Syd Barrett - The Making of The Madcap Laughs, Floyd Recording Sessions and Gigs

The Piper · #1 06-04-2002, 08:43 PM

Echoesians:

Any historian knows that if you mean to advance your
understanding of a specific portion of history, it is extremely
important to obtain as many actual facts as possible. Whereas it
can be extremely helpful to read others' interpretations of the
facts, often things can become blurred over the years and by one
author summarizing what another author summarized and so on.

Unfortunately, actually obtaining source materials can be
extremely difficult. Indeed, the book you are about to read has
been out of print for decades and even then, only a few hundred
copies were produced. The vast majority of these, I don't doubt,
have become lost. So, it was with great joy that I was able to
locate a copy (and for an extremely reasonable rate).

The book was originally manually typed using a fairly bad
typewriter. It was full of typographical glitches and spelling
errors. The grammar is not the best. The text can become
extremely confusing and redundant at times.

However, I have done my very best to ensure that every
single period and comma has been faithfully reproduced. I've
tried to make the following document EXACTLY like my original.
Where words were misspelled in the original, I have made
corrections. However, when Mr. Jones used "British" spellings, I
have kept these the same. (Why do you Brits *have* to use "s"
when you need to use "z" ?) Tragically, there is one spelling
error that I would *love* to be able to fix, but I have been
unable to determine *for sure* what the correct spelling is. I
am afraid Storm Thorgerson (or however his last name is really
spelled) will be forever doomed to having his name botched.
Storm T., should you ever read this, I am really sorry.

The change in media necessitated a few slight modifications
to the text, which I sincerely hope do not interfere with your
enjoyment of this manuscript:

My copy of the book was not printed very well in places.
When I was not able to read certain letters or words, I attempted
to make a "best guess" based upon the context. Any letters or
words in [ ] are my best guess. If I simply put [], that means
that there is enough of an indication on my page to suggest that
there is a word there, but not enough to be able to guess at it.
If anyone else out there has an original copy, would you please
double check these places ? There aren't very many, so it would
take only a few minutes.

Many pages had footnotes. The number would appear in the
text and the note would appear on the bottom of the page. Since
the "pages" in cyberspace either don't exist or can vary
radically among machines, I decided to place the whole note into
the text at the site of the number. The note is set off from the
rest of the text using *'s. The last pages of the book are lists
of gigs, sessions, and the like. These also had footnotes, but
they were much harder to deal with. I left them in their
original positions with respect to the rest of the text. I hope
that my doing so does not lead to confusion for you.

Malcolm Jones did Syd fans an incredible service by
compiling and publishing this book. It is extremely important aid
to any serious Barrett or early Floyd scholar. I am extremely
pleased to be able to bring it to you. Please, share it with
anyone you know that might be looking for a copy.

Thanks, Mr. Jones.

The Eskimo Spy

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
SYD BARRETT - The Making Of The Madcap Laughs

Contents -
Session Dates .
Musicians .
Take Numbers .
Floyd Sessions + Gigs
Plus Full Story - - - - - -

_Introduction_

Scarcely a year goes by than the rock press, rather like the
Times and the first cuckoo of spring, report a 'sighting' of Syd
Barrett, usually in Cambridge or in London. Whether these
reports are accurate is uncertain, but ever since the early
seventies the myth surrounding the man seems to have mushroomed.
There is a growing army of admirers who would see him as some
sort of living legend, even though his total recorded output
consists of little more than three albums. Legend or otherwise,
I was able, in a modest way, to be able to assist Syd in
recording some of his best remembered solo recordings (I produced
the first 'Madcap Laughs' sessions amounting to half of the
album). With the exception of the excellent 'Terrapin'
publications there has been remarkably little written about Syd,
so this is my attempt to remedy this in some small way. This
publication is a straight, factual account of the making of the
album, 'the Madcap Laughs'. As I kept all my studio production
notes and files what follows is an accurate account of events in
those few months of 1969.

I had joined E.M.I. Records from Manchester University as a
management trainee, although my main passion in life was music.
Raised on rock & roll (I was 23 at the time, just a little older,
I think, than Syd), I played in amateur groups in my native
Southport, and even played on the stage of the Cavern Club (an
unpaid, failed, audition in case you want to know!). After a
month on the E.M.I. training course, I was, in late 1967, offered
the responsibility of acquiring finished recordings from outside,
independent producers. This included talents such as Mickie Most
and Denny Cordell, who had just signed Procol Harum and the Move
to E.M.I., and I naturally accepted. My first signing was 'River
To Another Day' by Dave Edmunds' Love Sculpture. Deep Purple,
Barclay James Harvest and Tyrannosaurus Rex soon followed.

This was the time when the British 'underground' movement
was flourishing, and E.M.I.'s corporate image could make
acquiring masters difficult in face of the competition from
progressive companies such as Island Records. In view of this I
campaigned within E.M.I. for the establishment of a label with a
more contemporary image than Parlophone and Columbia. I
eventually had my way, and was given the task of establishing and
running the new label, which I called Harvest, in addition to my
other duties. After a successful launch in June 1969, I was
ready to plan more releases.......

One day, late in March, 1969, I received a message that Syd
Barrett had 'phoned EMI's studio booking office to ask if he
could go back into the studios and start recording again. It was
over a year since Syd had parted company with Pink Floyd and, as
head of Harvest, the request was referred to me.

I had never met Syd, although he had apparently been in the
studio with Peter Jenner a year previously, just after I joined
EMI. Needless to say I was familiar with his past successes with
the Floyd, and I knew as much as anyone about the circumstances
surrounding his leaving. It had occurred to me on several
occasions to ask what had become of Syd's own solo career. Peter
Jenner and Andrew King, the original Floyd management team,
managed many artists on Harvest. Dark references were made to
'broken microphones in the studios and general disorder' by EMI
management, and this had resulted in a period when, if not
actually banned, Syd's presence at Abbey Road was not
particularly encouraged. None of Peter Jenner's recordings of
Syd had turned out releasable, and no-one in EMI's A&R department
had gone out of his way to encourage Syd back. Now that I had
A&R responsibility for Harvest, I was determined to make the most
of this contact with Syd and I rang him back immediately.

Syd explained that he had lots more material for a new
album, and since he had not recorded for more or less two years
there was no reason to doubt him. He was also keen to try to
salvage some of Peter Jenner's sessions (see session Appendices),
and in all he seemed very together - in contrast to all the
rumours circulating at the time. There was, he said, a song
called Opel, another called Terrapin, a song about an Indian girl
called Swan Lee, and one called Clowns And Jugglers. Plus he had
started work at Abbey Road on a James Joyce poem, 'Golden Hair'
which he was most anxious to complete. It all sounded too good
for words!

The next day I approached Roy Featherstone, my immediate
boss at the time, with the line 'Syd's ready to record again',
explaining the conversation I'd had with Syd and pushing hard for
his restoration to favour. Roy was very positive, but said he'd
also have to check with his boss, Ron White, who authorised all
recordings. In all honesty it wasn't very hard persuading them
both to let Syd record again. Both Roy and Ron were well aware
of Syd's successes and potential capabilities. The Pink Floyd
had already said that they did not wish to release any more
singles; 'Point Me At The Sky' and 'It Would Be So Nice' before
it had been flops and were no longer indicative of the style that
the new line-up was developing. Work had already begun on what
was to become "Ummagumma" the previous November (with 'Embryo';
more about that later!!). It is likely that they felt that, if
EMI could have the 'new' Floyd and the creative genius behind the
'old' both recording, then all the better. I furthermore had a
powerful argument in reserve should they deny Syd this chance to
resume his career. If they would not consent, I privately
argued, then they could not morally hold Syd to his contract,
although legally it would have been possible. Fortunately, it
never came to that, and Ron and Roy gave me their permission and
support to let Syd record.

Contrary to what was later printed, E.M.I. never stipulated
that Syd could only cut singles. What was decided was to see
what was the strength of Syd's new material, and plan
accordingly. If it worked, then, O.K. we'd do an album. If not,
we'd call it a day.

My next task was to find a producer who Syd would feel
comfortable with and of whom EMI would approve, as they were
adamant that Syd should not record unaided in view of previous
events. *(1) I never did ask Syd if the rumours of studio damage
were true. I suspect if there was any truth in the stories then
it was probably exaggerated. None of the engineers ever made
reference to them.* The obvious first choice was Norman Smith,
an EMI staff producer and then still producer for the Floyd.
Norman was one of the finest producers of the time, and certainly
the best of those affiliated as staff producer. Norman
engineered many of the early Beatles classics, and was a fine
musician. Unfortunately his commitment to the Floyd ('Ummagumma'
was in the early stages) and his reluctance to have a conflict of
interests with the Floyd and Syd made him decline the job. Peter
Jenner similarly thought it wise to stay out, especially in view
of his increasing responsibility to the growing roster of acts he
managed with Andrew King (including Edgar Broughton Band,
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pete Brown, and soon, Kevin Ayers). The other
obvious choice, in retrospect, would have been to offer Joe Boyd
the chance to work with Syd again as he produced 'Arnold Layne';
regrettably, it didn't occur to me at the time. Although I had
met Joe a couple of times, I don't recall knowing that he'd done
'Arnold Layne'. I certainly didn't remember his name from my
copy of the record, so I didn't think of him. I still regret
that. E.M.I. had no other staff producers capable of handling
Syd's style as Norman could have done, and when I talked it over
with Syd his response was stark and simple... 'You do it'. Syd
knew I was a musician (of sorts), and as he saw me as his ally at
EMI (& I had produced 'Love Sculpture''s first album) I probably
was a logical choice to him. I was also acceptable to EMI's
bosses who wanted someone they knew and trusted present on the
sessions. If this seems naive in 1982, in 1969 no-one produced
their own records, not even the Beatles.

