Two of a Kind - A Syd Barrett Timeline

Is a Pink Floyd Triple album plausible? (Information below)

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Hey, sorry about my lack of motivation to write the timeline. I'll try to proceed normally the timeline. (Also, I'm reading Mark Blake's book, really good)
 
Early 70's/1970-1975: A Requiem to the College (Part Two)

Requiem

After release his solo EP, and his last contributions to Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, revolving some boxes and packages on his house, Syd Barrett found two songs written at his college times, 'The Effervescing Elephant', a pastiche of Hilaire Belloc's, Cautionary Tales for Children, and 'Bob Dylan Blues', a tribute to Bob Dylan, written after the concert in London, seen in 1964. "I chose those songs because I thought they were good enough for me, and also something to remember my time being a simple student of the 60's, seeking to create a band. *laughs*", remembering Syd.

At the time, Syd's drug use reasonably increased. "I went to Ibiza with some friends of Cambridge, but there I was facing a trash can. My mind was very twisted.", Barrett. Ian Moore, also known as Emo, recalls of this moment: "He was in San Fernando when we recognized him, stopped like a statue, with two packages. His back was burning with the sunset.".


The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band and The short-lived Stars

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A poster of Stars.

Back again in Cambridge, Syd found his former girlfriend, Jenny Spines, now living with a musician called Jack Monck, and friend of a drummer called John Alder aka 'Twink'. Monck was member of 'Delivery', a Blues/Progressive rock band, and Twink was a former member of 'In-Crowd' (with Yes guitarist, Steve Howe), present at the UFO concerts, and the recently-former drummer of 'The Pretty Things', playing the drums in S.F. Sorrow, and with a recently released solo album. Invited to a gig, Syd appeared with a borrowed guitar and entered the stage with Twink and Monck. "I remembered of Syd sometimes at the UFO, he wasn't that bad as everyone thought.", Twink.

Some days later, Monck and Twink convinced Syd to start a new band. Unquietly, Syd accepted the offer. Under the name of Stars, the trio rehearsed and went through England, spreading out what would be the reminiscent of the psychedelia, who was on the verge of collapse. Were played tunes of Syd's solo tunes plus Twink's 'Think Pink' album. The tour served to promote Syd's eponymous EP and Alder's debut album. The tour featured a new Syd's song called 'Baby Lemonade', written in the mid-1970. One of the concerts featured the guest appearance of Kevin Ayers, playing 'Religious Experience' and 'Clowns and Jugglers', with Syd Barrett, and another with David Gilmour, playing a Pink Floyd's song, 'The Embryo'. The keyboardist Mike Ratledge joined the band as a touring musician.

During the tour, some concerts were interrupted after Barrett abruptly stopping to play his guitar. On their last gig in Cambridge, David Gilmour had to assume the guitar for a while, singing Barrett's '
Wouldn't You Miss Me?', and sharing the vocals on 'The Sparrow is a Sign' with Twink. After the tour, the supergroup disbanded, Barrett started to record another record, Twink formed Pink Fairies with The Deviants (and made a spell in Morocco), and Monck continued to work on the Canterbury scene. "The concert on Cambridge was something that... flirted between the Glam of later-Syd, and the Punk acidness of Twink. I liked that concert.", David Gilmour.

The Stars tour (late 1970/early 1971)
Set one
1. "Baby Lemonade" (Barrett)
2. "Ten Thousand Words in a Cardboard Box" (Alder)
3. "Clowns and Jugglers" (Barrett/Ayers)
4. "Tiptoe on the Highest Hill" (Alder)
5. "Medley: Fluid/Candy and a Currant Bun" (Alder/Barrett)
6. "Wouldn't You Miss Me?" (Barrett)
7. "The Sparrow is a Sign" (Took/Twink)
8. "Love Song" (Barrett)
9. "The Effervescing Elephant" (Barrett)

Encore
1. "Lucifer Sam" (Barrett)
a. "Religious Experience" (played with Kevin Ayers in London)
b. "The Embryo" (played with David Gilmour in Cambridge)


Back on Abbey Road

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Syd Barrett during a Bryan Morrison's photo session, 1971.

