Syd Barrett, YouTube

 

In 1968 when Syd left Pink Floyd he started right away working on his debut solo album, 'The Madcap Laughs', however; the production of it went through many producers and with all the hiatuses Syd took (one of which for psychiatric care) the album wasn't released until 1970.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/Sydbarrett-madcaplaughs.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/Sydbarrett-madcaplaughs.jpg
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The album 'Madcap laughs' had 5 producers which included Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Both Roger and David were right in the middle of recording Pink Floyd's, 'Ummagumma' album, therefore; it only gave them two days to finish the record.

The first and only solo single that Syd would release from the album was titled, "Octopus", in fact; it was released two  months prior to album release date in 1969.

The song was originally titled, "Clowns and Jugglers" but that didn't wash with the producers Water's and Gilmour, the song's final title resulted from a lyric in the song, " ... the mad cat laughed at the man on the border..." that was misheard by Gilmour. After all that the song title remained as madcap is heard in another part of the song.

'The Madcap Laughs' was the only album that charted for Syd, reached #40 on the UK album charts. It's available on LP, Cassette,CD and MP3. The 2013 release has six bonus tracks that are outtakes never before on CD.

The track list on the 2013 reissue is listed below:

  •  "Terrapin"
  • "No Good trying"
  • "Love You"
  • "No Man's Land"
  • "Dark Globe"
  • "Here I Go"
  • "Octopus"
  • "Golden Hair"
  • "Long Gone"
  • "She Took A Long Cool Look"
  • "Feel"
  • "If It's In You"
  • "Late Night"
  • "Octopus" (Take 1 and 2)
  • "No Good Trying" (Take 5)
  • "Love You" (Take 1)
  • "Love You" (Take 3)
  • "She Took A Long Cool Look" (Take 4)
  • "Golden Hair" (Take 5)

Attached is a pretty cool video of Syd's song, "Octopus" with some pretty cool slides in it.

 

 

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