Syd Barrett - Tragic genius or Over-romanticized burn-out?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Just discovering his music and people I talk to tend to have one opinion or the other. What do you folks think?

[jdots]

1. I think it was tragic when Rona replaced him

People do love the guy

[Bryan]

2. Why not both?

Whatever you think of Pink Floyd during his tenure vs. Pink Floyd afterwards, I think it can fairly be said that there aren't a lot of musicians like him, and that the band became something... different after he stopped being a functioning member.

The impression I get from Nick Kent's detailed profile (as reprinted in his book The Dark Stuff), is that Syd may have had a mental illness that was exacerbated by his drug use, but that nobody was exactly forcing them down his throat, either.

[mattclearing]

18. I'm inclined to agree

But I'm not sure the band's course changed dramatically with his departure. Didn't Syd predict the gospel singers and the saxophone?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

3. just found this one:

interesting read:
"The received wisdom is that you don't disturb him.The last interview he gave was in 1971, and from then until now, there are only about 20 recorded encounters of any kind. His family says it upsets him to discuss the days when he was the spirit of psychedelia, beautiful Syd Barrett, the leader of Pink Floyd. He doesn't recognise himself as the shambling visionary who, during an extended nervous breakdown exacerbated by his drug intake, made two solos LPs, Madcap and Barrett , which are as eternally eloquent as Van Gogh's cornfields. He doesn't answer to his 60s nickname now. He's called Roger Barrett, as he was born in 1946.

On a blistering hot day, pacing the cracked tarmac pavement in this suburban Cambridge street, I wonder if I can act honourably by him. When the DJ Nicky Horne doorstepped him in the 80s, Barrett said, 'Syd can't talk to you now.' Perhaps, in his own way, he was telling the truth. But I could talk to him as Roger; ask him if he was still painting, as reported. I could pass on regards from friends he knew before he became Syd.

Two housewives in the street say he ignores their 'Good mornings' when he goes out to buy his Daily Mail and changing brands of fags. Apart from his sister, they don't think he has any visitors - not even workmen. But they don't see why I shouldn't take my chances. It's been a few years since backpackers camped by his gate. 'He didn't open the door for them, and he probably won't for you.'



http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0%2C11913%2C804928%2C00.html

40 years later:

[tigereye]

25. the poor guy probably just wants to be left in peace

as Dylan seems to intimate as well.

But Barrett certainly was a beautiful and interesting young man and lyricist. Why, without him there would be no Robyn Hitchcock! And then where would we be? ;)

[LifeDuringWartime]

34. so sad

:(

[Elidor]

40. Sad and yet beautiful

I've always considered him as a brother, though I will never meet him. The mystery in his eyes is one most of us would not want to have to fathom. I'm glad to see he is a survivor. Peace to the man. He is one of a kind.

[Tom Kitten]

4. I don't like and/or questions...

what is he was both? or neither?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

5. please feel free to add options

i was merely summarizing the arguments i've heard

[Tom Kitten]

8. Well I liked his Pink Floyd stuff...

but obviously he lost it along the way...Whether it was a mental imbalance due to drug use or what I don't know, all I know from what I've read is the rest of the band tried to keep him in but it proved impossible...He released two solo albums that are very pleasant to listen to but that was over thirty years ago...I would think if he suffered from madness he would have found a way out of it by now but then again I have no idea ...He remains a conundrum to me which is why I cannot judge him at all except with a question mark...

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Neither.

I think Barrett is lionized so much because of the whole "tragic early flame-out" syndrome, and also because Pink Floyd became so huge and inescapable later in the 70's and 80's that it became quite fashionable to dismiss them as irrelevant dinosaurs who only made one good album (hip is a quality that takes some awful fancy footwork to maintain.)

However, any sentient human with a cochlea knows that Pink Floyd made great music throughout their career, not just in 1967

Anyhow, back to the Syd Barrett thing: I knew guys in my high school who did lots of acid and went from celebrating the Floyd's later work to oozing sideways into Barrett's thornier canon; to them, their was a (imagined?) psychic connection, 'cuzza the druuuuugs. However, the fascination didn't last long, because of the paucity of melodies in the solo albums. There simply aren't enough hooks there.