Syd's mental state was falling little by little. He entered on the studios with a new group: his long-time friend, Kevin Ayers (which played bass guitar on Religious Experience and Syd's EP), John 'Twink' Alder (toured with Syd, and was also recording somewhere near Abbey Road with Pink Fairies), and a new member: Vincent Crane. Crane played the piano and organs on 'The Crazy World of Arthur Brown', which interested Syd, and contacted him. The album would be produced mainly and supervised by David Gilmour. Richard Wright played the keyboard at one track, and produced, receiving the songwriting credit, 'Two of a Kind'. "I wrote that song for Syd. He liked and asked if he could put it on the album. Obviously I accepted, and even helped on it.", recalls Rick.

Some recording sessions of the album were troubled, having conflicts and interruptions due to the behaviour of Syd and Crane. Vincent Crane was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1968, being forced to take medicinal drugs. "I remember a session when Syd simply walked to Crane and asked to him some pills as if it were the most normal thing in the world!", Twink. Arguments between Syd and Crane weren't so frequent, but sometimes both simply started to discuss. Twink and/or Gilmour had to separate both. "Sometimes Syd was simply leaving the sessions, or Crane, or both together.", David Gilmour. When Syd left the sessions, David proceeded with the project, working on the instrumental with Syd's band, leaving already to Barrett record the vocals. "You can hear Gilmour's guitar on some overdubs and songs.", Peter Jenner.

A new experimental

Without the presence of David Gilmour, Syd Barrett managed to record an improvisation with the group. The thing lasted 20 minutes long, with drums, bongos, keyboards, pianos, bass, and Syd's guitar. "I entered on the studio and saw that they were recording a song. But that wasn't anything planned for that day. When the record stopped, I asked to Syd, 'What the hell is that?', he simply answered 'A new song.'.", Gilmour. With no overdubs, the song, called 'Rhamadan', was included on Syd's new album, credited to every member of the band. Rhamadan was performed just two times live, in 1971, then was dropped of the setlist, but played again on a concert in 1974.
 
Early 70's/1970-1975: Confusion between Names (Part Three)

Bringing two familiar songs

In March 1971, Syd brought two songs, written during his college times, already mentioned, 'Bob Dylan Blues', and 'The Effervescing Elephant'. The Effervescing Elephant was a simple song with simple chords and a simple but fast rhythm. It would fit perfectly as a last song, and that was suggested by David Gilmour for Syd, whom agreed with the former bandmate. The song would be just played with Syd's acoustic guitar accompanied by a tuba, played by Vic Saywell. It looked like would be simple to do the song, but actually lasted to nine takes, overdubbed. "Syd got the point to do the song. Yes, there were some common errors, such as false start and forgot the lyrics, but something wasn't right. This was missing something.", David Gilmour. Gilmour and Wright (with David and Syd at the time), contacted Saywell to go along with Syd in the melody with the tuba. "The tuba worked very well with the melody, mainly with the joke of a heavy sound, contrasting with the 'heavy weight' of an Elephant *laughs*", says Syd Barrett.

With Bob Dylan Blues, it took five takes, to make a good version. Bob Dylan Blues was, obviously, a tribute by Syd Barrett to the American folk singer, Bob Dylan, with references to some of his songs, such as 'Blowin' in the Wind'', and exalting his fortune. Some years later, asked about the song, the singer replied, "I quite like that song. It's a good tribute, something that I could make in the early 60's.".


Two of a Kind

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Rick Wright and Syd Barrett during the rehearsals of Games for May, 1967.
During a session, Richard Wright came to Syd with a song, written by himself. It was called 'Two of a Kind', a little tribute to Syd Barrett. "When I showed this to Syd, he liked very much. There wasn't a defined melody to the verses, but Syd did that, and I accompanied him with the organ and backing vocals.", Wright. The backing vocals of the song doesn't appeared on the original release, but as an additional track on re-issues. The song was reworked on eleven takes, with overdubbing the organ. It was the only song produced and that Richard Wright worked to Syd, and the only song with the absence of Vincent Crane.


