The Madcap Laughs

This is proving to be the hardest album I've found to review so far, not because I'm confused by my opinion of it, but because I don't know whether to consider it accidentally exploitative. Bruef summary: Roger Waters and Nick Mason forms the Architectural Abdabs at art college (a standard incubator for artsy British bands), Syd Barrett joins and changes the name to Pink Floyd after two blues musicians he loved, they achieve their first success with Piper at the Gates of Dawn, tragically Syd suffers from serious mental health issues and cannot continue with the band, Syd records two solo albums, Syd quits music and lives reclusively until his death in 2006. I was not prepared for how grim the experience of listening to this album would be. Yes, by inclination Syd Barrett was a whimsical songwriter with an obviously far better sense of humour than Roger Waters, and on the surface this album showcases that to the point of incoherence, but this album isn't just a mess, although it is an absolute casserole of an album. The first side is okay, exercises in Barrett's warm eccentricity, but not spectacular. Sadly, the last few tracks degenerate into essentially studio outtakes, revealing an ugliness to the whole exercise. It felt slightly sordid listening to this album. It didn't feel like the demonstration of a lost genius; it felt like a ramshackle using of a talented but troubled man. This is not to say that a work by someone with significant mental health issues is by its nature compromised either aesthetically or morally. Barrett's contemporaries Brian Wilson and Nick Drake both made excellent albums whilst struggling with debilitating mental illness. But one can wish an album show its creator a little more dignity. So, I can't recommend. I have to give this one star, but please understand it's a highly qualified one star in no way reflective of Syd Barrett's talent.

GOOD LORD WHO THE FUCK CARES.

A hard album. The music of a great talent deteriorating. You can hear this is someone who is damaged. It's rough and raw but there are some good songs even if it's all tinged with a sadness and tragedy. "wouldn't you miss me at all?!". Heartbreaking stuff. Here we go is a bit more upbeat and a cute song.

I like Piper at the Gates of Dawn quite a bit, but this sounds like a Monty Python skit making fun of psychedelic folk. Barrett even sounds like Eric Idle on some songs.

Fuck me. This guy is considered a genius?! I find this mostly un-listenable. Its like the Beatles had a breakdown. One of the worst to dates. 1/5

Groovy, melodic, whimsical & very Beatlesque...so cool I’ve never heard of Syd or even seen this album cover over the years. Juts learned he is a co-founder of Pink Floyd. Sweet! So far The Madcap Laughs is one of the best discoveries yet. No Good Trying, Love You, Octopus, Long Gone & Late Night are my favs!

I like Terrapin, No Good Trying, Octopus, and Late Night. At it's best the album is acoustic dreamy psychedelia... but the rest of it is stripped down poetry that kind of sounds like a demo tape.

He may have fronted one of the greatest bands ever, but this album was incredibly average and frankly, quite irritating at points. The obnoxious use of the voice at times, poor production, sloppy and lazy delivery overall.

Just weird enough to be interesting without being insane.

Wow this is great

I actually like this. It's what we in the business call a vibe

Controversial opinion(?) but Syd Barrett without Pink Floyd sucks. Especially all the outtakes at the end of the album. I don’t care what kind of genius he is, I don’t need to listen to him cough into the mic.

Turns out Syd wasn’t as mental as the guy who decided to give him a solo album. A tedious mess of an album.

This is the region of psychedelia that has never been my cuppa tea. Circus clown music. People with undiagnosed mental health issues and access to recording studios but no access to help or treatment. Skip Spence comes to mind. Sometimes it's brilliant. Most of the times it's a miss for me. More open minded listeners can hear the genius underneath Syd's playhouse. Wish I could. Never could get into his Pink Floyd albums. Couldn't get into his solo stuff. Also why does this type of psychedelia get closely lumped with LSD? Listening to this on LSD would be rough. F

Syd Barrett’s talent is apparent. He has a talent for contracting whimsical unsettling songs with unusual melodies and chord changes. His lyrics are ruminating and surreal with a touch of childlike naïveté. Some of these songs are simply better constructed than others and makes me wonder how these recording sessions went. This album can be seen as a contraction of his work with Pink Floyd, but it often veers into darker territory where the psychedelic whimsical facade falls to reveal the extreme anguish and mental illness beneath. The music has tinges of proto punk and some musical elements would sound at home in modern indie rock.