You can argue until you're blue in the face that Syd's some sort of tragic unrecognized hero, but today I heard "The Wall" for the first time in over ten years and I'm in love all over again: there is basically no way Syd, acid or no acid, could have come up with something like that. Roger Waters was the brains, soul, heart, and engine of the band, hands down.

Syd's recordings hold a certain psychotic outsider charm, but count me among those non-reactionary hipsters who can recognize good music when they hear it. Even if it's made by dinosaurs.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

7. i've always thought "shine on you crazy diamond" was thier best song

and may, through the experience of dealing with him, be the band's best , though indirect, contribution from barrett

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

11. compare Syd's lyrics to those of the early 70's Floyd

very similar acid style phrasing.

In fact I have always thought that they probably had stacks of Syd's lyric notes lying around after he left and I always thought they probably used his words.

No proof-
that's just my theory--the feeling I got and still get when I hear it


and I personally feel that The Wall is not a high point.
You're right, Syd would not have come up with something like that.
But on the other hand Dark Side of the Moon is extremely similar to Barrett's writing style.

[ComerPerro]

15. Interesting point, especially about Dark Side

[WCGreen]

9. See Emily play

was the song that really defines Pink Floyd's earlier days when SB was at the helm....

It was pop music with a real twist......

I agree that PF probably would have slid into obsurity had it not been dor the interplay and tension between Gilmore and Waters...

Gilmore, BTW, was the sound of PF, his guitar gave the band that slightly menacing, but still accessable sound....

[GingerSnaps]

10. A very good looking man that needed meds

The most creative people are considered to be off the wall.

[Wat_Tyler]

21. That's a complete myth.

Some extraordinarily creative people are extraordinarily normal - Billy Bragg, Neil Finn, The Edge, Nick Cave, Joe Strummer, PJ Harvey, Joni Mitchell - all pretty normal individuals.

[Susang]

22. I agree

I think people like to use the that as an excuse for their own erratic behavior. As in "I'm creative, that's why I'm so messed up". or "I'm creative, that's why I ruined Christmas with my drugged out behavior".

Most of the creative people I know are extremely driven and focused when it comes to their work. I don't think it's possible to gauge who is creative by who needs meds or who is "off the wall". I don't think it's possible to define creativity at all, though apparently we never get tired of trying. ;-)

[GingerSnaps]

27. Who are you calling a junkie or a drug addict?

Some people are the same as others and they end up never making it. That's the sad part isn't it.

[Susang]

35. ????

I haven't called anyone a junkie or a drug addict. My post was in response to Wat Tyler's comment. I'm not sure what you're talking about. :shrug:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

54. What the hell got you so sensitive? I see nothing in her post that was

accusatory to anyone

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

81. The poster has not liked her in any of her incarnations

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

85. To which poster do you refer? - just so I get you right

[asthmaticeog]

52. I might add that it works both ways, too...

In my lives as an artist, musician and writer, I've encountered plenty of people who weren't such great shakes as creative talents but who were very good junkies, and cultivated an "art" persona to mask and justify their awful personal habits and self-destrictive tendencies, since so many people have bought into that Van Gogh myth that an artist is necessarily some kind of misfit or fuckup. I've also seen genuine talent used to rationalize shitty behavior, as if creativity were somehow a license to behave horribly.

Meanwhile, while two distinct and opposite types of asshats put a bad public face on creativity, real artists hunker down and busily produce actual bodies of work.

[Susang]

57. You've understood my point exactly

It's hard to ignore when you've seen it first hand. ;-)

[Bat Boy]

62. What do you mean?

Are you talking about me? You're talking about me, aren't you?

[GingerSnaps]

67. All that I said was that Syd was a good looking man

Which was followed with the usual tactic of what you would call artist animosity. Which if you know anything about artist and apparently you do. The jealous streak runs through many of them.