Doing It on a Hurry!

David Gilmour and Syd Barrett don't liked the pressure that EMI was making to them to finish the album. "I argued with Dave, but when he said that EMI was pressuring us to do this, I became more frustrated. We had to finish the sessions in two weeks, then mix the album.", Syd Barrett.

The first song to record during this short time was 'Baby Lemonade'. Barrett improvised an attractive solo before he starts the song. With the suggestion of Ayers, impressed with the solo, Syd repeated the solo before the song, and then, the song was finished in three takes. "Syd was quick. Then, we started to overdub Syd's guitar, and then, the final result became amazing. A great single.", Kevin Ayers. "We could mix the song first, then release the song as a single, right?", Twink, also impressed with the final result.

The second song sessions started at the same time of Baby Lemonade. The song was called 'Opel', with an aggressive melody¹ and dramatical vocals. The song was finished in eight takes. Contrasting with the song, the third and fourth songs, 'Gigolo Aunt', had a happier melody, and was already worked by the band while Syd was out, already to Syd re-record the vocals, as 'Wolfpack'. "Wolfpack was my favourite track of the album. I really loved the work that everyone did on the track.", admits Syd.

Syd Barrett managed to record the tracks in one week and a half, with time to spare. And then, time to mix the album.


Mixing

Finally, Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, and Peter Bown started to mix the album. "Some tracks were hard to mix thanks to the excessive overdubs that Barrett requested. Even some of them I suggested to re-record, or even discard, but both fully disagreed with the suggestion.", says Bown. Opel was the last song mixed. The process was longer than Rhamadan due to the excess of instruments on the song. "It was stressful. I really thought on 'Ah, f*ck it, let's just discard the song', but we were on the final process. We just had to mix the things and boom! Done!", Syd Barrett.


Confusion between names

The album was initially announced as 'Rhamadan', and the release date would be 10 July 1971 in the UK and two weeks later in the US. The units of the LP were being made, just when Syd Barrett found a drawing in his house, containing a human head, with a train entering by one side and going out by the other side, with a sentence: "This is Strange". Syd ran to EMI, with the drawing in his hands, and showed, implying to EMI release the next copies as 'This is Strange'. With a miraculous luck, Syd's idea was approved, and just a few units were released as Rhamadan, now, a collector's piece. An alternative (unofficial) cover was released in some countries, such as Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, among others. 'Baby Lemonade' was released as the promotional single, one week before the release, an average hit in UK/continental Europe, with 'Waving My Arms In The Air/I Never Lied To You', from the EP, as B-side.

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The alternative cover of the album.
Opinions and Statements

"I liked it very much.", says Syd Barrett. "Obviously, it wasn't my magnum opus, but that album was something that I listen with joy, haha."

"I remember when 'Baby Lemonade' was played on the radio", says David Bowie, admittedly a Barrett's fan, and later both would work together, "I was at my car, and I loved the song. Not something like his early works on Pink Floyd, but that thing touched some part on me, and made me feel anxious for his album. And when I bought the album, I absolutely felt in love with 'Wolfpack'."

"When the album was released I was not much interested on listen to it.", says Roger Waters. "But Nick brought his copy to hear, and while I was doing nothing, we've listened and been impressed with some tracks. Opel, for an example, great instrumentation, but generally, not good lyrics, like his hype on Pink Floyd. That wasn't his best work, I think.".

"We were touring when the album was released. In Aachen, I guess.", remembers Nick Mason. "I saw a Syd's poster on a store and thought 'Wait, Syd's album was released?', then a bought a copy and took to the hotel, and Roger and I listened. A good work, some acid tracks, such as Opel and Wolfpack. Liked quite a lot."

"I've listened the album when it was mixed", David Gilmour. "I think we've done a good work on it. We could make it better, but for Syd, that was nice."

"There were some memorable songs, like my 'Two of a Kind', or 'Gigolo Aunt'", recalls Richard Wright. "This is Strange is one of my favourite albums of Syd."

"I really loved Syd's works on Pink Floyd, and his songs in Religious Experience were reasonably good.", Marc Bolan. "When I listened to the album, he was still psychedelic as his previous albums, but he was somewhat really good. He was the same, no changes at all."