Pretty dope. Pared down. Unpolished. I’ve always preferred Pink Floyd without Sid Barrett but solo I like him. He’s got a psych-folk-proto-punk thing going. I hear Donovan, The Iggy and the Stooges, Brian Eno. “No good trying” is some proto punk with thrumming guitar and great drumming. A couple of the more proto-punk songs were real bangers but nothing else stood out, kind of faded into hypnotic, cool background music. Better than expected. B-

This is called The Madcap Laughs but there are no laughs. It's a self-indulgent stream of dirge that doesn't elicit any emotion from the listener and it's only on the list because of its place in the history of Pink Floyd. It's rubbish.

not sure how this made the list. it is just ok, I find it unremarkable

Classic alert! I heard this one a few times growing up. The songwriting is so consistently creative and varied, it really shows good one of these older folky rock albums can be if its done right. It reminds me of the earlier pink floyd stuff also written by him, which is equally great. It's a shame he released so little music, and that pink floyd went down a less interesting route without him

Sounds like a continuation of the type of songs Syd Barrett was making while in Pink Floyd but even more chaotic. It's a wild listen.

I kind of feel like the myth of syd barrett might outweigh the reality.

A confusing one. I understand the lore around the album, the cry from the soul of a tortured artist once brimming with creativity and losing their weak grip on reality amongst a battle against psycadelics and mental health. Also it's the sound of the death of the sixties hippie ideal. I get all that but also some of it is just a bit crap. Flashes of beauty, flashes of greatness, flashes of unabashed and unburdened individuality but also flashes of rambling and shouldn't have been released. There's some 5s here and some 1s so it gets a 3

Syd sounded like he wanted to be in the Beatles rather than Pink Floyd, this was some weird shit but in a fun way. Alright I changed my mind throughout that album, that was just straight up weird and not very fun.

Mental illness is no joke. Personal enjoyment: 2/5 Relevance to this list: 3/5

Indeed. Founder of Pink Floyd, musical genius, whimsical psychedelic, free spirit (as in unhinged), and certifiably psychotic. Syd Barrett was notorious for being too strung out and deranged to deal with professionally, as well as incalculable in his endeavors. With that in mind, I feel a kind of pity, where it's readily perceptible that he's traversing into psychosis; I should not be listening to this mental meltdown.

Yikes. I can't believe Barrett would essentially be ousted from Pink Floyd due to failing mental health and someone decided that meant it was time to capitalize on him with a solo album. This album really just reflects that mental state: it's scattered, messy, and incoherent at times. Sonically, it is pretty boring especially when compared to similar material that The Beatles were putting out. And the longer the album goes on, the more it seems to reflect these negative traits. I really can't tell you why the author saw fit to include this on the project. This album was not much of a success and Barrett's solo career (as well as his music career overall) ended just a couple of years later without much further fanfare.

This one was so weird and out there that it was impossible to enjoy. Then reading the background behind the album made it even more sad and depressing.

Psychedelic folk is interesting, but not something I can listen to a lot of. Sad Syd went bonkers, but I guess this is a glimpse into what Pink Floyd would’ve sounded like if he hadn’t.

Weird - this album sounds like someone ushered a sad, mentally ill, doped up dude off the street into a small room, gave him an untuned guitar, then turned on an old tape recorder and said GO! Oh wait... "....informing the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion..." -wiki Nervous exhaustion? I've got nervous exhaustion every damn day - who doesn't? I didn't get a major label release. It would be a far fking sight better than this tripe. Sorrynotsorryabit to sound unsympathetic but the excuses made for Syd Barrett and this pile of dog shit recording can get real tiring to read about. I've no patience for this twaddle - guy couldn't sing, couldn't play, had trouble putting shit together to make even somewhat of a cohesive song - SHOCKING that Pink Floyd took off after his dismissal... That was sarcasm. This is awful. 1/10 1 star.