At Syd's suggestion, then, and almost by default, I became
Syd's producer.

I called him immediately to say we were in [busi]ness, and
suggested a meeting to go over his new material. As I was
unfamil[iar] [wi]th Peter Jenner's productions of the previous
year, I asked Syd to play [recordings] he had of rough mixes of a
song called Silas Lang (re-titled 'Swan Lee') *(2) "Silas Lang"
is the original title on the EMI files, and this was later
changed to "Swan Lee". Syd never referred to it as Silas Lang,
and this may be a mistake on the part of the engineer on the
original session. Part of the lyric goes 'the land in silence
stands', which sounds, in part, rather like 'Silas Lang'.* [and]
'Late Night'. (The master at EMI of this original was probably
erased and re-made later), 'Ramadan' (or 'Rhamadan'), Lanky parts
one and two (the last two were long instrumentals) and 'Golden
Hair', which Syd had referred to many times. 'Silas Lang' or
'Swan Lee' was a long and rambling tale about an Indian maiden,
reminiscent in many ways of the story of Hiawatha. It had no
vocal when I heard it, but had promise. The version of 'Late
Night' was not the one finally released, but it too had a certain
charm so we agreed to re-make that. 'Lanky' and 'Rhamadan' were
very long and rambling percussion instrumentals. Engineer Peter
Bown's announcement on the tape of 'Lanky Part One' is, rather
wearily, "Five minutes of drums!". It wasn't very good!
"Rhamadan" lasted for almost twenty minutes, and in its
unfinished state was also pretty boring. Syd too was not
satisfied with it (he'd overdubbed several conga drums in random
improvisation) and we agreed to abandon that. But in contrast,
'Golden Hair' was great, although it needed a little cleaning up
(eventually, Syd re-made it with Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters).
After Syd had played me these tapes and we had discussed which to
continue with, he played me the new songs. One of the most
exciting was a song in 3/4 (waltz) tempo, which was the best I
had heard so far. Part of the lyric is reprinted overleaf.

OPEL (Syd Barrett) Copyright All rights reserved (excerpt)

On a distant shore, miles from land
Stands the ebony totem in ebony sand
The dream in a mist of grey
On a far distant shore

A pebble that stood alone
Driftwood lies half buried
Warm shallow water sweeps shells
So the cockells shine
A bare winding carcass stark
Shimmers as flies scoop up meat
An empty way and dry tears

I'm trying to find you
I'm living, I'm giving
To find you
To find you
I'm drowning ......

It was an extremely haunting song; very stark and poignant. We
would certainly record that one. Next came a song called 'Clowns
and Jugglers'. Fans will know it under its eventual title,
'Octopus', again, another 'yes'. Next Syd played snatches of
another song, 'Terrapin' which was similar in feel to 'Opel',
though less desolate. And finally he played an old tymey song
'Love You' which I liked a little, but as Syd was pretty keen on
it, largely because it was uptempo, I agreed on that too.
Already we seemed to have enough for 3/4 of an album and
certainly several sessions. I left Syd's flat totally elated,
determined next day to book studio time immediately and to get
started. *(1) By coincidence I lived in the same square as Syd -
Earls Court Square. By a further coincidence, Dave Gilmour was
living at the time in the block backing onto Syd's in the
adjacent Old Brompton Road.*

The first session was booked for Thursday, April 10th, in
studio three. E.M.I.'s studio complex is still arguably one of
the best in the world. In 1969 it most certainly was. Studio
One was the largest, and almost exclusively used for large
orchestral recordings (when I had first seen it I was convinced a
helicopter could fly in it!). Studio two was always booked,
often by the Beatles, the Hollies, and other top E.M.I. artists
and, of course, the Floyd often were using it for 'Ummagumma'.
Studio Three was the smallest, 'though still large by studio
standards, and more intimate than studio two (but less
technically advanced; studio two had 8 track machines while
studio three was still using four track). Both Syd and I were
familiar with Number 3 (I had produced Love Sculpture's first
album there) so we settled for that one. Studio Two had a
control room set at a higher level than the studio itself, which
meant looking down on the musicians - and frankly I disliked
that. It's easier for the producer to see what's happening but I
felt it was harder for the musicians to see into the control
booth, and Syd needed a relaxed atmosphere. Plus, three was
easier to book at short notice!

Syd and I spent the first session alone (7p.m. to 12.30)
investigating the old tapes made a year ago to see if anything
was usable. We first overdubbed guitar and vocal tracks onto
'Silas Lang' ('Swan Lee') and experimented with ideas for 'Clowns
And Jugglers'. Neither of these was eventually used (Clowns And
Jugglers, re-recorded as 'Octopus', was used in another version),
and we both agreed that the new songs were far better than the
old tracks. But at least we had checked each other out and we
returned to Earls Court ready to start afresh the next evening.

The next evening we got down to business proper. Syd was in
a great mood and in fine form, a stark contrast to the rumours
and stories I'd been fed with. In little over five hours we laid
down vocal and guitar tracks (extra backings on most came later)
for four new songs and two old.

The first we made (the engineer was Peter Mew) was 'Opel',
at Syd's request. We both felt at the time that it was one of
his best new songs *(1) After Dave (Gilmour) and Roger (Waters)
took over production, I left the final say to them and Syd as to
which songs were included in the final album. I was nevertheless
very sad that 'Opel' was left out, especially in the light of
what I thought to be lesser songs being included. I assume it
was Syd's decision.* It took Syd nine runs at it to get a
complete take, and even that was not perfect. Nevertheless it
had a stark attraction to it, and most of the early takes were
merely false starts. Anyone who has experience of studio
techniques will appreciate that it takes several attempts to get
the right feel and to feel totally relaxed. ('Hound Dog' took
over 30 takes!) Many of the unsuccessful takes are merely lapses
of memory, technical faults, popping the letter 'p' at the
microphone, squeaky chairs, etc. Syd always had lyric sheets in
front of him, and turning the pages was often caught on tape (it
was left in on 'She Took A Long Cold Look'). Two complete takes
were made, the rest were false starts similar to the ones Dave
and Roger left in on 'If It's In You'.

Most of the tracks on this were just with Syd and his
guitar. I felt that, with his guitar alone we could put down
some songs and overdub backing later as necessary (contrary to
usual policy of making backings and adding vocals afterwards).
Next we did 'Love You' - again just guitar and voice. We did
several takes of this. The first was fast, in fact VERY fast
(faster than the issued one). The second was very slow! Take
three was a false start, and take four was the one we later
overdubbed and issued. All three good takes were perfect, and in
fact we weren't sure which take to use. The studio note says
'Best to be decided later'. All takes took less than twenty
minutes to do. This was Syd at full tilt! At this session Syd
was in great form, and very happy. No matter what people may say
to the contrary, Syd was very together, and this was his first
session with the new songs. Although Opel needed 9 attempts,
Love You needed only one re-take. The next track we did, 'It's
No Good Trying' was much the same. The very first take, with Syd
and his blue speckled Fender Telecaster, was good. Take two was
a false start, and take three was the version we used (although
at 5 minutes 14 seconds it needed a little shortening). I kept
Syd on the move, refusing too many retakes. And it was working.
In the two hours between 7.30 and 9.30 we had completed several
successful takes of three songs.

During the tea break we discussed going back to some of the
songs started the previous year, in particular 'Golden Hair', and
perhaps 'Late Night' although the original version of that had
been destroyed, it seemed. We returned to the studio and started
work on another new song, 'Terrapin'. In one take Syd laid down
a guitar and vocal track that was to be the master! At my
suggestion Syd double [tr]acked his vocal part, and that was it!
(he later overdubbed the solo)

When we resumed Syd overdubbed slide guitar (using his
cigarette lighter as a slide) on the backing track of 'Late
Night', plus the vocal. The vocal took no time at all, and we
swiftly moved on to 'Golden Hair' which we had transferred from
the original 4 track to an 8 track master. I do not know who the
musicians were on this track, but the instrumentation was
identical to the re-made version that Dave and Roger were to
produce later - vibes, bass, drums and guitar. The version I
worked on with Syd was not the one used on the album, although
the remake was a direct copy of mine. This first version
featured Syd's guitar more prominently. In fact there were two
versions made at this session, the second featuring an added
harmony vocal line by Syd. When I heard much later that Dave and
Roger re-made 'Golden Hair' I was, to say the least, surprised.
The issued recording, while technically better, is far less
atmospheric than the original, and I still feel that a re-make
was unnecessary.

By midnight we felt we had done enough for one day. We had
worked on seven titles in one way or another, and we both felt we
had made great progress. In the cab back to Earls Court we
discussed our next session, and I was looking forward to a quiet
and relaxing weekend. I told Syd I would pick him up the next
Thursday as usual; Syd replied by saying he'd bring along some
musicians to play on some of the tracks we were planning, and
with that we parted company.