"Everyone received a copy of the album after the release, including me.", Kevin Ayers. "Yeah, I liked the album, mainly Gigolo Aunt. That was the most happiest song of the album. It was similar to 'Love You' from Tales of the Blackhill.".

"Baby Lemonade is my favorite track. No more.", says Twink. "This album is one of my favourites.". Baby Lemonade would be performed on Pink Fairies gigs, sang by Twink himself.


Notes:
[¹] The overdubbed version of Opel, you can see here.
 
THIS IS STRANGE

This is Strange is the second studio album by the English singer, Syd Barrett. It was released by the Blackhill Records in the UK and continental Europe in 10 July 1971, and by Capitol Records in the US in 24 July 1971. The first units were released as 'Rhamadan'.

After the release of his eponymous EP, Syd Barrett embarked on a tour with John 'Twink' Alder and Jack Monck under the name of 'Stars', touring in the UK, performing their songs from their albums and/or Pink Floyd. When the tour was finished, Syd returned to Abbey Road with new songs to record. With Kevin Ayers, Twink, and a new member, Vincent Crane, a keyboardist that worked with Arthur Brown on his debut album. The album was produced under the supervision of the Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and mixed by engineer Peter Bown. The album featured a song written by Richard Wright and composed by Syd Barrett called 'Two of a Kind', and an experimental track called 'Rhamadan'. The album had an alternative cover in some countries, such as Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, among others.

In some Muslim countries, mainly in some countries of the Arab League, the track 'Rhamadan' was renamed to the album's title, 'This is Strange' due to a reference to the Ramadan, important month of the Islamic calendar. The album is compared with the Pink Floyd's debut album, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn', with the psychedelia and experimentation on both albums. "'This is Strange' is a terrestrial version of Piper [at the Gates of Dawn], with almost the same experimentation on Pink Floyd's album.", affirms John Peel.

The Side One contains a mix of psychedelic sounds with folk and pop songs. The start of 'Baby Lemonade' is unforgettable, going through a blues tribute for Bob Dylan, then the Acid-folk on Opel, characterized by Twink's percussion, the lovely composition by Richard Wright, the pop of Gigolo Aunt, and at last, a true psychedelic song brought by Barrett on 'Wolfpack'. The Side Two brings two tracks, 'Rhamadan' with 20 minutes long, full of experimentations and improvisations by Syd's band, and the last song, the Psychedelic folk of 'The Effervescing Elephant'.

The reception of the album by the fans was a lot better than the EP. Mainly because Syd was now developing an independent fanbase, without Pink Floyd's influence. The critical reception of the album was good, as the sales of the album. The first single was 'Baby Lemonade', making into an average hit, with EP's song 'Waving My Arms In The Air/I Never Lied To You' as B-side. One month later, 'Wolfpack', with a reasonable success, was released as single with 'Two of a Kind' as B-side, and three months later, 'Opel' was released with 'Gigolo Aunt', as B-side, and with the third B-side being more successful than Opel. The album made a bigger success than its predecessors, peaking in #22 at the UK Album Charts and #96 at Billboard 200.


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SYD BARRETT - THIS IS STRANGE (1971)
Genre: Psychedelic rock, progressive rock, folk, experimental
Total: 47:20
All tracks written by Syd Barrett, except when noted.

Side A - 25:19
1. "Baby Lemonade" - 4:10
2. "Bob Dylan Blues" - 3:13
3. "Opel" - 6:26
4. "Two of a Kind" (Barrett, Wright) - 2:28
5. "Gigolo Aunt" - 5:46
6. "Wolfpack" - 3:36

Side B - 22:01
7. "Rhamadan" (Barrett, Ayers, Crane, Twink) - 20:09
8. "The Effervescing Elephant" - 1:52
Personnel
Syd Barrett - lead vocals, electric guitar, bongos [7]
Kevin Ayers - backing vocals, bass guitar
John 'Twink' Alder - backing vocals, drums, percussion, bongos [7]
Vincent Crane - keyboards, piano, organ
Vic Saywell - tuba [8]
Richard Wright - keyboards [4], backing vocals [4], producer [4]
David Gilmour - producer, electric guitar [3], [5], [6]
Peter Bown - engineer
 
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Early 70's/1970-1975: Marriages, Tours, Woodstocks and Bowies (Part Four)

Romantic Syd

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Gala Pinion.

