The Madcap Laughs

There’s a special reason as to why I am reviewing this particular album now. Remember my review of Wish You Were Here? I did that on July 7 (which, as everybody knows, is the day Syd Barrett died). Somewhere along the line I decided that it would be a good idea to review something relating to him on his birthday. Which is January 6. January 6…if he were still alive, I think he’d be 64 or somewhere thereabouts…

But anyway…about the actual record… I must admit that The Madcap Laughs was one of those few records where I get it, give it a listen and halfway through, say something to the effect of, “Wow – that’s good.” I don’t usually realize that on my first listen. But I could tell there was something quite special about this record. The Madcap Laughs, to me at least, is more than the sum of its parts. The first half of this record has some really good songs on it, but…it gets weirder as it progresses. I guess that most people, listening to it, would conclude that half of the record (or even more) is just a bunch of filler. It sounds like filler to listen to, I’ll admit. But – somehow, I can tell it’s more than that.

The Madcap Laughs was recorded shortly after Syd Barrett left (more like “was kicked out of”) Pink Floyd. The reason for this was his mental state, which continued to cause increasingly erratic behavior. Nobody else in the band could deal with this, so they made him leave. There are countless debates as to what caused his mental breakdown. Some say it was the drugs. Some say he was already crazy. I say a combination of both. I personally believe that he was in possession of a rather unsteady mental state and the drugs he took pushed him over the edge and made his mental breakdown happen sooner than it might have. (I also believe he had hypomania. As a self-diagnosed hypomaniac, I know what I’m talking about when I say his songs all sound rather hypomanic.)

But you know, there really is a point at which over-examination of all this gets to be far too much. I think that ultimately it’s best that we don’t obsess over the details too much. I more sensibly recommend listening to The Madcap Laughs. To listen to it is to look through a dark lens and into the mind of a genius.

Terrapin: Okay, so this is the first song on the record. Everybody knows my rule about the first song – that it has to be a great one. Of everything on the album, I guess that this was the best thing to start it with. I mean, other songs on here are better, but they just wouldn’t have worked in this place. Admittedly it’s one of Syd’s better pieces. It actually kind of sums up his general writing style, if you think about it. It’s a love song, quite obviously, but not the overly romantic kind. I noticed it contains much whimsical imagery. (Then again, I doubt he ever wrote anything that didn’t contain any whimsical imagery.) I also just noticed it’s rather long too…five minutes.

No Good Trying: Yeah, no good trying. How’s that for pessimism? (Then again…I guess you could expect pessimism from someone who’s depressed, even if he is also hypomanic.) I was honestly quite surprised when I first heard this song. It didn’t sound at all like anything I’d ever heard from Syd Barrett or Pink Floyd up until now. I mean, the cacophonous sounds and heavily distorted guitars and all…it’s really quite a different sound. The lyrics seem to be taking on a new theme here. Of course there’s the unusual imagery (or usual imagery, take your pick), but it also seems to be mixed with a new theme. Of course, Syd was going through a major depression, and the song sort of seems to convey themes that only really come with depression of some variety.

Love You: Now here’s something more in tune to what you typically expect to hear from early Pink Floyd. It’s a rather cute Syd Barrett song…(I wonder, should I actually be using the words “cute” and “Syd Barrett” in the same sentence?) The lyrics are potentially the most normal of anything on this record so far. Here I would like to say something: I sometimes cannot tell the difference between songs written on drugs and songs that are just unusual. This has something to do with the fact that I write my own weird songs, none of which are done with the usage of drugs, but I often later find the lyrical style indistinguishable from those that are written with drugs. As a result I am not going to pass judgment as to how I think particular songs on this record were written. (Not that I usually do…) I also noticed this song sounds a bit insane, especially during the instrumental section. This is something we will be seeing throughout the album.

No Man’s Land: I think this song sounds a lot like No Good Trying. It’s got that crazy, weird sound with the sounds and guitar. It sounds somewhat like a machine, if you know what I mean. (Don’t ask me how a song sounds like a machine. That’s just what the sounds indicate to me.) The lyrical themes here are a bit…darker, though. Especially the line “when I live I die”. I would very much like to know what Syd’s saying at the end, though.

