Syd Barrett: An Introduction to Syd Barrett (2LP) [LEGACY]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set gathers Barrett's Pink Floyd and solo work in new remasters and remixes overseen by David Gilmour. AllMusic and PopMatters both gave it four and a half stars.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Storm Thorgerson cover art

About the album

Syd Barrett was musically active for just over ten years, and his recording career was even shorter, yet he co-founded Pink Floyd, fronted their first three singles and their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and made two of the most singular solo albums of the era. This 2010 collection is the friendliest front door into all of it, overseen by his old bandmate David Gilmour.

The Pink Floyd side covers "Arnold Layne," "See Emily Play" and "Apples and Oranges," an alternative version of "Matilda Mother," "Chapter 24" and the gloriously odd "Bike." Then come the solo years: "Terrapin," "Love You" and "Dark Globe" from The Madcap Laughs, "Baby Lemonade" and "Gigolo Aunt" from Barrett, and "Octopus," his whimsical, tumbling first solo single. The songs move from playful nursery-rhyme psychedelia to fragile, close-up acoustic pieces, and Storm Thorgerson, the band's longtime visual collaborator, designed the cover.

Pink Floyd paid tribute to Barrett for years afterwards, most famously in "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." For the 2010 versions of "Here I Go," "Octopus," "She Took a Long Cool Look" and "Dominoes," Gilmour added fresh bass parts, which makes him roughly forty years late for the session and very welcome all the same.

Also at Kops: more Syd Barrett on vinyl · browse Rock

Listen

On Legacy, a reissue of the 2010 compilation.