If his band didn't go on to make one of the best selling albums of all time, would this be relevant?

This album is a collection of odd track from Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd. After he was kicked out of the band for erratic behavior - due to mental issues (perhaps) related to excessive drug use - Barrett had a brief solo career. This is the first of his solo albums. For those that worship Barrett as a music genius, this album could be seen as something interesting. For the rest of us, this sounds like a collection of out-takes and first drafts of songs. The few tracks that seem remotely complete are reminiscent of early Pink Floyd, but they do not give the impression that the songs have been well practiced or produced. There are a few points where you can hear the imagination that made Barrett central to early Pink Floyd, but these moments are rare. The majority of the album is disappointing - little more than a reminder of lost potential.

As he sings in Here I Go, “a big band is far better for you,” and I have to heartily agree. This album from the original front man for Pink Floyd is lacking: lacking musicianship/talent, lacking cohesion/, and lacking a editing/discerning ear. I found the whole thing undercooked, underwhelming, and in some parts downright irritating. Not my cup of tea for sure. I find it hard to believe that if Syd wasn’t connected to Floyd, any record producer would have allowed him anywhere near a studio.

Laughable.

I know that this album will be unfairly judged. It may seem indulgent, pretentious and just silly. It may also seem like people were taking advantage of Syd in the editing and recording of the album. It also speaks volumes about drug induced mental illness. However it also peeps behind the curtain of an extremely influential and respected singer songwriter without whom there would be no pink Floyd, as it is today, or even at all. I love this album and I love syd Barrett This album definitely belongs on this list.

I've never liked listening to this record; for, what I think are, obvious reasons. It's very difficult to get enjoyment or satisfaction out of it on purely sonic level. But I've always been extremely fascinated by it; the real-time deterioration of a genius' mind as he tries to keep doing what he loves. It's an important piece of history, and a peak behind the curtain for anyone who wants to further understand Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett as a human is a tragedy. And I will say this in favor of the album; the production makes you feel like you're in the room with the band. There are tracks here where we're just waiting for Barrett to get it right before the take starts, we hear missed chords and flubbed vocal notes, and the mixing is far from what you'd consider a "done" album. And it's unfair in so many ways how the world would go on to admire PF as a band, when the founding member and primary driver of their sound would go mostly uncredited and uncared about for decades. Anyway, I don't have any idea what an appropriate rating would be for this, because it's the equivalent to an Outsider Music record to me. Syd, take 5 stars from me. You are responsible for the band that gave me the most of any band, so here you go. Shine on you crazy diamond.

I have always loved this album since I discovered it.

After being squeezed out of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett continued his downward trajectory of mental health. For this (and it's follow-up Barrett), former bandmates did their best to coax actual songs out of Barrett, and of those two albums, this is the better. The version I have has a load of out-takes which don't serve the album well and are best ignored. This is a collection of psych-inflected songs with a dose of English whimsey, and it's an album I really like. Whether it's a game changer, I doubt. I don't think that the music press and industry (and, let's face it, music fans) did Barrett a great service by over-egging his legend. There are loads of compilations that frankly scrape the bottom of the barrel, which is a bit of a shame really.

quite the interesting listen today, it's definitely a rock pop album but it doesn't sound like any other i've listened to, especially from this time period. barrett's voice is tired and almost delightfully deadpan as he sings, invoking a certain emotion that he most certainly felt after leaving pink floyd. it's simple and doesn't have too much going on in terms of instrumentation and production. you can feel exactly how exhausted he felt, being a musician and all. i fuck with it. imagine making a typical "perky" rock album when you're tired of making music in the first place.