Leonardo Da Vinci never finished anything that he started. They called him insane but what if the person that was doing the name calling was insane their self. Who are we to pass judgment on someone else unless we are like the name that we are calling.

If someone hates someone for a matter of years say like I had a hatred for Madonna and I won't say if i know her or not. But say if i didn't know her and I hated her for a number of years. Would that show signs of Insanity?

Life is too short and all I said wast Syd was a good looking man which he was. Who followed pursuit....be the judge. It's better to use one's talent than to knock another person because they are talented as well.

I don't hate a single person in this world outside of *. I like to dig for the facts in every situation instead of passing judgment on a Rock Group or a Singer before I make a judgment about them. Who am I to say if they were right or wrong if i truly didn't know the facts about their life.

One person calls another person insane and then they tell another person that person is insane and the wolf pack gathers around for the kill.

I have no idea if Syd was insane I didn't know him. Peace :hug:

[asthmaticeog]

76. Geez, I wasn't anywhere near there, Ginger.

I have no reason to be jealous towards other artists, as I'm doing really well. As for hate, I don't get where the accusation of hate comes from - a lot of the self-destructive artists I was talking about are my friends, which is why I feel so strongly about their asshat behavior.

As for Syd Barrett, I haven't even addressed him - I was more responding to Wat's subthread about the destructive artist mythos than anything in the OP.

I've obviously touched a nerve, though, and if I inadvertently said anything hurtful to you, I'm genuinely sorry.

Peace back at'cha.

[GingerSnaps]

103. Were cool!

I'm back in College because I need a Degree in order to work with kids about the different areas in the Arts that they can go into. Freedom of expression and an area so that they can escape their problems in life is what I am trying to develop for the kids.

Sometimes it's like the Salem Witch trials around here. Someone says one thing about another person and then the people on that persons team attacks the other person so that they can show the other person that they are on their side.

Like Rodney King said "Can't we all just get along."

[Shakespeare]

105. Wow. That is incredibly paranoid.

Sometimes it's like the Salem Witch trials around here. Someone says one thing about another person and then the people on that persons team attacks the other person so that they can show the other person that they are on their side.

I've never seen anything like that here, and I've especially never seen anything like that in the couple of months you've been here. Teams? What kind of teams are you talking about? Most people at DU are very caring and easy-going. There's a reason we look at this place as a kind of refuge!

[GingerSnaps]

107. Come on how many times has it been posted that someone is baking a pizza

Freeper alert...jump on the bandwagon. Freeper or not they get destroyed and we have all seen it. Do a google search it's generally the same people all of the time doing a freeper alert. Do a search under two words freeper alert...the same people are baking the same pizza, cake or pulling a brick wall down or something of that nature. Talk about paranoia that's paranoia.

[Shakespeare]

108. pizza and freepers?

I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. :shrug:

[Bat Boy]

114. Wow...that's just...

wow...

[GingerSnaps]

31. You can look at someone in a magazine and think that you know them

But, no one knows them unless they are behind the scenes. Some people make it while others only dream.

[Wat_Tyler]

50. I have no idea what you are talking about.

You make way too many assumptions about others, which is rather ironic.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

55. Now you're stating to sound like Syd Barrett

[GingerSnaps]

61. Did you know him personally?

:shrug: What was he like? Did you meet him somewhere outside of the music Industry?

Outside of hearing him on an album what does he sound like when he speaks? Have you met him outside of a setting from seeing him on stage?

If someone hasn't made it by the time that they hit 30 then they need to reassess their career choice or they will end up in a dream the rest of their life.

Have you ever heard of a new Deva or rock band coming out that are over 30? The entertainment business is cruel. When you hit a certain age you either work behind the scenes or you teach.

If someone hasn't made it by the time that they hit 30 then they are dreaming. Write a letter and ask any fan club and if you get a response and that's a truthful response they will all tell you that their is an age cut off when it comes to "selling a product or a look". Which brings to mind the old Supertramp song on the album Breakfast In America "Dreamer".