In 1969, Syd had a romance with Lindsay Korner, but that eventually would end. One year later, he would start a relationship with Gala Pinion, a friend of his ex-girlfriend. Some months later, both got engaged. One day, Duggie Fields, artist and roommate of Syd was called by Gala, "She told me that they've got engaged. She also told me that Syd was very happy about that.". Barrett composed 'Love Song' to her, released on his EP. Both would marry in late 1971, attended by old friends of Cambridge, his friend David Bowie, and obviously, his former band, Pink Floyd. "It was a good night.", remembers David Gilmour. "We've played some tunes, covers, and some old stuff.".

A new big tour

Syd Barrett was preparing himself to a tour on Europe. The tour would visit five countries (UK, West Germany, Switzerland, France, Netherlands and UK again) with 18 concerts. He will play some songs from Pink Floyd and his Solo career. A documentary of the tour was released ten years later. His backing band was called 'Madcaps Band'. Madcap was extracted from a verse of Clowns and Jugglers. Syd picked his already known friend, Jack Monck, on bass, Vincent Crane, which has asked for, on keyboards, and Robert Wyatt on drums. The tour started at the Rainbow Theatre in 17 May 1971, and finished on 27 August of the same year, again at the Rainbow Theatre.

Remarkable moments of the tour were a concert at Montreux Jazz Festival (an entire performance of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn; released live later) and an appearance of Kevin Ayers, Richard Wright and Nick Mason on the last three concerts, and David Bowie on the last night on the Rainbow Theatre, performing 'See Emily Play' as an encore. During the tour, Syd showed an intergalactic version of 'Cymbaline', released on his 'Remember Me' compilation album.

1971 European tour
Set One (Solo songs)
1. "Baby Lemonade"
2. "Religious Experience" (Ayers, Barrett)
3. "Wined and Dined"
4. "Opel"
5. "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)"
6. "Wouldn't You Miss Me?"
7. "Love Song"
8. "Gigolo Aunt"
9. "Wolfpack"

Set Two (Pink Floyd songs)
1. "Interstellar Overdrive" (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason)
2. "Lucifer Sam"
3. "Flaming"
4. "Dominoes"
5. "Golden Hair"
6. "Terrapin"
7. "Pow R. Toc H." (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason)
8. "Cymbaline" (Gilmour, Waters)

Encore
1. "Rhamadan" (Barrett, Ayers, Crane, Twink) - dropped after two concerts;
2. "Bike"
3. "Astronomy Domine"
a. "The Gnome" - performed on West Germany
b. "Father's Shout/Reemergence" - performed on Netherlands
c. "Candy and a Currant Bun" - performed as an encore at the Montreux Jazz Festival
d. "Apples and Oranges"- Montreux Jazz Festival
e. "Arnold Layne"- Montreux Jazz Festival
f. "See Emily Play"- Montreux Jazz Festival and Rainbow Theatre (27 August 1971)


David Bowie

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David Bowie, 1971.

Bowie was a devoted fan of Syd Barrett. His early albums were very influenced by Syd. During the second night of Barrett on his return to the UK, the composer of 'Space Oddity' entered in the backstage with Steve O'Rourke, Syd's manager. There, for the first time, Syd and Bowie met themselves. "I already knew something about Bowie", declaring Syd Barrett. "Space Oddity, from 1969, and The Man Who Sold The World. Good albums, pretty interesting.". "I found Syd while he was going to the stage.", recalls Bowie, "He have talked for, like, five minutes, then he had to go to the stage. After that I almost was thrown away by the fans, the Theatre was crowded! *laughing*". After the concert, Syd and Bowie finally talked to each other, lasting for an hour.