The following Thursday, as planned, I called a cab and went
to collect Syd. We dropped in at Dave Gilmour's flat round the
corner to borrow an amplifier, and set off for Abbey Road. At
the studio we met up with Jerry Shirley and 'Willie' Wilson, the
musicians Syd had invited along. The session was to be done
'live' i.e. everyone recording their parts at the same time,
including Syd's vocal and guitar parts. As usual, Syd played his
blue Fender Telecaster, unamplified, as rhythm. *(1) Syd had
maintained fairly constant contact with David Gilmour, who's amp
we were using. When he delivered the tapes for the 'More' album
to me, David quizzed me as to how the sessions were progressing,
although he showed no interest at the time in producing Syd. By
April he had completed most of his solo contributions to
'Ummagumma', and had more time to spare.* We started with 'No
Man's Land', and Syd ran through the song several times with
Jerry and Willie following to pick up the sequences. After a
little rehearsal we tried for a take to let everyone hear how we
were progressing (frequently a 'take' is attempted, not for a
master, but simply to check that the equipment is working
correctly and to let the performers hear how they sound in the
control room). After several other run throughs we went for a
master, and in all we completed three takes successfully, the
last being the best. The bass was later re-recorded *(2) The
original bass track showed room for improvement, which we did
later on during the session, after Syd's guitar parts had been
recorded.* Syd then recorded the guitar solo and the spoken
part, which was as unintelligible then as it is now! The other
guitar part was overdubbed later (see session lists). Syd's
guitar playing could, at times, be extremely erratic. He would
frequently switch from playing rhythm to lead at double the
volume, setting the meters well into the red and requiring a re-
take. It was a matter of having too many ideas and wanting to
record them all at once!

This April 17th session was the first that we did in Studio
Two instead of Studio Three. Whereas the April 11th session had
been mainly voice and guitar tracks, with no backings, this one
was to employ Jerry Shirley and John 'Willie' Wilson (who also
lived in Earls Court!). The greater scope afforded by the 8
track machine in No. 2 (Studio three was 4 track) would allow us
to do more overdubs if necessary, particularly on 'No Man's
Land'. No. 2 also had a much better drum sound (it is a larger
studio) and it isn't hard to tell that Jerry Shirley plays
extremely loudly in the studio, especially on 'Here I Go'.
Compare the drum sound on this to Ringo's Beatles work of the
time. They are very similar.

'Here I Go', the second song of the session, was also the
second 'old-tymey' song Syd did on the album - that is using a
music hall style chord structure. With its unusual introduction
and overall theme, it shows Syd at his relaxed best. He wrote
it, I seem to remember, in a matter of minutes. *(1) Syd nearly
always had his lyrics in front of him on a stand, in case of the
occasional lapse of memory. This song was the only one I
remember him needing no cue sheet at all.* The whole recording
was done absolutely 'live', with no overdubs at all. Syd changed
from playing rhythm to lead guitar at the very end, and the
change is noticeable. (Syd, however, would change like that
often. Whereas it was accepted practice to record, say, the
rhythm guitar for the whole duration of the song and then to go
back later and overdub the solo. To Syd this was an unnecessary
procedure! He'd mix them together. That accounts for the 'drop'
during the solo, as Syd's rhythm guitar is no longer there!) The
whole session lasted for just three hours (in the afternoon). At
the end I casually asked Syd if he had any more songs for the
next one in a week's time. 'Not really, but, er, I've got a
weird idea I want to try out' was all he would say. 'Well,' I
replied, 'does it need other musi[cians] ? - because if so I'll
need to book studio two again.' 'No' was his reply. A couple of
days later I was none the wiser, and getting rather anxious. On
the other hand I didn't want to book the wrong studio, and on the
other I didn't want to hold valuable studio time with no real
plans. Syd eventually said that he had no new songs but would
quite like to see if there was anything we could do with one of
Pete Jenner's old tracks, 'Rhamadan'. This was a long (even
boring) track, lasting about 18 minutes, which Syd (or, at least,
I have always presumed it was his playing) had made the previous
May. It featured several conga drum overdubs, with no apparent
theme or direction. Reluctantly I agreed to check it out, but
said that we really didn't need a studio for that, we could use
one of the mixing rooms. Just in case, I arranged for a stereo
machine to be set up so we could mix it for reference later at
home or in my office. On the morning of April 23rd., Syd and I
again set out for Abbey Road.

Syd was carrying a small, portable cassette player, which I
assumed he was bringing so that we could make a copy of
'Rhamadan'. I was very wrong. 'I'd like to overdub some
motorbike noises onto 'Rhamadan'', he said, 'so I've been out on
the back of a friend's bike with the cassette player. They are
all ready to put onto the 'Rhamadan' four track.' When Syd
played the cassette of the sound effects, it was terrible! Not
only was it poor quality for casual listening, it was certainly
no good for professional recording. Syd was quite insistent, so
I said nothing more until we got to Abbey Road. I planned to let
engineer (Peter Mew, I believe) reinforce my feelings. For
almost an hour we struggled to wire Syd's machine into the 4
track master machine. The trouble with such an operation is that
professional electrical fittings are bigger, better and more
complex than those purchased over the counter of the average hi-
fi shop. Someone in the workshop at Abbey Road had to actually
make a connecting lead from Syd's cassette machine to the Studer
4 track. When we eventually wired the two together (cassette
players are more common place in studios today with the increase
in quality achieved over the last five years), it was apparent to
all of us that the quality was not good enough. Even mixed into
the conga drums at low level the tape hiss and extraneous noises
were unacceptable.

Fortunately, E.M.I. came to the rescue. One of the many
advantages Abbey Road possessed over other studios of the time
was its superior back-up facilities *(1) The workshop that made
up the connecting lead for us was also responsible, as a matter
of policy, for taking apart any equipment from outside sources
and checking that it was up to E.M.I.'s technical standards.
When the Beatles wanted to record in their newly opened Apple
studios, it was E.M.I.'s equipment that was shipped out, in bulk,
to Apple to do the recording. All Apple Studios started with was
an empty room! And it wasn't long before they were back
recording in Abbey Road.* , including a large sound effects
library. The next hour was spent selecting the right combination
of starting up, revving, starting off and various gear changes,
etc. for a thirty second tape, this time in stereo. Exactly what
Syd intended to do I shall never know, because he later changed
his mind and abandoned the project. Maybe it still lies,
rejected, in the archives.
The session we planned for two days later was almost
abandoned due to illness on my part. I had suffered from colitis
for some time, and a recurrence of the illness prevented me from
attending the session. All that we planned to do was transfer
all the tracks originally made on 4 track to 8 track for more
overdubs, and I suggested to Syd that he might like to go ahead
on his own and mix them down himself. Studio Three was now
(just) able to cope with 8 track machines, although it still had
the old 4 track mixing desk. Nevertheless it was an improvement
which we wished to take advantage of, especially as we had
decided to overdub backings onto 'It's No Good Trying', 'Clowns
and Jugglers', 'Love You', and several others (see appendix). I
noticed when preparing the appendix that 'Opel' was among them.
Syd had obviously, at this stage, not decided to exclude it from
the album. I still think, to this day, that this is one of his
best and most haunting tracks, and it was tragic that, for
reasons unknown to me, it was not included on the final album.

On May 3rd Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt of the Soft
Machine overdubbed various parts onto the 8 track copies made the
previous session. In contrast to their own recordings, Syd's
tracks were very erratic and unpredictable. Although Syd booked
them he wasn't very good at explaining to them what he wanted.
'Love You' was a simple overdub of jangle piano and drums, plus
of course, Hugh Hopper on bass. Lack of adequate rehearsal gave
the Soft's performances a rather ragged aspect, for which I must
take responsibility. If I had been able to give them more studio
time they would have delivered better backings, although I must
add that over the years the erratic quality of these tracks has
been what endeared them to Barrett fans. I can't help feeling,
'though, that the Soft Machine themselves were not very proud of
their own contributions!

We had done 'Love You' first because it was the easiest.
Next came 'It's No Good Trying'. This was not a particularly
easy track to overdub. Between lines, (or verses) Syd had
varying passages of blank guitar chords with no regular form to
them. At one moment there would be 8 bars between verses, at the
next maybe 6 or seven.. very hard for a musician other than the
composer to follow! A drummer likes to be able to 'lead into'
the next verse with either a roll or a pause, or anything to
announce the arrival of another verse. Without written parts
(charts) it had to be done from memory, and given such a task
they fared extremely well. If 'Love You' was a little irregular
(Syd went into the next verse, occasionally, after 6 1/2 or 7
bars instead of 8) then 'It's No Good Trying' was positively
impossible! Syd had, before the session, taken copy tapes of
many of these tracks which I had presumed were to give to the
musicians he was booking to learn ahead of the session.
Unfortunately I was wrong. He kept them! Anyway, after a bit of
a struggle, we overdubbed 'It's No Good Trying' and moved on to
'Clowns and Jugglers'. This was the version I had worked on with
Syd, originally, on out first session together on 10/4/69, when
we had overdubbed guitar and voice onto a rough guitar backing
Syd had made alone the year previously. It was in a higher key
(than the issued one) and Syd had to sing really forcefully to
make it work, but it still rates as one of my favourite unissued
Syd recordings, after 'Opel'. Unfortunately he wished to overdub
bass and drums (as was done, in a further re-make, for the
version Dave and Roger produced that eventually appeared on the
album). I liked it as it was, with Syd's voice and several
guitar tracks to back him up. It had some very effective sounds,
made by Syd, by half speaking words and sounds, during the solo.
Unfortunately, the contributions at this overdub session by the
Soft Machine were, in all honesty, pretty dire, and it must have
been THIS version that Dave Gilmour heard and which led him to
persuade Syd to remake it later. Mike Ratledge was required to
improvise long passages of organ chords which, frankly, didn't
work, and Robert Wyatt ended up playing tambourine. It was
easier than trying to follow Syd's erratic bar structures!

The following day we had a further session and Syd
overdubbed his backward guitar track on 'It's No Good Trying',
and the lead guitar line on 'Terrapin', and 'No Man's Land'.