When you make statements about someone sanity you better have a degree or you can be sued. Syd Barret wasn't in my era by he was well known as being a very talented person.

My comment still stands. Is the person that judges another person insane the insane one themselves?

Syd Vicious was insane Syd Barrett I know nothing about except that he was very talented and very GOOD LOOKING!

[Susang]

66. That's great

So if someone hasn't made it by the time they are thirty, they should give up? Thank god you're not my agent! Sure the entertainment business is cruel. What do you know of it? Some of us do it for reasons other than to "make it".

And before you get angry about people here making comments about other's sanity, perhaps you might want to check some of the comments you've posted in the past. You seem to have no problems making statement about other's mental health. Or do you also have degree in psychology?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

70. Wow - you're on today!

:thumbsup:

[Beware the Beast Man]

71. Sheryl Crow was 31 when she finally made it.

Harrison Ford landed the Star Wars gig at age 34.

[Susang]

74. Harrison Ford was working as a carpenter when he got Star Wars

Couldn't get a gig as an actor and was building recording studios for people like Herb Alpert.

Shelby Lynne, kd lang, Lucinda Williams, Diana Krall, Edie Falco....there's a whole list of people who made it "after 30".

[GingerSnaps]

77. How many more have made it?

The Corporate part of the industry are a bunch of assholes. An Artist is no longer looked at as talent they are viewed as a "product" and that SUCKS. Do you honestly think that I or anyone else agrees with this kind of and thinks that it is fair. The heads of the Corporation will tell you right in your face that they can either sell you as a product or they can't. If you have one flaw you will either fix it with plastic surgery or they will not give you a contract.

Also, did you know that they have a clause in contracts now that if you don't make X amount of dollars that they can sue you?

MTV destroyed the real talent.

Take Jethro Tull for instance. Do you think that the record company could sell Tull today as a "product"? They use to have a nickname for Tull and I bet you don't know what it was right? They were called Tull Dog Show...like in AKC Dog Show.

Cruelty is part of the industry. Why do you think that the suicide rate goes up after someone is washed up. One question that should be asked is if Marriott died in a house fire that was an accident or was it suicide?

Think about it this way. You go from being driven around in limos, escorted our of backstage areas like you are something special, living in expensive hotels, eating at the best restaurants, either flying on Starship One or flying first class on airlines and then you have a door shut in your face in a matter of months and you are penniless and no one knows you any more. What kind of a trip do you think that would lay on someones head and attitude?

[Beware the Beast Man]

78. Hey, Jethro Tull beat Metallica for a best Metal performance grammy.

A move that, to this day, I cannot understand...

[GingerSnaps]

94. Your kidding right?

Metallica is one of the best metal bands around. I don't consider Jethro Tull a metal band. Someone must have owed Ian Anderson a favor or something of that nature ;) I bet Llars was shocked when they announced the winner.

[Beware the Beast Man]

96. Nope...1989 Grammys

Inaugural year for the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category. Tull were so convinced they didn't have a chance that they stayed at home.

[GingerSnaps]

98. Wait a second

Was that when they showed Ian Anderson in Scotland and he was talking about his Salmon business?

I believe that it was one of the best albums that Metallica has ever put out and they lost to Tull. Was the voting computerized back then :D

[dolo amber]

86. What's a deva?

:shrug:

[Beware the Beast Man]

93. Jai guru deva om

Nothing's gonna change my world...

[GingerSnaps]

99. An older Diva?

I am doing homework at the same time that I type.

I just thought of something I would love to see someone give a Rock Star a spelling test. LOL

[J-Lo Biafra]

68. Everybody...please stop fighting!

Have a lollipop...

[indigobusiness]

33. Exceptions don't make it a complete myth.

There is definitely and obviously something to the edge of insanity/genius discussion.

BTW Hasn't Joni spoken of skating the edge herself?

[GingerSnaps]

46. Thank You

What I find funny is how can someone diagnose someone else as being insane when they don't know if they are insane themselves. :shrug:

It's kind of like the Salem Witch trials. One person yells witch, then another one yells witch and suddenly that person is accused of being a Witch. The witch trials were brought on by a couple of jealous girls pointing fingers at someone and calling them a witch.

