Gilmour and Shirley also backed Barrett for his one and only live concert during this period. Barrett was accompanied on this session by David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley who played bass and percussion, respectively. Three would be re-recorded for the Barrett album, while the song 'Two of a Kind' was a one-off performance (the song appears on the 2001 compilation The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?) with the lyrics and composition having since been credited to Richard Wright. On 24 February 1970, he appeared on John Peel's BBC radio programme Top Gear playing five songs-only one of which had been previously released. The album was produced by David Gilmour and Richard Wright, featured Gilmour on bass guitar, Wright on keyboard and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley.ĭespite the numerous recording dates for his two solo albums, Barrett undertook very little musical activity between 19 outside the studio. The second album, Barrett, was recorded more sporadically than the first, with sessions taking place between February and July 1970. In his book 'The Making of the Madcap Laughs,' Jones states that 'when Dave came to me and said that Syd wanted him and Roger to do the remaining parts of the album, I acquiesced.' A few tracks on the album feature overdubs by members of the band Soft Machine.īarrett also played guitar on the sessions for Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers' debut LP Joy of a Toy, although his performance on 'Religious Experience' was not released until the album was reissued in 2003. The record was produced first by Malcolm Jones, a young EMI executive, and then by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. The first album, The Madcap Laughs, was recorded in two sessions, both at Abbey Road Studios: a few tentative sessions took place between May and June 1968 (produced by Peter Jenner), while the bulk of the album was recorded between April and July 1969. Most of the compositions on both albums date from Barrett's most productive period of songwriting, late 1966 to mid-1967, and it is believed that he wrote few new songs after he left Pink Floyd. At the behest of EMI and Harvest Records, he embarked on a brief solo career, releasing two solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. A number of biographies have been written about him since the 1980s and Pink Floyd wrote and recorded many tributes to him after he left, the most known being the 1975 album Wish You Were Here.Īfter leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett distanced himself from the public eye.

His post rock-band life was as an artist and a keen gardener, ending with his death in 2006. He is most remembered as a founding member of psychedelic/progressive rock band Pink Floyd, providing major musical and stylistic direction in their early work, although he left the group in 1968 amidst speculations of mental illness exacerbated by heavy drug use.īarrett was active as a rock musician for about seven years, recording two albums with Pink Floyd and two solo albums before going into self-imposed seclusion lasting more than thirty years. Syd Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006), born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter.

Syd barrett the madcap laughs