During most of the later sessions Dave Gilmour had been
taking a casual interest in what Syd was doing in the studios.
The Soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder's 'More' film had been
completed (it was, out of interest, not made at Abbey Road as it
was not a regular Pink Floyd album, being made as a commission
for someone other than E.M.I. The royalty rate was consequently
higher than usual as the recording costs were born by the film
makers and the Floyd). With 'More' out of the way, Dave was back
at Abbey Road with the rest of the Pink Floyd recording material
for 'Ummagumma', their first major album without Syd at all (he
does play on several tracks on 'A Saucerful Of Secrets', contrary
to stories stating otherwise). Syd had been seeing Dave a lot,
and had even been to see him backstage at a Floyd show in
Croydon. It was only a short step to Dave (with Roger Waters)
suggesting to Syd that he should produce some tracks as well as
myself.

At the time I never felt any sense of being ousted from my
role as producer. I had fared pretty well, and I still feel that
there was enough already made to complete an album. Much of what
David and Roger were to produce was little more than guitar and
voice tracks which any of us could have supervised. I have
referred to 'Opel' and the early versions of 'Clowns and
Jugglers' and 'Golden Hair', both of which later were re-made,
with minor improvements. But I had no objections at the time.
My original ambition had been fulfilled - to get Syd back on
record. How it was done was of no objection to me as long as it
was done professionally, so when Dave came to me and said that
Syd wanted him and Roger to do the remaining parts of the album,
I acquiesced. In a sense I was a little apprehensive. Although
I had my office duties (I was still, of course, head of Harvest
and had not relinquished my post acquiring recordings for other
E.M.I. labels), I felt that David in particular had a lot on his
plate (He still had to record major parts for 'Ummagumma'). But
I felt that it was very likely that he and Roger could produce
more interesting tracks than I ever could.

I think here I should correct a fallacy, recorded in Rick
Sanders; excellent book, 'Pink Floyd' (Futura Publications,
1976). In it he states that E.M.I. called a halt to the album,
saying: 'Barrett asked David Gilmour for help. Gilmour and
Waters managed to talk EMI into allowing three more days in the
studio to finish the album.' In fact, EMI had agreed that the
project should extend into an album after about the third
session, after they had heard rough mixes of several tracks.

Unknowingly, then, my last studio session with Syd was on
May 4th. From then on, I would act in executive capacity only.

**************

The rest of the album was done in three sessions, on June
12th and 13th, and a month later, on July 26th. The reason for
the long gap, which Syd found very frustrating, was that both
Dave and Roger were in the studio mixing 'Ummagumma' *(1) Putting
all the sessions together they run thus:
12 June 1969 : Syd Barrett (5 titles)
13 June 1969 : Syd Barrett (1 title)
17 June 1969 : Mixing Dave's part of 'Ummagumma'
23 June 1969 : Mixing Roger's part of 'Ummagumma'
26 July 1969 : Syd's last session for the album
The additional cause for the delay in the completion of the album
was that the Floyd were on tour in Holland for much of July.*, so
Rick Sanders contention that 'half of 'the Madcap Laughs' was
recorded in a two-day sprint' is largely true.

On June 12th, Dave and Roger supervised the re-making of
'Clowns and Jugglers' (now re-titled 'Octopus') and 'Golden
Hair', plus two new titles 'Dark Globe' and 'Long Gone'. As I
was not present on these sessions I cannot, of course, describe
the atmosphere of the moment or describe how these tracks were
made. But from my session sheet made my the engineer and
producers at the time, this is approximately what went on.

The first track to be tackled was 'Octopus'. Although this
version was completed to Syd and Dave's satisfaction, it was
shorter than the issued version, running for 2.49 as opposed to
the issued 3.45 version. Only 4 tracks of the 8 were used,
probably two voices and two guitar tracks, all by Syd. 'Octopus'
was put to one side and 'Golden Hair' was started (again!). Syd
did 5 takes before a satisfactory one was completed, and both
takes 6 and 7 were more or less completed, although the files
indicate that only take 6 was satisfactorily completed, running
for 1 minute 44 seconds. Takes 8, 9 and 10 were all false
starts, and eventually, after eleven takes, the master was done!
After this, Syd overdubbed his vocal (the original takes were
just his acoustic guitar) plus the vibes, organ and cymbals of
Dave and Roger (although Roger does not appear on the engineer's
list of producers: Syd and Dave are officially listed) and,
possibly, Rick Wright?? This eleventh take of Golden Hair (not
to mention the many early takes of the original version!), plus
overdubs, is the one that was finally released. It had been a
long time in the making, although I must say it was well worth
the effort. It is one of Syd's best ever recordings, and I put
it on the 'B' side of 'Octopus', later.

The third recording was a second attempt (on that day, that
is), to record a successful take of 'Octopus'. This time, after
another 10 takes, it was the eleventh take of 'Octopus' (the re-
make) that constituted the basic track for the issued version.
The song had had a very chequered career, starting life, in its
unissued form, in July, 1968, continuing with attempts by me to
have The Soft Machine overdub it (3/5/69) and eventually being
abandoned in preference to this remake of June 12th. The modus
operandi, as far as I can tell, was, much as I had done, to have
Syd record guitar and vocal only and to overdub the rest of the
instruments later. Certainly, from the studio notes, it seems
that this was what happened, as the session the next day
(13/6/69) was devoted solely to overdubbing drums, vocal, bass
and electric guitars.

NOTE: I hope that the reader is not, at this point, lost in
the welter of takes, re-takes, re-makes, etc. I suggest that you
refer to the session appendix later in the book and to the run
down of the album and when each track was recorded, also in the
appendix.

Having completed successful takes of 'Golden Hair' and
'Octopus', the next track tackled was a new song, 'Dark Globe'.
Syd obviously was best at ease with songs that he had not
attempted to record too many times, as he completed this one on
the second take. It is, admittedly, only guitar and voice, but
so too were the basic takes for 'Golden Hair' and 'Octopus' which
both took eleven takes to get the same basic track. I can draw
no assumptions from this other than the general one which - I had
always adopted with Syd, namely not to keep on with too many
attempts at the same song with no break. 'Long Gone', the next
title attempted by Syd and Dave, didn't work after two takes, and
was later replaced by another attempt. The last song on the
session was another take of 'Dark Globe', probably to see if they
could come up with a better take than the one already accepted.
Strangely, the issued version runs for only 1.57 minutes, while
the later, unissued one was as long as 3.15! *(1) For the
observant, the album states the time of the issued version of
'Dark Globe' as 2.10! Time it for yourself! Maybe there was a
false start from take one intended for use and excluded at the
last moment by Syd, Dave and Roger, which would have added extra
time. As I was not responsible, of course, for this title, this
is only supposition. But it certainly was the first version, not
the second, used.* I have never heard it but it would be good to
compare it with the short, issued version. Anyway, it was
decided not to use this re-make and to use the one made earlier
in the session.

As stated earlier, the session the next day was a short one,
devoted solely to the overdubbing, onto the previous day's master
of 'Octopus', the bass, drums, lead vocals and electric guitar
that completed the issued master. Again, Syd and Dave are listed
as producers, with no mention of Roger Waters.

The session of June 13th was the last Syd would have for
over a month, as the Floyd had work to do of their own and, in
particular, a tour, during most of July, of Holland. His final
session for the album took place on July 16th, and was completed
pretty much in a hurry! Titles completed during that session
were 'She Took A Long Cold Look', 'Long Gone' (the remade, issued
version), an attempted re-make of 'Dark Globe' (Called 'Wouldn't
You Miss Me' on the session sheet!) and the continuous run of
'She Took A Long Cold Look (at me)' / 'Feel' / 'If It's In You'.
Again, I do not know how the first version on this session of
'She Took A Long Cold Look' went, but my original reaction,
(which I still hold) was one of disappointment. False starts are
O.K. if they give an insight into the musicianship / artistry of
those present, or even if they present the odd mistake which
everyone is capable of. But when I first heard the false starts
to 'If It's In You' my reaction then, (as now) was first one of
anger that they were left in, and, secondly, boredom! Now I hate
to wind people up, but the false starts to the tracks that I had
personally supervised were far more interesting than those left
in the final album. They certainly would have been more of a
candid insight to the atmosphere on the sessions and less
detrimental to Syd's abilities than the ones left in. Those left
in show Syd, at best, as out of tune (which he rarely was) and,
at worst, as out of control (which again, he never was). They
are still my least favourite tracks on the record, in direct
contrast to my favourites which also were Gilmour/Waters
productions ('Octopus' and 'Golden Hair'). Apart from the
overdubbing of organ onto 'Long Gone', the whole of this session
was just Syd alone, a rather desolate ending to the recording of
an album that took over a year to make, with as much ending up on
the cutting room floor as on the issued album.

It is possibly an indication (contrary to reports) as to the
freedom that Dave, Roger and Syd had, that the album was
completed and mixed with no-one (including myself) knowing so!
So when Syd rang and told me that Dave and Roger had mixed the
tracks they had produced and that they intended to mix mine too,
I knew we finally had an album. The albums were finally
assembled into its final running order by Syd and Dave on October
6th (it had taken over two months to mix, and Syd was a bit
pissed off with the delay, as I was!), and the next task was to
schedule the release date........at last!!!