[Wat_Tyler]

51. So, by that reasoning, are you calling yourself insane?

Seems a little harsh.

[GingerSnaps]

58. Are we not talking about Syd Barret?

You started talking about other people that you know nothing about.

What I was telling you is you can't judge someone by listening to their album. Anyone that knows anything about the industry knows that people pick them out of magazines an think that they act a certain way.

Good Lord get a grip on it. You only see what the managers want you to see. You mention Neil Finn well what about Tim Finn? Do you know them...I don't think so.

[Wat_Tyler]

59. He seemed pretty normal when I interviewed him.

[GingerSnaps]

69. Outside of interviewing someone?

Do you know them and what they are like when things don't go right for them? How about Ray & Dave Davies...One brother stabs another brother over a potato chip...now that's a case study all on it's own. But, everyone thought that Ray was sane right?

[Beware the Beast Man]

72. Moral of the story:

everybody is clinically insane, depending on which clinical expert is conducting the research. I've been mad for fucking years, absolute years. Then you have to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad...

[GingerSnaps]

79. Ding, ding, ding, ding...you won the prize of the day

God, i hate when someone points a finger and says that person is insane and then has their wolf pack join in and they all claim to be sane and but they are passing judgment LOL We are all the same!

What's funny is someone should evaluate the ones doing the evaluating. Who's minding the store ;)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

83. Brian Wilson is insane

[GingerSnaps]

87. I agree with you on Brian Wilson

A "normal" person doesn't lock himself into a room for years. But, we have to look at the reason behind some of his actions. He was a victim of child abuse but that doesn't excuse his behavior on the way that he continued the pattern. You can tell that Carni suffered from what he was doing.

That brings us to another person Papa Phillips.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

88. Yes but you are contradicting yourself now. These are your criteria.

I meant insane like a fox!

[GingerSnaps]

112. Your right about Fox's

Thanks for reminding me your right about foxes they are very smart. There is an old saying and I can't remember how it goes....lets see..something about them being very smart.

[Beware the Beast Man]

91. Deadbeat Dad

Sorry, but poor fathering skills stick in my craw. Same applies to John Lennon.

[GingerSnaps]

97. I love Lennon's music but

He messed Julian up pretty damn bad because was hooked on drugs when he toured the states. In a way he didn't want to even claim the boy as his even though he looked exactly like him. Something also sticks in my crawl about that situation. At least McCartney took Linda's daughter in and from the looks of it he treated his kids good.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

109. Hey - I said you contradicted yourself - remember?

[mitchum]

106. and incredibly overrated...

but that's just my opinion :)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

110. You and me are bound to never speak about music EVER!

:)

What up man? How are you?

[mitchum]

111. I really did title a piece "Brian Wilson Is Just Faking It" just yesterday

but when the act is called "Protected By The Ejaculations Of Serpents", certain standards must be maintained :)
I'm well and hope you are the same.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

82. ha ha ha ha ha..............................................ha ha ha ha ha

[Wat_Tyler]

101. Again, not sure what you're on about.

However, I am currently stalking Celine Dion 24-7 and will give you a full dossier when I'm finished (June 2007).

[GingerSnaps]

104. Did you just go to Court?

I also thought that you were a female that accused her husband of mishandling you.

[Shakespeare]

60. Do YOU know them?

:shrug:

[GingerSnaps]

73. The Kinks

Things like that never get reported to the press do they? :think: :hug:

[Shakespeare]

80. um.....huh?

Non sequitur alert!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

116. Pasta salad on the lawn!

[Bat Boy]

53. I've known both types...

In my experience there is no paradigm, but I do think the "tortured artist" scenario tends to be favored by some very creative people looking to excuse some fucked up behavior.

Yeah, the "tortured artist" exists, but no more so than the person who just slogs away at their craft.

I've also known "tortured accountants", "tortured human resource executives", and my personal favorite - "tortured mental health professionals."

