Phenomenal Cat wrote: I am actually very good friends with the loveless
That explains a lot.
Billybob Dylan wrote:Anyway, through the kindness of a poster, a copy of PATGOD is winging its way to me.
The Slider wrote:Fer fucks sake just buy a copy or cough for it. Make up your own mind.
king feeb wrote:It will be interseting to hear what you think of the "controversial" part of Madcap Laughs- the segment on the second side consisting of "She Took A Long Cold Look", "Feel" and "If It's In You". On these tracks, you can literally hear Syd breaking down, confused and unable to continue. Many folks think these tracks should not have been included, while others (including producer David Gilmour) believe that they are an important glimpse into the state of Barrett's psyche (they also demonstrate the admirable perserverance of Gilmour and Rick Wright in even getting the damn album done). I find them very tough to listen to, myself.
Rorschach wrote:Whenever we have those '10 favourite albums of all time' polls I usually put Piper first but this album and the Syd solo stuff meant too much to me in my sensitive teen period for me to ever be objective about them. In fact I sometimes feel I understand better the detractors who find stuff like The Gnome grossly twee than my fellow devotees who consider it near perfection.
So what is it that I like about it so much?
A couple of people have mentioned the guitar playing which, as Solarskope points out, doesn't usually get talked about. I just love the way he attacks his guitar on this album, especially on Take Up Thy Stethescope. He just seems to hack across the beat staggering around drunkenly as if he's going to fall over and just lose it but always manages to straighten up. It's very exciting. In fact it's positively dangerous sounding.
And then there are the lyrics. You often hear phrases like 'English whimsy' in connection with this record but that's also true of The Kinks and they really aren't similar at all.
For me, one trick Barrett's pulled off like no-one else except maybe Lewis Carroll is to talk about the magic of childhood in a way that actually manages to recapture at least an echo of the terror and beauty of innocent wonder. On Flaming and Mathilda Mother in particular with its "Dolls' house darkness, Old perfume" and "Bells to tell the king the news" I'm not exactly 6 years old again but I can identify with my childhood self and feel that scary sense of mystery.
Much as I love Mark Bolan's hippy period he never even cam close to recreating that feeling.
There's more, a lot more to the lyrics such as Scarecrow's almost Druidic take on an agrarian Britain that somehow seems like never-never land. Does anyone know whether Ian MacDonald ever did an in-depth analysis of these lyrics? I'd have thought it was right up his alley and I'd be very interested in reading it.
the loveless wrote:I think this record was wildly ahead of it's time, and unlike the Velvet Underground, has proved far more difficult to emulate. Nearly 40 years later, and it's essence has yet to effectively surface in popular music.
Nikki Gradual wrote:nathan wrote:I think it's one of the greatest rock LP's of all time. The apathy here towards it astounds me.
Correct. Absolutely correct. Stunningly correct. Well said.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.
quix wrote:If you want to really live then you have to open yourself up to love... some you'll win, some you'll lose... but what is the point if being human if you don't dare?