Artist: SYD BARRETT
Album: THE MADCAP LAUGHS REMASTERED (CD)

Year: 1970/ 1994
Media type: CD

The Madcap Laughs was Syd Barrett's first solo album after being replaced in Pink Floyd by his old school friend David Gilmour. After leaving his parent group, Barrett began recording sessions with former Pink Floyd-turned-Syd Barrett manager Peter Jenner in May 1968. Although the sessions were brief, and they produced some fine material, the project was abandoned for almost a year while Barrett spent much of the year as a recluse.

In April 1969, Malcolm Jones took over the project and Barrett began working on newer material, while reworking the 1968 recordings. Session musicians, namely, members of The Soft Machine, as well as Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley were also called in to augment Barrett's songs. It is still a mystery why Jones abandoned production responsibilities, at the end of May, so soon after having assumed them. The Making of the Madcap Laughs Jones recollections of the sessions, show that he and Barrett got on well together and had in fact completed half of the album before the new producers took over. Roger Waters and David Gilmour were in the process of completing Pink Floyd's ambitious Ummagumma album when they got involved with The Madcap Laughs that July and helped Barrett finish his album, "in a two-day sprint" according to Rick Sanders author of 'Pink Floyd' (Futura Publications, 1976). .

The album featured a rather unorthodox recording process, in which Syd would provide a backing track of his own singing accompanied by acoustic guitar, over which the session musicians would overdub the rest of the arrangement. However, Syd's playing and singing were highly erratic and unpredictable--he skipped or added beats and bars seemingly at random, or otherwise he would strum on a single chord for a long time before unexpectedly reverting back to the main portion of the song. This was all much to the frustration of the session musicians; a close listen to several tracks [in particular "No Good Trying" and "Love You"] will reveal the backing band hovering uncertainly here, or being caught off-guard by a chord change there. (During an interview, Robert Wyatt recounted that musicians would ask "What key is that in, Syd?" and Barrett would reply "Yeah", or "That's funny") Syd would not allow the musicians to rehearse or re-record their overdubs, insisting that they sounded fine. After several months of intermittent recording, the album was finally deemed complete.

"Octopus" was released as a single in November 1969 and the album itself followed in January 1970. It reached #40 in the UK at the time and was fairly well-reviewed.

All songs by Syd Barrett, except where noted. In 1993, The Madcap Laughs was reissued with several bonus tracks of alternate takes.

TRACKLIST:

01 "Terrapin" – 5:04
Take 1, recorded 11 April 1969, overdubs added 4 May
Produced by Malcolm Jones

02 "No Good Trying" – 3:27
Take 3, recorded 11 April 1969, overdubs added 3/4 May
Produced by Malcolm Jones

03 "Love You" – 2:29
Take 4, recorded 11 April 1969, overdubs added 3 May
Produced by Malcolm Jones

04 "No Man's Land" – 3:03
Take 5, recorded 17 April 1969, overdubs added 4 May
Produced by Malcolm Jones

05 "Dark Globe" – 2:02
Take 1, recorded 5 August 1969
Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters

06 "Here I Go" – 3:13
Take 5, recorded 17 April 1969
Produced by Malcolm Jones

07 "Octopus" – 3:48
Take 11, recorded 12 June 1969, overdubs added 13 June
Produced by Syd Barrett and David Gilmour

08 "Golden Hair" – 2:00 (Barrett, Joyce)
Take 11, recorded 12 June 1969
Produced by Syd Barrett and David Gilmour

09 "Long Gone" – 2:50
Take 1, recorded 26 July 1969
Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters

10 "She Took a Long Cold Look" – 2:06
Take 5, recorded 26 July 1969
Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters

11 "Feel" – 2:36
Take 1, recorded 26 July 1969
Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters

12 "If It's In You" – 1:57
Take 5, recorded 26 April 1969
Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters

13 "Late Night" – 3:12
Take 2, recorded 28 May 1968, overdubs added 11 April 1969
Produced by Pete Jenner, Malcolm Jones (overdubs)

Bonus tracks:

"Octopus" (Takes 1 & 2)
"It's No Good Trying" (Take 5)
"Love You" (Take 1)
"Love You" (Take 3)
"She Took A Long Cold Look At Me" (Take 4)
"Golden Hair" (Take 5) (Barrett/Joyce)

LINE-UP:

Syd Barrett - Guitar, Vocals
David Gilmour - Bass, 12-string acoustic guitar, Producer
Roger Waters- Bass, Producer
Hugh Hopper - Bass on 2 and 3 (from Soft Machine)
Mike Ratledge - Keyboards on 2 and 3 (from Soft Machine)
Vic Seywell - Horn
Jerry Shirley - Drums
John Wilson - Drums
Robert Wyatt - Drums on 2 and 3 (from Soft Machine)