[flaminbats]

12. Pink Floyd reminds me of Doctor Who..

die hard fans who love a second-rate act. Or is it really a first-rate act attracting second-rate fans like me?

Perhaps we'll never know why, or what got it started..isn't that what we really want to know? A criminal fleeing the law, or just another bad guy posing as the underdog?

[mattclearing]

19. Comparing Pink Floyd to Doctor Who

Is like comparing the Beatles to Alf.

You don't have to like the Floyd, but it's impossible to argue that anything about them is second-rate. From the music, to the sales, to the lyrics, to the live shows, everything about them was a success.

[flaminbats]

39. but I like Alf and yellow submarines..

I never argued either was first-rate.

[Wat_Tyler]

20. That all depends on what you consider first rate, doesn't it?

I have the sneaking suspicion I'd consider that third-rate.

[DS1]

24. Don't forget the breaks for cups of tea in the middle of the concerts

these days :eyes:

[tigereye]

26. Mkes me think of the Bonzo Dog Band

now there were some intriguing folks, who probably did break for tea mid-show. I think that would be cool.

[GingerSnaps]

63. Is that what they are calling it?

The next time that I get a flu shot should I ask for a cup instead of a shot? :shrug:

[Zuni]

13. Both

I think some of his stuff is really good, but he isn't the genius he was made out to be. I think he is a talented musician (I love his jagged lectric guitar breaks on Piper at the Gates of Dawn)

But there is no doubt what happened to him, and Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green were tragedies of the highest order.
Especially so with Green, who is undoubtedly the greatest British Blues musician of all time---a maestro on the guitar, a brilliant harmonica player, a soulful singer and a very original songwriter and a great imitator of classic chicago blues all at the same time

[Beware the Beast Man]

17. Fleetwood Mac had bad luck with flaky guitarists.

Didn't Jeremy Spencer join a cult after a mescaline trip?

[Red State Rebel]

23. Lindsay Buckingham was fantastic!

Just watched their reunion concert dvd this weekend - it was great.

[brentspeak]

30. Buckingham never seems to be recognized for what he is:

A FANTASTIC guitar player, acoustic and electric.

[ZoCrowes]

47. He is a good guitarist

who just writes crappy songs

[ProfessorGAC]

75. I Would Say Vice Versa

I think he's a production genius, an excellent singer, and a strong songwriter, but i really don't think highly of his guitar work. Ok, but not superb.
The Professor

[brentspeak]

29. And Danny Kirwan became a bum on the streets

Very sad what became of him.

Bob Welch became persona non grata after suing his former bandmates for old royalties.

Bob Weston? Gosh, I don't think anyone knows what happened to that guy...

[WCGreen]

48. What about Bob Wlesh......

[jus_the_facts]

14. Syd tells it like it is....he's both o'course......

:hi: :smoke: :hi:

Jugband Blues

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear That I'm not here.
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon could be so blue
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.

I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my loving in the winter.

And the sea isn't green
And I love the queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke.

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. Both.

Syd was a revolutionary guitar player. He was no virtuoso, but he had an innovative approach to guitar playing (like using slides and ball bearings on the strings). But even before his descent into mental illness, Barrett was an inconsistent musician and songwriter. Many times he would change key or tempo in the middle of a song, or add a new bit, or all of the above, and the other three would struggle to keep up.

As for over-romanticized burnout, he's probably the only over-adored musician from the 60's that didn't die. For as great as "Piper" and their early singles are, David Gilmour's influence on the band cannot be denied. I hate to say it, but I think Floyd would have fizzled out after a couple albums with Barrett anyway.

[brentspeak]

28. Not in the genius category, but gifted & creative

and definitely tragic.

[indigobusiness]

32. Over-romanticized Tragic Genius

is fair.

