The Madcap Laughs is the debut solo album by the English singer-songwriter Syd Barrett. It was recorded after Barrett had left Pink Floyd in April 1968. The album had a lengthy recording history, with work beginning in May 1968, but the bulk of the sessions taking place between April and July 1969, for which five different producers were credited including Barrett himself, Peter Jenner (1968 sessions), Malcolm Jones (early-to-mid-1969 sessions), and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Roger Waters (mid-1969 sessions). Among the guest musicians are Willie Wilson from Gilmour's old band Jokers Wild and several members of Soft Machine.
The Madcap Laughs, released in January 1970 on Harvest in the UK but not released in the US until 1974, enjoyed limited commercial success on release, reaching number 40 on the UK's official albums chart. It was re-released in 1974 as part of Syd Barrett (which contained The Madcap Laughs and Barrett), which saw the first US issue of the two LPs. The album was remastered and reissued in 1993, along with Barrett's other albums, Barrett (1970) and Opel (1988), independently and as part of the Crazy Diamond box set. A newly remastered version was released in 2010.
Background
In the second half of 1967 and through to early 1968, when still part of Pink Floyd, Barrett's behaviour became increasingly erratic and unpredictable. Many report having seen him on stage with the group during this period, strumming on one chord through an entire concert or not playing at all. In August 1967, Pink Floyd were forced to cancel their appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, informing the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Band manager Peter Jenner and bassist Roger Waters arranged for Barrett to see a psychiatrist (an appointment he failed to attend), while a stay on the Spanish island of Formentera with Sam Hutt, a doctor well established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement in Barrett's behaviour. A few dates in September were followed by the band's first tour of the United States. At this point, Barrett's condition grew steadily worse. At a show at The Fillmore in San Francisco, during a performance of "Interstellar Overdrive", Barrett slowly detuned his guitar; the audience seemed to enjoy such antics, unaware of the rest of the band's consternation. Sometime in October, Jenner transferred tapes of "In the Beechwoods", two takes of "Vegetable Man", and a 5-minute backing track called "No Title", which Jenner hoped Barrett would finish eventually.
Around Christmas 1967, guitarist David Gilmour, an old friend of Barrett's from Cambridge, was asked by the other members of Pink Floyd to join as a second guitarist, initially not to replace Barrett, but cover for him, because his unpredictable behaviour prevented him from performing. For several shows Gilmour sang and played guitar while Barrett wandered around on stage, every now and then deciding to join in playing guitar and singing. Waters and fellow band members keyboardist Richard Wright and drummer Nick Mason soon grew weary of Barrett's on-stage antics and, on 26 January 1968, when Waters was driving his bandmates from London to a show at Southampton University, they all agreed to go without Barrett: according to Gilmour's recollection, one person asked, "Shall we pick Syd up?" and another said, "Let's not bother." Since Barrett had written or co-written 10 of the 11 songs on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, as well as the band's three singles up to this point, the original plan was to keep him in the group as a non-touring member − in a similar arrangement to what the Beach Boys had done with Brian Wilson − but this soon proved to be unworkable. At his last rehearsal with the band, he presented a new song entitled "Have You Got It Yet?", which proved to be deliberately unplayable as the others attempted to join in, until they realised the joke of the title. On 6 April, the group officially announced that Barrett was no longer a member of Pink Floyd. Upon leaving the band, Barrett said to Melody Maker: "I suppose it was really just a matter of being a little offhand about things". Nick Mason later commented on Jenner & King leaving with Barrett many years later: "Peter and Andrew clearly felt that Syd was the creative centre of the band, a reasonable point of view given our track record up until that point. Consequently, they decided to represent him rather than us." In May, Jenner led Barrett into EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios), on Abbey Road in northwest London, to record some solo material, only part of which would later appear on The Madcap Laughs. Jenner thought Barrett would like to finish the tracks that Jenner transferred the previous October; Barrett on the other hand, had other plans. An early version of "Clowns and Jugglers", involving military-style drumming and organ overdubs was included on the standard version of Opel,|group="nb" or "Lanky (Parts One and Two)". After recording had resumed in June and July, progress continued on these tracks, especially "Swan Lee", and a new, improved version of "Clowns and Jugglers" was taped at this point also. Barrett wouldn't commit to recording the track "Rhamadam" (sic) to tape properly, however.
thumbnail|left|Recording took place at EMI Studios (now [[Abbey Road Studios)]]
Malcolm Jones sessions
Jones had little difficulty in persuading his boss, Roy Featherstone, and Ron White, authoriser of EMI recordings, to allow Barrett to record with the company again. Jones also explained the rationale behind EMI letting Barrett record again: "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 ..." Barrett played him "Swan Lee", "Late Night", "Rhamadam", "Lanky (Parts One and Two)" and "Golden Hair". Of these, "Swan Lee" had no vocals, but Jones saw potential in the song; "Late Night" did have vocals and, Jones remarked, "a certain charm"; while "Golden Hair" was "great". The first track to be worked on was "Swan Lee", which received vocal overdubs and a new guitar track, and several ideas for "Clowns and Jugglers" were considered; Barrett and Jones both felt that the results were superior to the previous versions.|group="nb" After returning to the studio, they worked on "Terrapin", with Barrett requiring just a single take, Jones arrived there to find that Barrett had brought in friends of his as support musicians: The problem with this new set-up, though, was that the songs were recorded as Barrett played them live in the studio; On the morning of the 23rd, Barrett arrived at the studio with a cassette player, on which he had recorded motorbike sounds; these, he told Jones, were "all ready to [be] put onto the 'Rhamadam' four track". The selection process took up to an hour, at which point Jones started to lose faith in Barrett. The three songs were "Love You", (now dropping "It's") "No Good Trying",|group="nb" During this time, Barrett also played guitar on the sessions for Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers' debut LP, Joy of a Toy, although his performance on "Religious Experience" was not released until the album was reissued in 2003. It was around this time that Jones' involvement came to an end – during these last few sessions, Gilmour had started taking an interest in how Barrett was getting along with his album. "We had very little time," Gilmour recalled in a May 2003 interview. "Syd was very difficult, we got that very frustrated feeling: Look, it's your fucking career, mate. Why don't you get your finger out and do something? The guy was in trouble, and was a close friend for many years before then, so it really was the least one could do."
In a different interview Gilmour expanded further on the rush to complete the album:
“We were led to believe the project was going to be shelved. We were told that EMI had spent too much money on it and it was a long way from completion. An extension was negotiated on the basis that we get it finished in double-quick time. That meant not spending money. The fact that we [•••] were busy and Abbey Road’s other bookings both conspired to make the time available very short. Decisions had to be made.”
After the first session with new producers Gilmour and Waters, on 12 June, they had remade "Clowns and Jugglers" into "Octopus",|group="nb" this became Barrett's final session for over a month, they managed to record "She Took a Long Cold Look at Me",
"Octopus" was released as a single in November 1969 and The Madcap Laughs followed on 2 January 1970.