Woodstock

Woodstock is a double live album released by the British progressive rock band, Pink Floyd. As the name says, the album was recorded entirely at the Woodstock Festival, and mixed/overdubbed at the Abbey Road studios in late of that year. The album was released by the Blackhill Records in 17 August 1971 in the UK, and Capitol Records in 25 August 1971.

The performance of Pink Floyd during the festival was quite reasonable due to unexpected incidents, such as Nick Mason's injured arm, and problems with the instruments, which some of them were overdubbed at the Abbey Road. The songs chosen to the festival were from their albums, plus an early version of 'Crumbling Land', and the Syd Barrett/Kevin Ayers collaborations, 'Religious Experience'.

The first three sides were performances by the band, and the last side was a performance made by Barrett/Ayers and the Soft Machine members. In Arnold Layne, Nick Mason appeared at the stage playing drums to the song. Pink Floyd's Woodstock was a commercial success/hit in the US, peaking at the #36 position at the Billboard 200, and topping again the UK Album Charts. No singles were released.


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PINK FLOYD - WOODSTOCK (1971)
Genre: Psychedelic rock, progressive rock, folk rock, country rock
Total: 01:45:26

Pink Floyd
Side A - 27:16
1. "Interstellar Overdrive" - 10:37
2. "Introduction to the Band" - 2:52
3. "Vegetable Man" - 4:17
4. "Flaming" - 3:14
5. "Crumbling Land" - 6:16

Side B - 25:31
6. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" - 8:31
7. "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" - 7:12
8. "Remember a Day" - 5:11
9. "Point Me At the Sky" - 4:37

Side C - 28:33
10. "One in a Million" - 6:01¹
11. "The End of the Beginning" - 17:16
12. "It Would Be So Nice" - 5:16

Syd Barrett and Kevin Ayers
Side D - 24:06
1. "Religious Experience" - 6:04
2. "Clowns and Jugglers" - 5:15
3. "Arnold Layne" - 12:47²
 
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Early 70's: A Conceptual Album To Be Produced (Part Five)

Pisces Lives

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Bob Ezrin with Alice Cooper.

Syd came into the studios with his new, initial team, the new producer Bob Ezrin, which has worked with Alice Cooper on 'Love It to Death' and 'Killer', the record engineers John Leckie and Peter Bown, Humble Pie's drummer, Jerry Shirley, session drummer Willie Wilson, and the veteran, Vincent Crane, which worked with Syd on his last album. The album had a pretty simple concept initially: Two lovers, and the man had to abandon his girlfriend to explore the outside space, while he misses her. Syd already had some songs written, such as 'Underground', 'Projection', 'Life on Me', and 'Mid-Day'. The record was projected to be the first album of Syd on Progressive rock, but Glam-influenced.

It seemed easy to produce, unfortunately, it wasn't. "We worked between a New York-London axis.", Bob Ezrin. Initially, in the US, they've recorded at The Villager Studios in LA. But, Los Angeles wasn't a good place for Syd. Those problems with drugs suddenly came back, and Ezrin had to move back to the Abbey Road. "When we went to Los Angeles, I saw that Syd's problems increased. So we moved to New York.".

The troubled sessions started in February 1972, at the Abbey Road studios, with Underground, On the Dancing Water, and See What Happens, as the tracklist was proposing. On the first week, Syd has recorded innumerable takes, with a good performance in Underground, and a reasonable performance in the others. "On almost every day, Syd was arriving late, but doing a good job. But the problems started when we moved to Los Angeles.", remembering Ezrin. He was obligated to move the sessions to LA, to approach you other band, Alice Cooper. "In my head, the idea would fit perfectly. But in practice, the things were screwed up.". Less than a month, Barrett and Ezrin moved to The Record Plant, in New York (where Alice Cooper were recording their album), and then, back to Abbey Road.

Capitol contract and the Sessions with Alice Cooper

Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett's contract with Capitol Records was ending, and a lot of proposals have been sent to. Jumping off the boat, Syd Barrett signed with RCA Records to release his albums on the US, frustrating Peter Jenner and Steve O'Rourke. Andrew King, was the only member of Blackhill which proceeded with Barrett. With that, the Blackhill Enterprises had to deal with companies, EMI, Capitol, and RCA. Pink Floyd proceeded with Capitol, then moved to Columbia, leaving Blackhill Enterprises (as Syd did one year later).