Frickin' great.

Yep I’m hard

I have always loved this album for its whimsical nature and interesting lyrics. Sadly, Syd was somewhat of a mad genius and the architect of early Pink Floyd. It is a shame that he succumbed to mental illness. His predicament influenced many classic Pink Floyd albums to come. With an unfiltered and raw production, this album is a lot of fun to listen to and can elicit many emotional responses. RIP Syd!

Very nice album

5/5

This is what they mean when they scream ‘inject it into my veins.’ This guitar tone is fucking enticing. Had to go back and immediately listen to the first song again. Can’t get enough.

Psychedelic Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Psychedelic Rock. Dark but playful. It's a very vulnerable album. Like what I'm hearing is someone heart laid bare. It's sad but beautiful. A tough album to listen to but it's special because of that. Like what I'm hearing will never be recreated. I loved it, any flaws it may have melt away because it's just so real. Would love to revisit. 5/5

A sad genius

10/10 love me some psychedelic art rock

(nothing to add - one of these superclassic albums that obviously belong to any list)

I loved this! It's funny I always liked the early kitsch little songs by Pink Floyd like "Bike" and "The Gnome" from Piper at the Gates of Dawn and knew they were Syd Barrett but never thought to follow up his solo stuff. It all got overshadowed by the more "serious" stuff like Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. And also, this is when I was first getting into music and if I wanted to hear Syd Barrett I would have had to have sought out the vinyl at a second hand record shop. No Spotify then! Whereas all the Pink Floyd albums were in my Mum and Dad's record collection or swapped between friends. Anyway, I really "dig" this. It's got a very naïve sound and that sort of outside aesthetic, like Ivor Cutler or someone. Giving it five stars is probably too much but I'm going to because this has actually opened up a new little musical avenue for me.

syd is god

I'm a sucker for a mad musical genius, and Syd was the king of mad musical geniuses. It's a shame he burned out so young. These songs are brilliant, fractured masterpieces. Shine on you crazy diamond. 5 stars.

Exactly what one would expect if they know the history of Syd. I love this kind of plodding, psychedelic music. You're not playing this at an upbeat party but it really is an outstanding example of this kind of music.

I love this album and Syd, but even still it's a difficult listen. Obviously it's very much a mood piece, and after the first couple of tracks I generally find the mood established, and the album really gets it's hooks in. Barely anything here really sounds like Floyd. Golden Hair the most obvious exception. Was first introduced to Barrett via REM covering Dark Globe on a B side, my introduction to so much music, either working with REM, covered by them or simply mentioned in interviews. I would go on to love another of these musicians, Robyn Hitchcock, who himself was hugely influenced by Syd. I find it impossible to disentangle my love for those influenced by this from the album itself. It's so fragile, and essentially a load of demos (If it's In You is just all over the place). I'm also reminded of Oar by Skip Spence, another spectacularly fragile album, one I found a bit harder to get on with, but which is also definitely beautiful in places. I love the follow up album Barrett as well, although I would suggest that's patchier, with more obvious peaks and troughs, the standard on Madcap is very much of a piece. Favourites, Dark Globe, Golden Hair, Octopus, No Good Trying. Please lift a hand, I'm only person.

OMGOMGOGMOMGIMGIGKNFJDJEJRJFJKTOGKG i love this one i love sydbarett I jump for joy and screamed when i seen this on my 10001 albums page

Love it from the bottom of my heart

Sad. Beautiful. Majestic. Chaotic. The Van Gogh of music.

Proto freak folk

Mesmo cada vez mais identificado com as criações do Pink Floyd, não conhecida nada do Syd Barret. Ele pode ter deixado o Pink Floyd prematuramente, mas sua influência no som e estilo da banda é evidente. Este álbum solo é uma prova da sua genialidade musical e criativa. O álbum é uma jornada fascinante pela mente genial e, ao mesmo tempo, atormentada de Barrett, com letras profundas e instrumentais arrebatadores que criam uma atmosfera única.