_THE SLEEVE:_

The task of designing the album sleeve went to Storm
Thorgorson and Aubrey 'Po' Powell of Hipgnosis, who had
previously done the design for 'A Saucerful Of Secrets'. In 1967
all album graphics were, by tradition, done by the resident
designers in the record companies. The Beatles, at E.M.I. at
least, were probably the first group ever to be allowed to bring
in outside designers, and the Pink Floyd were the second.
Allowing outsiders to do artwork was little short of a heresy,
and complaints such as 'It's the wrong size for the platemakers'
or 'the EMI logo is in the wrong place' (it had to be placed top
left) were offered as the reason for keeping work within the
company. It also allowed the company, understandably, to keep
greater control over the progress of work. Almost single-handed
in Britain, Hipgnosis managed, by their work for the Floyd and
acts on Harvest that I gave to Hipgnosis at the design stage, to
change the quality of album graphics and put an end to years of
indifferent work. In 1982 it is almost expected that a group
will have a very large say in the design of their sleeve, or even
do (or commission) the work themselves. But in 1967 it was a
very different story! One day in October or November I had cause
to drop in at Syd's flat on my way home to leave him a tape of
the album, and what I saw gave me quite a start. In anticipation
of the photographic session for the sleeve, Syd had painted the
bare floorboards of his room orange and purple. Up until then
the floor was bare, with Syd's few possessions mostly on the
floor; hi-fi, guitar, cushions, books and paintings. In fact the
room was much as appears on the original 'Madcap' sleeve. Syd
was well pleased with his days work and I must say it made a fine
setting for the session due to take place.

By the time the artwork was completed it was too late to get
the album pressed and into the shops in time for Christmas
without doing an unprofessional job of work. Then, as now, it is
usually beneficial to pre-sell the album by giving a salesman a
finished sleeve to show to the buyers in the individual shops.
Such a sales aid can double advanced orders, but tends to delay
the release of the record. In the end a months delay means no
lost sales (if someone wants an album, he will more likely than
not still want it a month later!) but all too often there is
pressure from management and from the artist him or herself to
rush the release of the record. In my experience such actions
are rarely likely to increase sales, usually it is the opposite.
Fortunately, is Syd's case, there was no such pressure and the
sales department scheduled the album for their January
supplement, with our choice of single, 'Octopus' / 'Golden Hair'
helping to pre-sell the album during December. The album is
still available over ten years later, so I think our release plan
didn't to it much harm!

The initial reaction was generally very good, with a
particularly flattering review in the then fledgling 'Time Out'.
Syd was offered a 'live' session by Top Gear, and the recording
was broadcast during late February. Elsewhere there was precious
little airplay either for the single or for any of the album
tracks. Radio was even more charts oriented than it is today
with only a couple of 'rock' programmes per week, and the initial
sales of a couple of thousand were largely through word of mouth
based on Syd's reputation. I recently found a sales figure sheet
dated 27th February, showing that, in almost two months, 'The
Madcap Laughs' had sold just over 6,000 copies. Not bad!
'Melody Maker', while not devoting many column inches to the
record gave a fairly enthusiastic review, saying it was 'a fine
album full of madness and lunacy representing the Barrett mind
unleashed'. 'Disc' called it 'an excellent album to start 1970'.
'Beat Instrumental' gave it a rather strange, uncomprehending
review, putting it in a 'late night' bracket, and stating that
'Terrapin' comprised vocals, guitar and washboard'!!
Nevertheless it was a good review, calling it a 'beautiful solo
album'. The January 31st edition of 'Melody Maker' carried an
interview with Syd by Chris Welch, with Syd stating that 'Top Of
The Pops' is all right! and that he had written lots more
material. N.M.E. made the observation that, with the listing of
five engineers, it would have been a nice touch to list the
musicians too. Sad to say that was contractually impossible, as
all the musicians involved were under contract to other
companies, and in the climate of 1970 rival labels were reluctant
to allow their stars to appear on other labels. This was
particularly annoying as it is only fair to list musicians who
have made a significant contribution to an album. It wasn't
possible, though so their names were left off. In a sense it
added an air of mystery to the whole affair, but there is no
reason why the re-issue double album could not have rectified the
situation. Unfortunately this was not done and to this day no
musician credits appear on the sleeve.

For my own part, among my usual efforts, I took the time to
write a letter, under an assumed name, to M.M. saying how great
the album was. Dishonest ? Not really, but I felt I had to do
all I could personally manage to help sell the record. At the
time I had no financial stake, and when the letter was published
I allowed myself a private smile.

All in all, the initial sales and reaction were sufficient
to justify sanctioning a second solo album. The first session
took place as early as 26th Feb., and the following day Syd made
four songs as demos only, in stereo only, not multi track. They
were 'Wolfpack', 'Waving My Arms In The Air', 'Living Alone' and
a track that has since been the subject of much speculation
'Dylan Blues'. David Gilmour is credited, on the recording
sheet, as having taken the tape with him at the end of the
session. I am sure Syd's fans would love to hear those four
demos to compare them with the versions released on 'Barrett',
but above all, the 'Dylan Blues' is the most tantalising! I
often wonder if Dave still has the tape. Still, that's another
story!!

************

_SYD_BARRETT_RECORDING_SESSIONS_

Below is a documentation of all Syd Barrett solo recording
sessions for 'The Madcap Laughs'. It includes the 1968 sessions
supervised by Peter Jenner, none of which were issued with the
exception of a small part of 'Late Night' (see album breakdown on
page 17, where details of take numbers are also listed).

A: _PRODUCED_BY_PETER_JENNER_

6/5/68 Silas Lang : not issued (Later re-titled 'Swan Lee')
Late Night ; not issued Version 1. Probably erased
when re-recorded 21/5/68

14/5/68 Rhamadan : not issued
Lanky Part 1. not issued
Lanky Part 2. not issued
Golden Hair version 1. not issued

21/5/68 Late Night version 2. Partly used for L.P.
Silas Lang (contd)(note 1) not issued

28/5/68 Golden Hair version 1. Contd. not issued
Swan Lee contd. not issued
Rhamadan contd. not issued

8/6/68 Swan Lee contd. not issued

20/6/68 Swan Lee contd. not issued
Late Night version 2 contd. (see 21/5/68 note)
Golden Hair version 1 contd. not issued

20/7/68 Clowns And Jugglers (later re-titled 'Octopus')
version 1 (this session produced by Syd alone)
not issued

B: _PRODUCED_BY_MALCOLM_JONES_

10/4/69 Swan Lee contd. not issued
Clowns And Jugglers version 1 contd. not issued

11/4/69 Opel : not issued
Love You version 1 (fast) not issued
Love You version 2 (slow) not issued
Love You (take 4) issued version (see note 2)
It's No Good Trying
Terrapin
Late Night version 2 contd.
Golden Hair version 1 contd. not issued

17/4/69 No Man's Land
Here I Go (with Jerry Shirley, drums, and John 'Willie'
Wilson, bass).
Note 1. When an existing recording from a previous session is
continued, for example to overdub vocals, or guitars, etc., I
have put 'continued'. This means that the recording in question
is not another version.

Note 2. Naturally, any recording _without_ the note 'not issued'
is the one which appears on 'Madcap Laughs'.

23/4/69 Rhamadan contd. not issued
Motorbike effects. not issued

25/4/69 The following titles were transferred from the original 4
track masters to 8 track tape for overdubs at a later date. No
new recording was done other than on 'Love You', but it is
included as a session as it is an indication as to the songs that
Syd was planning to continue with, and Syd supervised the copying
himself.
It's No Good Trying; Terrapin; Opel; Clowns and Jugglers, Love
You, Golden Hair; Late Night; Swan Lee; Love You was overdubbed,
but as I was not present at this session I cannot specify what.
They were certainly minor additions. Items 1, 2, 5, 7, were
issued - items 3, 4, 6, 8 were not, although items 4, 6 were re-
recorded later and issued.

3/5/69 Love You contd.
It's No Good Trying, contd
Clowns And Jugglers contd not issued
Note: on this session, the Soft Machine (Mike
Ratledge, keyboards; Robert Wyatt, drums; Hugh
Hopper, bass) overdubbed backings.

4/5/69 It's No Good Trying, contd.
Terrapin contd.
No Mans Land contd

C: _PRODUCED_BY_DAVE_GILMOUR_AND_ROGER WATERS_

12/6/69 Octopus version 2. not issued (for clarification, see
note 1)
Golden Hair version 2. (note 2)
Octopus version 3 (Note 3)
Dark Globe version 1 (issued)
Long Gone version 1 not issued
Dark Globe version 2 not issued

Note: the recording sheet lists Syd and Dave Gilmour as
producers, with no reference to Roger Waters.

Note 1. 'OCTOPUS' (also known as 'Clowns and Jugglers' in its
early versions). Syd made this song on two separate occasions.
Syd produced the original backing track to the first version
(20/7/68) which I overdubbed with the Soft Machine (3/5/69).
This version was never issued and the version made on this
session (12/6/69), produced by Dave Gilmour, is the issued one.
In fact, Octopus was attempted twice on this session. The first,
producing two complete takes, was abandoned, and after 'Golden
Hair' was successfully completed, Syd had another go at
'Octopus', this time making the successful version that was
issued on the album. In all, then, there were four completed
versions of the song! Syd started one which I completed (vocals,
and later, the Soft Machine), and Dave Gilmour made two versions
(three takes), making four in all.

Note 2: for clarity, this is the issued version

Note 3; for clarity, this is the issued version

13/6/69 Octopus version 3 contd.

26/7/69 She Took A Long Cold Look, version 1, not issued
Long Gone, version 2
Wouldn't You Miss Me (incorrect announcement for Dark
Globe re-make, version 3) not issued
She Took A Long Cold Look, version 2
Feel
If It's In You

_MIXING_SESSIONS_FROM_MULTITRACK_TO_STEREO_MASTER_

The mixing of the album was accomplished in two days, in a total
of three sessions by Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters.

Long Gone, She Took A Long Cold Look, Feel, If It's In You and
Octopus were all mixed in a morning session on August 5th by Dave
and Roger.

Golden Hair, Dark Globe and Terrapin were mixed in a similar
three hour session in the afternoon of the same day.

