57 lines
2.2 KiB
Plaintext
57 lines
2.2 KiB
Plaintext
Record Collector article on Barret Boxed Set
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Taken without permission from Record Collector, April 1993.
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Typed by Martin Pitwood (ee89tmp@ee.surrey.ac.uk).
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New Home For Barrett
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Syd Barrett, whose short career scaled the heights of
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experimental pop as well as the lonesome corridors of
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psychedelic isolation, has his work featured on a 3-CD box set
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due out on EMI next month.
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And no fewer than 23 unreleased recordings, together with a
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detailed booklet, are promised on what's already - even by
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EMI's standards - being described as a particularly fine
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package.
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Titled "Crazy Diamond" the set is based on the original Pink
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Floyd frontman's two official solo albums, "The Madcap Laughs"
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and "Barrett", plus "Opel", the collection of out-takes which
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appeared in 1988.
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Designer and rock archivist Phil Smee, who is behind the
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project, told us: "Our main plan was to find Syd's acoustic
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takes, before the other musicians were drafted in to overdub
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them. But we stumbled across some fascinating material that
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sheds new light on Syd's working methods.
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"For example, on 'It Is Obvious', he starts off with a version
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which is very different to the one that ended up on 'Barrett'.
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The next one finds him growling like Captain Beefheart, and a
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third recording finds him singing a totally different tune and
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picking out the guitar lines."
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Another exciting find is a version of "Clowns and Jugglers",
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the working version of "Octopus", where Syd overdubs four
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guitars.
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The bonus recordings are spread over the three discs relevant
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to each album, and each CD runs for over 60 minutes.
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"The colourful packaging and Brian Hogg-penned booklet
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virtually re-state just what Barrett was about," maintains
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Phil, "and by that I mean there's no out-of-focus doomy
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photos. The spirit of '67 pervades the box throughout."
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Collectors should also look out for a forthcoming UFO book,
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'Pink Floyd: The Syd Barrett Years - A Photographic Diary',
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which contains a virtual day-by-day account of Syd's Floyd,
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from 1966 to 1968, plus literally 100s of unpublished photos.
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And what of the enigma himself? According to a close family
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source, he's feeling a lot better, and approves of both "Opel"
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and EMI's dedication to his recorded legacy.
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