Syd Barrett

Barrett HARVEST, 1970

By the time of his second album, Syd Barrett was too far out to ever row back again. That didn’t stop his friends from rallying around him – David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Humble Pie’s Jerry Shirley all pitched in to help see it over the finish line.

At its best, Barrett shows flashes of greatness: Baby Lemonade and Gigolo Aunt are sparkling in their nursery-rhyme simplicity. Unfortunately, more often – as on the deadened

I Never Lied To You or the stark, blotter-acid blues of Maisie – it sounds like the quiet scream of a man who had given himself over to madness.

In that respect it’s equally compelling and depressing.