Dark Globe: I remember hearing this for the first time. I had a huge emotional reaction. Even though the end No Man’s Land seems to be a very good musical transition into this, nothing on the album up to here could have prepared me for this. It’s kind of painful to listen to. I mean, here we have this musical genius, who has ruined his mind with the drugs he was taking. And in this song, we can totally tell that he’s acknowledged this and that he’s aware of the insanity it brought upon him, and – it actually sounds a bit self-depreciating in parts. And yet he’s asking people if they’ll still miss him…The most powerful song on this album.

Here I Go: And here we have another one of Syd’s cute little songs – yes, I know. I must stop using “Syd” and “cute” in the same sentence. I’m aware. But honestly, that’s a good word to describe it. Actually, I say that this is the most normal song on the album. I can tell what it’s about…boy meets girl, falls in love with girl, girl does not feel the same way for him, boy falls in love with girl’s sister, all is right with the world. Hey, that’s a pretty simple and happy meaning. It just struck me! What if Syd was using the simplicity of the songs lyrical themes to convey how he wished his own situations could be resolved so simply and with such ease? (No, that’s probably not it. But I could be right!)

Octopus: Yeah! This song is quite definitely my favorite song from The Madcap Laughs! It’s crazy, obviously written with no meaning at all, and I have no idea what’s going on with the chord progression! But I like it! It’s crazy, happy; the very idea of what a Madcap Laugh ought to be! It’s also the only Syd Barrett song I’ve ever found myself humming without thinking about it, so that must say a lot for it. It makes me think of going on a crazy little mind adventure with yourself. Ah. The quintessential Syd Barrett song.

Golden Hair: I know for a fact that Syd did not write this song himself. In fact, he actually took a poem and set it to music! Aha! The plagiarist! (No, I’m kidding. I’m not going to accuse him with plagiarism charges.) Still, the lyrics are somewhat similar to his writing style. He actually seems quite well-suited for singing it.

Long Gone: Okay, I know now that that the rest of the songs on the album are going to be more like this, and less like the songs earlier on the album. They aren’t as “listener-friendly” as the other ones, and it often sounds essentially as though it’s just Syd and his guitar. The part halfway through the song, where he sings the lyrics and you can hear another recording of him screaming them – that’s kind of scary to me. But then again, he was living in a scary world when he wrote this. I think it’s good that he was able to convey what kind of a world he was living in.

She Took a Long Cold Look: Yeah, here’s what I don’t like about this album…the second half is hard to listen to. Yes, I am saying that there’s something I don’t like about this album. It’s hard to listen to in the sense that I feel like saying, “I just can’t bring myself to listen through this.” Not that it’s bad or anything. It’s like a lesser version of Dark Globe. But maybe I should accept songs like this. Here we are, seeing that strange, strange world he was living in.

Feel: There’s not much to say about this song. Pretty much more of the same to me. The lyrics are just that theme that goes throughout the whole thing – the theme of recognition of madness, and wanting to be freed from it, even though he knows he never can be. In which case, The Madcap Laughs ends up being a very sad album to listen to. There’s some value in having things like that to listen to, though. It could be that this song contains the main theme of all these songs: “I want to come home!” But madness is not a thing that one can leave so easily. Very sad.

If It’s In You: This is the other song on the record that I wince when I listen to. The lyrics are just crazy and it almost sounds as though he’s coming up with them as he goes along. I remember once hearing it and thinking, “No, I can’t go on with this…” I guess it is rather painful to see genius reduced to such a point as this. It is the Tragedy of Syd Barrett.

Late Night: I realize the title of this song is a very good one for some reason. Whenever I listen to The Madcap Laughs too late at night before going to bed, it always somehow registers as a surrealistic experience to me. This song could easily be one of the main reasons why. It’s some kind of love song – as are many of this album’s songs – but it’s very sad. It sounds like it’s about losing someone you love (maybe he’s singing about his mental state, but I’m not certain). “Inside me I feel alone and unreal”…that’s such a great line, and it makes me think of how I’ve felt on several occasions. Alone and unreal…the last glimpse into the mind of the genius gone insane.

Best tracks: Terrapin, No Good Trying, Love You, Dark Globe and Octopus

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