The remaining tracks, all my productions, were mixed by Dave
alone on September 16th. The splicing together of the album,
including the sequencing of the running order, was done by Dave
and Syd on October 6th.

"_THE_MADCAP_LAUGHS_"

What follows is a rundown, track by track, of the album as it
finally appeared, listing the recording dates of the tracks that
were finally used. Alternative recorded versions, takes, etc.,
appear elsewhere in the booklet.

* Produced by the author
** ditto, with assistance from Peter Jenner

_SIDE_ONE_

* 1. TERRAPIN
April 11th '69 take 1. Guitar and voice (both double tracked)
May 4th '69. Lead guitar overdubbed.

* 2. NO GOOD TRYING
April 11th '69 take 3. Guitar and voice
May 3rd., '69 Organ, bass, drums overdubbed (Soft Machine)
May 4th., '69 Syd's backwards guitar par overdubbed.

* 3. LOVE YOU
April 11th '69 take 4. Guitar and voice
May 3rd '69 Piano, bass, drums, overdubbed (Soft Machine)

* 4. NO MANS LAND Syd, plus Jerry Shirley, drums, John 'Willie'
Wilson, bass
April 17th '69 take 5. (Bass, vocals re-made later on same
session)
May 4th '69 Syd overdubbed lead guitar.

5. DARK GLOBE
June 12th '69 take 2 Guitar and voice.

* 6. HERE I GO
April 17th '69 take 5 Syd, voice / guitar plus Jerry
Shirley, drums, John 'Willie' Wilson,
bass. Recorded 'live'.

_SIDE_TWO_

1. OCTOPUS
June 12th '69 take 11. Guitar and voice
June 12th '69 elec. gtr., bass, drums overdubbed (Shirley,
Gilmour, Syd,)

2. GOLDEN HAIR
June 12th '69 take 11. Guitar, voice. Vocal, vibes, organ,
cymbals overdubbed after (Rick Wright?
plus unknown cymbals, maybe Shirley ?)

3. LONG GONE
July 26th '69 take 1 Guitar and voice. Organ overdubbed
later with second vocal.

4. SHE TOOK A LONG COLD LOOK
July 26th '69 take 5 Guitar and voice.

5. FEEL
July 26th '69 take 1 Guitar and voice

6. IF IT'S IN YOU
July 26th '69 take 5 Guitar and voice

**7. LATE NIGHT
May 21st '68 take 2 Backing track; (unknown musicians)
April 11th '69 Vocals and guitar overdubbed.

_PINK_FLOYD_RECORDINGS_1967/8_

E.M.I., "the greatest recording organisation in the world", had
the most comprehensive and sophisticated studios in London at the
time, having been responsible for a massive proportion of
British-made pop hits (and classics) of the last thirty years. I
have referred elsewhere to the impressive technical back-up that
Abbey Road studios offer to artists recording there and the Fort-
Knox like tape library facilities are as impressive. Tapes and
sessions were filed and cross indexed, originally on 'Artists
cards', today on microfilm. Below is a listing of Pink Floyd
masters originally held at Abbey Road or at various other
locations in and around London. I stress 'originally' because
many of the 4 and 8 track masters have probably been disposed of
one acceptable mono and stereo mixes had been completed. As most
of the recordings listed below were made before I joined E.M.I. I
cannot specify with any degree of accuracy which tapes are the
ones released and which are alternate, unissued takes. I have
given as many guidelines as possible to allow the reader to judge
for himself which are the released versions, and comparison with
the gig sheets will probably be helpful.

In 1967 the EMI studios were 4 track. For the uninitiated,
that means that artists were able to record four instruments or
groups of instruments completely independently, either together
or at separate times, and to combine them in whatever sound
balance was desirable at a later date. Any track, or group of
tracks, could be re-recorded while leaving the others intact. A
backing track could be recorded, say on two tracks, while the
remaining two could be reserved for several attempts later for
lead vocal and, say, guitar solo. Today, 24 and 32 tracks are
more common, although 'Sgt Pepper' was done on 4!!

If more than 4 tracks were required, then once four had been
filled they could be mixed together onto a second machine, either
onto one track leaving three empty ones, or in stereo, allowing
two more tracks to be completed. This was known as a "four to
four" or 4 - 4, and the Beatles certainly used this for 'Sgt
Pepper'. It was possible to do this a couple of times without
any significant loss of tape quality, and it follows that in this
process several 4 track masters would accumulate. The reader
should not assume, therefore, that when a title appears several
times on 4 track tapes that there are several different versions
of the same song. A later tape is most likely a continuation of
the same recording, representing later overdubs onto the same
original take.

I would like to amplify the point made earlier that the
majority of the 4 track masters will, by now, have been disposed
of. Multi-track masters on inch wide tape are extremely bulky to
store, and very costly at that. Once a stereo mix was done, a
period of time was waited and the four track tapes were erased.
In some cases, such as the Beatles, they were retained, and maybe
some later Floyd tapes were kept also, but it is unlikely. 4
track tapes were originally kept for future quad releases, but in
view of the demise of that medium it is unlikely any still exist.
Please do not write to EMI asking them to issue titles you see
here. They almost certainly no longer exist, and what the Floyd
rejected then would still today meet with the same rejection!

EMI did not work on a 'matrix' or 'master' number system in
the studios. Matrix numbers, as the term implies, were used at
the factory level to identify stampers for issued records. And
in view of the huge amounts of approved-for-release 'masters',
they were identified, not individually, but by the composite reel
on which they appeared. Anyone wishing to locate, say, 'Shaking
All Over' by Johnny Kidd would locate the tape reel under 'K'
and, when the reel was in their hand, it would be easy to locate
the title desired. In this manner EMI kept the numbering system
to a quarter of what it otherwise could have been. If more than
one take was retained on this master reel then the approved
master was identified.

On every recording session the tape operator (as opposed to
the balance engineer who was his 'superior') would note down, not
only on the tape box but also on a 'Recording Sheet' details of
each title recorded, which takes were false starts, which takes
were completed, which takes were approved and which, eventually,
was the agreed 'master'. It is these sheets which, as producers
for Syd, I kept and have used for the section relating to 'The
Madcap Laughs'.

Before each session commenced there would be an ample
quantity of tape, each with a sticker identifying what was, for
the moment, blank tape, with a number. This 'reel number' was
eventually used to identify the tape in the library, and
generally those were used in numerical sequence. Occasionally,
of course, they would be used a little out of sequence, and it is
therefore important that the reader does not assume that any tape
with a lower number than another was necessarily recorded first,
although in most cases that was true. For example: tape numbers
63934 and 63951 both relate to the session dated 11.4.67.

4 and 8 track tapes are shown generally as 4T and 8T.
Without this a tape can be assumed to be stereo, or rarely, in
the Pink Floyd's case, mono.

Generally speaking, the dates noted are the dates of the
actual session. Finished tapes were left for collection by the
library staff who generally did this each day. EMI was
reluctant, with so much valuable material lying around and so
many unknown visitors, to leave masters in studio racks. When
the tape arrived at the library it was logged with the date with
a cross check against the session details. As there was also a
session sheet it can be relied on as accurate for 99.9% of the
time. Sometimes a tape, completed at, say, 2 in the morning
after the library was locked up for the night, would be left in
the studio, especially if it was required for further work on the
next day. But even then, the library would enter into their
files the date on either the tape box itself or on the recording
sheet. One exception, for example, is 'Corporal Clegg'. The 4
track master was filed on 7/2/68 whereas the stereo mix from that
tape was dated earlier, on 31/1/68 and 1/2/68.

Finally, I must emphasise that this is only a listing of
tapes filed, and not of sessions. As the two coincide it may be
assumed that for the greater part it is a session listing also.
HOWEVER - when work was done on an existing tape, no new tape
would be resultant and therefore the tape library would not list
it. I am, 'though, fairly sure that most Floyd sessions resulted
in at least one new tape being recorded and therefore logged into
the library. With the exception of the odd overdub onto an
existing 4 track master I feel fairly sure that all that was
handed into the library did, indeed, represent a Pink Floyd
studio session.

Thanks, Abbey Road, you're the B E S T !!!

_PINK_FLOYD_MASTERS_1967-1968_

Several early Pink Floyd masters were made, not at EMI, but at
Sound Techniques Studios in Chelsea. Arnold Layne / Candy and A
Currant Bun were certainly recorded there, and Rick Wright, in
'Beat Instrumental' of September 1967 stated that 'See Emily
Play' was also made there. It also seems that all recordings up
to the middle of March may have been made outside Abbey Road.

21/22 2/67 Matildas Mother 63417-4T (Note 1)
23/2/67 Matildas Mother 63409 (note 2)

27/2/67 Candy And A Currant Bun (Note 3)
Arnold Layne (2 takes) 7X[CA] 27877 (note 4)
Chapter 24 63428-4T
Interstellar Overdrive 63429-4T

1/3/67 Chapter 24 63424

15/3/67 Chapter 24 63667-4T
Interstellar Overdrive (short version)

16/3/67 Flame 63669-4T
Interstellar Overdrive (short version)

20/3/67 Take Up Thy Stethoscope 63673-4T
The Gnome

20/3/67 Take Up Thy Stethoscope 63676-4T
The Scarecrow
Power Toc H

21/3/67 Power Toc H 67678-4T

22/3/67 [Interstellar Overdrive] [ ]

29/3/67 The Gnome 63692
Power Toc H
The Scarecrow
Take Up Thy Stethoscope and walk

11/4/67 Astronomy Domine 63934-4T

11/4/67 Astronomy Domine 63935-4T

11/4/67 Percy the Ratcatcher 63951-4T

17/4/67 Astronomy Domine 63952

18/4/67 Astronomy Domine 63953

18/4/67 She Was a Millionaire 63954-4T
Lucifer Sam (originally called Percy the Ratcatcher)

Note (1) Titles here are as they appear in the original files,
not as they became on release.