[mitchum]

36. Over-romanticized TWEE burn-out, but he was a feedback pioneer

[ZoCrowes]

37. Both

A lil from column A and a lil from column B. I think the fact that he was stark raving nuts, talented and good looking have helped to create a bigger legend than he truly deserves. You have a band that is HUGE in the rock n roll pantheon whose earlier leader and frontman was cracked beyond all repair. Just the fact that he was so whacked contributed to some of the best songs that Roger Waters ever wrote. That is the kinda fodder that sells Mojo Magazine right there people. BUT Madcap is a great album so some of its justified. Just my 2 cents

[ZoCrowes]

38. None

Damn double posts

[Zomby Woof]

41. Genius with unrealized potential

If acid alone is what made his songwriting work, we would have had 1000 Syds (and Lennons and etc.), but there was a spark there, picked up from Dylan, that would have yielded some amazing results had he kept half his act together. His early Floyd and solo work only hint at what could have been.

We will never know, but he was one of a kind, and deserves close listening and respect.

Also, I think Waters had potential too, but squandered it with smug self-centered pessimism and his crushing ego. I far prefer Gilmour, whose majestic guitar and darkly angelic vocals gave far more heft and dimension to Floyd. The best cuts on The Wall owe their grace to him. Waters was once great, but has done nothing worthy since The Wall.

And let us not forget Richard Wright's atmospheric balance to the sonic majesty of Pink Floyd.

[ZoCrowes]

42. Gilmour's voice gives me a chills

There is something transcendent about it. It was a great counterpoint to Waters' bite

[Zomby Woof]

44. truly

He can evoke tears at times. When he sang Waters's lyrics, he could get all of the bite and sarcasm, but soften it enough to prevent overkill.

An underrated singer to be sure.

[WCGreen]

49. On his first solo album

No Way Out of Here.......

Such a great song. You could see how much nfluence Gilmore had on the Floyd.....

[Wat_Tyler]

102. Gilmour gave me the Chills.

Sadly, it was the first album - the one that really sucks.

[GingerSnaps]

90. The Wall tour

I would have given anything to have seen Pink Floyd on stage on The Wall tour but I am not old enough.

It must have taken tons of road crew to set up the stage because they erected a wall and the band was playing behind it. As they were performing bricks were removed until the whole wall came down.

That must have been one hell of a concert. I wouldn't have wanted to be the ones to set it up and break it down because it must have been a bitch to put it up.

[Dukkha]

43. I give you Syd Barret Today

I got a Bike you can ride it if you like


2002


This is Syd at the infamous Wish You Were Here Abbey Road visit 1975

[GingerSnaps]

92. I thought that he was dead

Poor guy I feel sorry for him.

[goodboy]

45. both (nt)

[J-Lo Biafra]

56. He's cute. Who is he?

:shrug:

[GingerSnaps]

64. Keith Moon

Fun and scary to be around or Insane? :shrug:

[Feathered Fish]

65. Both Syd and Keith

are victims of their own excesses. Neither are insane by any stretch of the imagination. Syd Barrett made Pink Floyd the same way Brian Jones made the Stones, but because of other dominant personalities in each band, coupled with their self-destructive use of drugs, they had to leave, willingly or not.

[GingerSnaps]

84. I like Pink Floyd but I don't know what songs that Syd played on

I only know what I have heard and it's all been about an insane genius.

I thought that he was dead. :shrug:

[Feathered Fish]

89. Check out

"Piper at the Gates of Dawn" (1967) and "A Saucerful of Secrets" (1968). Those are the two earliest PF albums. Syd released a few solo albums as well: "The Madcap Laughs" (1970) and "Barrett" (1970).

[GingerSnaps]

113. Moony was a joker more than anything

He would do anything for a laugh. I agree with you about Brian Jones and Syd.

[GingerSnaps]

95. In that picture Syd looks like a guy that I go to College with

I still say that he was a damn good looking man.

[Cymbaline68]

100. A little of both, but I

Gotta admit that Piper is not one of my favorites...I prefer WYWH and Animals. Obscured by Clouds ranks up there as well.
I enjoyed both Gilmour's solo albums, but the best solo album is Amused to Death by Roger Waters.

[bobthedrummer]

115. My wife insists he was an asshole and an overromanticized burn-out

I kinda like him.:shrug: