SYD BARRETT--The Madcap Laughs--Import LP

$ 40

$ 40 Sold For

Aug 28, 2006 Sold Date

Aug 21, 2006 Start Date

$ 5 Start price

3 Number Of Bids

USA Country Of Seller

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Description

SYD BARRETT--The Madcap Laughs--Import LP

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HIGHLY ACCLAIMED English import album by SYD BARRETT entitled "The Madcap Laughs".

"Wisely, The Madcap Laughs doesn't even try to sound like a consistent record. Half the album was recorded by Barrett's former bandmates Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, and the other half by Harvest Records head Malcolm Jones. Surprisingly, Jones' tracks are song for song much stronger than the more-lauded Floyd entries. The opening "Terrapin" seems to go on three times as long as its five-minute length, creating a hypnotic effect through Barrett's simple, repetitive guitar figure and stream of consciousness lyrics. The much bouncier "Love You" sounds like a sunny little Carnaby Street pop song along the lines of an early Move single, complete with music hall piano, until the listener tries to parse the lyrics and realizes that they make no sense at all. The downright Kinksy"Here I Go" is in the same style, although it's both more lyrically direct and musically freaky, speeding up and slowing down seemingly at random. Like many of the "band" tracks, "Here I Go" is a Barrett solo performance with overdubs by Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, and Robert Wyatt of the Soft Machine; the combination doesn't always particularly work, as the Softs' jazzy, improvisational style is hemmed in by having to follow Barrett's predetermined lead, so on several tracks, like "No Good Trying," they content themselves with simply making weird noises in the background. The solo tracks are what made the album's reputation, though, particularly the horrifying "Dark Globe," a first-person portrait of schizophrenia that's seemingly the most self-aware song this normally whimsical songwriter ever created. Honestly, however, the other solo tracks are the album's weakest tracks, with the exception of the plain gorgeous "Golden Hair," a musical setting of a James Joyce poem that's simply spellbinding. The album falls apart with the appalling "Feel." Frankly, the inclusion of false starts and studio chatter, not to mention some simply horrible off-key singing by Barrett, makes this already marginal track feel disgustingly exploitative. But for that misstep, however, The Madcap Laughs is a surprisingly effective record that holds up better than its "ooh, lookit the scary crazy person" reputation suggests." - Stewart Mason

Released on EMI/Harvest (with an Odeon sticker on the back) Records (SHVL 765) in 1970. The label is two-tone green Harvest. It is FROM MY PERSONAL COLLECTION, NEVER PLAYED and visually grades near mint. The gatefold laminate cover is slightly dinged on the corners. Actual item pictured. NO RESERVE on this Acclaimed (AMG 4+ Stars) BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC classic.

Buyer pays $3.75 USPS Media Mail shipping (insurance, delivery confirmation and/or international extra). Seller will combine shipping (domestically $1.00 for each additional single LP auction won). E-mail SELLER for international rates.

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