Truly enveloping and weirdly comforting. Easy listening, but not as a slur.

Love a bit of Syd ❤️

Love it!!!

Trip trip even ho, up down high and low

i actually really enjoyed this! gave me very much coctaeu twins vibes

Love it

There are few moments of random precision and even fewer worn-out welcomes in this shining diamond's solo debut.

i fit in this world

The first track made me expect another average, forgettable album but I turned out to love almost everything that came after. Almost.

Typical Syd

I feel like I objectively didn’t love it but subjectively I like it does that make sense

Definitely the best of Syd’s solo works. That said, it’s not as great as anything on Piper at the Gates of Dawn which is a shame. Terrapin, Octopus, No Man’s Land, Here I Go, Long Gone and Dark Globe are probably my favorites. Some sound a lot like hits by later bands but with less production. The album definitely gets weird and some songs are very nonsensical but there is a charm to that. Like nursery rhymes being sung by someone on acid. Which is basically what this was. Fun, but not something I would put in regular rotation

Charmingly depraved is the best way I can describe this. The songs vary from sounding freshly hungover to freshly high. Octopus is definitely the best track but nothing was unenjoyable to me.4/5

Kinda got Pink Floyd vibes from this

I really liked this!! excited for this list to force me to listen to a lot more floyd !!

Easygoing charm

Shine on you quirky fella.

Another great Brit album

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this album. I love Pink Floyd but I find their earliest stuff to be a bit of a challenge. And I’ve heard lots of stories about the eccentricities of Barrett. So, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy this record. There are moments that produced genuine emotional reactions. Most especially “Dark Globe”. https://richcain.substack.com/p/project-1001-the-madcap-laughs-by?r=4ztyq

I'm honestly a little shocked how much I enjoy this, as I not only am not that big of a fan of Syd Barrett's contributions to Pink Floyd, but I'm not the biggest Floyd fan in general, but the folky, amateur style of this album feels just quirky enough to come off completely earnestly, and oddly charming. Syd Barrett's voice isn't the strongest, the compositions aren't the most enthralling, and the instrumentation is usually pretty simple, but because of all of that this just feels like predicting the sound of 90s twee twenty years in advance, and comes off as in tandem with Nick Drake's discography to create an all new sound in folk, something light and breezy but still oppressing in their lyrics and under the surface oddities. This album has some great moments, and while sometimes I think Syd lets that strong songwriting get away from him at times, most of the album is surprisingly concise and well-written, and in turn I find myself enjoying a lot of this album.

Beautifully damaged music from a beautifully damaged genius. "Golden Hair" is such a jam

Oooooh boy did I enjoy this!! I don't know why I've always had a soft spot/felt sorry for Syd, which may influence my affection for his distinctive sound, but this album was a real pleasure - It sounds like he was enjoying himself when he was playing. Glad this was on the list and not surprised.

Reminds me a bit of 8 Songs for a Mad King. With hindsight, it appears like a view into madness. Kinda dig it.

very good, sounded similar to early Pink Floyd as one would expect. Would like to listen more, probably 4.5

Delightfully mental and wacky. Shine on you crazy diamond

I Like it :)

I actually enjoyed this album for what it was, but it's pretty brutal given the state of Syd Barrett at the time.

I think if I were coming into this blind, my patience for this wouldn't be so solid. One of the few solo records from Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett before he left music altogether, it feels almost like it mirrors his life: a solid start, but as it progresses, it feels like it falls apart and results in only half-finished compositions. There's still a solid "something" to this, underneath. It's a little 60s pop, psychedelia, and I for one like the rawness. Meh. Call it a 3.5. Favorite tracks: "Terrapin", "No Good Trying"

OK - I love this album. It has everything that Pink Floyd never had after Syd left because it connects with the emotions. Sadly this includes listening to a man beginning his disintegration, so it can be a hard listen, but it's an amazing album for all that.

