Pink Floyd: Another Check on my List.

When I was 12 I owned four Pink Floyd albums. I wasn't sure why, but I had them. I listened to them, and I liked them, and that was essentially all that mattered. I had no idea that there were somewhere near 26 recorded products by the band. I didn't know anything about the members. I didn't understand the ideas of musique concr`ete. I didn't really get the point to a concept album. I was just amazed that a band could make an album with two tracks clocking in at a combined 26 minutes that I could listen to in succession and be absolutely captivated for the entire time. Even more fascinating is the fact that an entire album could sync up perfectly with a movie and then the creators of said album could deny the fact that they made any effort to do such a thing.

When I was 12, someone much older than me saw my four Pink Floyd albums and made the statement that Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett left was hardly Pink Floyd. I had no idea who Syd Barrett was and agreed because 12 year olds that deny you are so much less cool than 12 year olds that agree with you. Eight years later I would like to say that I firmly disagree with his statement and my own.

I've done some research. This means reading some reviews and personal accounts and watching videos and so on and so forth. I have, from this, determined that Syd Barrett may have been the most creative and inspired member of the band. I will even grant that he was the most important and influential member of the band, but this has nothing to do with his work with the band.

Three of Pink Floyd's best and most critically acclaimed albums (and three of the four I actually own) are Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals. These albums were recorded and released in this same order. Dark Side of the Moon was released in March of '73. Syd left (or was removed --- I can't seem to find conclusive evidence either way) in '68.

Syd's departure from the band was attributed primarily to the fact that he was insane. This was a combination of preexisting mental problems (Syd was always sort of charismatic, apparently. But, you know, in the crazy person kind of way), and his recreational use of LSD after Pink Floyd's initial success. The Dark Side of the Moon is primarily about mental illness, hospitalization, the frailty of the human psyche, and the human condition. It would be nieve to believe that the leaving of Barrett had no influence on Roger Watters, who was a major creative force in the band, as he and Barrett had been childhood friends. In recent years and interview was published in Rolling Stone with guitarist David Gilmour. He suggested that a large part of their lyrics had been too indirect in the past, and they [then] should be more candid in their song writing. He suggested they discuss the hardships of their way of life, particularly the effects it had on their friend Syd.

September of '75 brought another release, Wish You Were Here. This album was written primarily by Waters. The album stemmed from some demo ideas such as "Raving and Drooling" , and "Gotta Be Crazy" and what would eventually become "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". These tracks were turned into an album's skeleton work by Waters, who felt the band lacked the comradery they once felt while Barrett was still a contributing member. The meandering preamble to the the lyrical body of "Shine On...(I-V)" is alegedly an homage to the progressively improvisational style Barrett was so much admired for in the early days of Pink Floyd. Moreover, the lyrics seem to reflect Barrett's situation, stating "Remember when you were young, and you shone like the sun?... Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky."

The irony of this, of course, is that during the finalizing of the tracks for "Shine On", a strange, over-weight man with a pale face and shaved head and eyebrows (an image which would later be used in "The Wall") entered the studio. He inquired about Waters, and was after a few moments was discovered as Syd Barrett himself. This was the cause of great distress to many of the present members, especially Waters, who reportedly wept at the sight of his former friend and fellow musician. This was the first anyone had seen of Barrett in seven years. They sat, talked, and even asked Barrett to critique the tracks for "Shine On". He was ultimately unaware of the song's relationship to his then current state, which had been finished musically as well as lyrically. According to Waters, Barrett stayed and conversed with the band for several hours, but never seemed himself, or entirely there. This would be the last time anyone would see Barrett before his death in 2006. The title track for this album, "Wish You Were Here" expresses the longingness for the return of the once vibrant, creative being that was Barrett, and juxtaposes his absence with the idealist, romanticized nature of Waters.

In January of '77, Animals was released. This album featured the two tracks "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy" reworked and renamed as "Sheep" and "Dogs", respectively. This album marked the turning away from psychedelic marketing, discussing primarily Orwell's "Animal Farm". The band, disillusioned to psychadellia by the state of Barrett, moved to a downtrodden area of Islington, known for its crime rate and racial tension. The hope of the band was to return to the scene which birthed them. During this era, Waters embraced what he called the "punk rock insurrection" and began working on the next album and the attached film "The Wall". Some cite the former relationship between Barrett and Waters as the catalyst for the more vulgar style adopted while writing the following albums .

I have 4 percent left of my battery. I think, though, that it is apparent my stance. Syd Barrett was possibly the most important part of Pink Floyd; gaining them notice, writing all of their preliminary material, and inspiring them all to create more extravagant works. Even so, the best thing Barrett could do for the band was lose his mind --- and so he did. Pink Floyd was most definitely not the same after Syd Barrett, but I think we're looking at this from two completely different perspectives.