At the same time and studio, Bob Ezrin was producing Alice Cooper's album entitled "School's Out". Ezrin showed an interest of a participation of Cooper on Syd's album. With an instantaneous agreement from Cooper, Syd Barrett also agreed, with Bob Ezrin's insistence. Alice performed his vocals on 'Her Britannic Majesties Request', although he recorded takes of Calling Out Loud and Life on Me, later released on the boxset 'Syd Barrett: An Immersion into a Twisted Mind'. "The last time I saw Syd was when he still was a member of Pink Floyd, in 1967.", Alice Cooper. "We hosted them while they were touring in the US.". Neal Smith, Alice Cooper's drummer, played the drums on the songs.

The touring team was consisting on Syd, Ezrin, Crane, and Willie Wilson. Their first sessions on The Record Plant would last for one month, before the return to England. "The sessions were stabilized since we've got into New York. But definitely started to go down in London.", remembers Wilson. Next to some "friends", Syd began to increase the use of drugs. In London, the sessions were very worse than New York, with a absent Syd Barrett. The only songs recorded were Projection and some jammings that would eventually become parts of 'Space Astral, Neptunian Travel'.

The Beginning of the Fall

With a troubled Syd, Ezrin had to do something. He wanted to return to New York, but found a resistant Syd Barrett, persisting on London. "He didn't wanted to go to New York. I wanted a reason to his objection, but he was just refusing to go.", says Ezrin. At the point, the producer saw that the difficulty of release a double concept album was harder than he thought.

As a miracle, David Bowie appeared with a new idea for the album, a song called 'Venus'. Some verses were already sketched by him, waiting to an approval of his friend. Asked by Ezrin, Bowie did a chorus to Underground, recorded by himself. "Apparently, Syd wasn't caring about it. We came with the recordings, and he simply said, 'Well, good, we should put it'.". A rumour of Syd's discreet appearance on the audience of a Pink Floyd's concert, a piece called 'Eclipse: A Piece For Assorted Lunatics', made Syd accelerate the process of the album, although his conditions wasn't the best ones. "Syd was into an imaginary competition with his former band. I think he wanted to show independence to make a conceptual piece as Pisces Lives.", Andrew King.

It was April of 1972, and Pink Floyd released the soundtrack of the film 'La Valée', called 'Obscured by Clouds'. Syd's album wasn't finished yet, and the pressure was each time higher. Reunited with his group, Syd Barrett and Bob Ezrin were obligated to split the double album into two albums. "It was a tough choice.", Syd Barrett. "Or we split the album into two parts, or we discard everything, like Brian Wilson did with SMiLE.". The jammings, that Syd remembered, were remixed and overdubbed. Space Astral, Neptunian Travel, written and composed entirely by Syd Barrett, lasted eight minutes.

In May, the tapes with the recordings of the album, were found damaged. At the Abbey Road studios, Syd had to remake those damaged parts. Some extra takes were furiously recorded, and some outtakes gave inspiration to an enigmatic song, 'Burning Pride, Jealous Line'. On the song, Syd describes actually what was happening in the studio, with him and the people around him. "What we should be now?/What happened to the man who I was? [...]"; "These people around me/I can't see them here/It's better take a sip of tea/And fly from there[...]".

One month later, Syd entered with David Bowie and David Gilmour in the studio. Both were participating on the song 'Amused to Us', written by Barrett. While Gilmour made the backing vocals and the guitar solo, Bowie and Barrett co-led the song. 'On the Dancing Water' was the last song finished to mix.

The mixing process, task to Bob Ezrin and the engineers John Leckie and Pete Bown, was done without Syd. "When we finished the recordings, I called Syd on his house and said to take a rest, he looked very tired of the sessions. Bowie was also there to do some suggestions.", remembers Ezrin. The album was announced as 'Aerial Nature', a revolution on Barrett's sound. Venus, the song written by Bowie and Barrett, was released as promotional single.
 
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