This reminds me of when I was 9, and I would sit at my parents’ computer playing Webkinz, just singing any lyrics that rhymed. For hours. Syd Barett really captures that childlike whimsy here, and I’m super into it. The music was great too — a very fun, very easy listen.

ProtoPink

Given Syd's condition at this point (kicked out of Pink Floyd and rapidly spiraling due to drug abuse), I was expecting something much less coherent, and honestly more in line with his weird cuts from Saucerful and Piper. Instead, we have quirky Beatles rock. Maybe it's the Pink Floyd fan in me taking over, but this is some of the finest Beatles-esque rock I've heard. Syd has a lot of character in lyrics and delivery, and it helps the songs stand out. I genuinely really enjoyed this, though I can only hope it stays great on repeat listens. Highlights include No Man's Land, Octopus, and Golden Hair.

The Bowie - Beatles midpoint in a way really vibed with. Favourite track: Love You.

More than expected

This was a great album, love the whimsical psychedelic nature of Syd Barrett's music and lyrics. Just a great collection of songs and a great record.

There is no point in theorizing about Syd Barrett; when he left London for good, he left Syd the MadCap behind to be filled with elegies, eulogies, fan theories, Nick Kent's musings and Roger Waters's bitter envy, Bob Geldof as ersatz Syd and the ghost that haunts Dark Side of the Moon. There is no point in explaining Barrett to the cinematic self-serious Post Dark Side partisans; Waters et al. wrung out all the whimsy and pastoral terror themes in favor of Grand Theorizing. Gone are the janky psychedelic effects and chaotic fuzz evolved into towers of recording technology, true audiophile shit. Gone is the Zippo slide cosmic guitar, and instrumental excursions into altered outer and inner weirdness. Homemade light show gives way to full arena rock extravaganza. What we can do is think about the work Barrett left us, as much as it pains me to nod to very important men like Eliot or Ransom, and their delusions of transcendent, ahistorical meaning. "Piper" is the apotheosis of general psychedelia into both space rock and unhinged insanity in the mundane. The hit singles, "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne" take the latter and make it somewhat disturbing. I like disturbing pop songs. And "MadCap" is all of the latter; no space rock here. Just ditties from different perspectives, all light and shade. Barrett had an ear for pop hooks, and does not disappoint here. But these are not easy songs. The highlight for me has always been "Golden Hair", the adaption/cover of the Joyce poem, all mist and mystery, aching in the shadows. A few of the song seem to reference/take lighthearted swipes at Waters and Co. and the whole business of Rock N Roll and Syd Barrett as a cautionary tale/LSD totem. The MadCap wasn't really that MadCap, and not the cripple-fried genius. Jimbo Lizardpants can have that. What's here is the hand of an artist, making art without a thought to commerce. And in our late stage Capitalist Dystopia, I suppose that counts as crazy.

The story behind this album was incredible, and incredibly sad, and I'm glad I researched it before listening.

enjoyable 4/5

Weird, rambly album with some good moments.

me copó bastante, 8/10

A very chill yet also engaging record that strikes a solid balance between acoustic folk rock tones and some more psychedelic offerings that show that Syd Barrett still had some juice left in him after leaving Pink Floyd. The back half of the record is sort of whatever and a bit meandering but tracks like "Octopus" and "No Man's Land" in the front half more than make up for it. Could say its better than some Floyd records to be honest.

This is a strange one for sure. For those who don't know, Syd Barrett was the original frontman of Pink Floyd, but left the band in the late 60s due to mental health problems (presumably brought-on by his persistent use of psychedelics). He released two (?) solo records before quitting music. This is his first one. He makes great use of unusual and sometimes dissonant chord progressions and commonly sings out of key. His stream-of-consciousness lyrical style is disjointed and whimsical. However, I think this record is really appealing for some reason. Sure it's weird, but it's got a cool avant-garde and psychedelic feel to it.