Note (2) Tape numbers with no 4T suffix are stereo or mono
mixdowns.

Note (3) Not issued. There is no tape number in the files.

Without definite information it is impossible to state
categorically which of the above tapes are different takes of the
same title or simply continued progress on the same basic
recording. I have refrained from guessing!

18/4/67 Lucifer Sam 63955-4T
Crossfades with Interstellar Overdrive
and the Bike Song (Note 1)

21/5/67 The Bike Song 64402-4T

23/5/67 See Emily Play (Note 2) 7XCA 30214

1/6/67 Lucifer Sam 64571
The Bike Song

5/6/67 Chapter 24 63956

7/6/67 Matilda's Mother 64532-4T
Chapter 24
Flaming

27/6/67 Flaming 65057-4T

29/6/67 The Bike Song 65094
Flaming
Matilda Mother (correct title used for first time)
Wondering and Dreaming (most likely Matilda Mother)
Sunshine
Lucifer Sam

3/7/67 The Bike Song 63956 (same reel
as 5/6/67)

5/7/67 Astronomy Domine 64109
Lucifer Sam

13/7/67 The original running order for 'Piper At the Gates of
Dawn' is partly indicated by the library notation for
the assembled album, done on July 13th. The library
card indicated "Side One - Astronomy Domine [etc.] - 5
titles (there were 6) Side Two - Take Up Thy
Stethoscope etc - 5 titles. Interstellar Overdrive,
not Take up.. was the eventual opener for side two,
and another, unspecified title was added to side one
to make up six songs. The library card places the
L.P. matrix numbers against the above tape, although
the one that follows (18/7/67) is the correct running
order, and therefore the true L.P. master.

18/7/67 Interstellar Overdrive, The Gnome, Chapter 24,
The Scarecrow, Bike 64925

18/7/67 Astronomy Domine, Lucifer Sam, Matilda's Mother, Power
Toc H, Take Up Thy Stethoscope, Flaming. 65106
(Flaming was eventually put as track 4, moving Pow R
Toc H and Take Up Thy Stethoscope down one slot each).

Note (1) As the titles do not appear together on the album, it
can be assumed that these crossfades to join the two were
abandoned. It is interesting, though, to have an idea of the
original sequencing of 'Piper'.

Note (2) The lack of a 4 track master for this confirms Rick
Wright's contention that this track, unlike others at this time,
was made at Sound Techniques on May 21st and delivered to EMI May
23rd.

7/8/67 Scream Thy Last Scream (Note 1) 65464-4T
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

24/10/67 Jugband Blues (see note overleaf for 9/5/68)
Remember A Day (Note 2) (see note overleaf for 9/5/68)

30/10/67 Apples and Oranges 66462-4T
Apples and Oranges 66463-4T

1/11/67 Apples and Oranges (not master) 66464
Paintbox 7XC[A] 30454
Apples and Oranges (note 3) 7XCA 30453

1/11/67 Untitled 66409-4T

1/11/67 Untitled 66461-4T
Apples and Oranges

2/11/67 Untitled 66460-4T

2/11/67 Paintbox 66563-4T

15/11/67 Apples and Oranges 66771 (stereo)
Paintbox

18/1/68 Let There Be More Light 67242-4T
Rhythm tracks 67243-4T

24/5 1/68 The Most Boring Song I've Ever Heard 67378-4T
Bar Two (later re-titled See Saw)

31/1/68 The Most Boring Song I've Ever Heard 67449-4T
Bar Two

31/1/68 Corporal Clegg 67450-4T

1/2/68 Corporal Clegg 67451

7/2/68 Corporal Clegg 67509-4T

12/2/68 Corporal Clegg 67371-4T
The Boppin' Sound
It Should Be So Nice
Doreen's Dream (re-titled Julia's Dream)
Richard's Rave Up
Doreen's Dream (re-titled Julia's Dream)

13/2/68 Doreen's Dream ( " " " " )
Corporal Clegg 67375-4T

13/2/68 The Boppin' Sound 67374 (4 track to
It Should be So Nice mono)
Doreen Dream (re-titled Julia's Dream)

15/2/68 Corporal Clegg 67544 (4 track to
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun mono)

Note (1) The version I have heard of this, to my ears, seems not
to feature Syd on lead vocal, although he does seem to sing a
line some way into the song.

Note (2) There is no 4 Track tape under this title; it is
possible that it is 'Sunshine' (see 29/6/67), left over from the
first album. This tape seems to be the projected, but canceled,
single, replaced by Apples & Oranges.

Note (3) The issued single

5/3/68 It Would Be So Nice 67818-4T

13/3/68 It Would Be So Nice 68025-4T

21/3/68 It Would Be So Nice 68044-4T
It Would Be So Nice 7XCA 32[0]56

23/3/68 Julia Dream 7XCA 32057

5/4/68 Nick's Boogie 1st, 2nd and 3rd Movt. 68268-4T

10/4/68 Nick's Boogie 1st, 2nd movt. 68241

23/4/68 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Let There Be More Light 68399
Nick's Boogie 3rd Movt (transferred to tape 68552,
below)
22/4/68 The Most Boring Song etc (See Saw) 68519

23/4/68 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

24/4/68 Nick's Boogie 1st, 2nd and 3rd movts.68552 (note 1)

26/4/68 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
See Saw 68562 (stereo)

26/4/68 Let There Be More Light 68563 (stereo)

30/4/68 Corporal Clegg 68569 (stereo)
Nick's Boogie (see note 1; this must have been meant
to replace the mix of 24/4/68)

2/5/68 Let There Be More Light 68574 (stereo)
(presumably this stereo mix replaced that of 26/4/68)
Set The Controls

3/5/68 See Saw 68576

5/5/68 In The Beechwoods 68409-4T
No Title
Vegetable Man
Instrumental 68410-4T
In The Beechwoods

6/5/68 Untitled 68411-4T

The above titles seem to have been recorded at Sound Techniques
(i.e. those recorded on June 5th and 6th.)

Note (1) This track is noted in the files as having been cut out
and inserted into the album master. As Nick Mason wrote none of
the songs (at least, according to the record itself), it is
possible that this was excluded from the album or included, under
another title, with credit to another member of the group as the
true composer.

9/5/68 The following session possibly took place outside
Abbey Road, probably at Sound Techniques. My reasons
for this assumption are as follows. The 4 track
masters are on 1/2 inch tape, which EMI did not use.
Secondly, Jug Band Blues was filed in mono on
24/10/67, although there was no previous record in the
files of a 4 track tape. It is likely, therefore,
that the mono mix was received at EMI (originally for
single release) and that the 4 track followed later on
this master reel the following May. There was
similarly no 4 track for 'Remember A Day', although,
_if_ this was re-titled from the original 'Sunshine',
there was a 4 track.

Remember A Day 68412-4T 1/2 inch
Remember A Day 68413 4T 1/2 inch
Jug Band Blues
Vegetable Man
Remember A Day 68414-4T 1/2 inch

Jug Band Blues 68415-4T 1/2 inch
John Latham 68416-4T 1/2 inch

Remember A Day (mono re-mix) not used
Jug Band Blues (used for mono L.P.) 68417
Remember A Day (reject mono mix) 68418

Remember A Day (mono L.P. mix)
Jug Band Blues (stereo mix)
Remember A Day (stereo L.P. mix)

15/5/68 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' assembled mono L.P. from
previous mono mixes

16/5/68 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' assembled stereo L.P. from
previous mixes

Syd Barrett does not appear on many of the above titles, although
his original contributions may have been replaced. He certainly
appears on Jug Band Blues and Remember A Day. He has been
variously credited with playing on 'Let There Be More Light',
'Corporal Clegg' (both of which seem unlikely), Set The Controls,
(recorded originally shortly after the release of 'Piper' and
there is no trace in the files of a later multi-track tape to
replace the original). This latter track seems most likely,
looking at the date of its first recording, to have featured Syd,
although aurally it seems unlikely. Rick Sanders also states
that Syd is on See Saw, which is, at least, in the style of Syd's
early Floyd material.

Syd officially left the Floyd in early April, 1968, although
relations with the rest of the group had been strained for six
months or so. He did not appear on It Would Be So Nice, recorded
in early March, and it is fairly safe to assume he did not record
with them after that. This would rule out his playing on any
tracks commenced after that date; [ ] .................the
difficult tracks are those filed with dates of 5/5/68. Syd
certainly sang Vegetable Man. As they were probably recorded at
Sound Techniques the date of 5/5/68 may simply refer to the date
when EMI received them, indicating an earlier recording date.
With no more reliable information, the individual listener must
use his own aural judgement!

