\t\t\t\t\u2018The Madcap Laughs\u2019 is Syd Barrett\u2019s first solo album and exposes the two things Syd is most known for: interesting musical ideas that got started one of the most important bands ever (if there are indeed some who don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, it\u2019s \u2018Pink Floyd\u2019) and, well, madness.<\/p>\n
\nSome would say Syd\u2019s solo albums are more \u2018bizarre\u2019 than \u2018Piper At The Gates Of Dawn\u2019, some would call them significantly less bizarre. I consider them to be less weird than \u2018Piper\u2019, but then again, from the stuff I had heard from experts I had come to expect something like \u2018Two Virgins\u2019 or some other unlistenable result of John\u2019s and Yoko\u2019s collaboration.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018The Madcap Laughs\u2019 is far less experimental, actually it is what I would call \u2018psychedelic folk\u2019 (but don\u2019t rely on this; I can think of NOTHING to compare this album to!). Quite many of the songs are rather catchy (\u2018Love You\u2019, anyone?). I guess you can start thinking about it as bizarre when you think about Syd himself and what is behind all those mesmerizingly raw songs.\n<\/p>\n
\nAlthough the songs are obviously un-rehearsed and the overall recording is therefore \u2018clumsy\u2019, it still doesn\u2019t sound chaotic (at least not to my ears). It sounds like the same world we live in, if somewhat distorted \u2013 but certainly not chaotic. Kind of more like a good poem that makes you see things you never saw before because they were too little or too big.\n<\/p>\n
\nWhat is the most surprising about this album is that it IS simple, yet it doesn\u2019t SOUND simple. It is so simple it almost sounds complicated. And, although I have several times implied it\u2019s far more listener-friendly than some would expect, it\u2019s definitely not for everyone; I\u2019m sure some would be annoyed by things like Syd\u2019s intentional off-key singing and the various \u2018mistakes\u2019 that, in my opinion, just add to the album\u2019s unique atmosphere.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe one thing you shouldn\u2019t do is listen to this album in a detached, \u2018observing\u2019 way. It\u2019s the only thing that can spoil this acutely emotional and intensive album.\n<\/p>\n
\n
\nBest songs:<\/b> \u2018Terrapin\u2019, \u2018It\u2019s No Good Trying\u2019, \u2018Love You\u2019, \u2018Dark Globe\u2019, \u2018Octopus\u2019, Golden Hair\u2019, \u2018Long Gone\u2019, \u2018If It\u2019s In You\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018The Madcap Laughs\u2019 is Syd Barrett\u2019s first solo album and exposes the two things Syd is most known for: interesting musical ideas that got started one of the most important bands ever (if there are indeed some who don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, it\u2019s \u2018Pink Floyd\u2019) and, well, madness. Some would say Syd\u2019s solo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}