involving David Gilmour and Rick Wright), Opel (1988's collection of out-takes and rarities).

"I always write with guitar. I've got this big room and I just go in and do the work. I like to do the words and music simultaniously, so when I go into the studio I've got the words on one side and my music on the other. I suppose I could do with some practice..."

The very first P.F.-releases were almost a poetic recitation by Barrett, with avant garde sound effects by the group.

"Really," said Barrett once, "we have only just started to scrape the surface of effects and ideas of lights and music combined; we think that the music and the lights are part of the same scene, one enhances and adds to the other."

Roger Waters about his old companion: "When he was still in the band in the later stages, we got to the point where anyone of us was likely to tear his throat out at any minute because he was so impossible...
"When 'Emily' was a hit and we were third for three weeks, we did Top Of The Pops, and the third week we did it he didn't want to know. He got down there in an incredible state and said he wasn't gonna do it. We finally discovered the reason was that John Lennon didn't have to do Top Of The Pops so he didn't."

Cambridge residents can see Syd Barrett cycling to the chemists and shopping in
Marks & Spencer. Syd likes a bonfire in his garden and he likes to paint
his door of different colours. Apparently he stills paints on canvas, but once
he's finished a painting, he burns it.

Syd, what have you been doing since you left The Floyd, apart from making your two albums?

"Well, I'm a painter, I was trained as a painter...I seem to have spent a little less time painting than I might've done... (...) I've been at home in Cambridge with my mother. I've got lots of, well, children in a sense. My uncle...I've been getting used to a family existence, generally. Pretty unexciting. I work in a cellar, down in a cellar..."

Pink Floyd wrote "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (from 1974's Wish You Were Here) for Syd Barrett, who was reputedly in the studio the night the track was cut.

Syd Barrett

http://www.sydbarrett.net

Dolly Rocker