_PINK_FLOYD_DATE_SHEETS_

_1966_
Sept 30th London free school
Oct 14 All Saints' Hall, London
Oct 15 International times launch party
Oct 23 All Saints' Hall
Oct 29 All Saints' Hall
Oct 31 Demo session - Thompson Recording Ltd.
Nov 4 All Saints'
Nov 5 Wilton Hall, Bletchley
Nov 8 All Saints'
Nov 15 All Saints'
Nov 18 Hernsey Art College
Nov 19 Canterbury tech.
Nov 22 All Saints
Nov 29 All Saints
Dec 3 Roundhouse (anti Ian Smith gig)
Dec 9 Marquee
Dec 12 Albert Hall Oxfam charity gig
Dec 22 Marquee
Dec 23 UFO club, London, plus Roundhouse all nighter
Dec 24 UFO
Dec 29 Marquee
Dec 31 Roundhouse all nighter

_1967_
Jan 5 Marquee
Jan 6 Seymour Hall 'freakout'
Jan 8 Upper Cut, Forest Gate
Jan 9 Rehearsal
Jan 11 Sound techniques studio (see note 1)
Jan 13 UFO
Jan 14 Reading University
Jan 16 ICA
Jan 17 Commonwealth Institute
Jan 19 Marquee
Jan 20 UFO
Jan 21 Birdcage, Portsmouth
Jan 22 Rehearsal
Jan 23-25 Sound Techniques Studio (see note 1)
Jan 26 Rehearsal
Jan 27 UFO
Jan 28 Essex University
Jan 29 Sound Techniques
Jan 30 Photo rehearsal (this probably means photo session
and music rehearsal!)
Jan 31 Sound Techniques Studio

Notes: 1) The date on the EMI tape library card gives Feb 21st as
the first date allocated to any masters. The date for Arnold
Layne, then, generally given as 27/2/67 may well be the date EMI
logged the master, and this may not be the actual date of
recording. Nick Mason's sheet gives 21/2/67 as 'EMI' (studios
and in all 6 days were spent at Sound Tech before 27/2/67 !) The
above information comes courtesy of Bernard White, Nick Mason,
with occasional help from the salutory work of Rick Sanders
('Pink Floyd' - Futura)

Feb 1 Sound Techniques
Feb 2 Cadenna's, Gu[i]ldford
Feb 3 Queen's Hall, Leeds
Feb 6 'Jackie' photo session
Feb 7 'Fabulous' photo session
Feb 8 Rehearsal
Feb 9 Addington Hotel, Croydon
Feb 10 Leicester
Feb 11 Sussex University
Feb 13 Photo Session
Feb 16 Southampton Guildhall
Feb 17 Cambridge Dorothy Ballroom
Feb 18 California Ballroom, Dunstable
Feb 20 West Bromwich Adelphi Ballroom
Feb 21 E.M.I. (probably an Abbey Road session, to record
'Matilda Mother' their first EMI session). Feb 27th
is usually the date given for the 'Arnold Layne'
session at Sound Techniques studio. I suspect in
view of the fact that already 6 days had been spent
in the studio that this is erroneous (the date comes
from the EMI files) and that this is the date when
EMI _received_ the tape from Sound Techniques. It
was probably recorded earlier in the month. The date
of Feb 27th does not appear on Nick Mason's sheet at
all!)
Feb 28 Blaises, London
March 1 Eel Pie Island
March 2 Worthing
Mar 3 St Albans and UFO
Mar 4 Regent St Poly (Rag Ball)
Mar 5 Saville Theatre, London
Mar 6 Granada T.V., Manchester
Mar 7 Malvern
Mar 9 Marquee
Mar 10 UFO
Mar 11 Canterbury
Mar 12 Camberley
Mar 14, 15, 16 (Mar 14 not noted in EMI files)
Mar 17 Kingston Tech
Mar 18 Enfield
Mar 19 - 22 (Mar 19 not noted in EMI files).
Mar 23 Rotherham
Mar 24 Ric Tic Club, Hounslow
Mar 25 Windsor
Mar 26 Bognor Regis
Mar 26/7 EMI. The Bognor date may have meant the cancelling
of the Mar 26 EMI date.
Mar 28 Bristol
Mar 29 Eel Pie Island
Mar 30 Ross-on-Wye
April 1 EMI reception; Portsmouth Birdcage
April 3 BBC (Mon-Thurs)
April 6 Salisbury
April 7 Belfast
April 8 Bishops Stortford; Roundhouse
April 9 Nottingham
April 10 Bath
April 11 EMI
April 12 EMI
April 13 Tilbury
April 15 Brighton
April 16 Bethnal Green
April 17, 18 EMI
April 19 Bromley
April 20 Barnstable
April 21 Greenford; UFO
April 22 Rugby
April 23 Crawley Starlite
April 24 Ealing Feathers
April 25 Oxford
April 28 Stockport
April 29 Holland Ally Pally
April 30 Huddersfield

May 3 Ainsdale (Southport)
May 4 Coventry
May 6 Leeds Kitson Hall
May 7 Sheffield
May 12 Queen Elizabeth Hall, London ('Games For May')
May 13 Hinkley
May 14 BBC Look of the Week
May 18 Sound Techniques studio
May 19 Newcastle
May 20 Southport
May 21 Sound Techniques; Brighton
May 23 High Wycomb
May 25 Abergavenny
May 26 Blackpool
May 27 Nantwich
May 28 Spalding
'See Emily Play' recorded May 21 and delivered to EMI on May 23rd

June 2 UFO
June 9 Hull
June 10 Lowestoft; UFO
June 13 Ealing
June 16 Tiles
June 17 Margate
June 18 Brands Hatch
June 20 Oxford
June 21 Bolton
June 22 Bradford
June 23 Derby
June 24 Bedford
June 26 Coventry / Warwick University
June 28 Eel Pie Island.

July 1 Birmingham, Swan (Yardley)
July 2 Birmingham Civic hall
July 3 Bath ?
July 5 Eel Pie Island
July 6 Top Of The Pops recording
July 7 Portsmouth
July 8 Norwich Memorial Hall
July 9 Roundhouse (BBC TV)
July 15 Stowmarket
July 16 Redcar
July 17 ITV recording
July 18 Isle of Man
July 19 Great Yarmouth (Floral Hall)
July 20 Elgin (Red Shoes Pub)
July 21 Nairn
July 22 Aberdeen
July 23 Carlisle (Cosmopolitan Ballroom)
July 27 Top Of The Pops
July 28 BBC Saturday Club
July 29 Dereham / Ally Pally
July 31 Torquay

August 1, 2 German T.V.
August 7, 8, EMI
August 15, 16 Sound Techniques Studio

September 1 Roundhouse
Sept 2 UFO
Sept 5,6, Sound Techniques
Sept 9 Copenhagen (press)
Sept 10 Copenhagen Star Club
Sept 11 Copenhagen
Sept 12 Arhus ?
Sept 13 Stockholm
Sept 15 Belfast, Starlight Ballroom
Sept 16 Ballymena, Flamingo
Sept 17 Cork, Arcadia Ballroom
Sept 21 Worthing
Sept 22 Tiles
Sept 23 Chelmsford Corn Exchange
Sept 27 Leicester 5th Dimension
Sept 28 Hull, Skyline Club
Sept 30 Nelson, Imperial Club

October 1 Saville Theatre
Oct 2 Photo session
Oct 5, 6 Sound Techniques Studio / Brighton
Oct 7 Bristol Victoria Rooms
Oct 9-12 EMI (may have been cancelled)
Oct 12 Rotterdam
Oct 13 Weymouth Pavilion
Oct 14 Bedford, Caesars
Oct 16 or 17 Bath Pavilion
Oct 20,21 De Lane Lea studios
Oct 22 York

For the rest of October the Floyd were
in the USA on their first tour.

November 12 Rotterdam
Nov 14 Royal Albert Hall (with Hendrix, Move, Amen Corner)
Nov 15 Bournemouth, as above
Nov 16 Sheffield, as above

December 9 Oz (magazine interview)
Dec 13 Redruth
Dec 14 Bournemouth
Dec 15 Middle Earth
Dec 16 Ritz; Birmingham
Dec 17 BBC
Dec 20 Top Gear
Dec 21 Speakeasy
Dec 22 Olympia Christmas Show

_1968_

Jan 8,9, Rehearsals
Jan 10,11 EMI
Jan 12 Aston University
Jan 13 Weston-super-mare
Jan 15,16 Rehearsals
Jan 17,18 EMI

February 1 EMI
Feb 6 Rehearsals
Feb 10 Nelson
Feb 11 Top Gear, BBC.
Feb 16 Pontypool
Feb 17 Pushing
Feb 18,19 Brussels TV (Dave Gilmour now with the group
announcement)
Feb 20,21 Paris TV

March 4 Vanessa Redgrave party!
March 5 EMI ('It Would Be So Nice')
March 9 Manchester Tech
March 12 EMI
March 14 Belfast
March 16 Hampton Court / Middle Earth
March 17 Belgium

April 1,2 EMI
April 6. Syd's departure from the Floyd was announced around
this time, although it is likely that he did not participate in
most of the activities on this page to any great extent. I have
overlapped on this date sheet in the same manner as I did on the
recording session files for much the same reasons. Some of the
tapes with dates as late as May, such as those recorded some time
before at Sound Techniques but not delivered until much later,
did feature Syd. They were probably called for by EMI so that
they could get hold of Jugband Blues which was needed for
'Saucer', being assembled in the running order for release the
next month (June).

I have refrained from making notes in this date sheet
linking recording dates with the EMI files. In leaving this to
the reader I will suggest that, when a studio other than EMI is
listed and no date appears in the session file, then if a date
follows shortly after in the session lists, it may be supposed
that these are the titles, if any, recorded. It is always a
possibility, that studio dates listed in this date sheet could
have been cancelled in order to fulfil an important club
booking, and the studio dates replaced later!

(signed)
Malcolm Jones

*********************************************
*****************************************
*************************************
*********************************
*****************************
*************************
*********************
*****************
*************
*********
*****
*

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads for Syd Barrett - The Making of The Madcap Laughs, Floyd Recording Sessions and Gigs
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Welcome to the Machine - the story of Pink Floyd's live sound: part 3	The Piper	Articles	0	06-04-2002 09:42 PM
Syd Barrett: Careening through life...	The Piper	Articles	0	06-04-2002 09:09 PM

Syd Barrett - The Making of The Madcap Laughs, Floyd Recording Sessions and Gigs

Articles