@@Valientlink I cannot stand the way American English, has defiled its beauty. It's not about a word; my dear fellow 😂 🇬🇧🤝🇺🇲 Sheesh is another example. Lmao is more nonsensical gibberish. Obviously, "literally" is another *no need for* If someone says something; it's obviously LITERAL. Reworded? *He did not hold back. Forthright.* At the same time my good fellow 😊.... Mister Syd Barrett, both spoke; and wrote like me. Thanks 👍
"Very chirpy but I don't think my toes were tapping once" "It's nice and I dug it but it won't do anything" "It moved me a little bit but I don't think it will be a big hit" "It will sell a lot but I won't buy one" He didn't butter no parsnips our Syd 😂 I love how honest he was ❤️
This is AMAZING from start to finish! I especially love the tidbit of "I love the Byrds, the Mothers of Invention, and the Fuggs. We have drawn quite a bit from those groups." It's so rare that one of my pop idols will just come right out and SAY who their direct influences are.
Also, MAN, I wonder if Bowie read this at the time? He LOVED "Syd's Pink Floyd." It's hard to tell whether Syd was being totally sarcastic about how much he loved the joke, or whether he was tripping balls at the time and actually sort of meant it. But "it's very chirpy" is a bad review in any state of mind.
I'm pretty sure Bowie read it. Melody Maker was a very popular music paper at the time and most musicians read Melody Maker because it was more serious about music.
This is great! Syd gets a diverse bunch of sounds and he's pretty up on what's cool and what's not. Points deducted however for Syd not knowing For What It's Worth was originally done by Buffalo Springfield. Highlight of his column was suggesting Tom Jones single should be played backwards. LMAO. Syd rules, Syd forever.
@marky marc Yes I was surprised he didn't know Buffalo Springfield did that one. Him saying Tom Jones records should be played backwards or upside down is a classic Syd quote from now on, and I don't hate Tom Jones music either.
Wonderful to hear the humour in Syd's comments, reflecting the absurdity and sheer awfulness of the records. His illness really caused an immense loss to the creative world.
i love how sid was all about changing the speed of the record to make it sound better. I agree with sid, most 45 rpm singles sound better played at 33 rpm
It would be interesting to have to have had Syd's thoughts on Bowie's 'Laughing Gnome' single from the same album after having himself written a song called 'The Gnome' with Pink Floyd at around the same time.
He wasn’t really aware of them any more than anyone else. He was given a pile of singles to review. Both were all over the English music press at the time
@@markforster2794 I thought SBA´s comment "about four years before the mainstream caught up with them" was so far fetched that I felt I´d do some time line checking. First - Syd did not identify it was Bowie´s song then mistakenly identifies John´s Children saying "maybe it´s one of those young groups like..." when in fact John´s Children had already put out two singles in ´66 (before Floyd´s debut 45´ in ´67) Also Marc was not the original guitarist as he took over from Geoff McClelland earlier in ´67, a few months before Syd did this review. Second - Marc started Tyrannosaurus Rex the next year ´68 and Third - Bowie releases Space Oddity in ´69, ...in no way a four year time laps. This is nothing against Syd´s extraordinary talent but I´m never keen on youngsters rewriting rock history.
Dude. This wasn't his personal selection. These were the top hits of the week. Everybody was listening to these songs, not just Syd. And, if you actually listened to him, he doesn't know who some of these people are.
Just reminder there that in the 60s there were crooners (and novelty, 'joke' records) in the charts and not just bands. Tom Jones was the pick of those pops for me.
FYI, John's Children's Marc Bolan was a HUUUUGE Syd fan to the point of adopting (copying) his look, and basically just added some makeup and glitter which played a huge role in the early/mid 70's glam rock scene. More props to Syd and his amazing influence and footprint
@Mark Konzerowsky eg. Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Page, Dylan. Who he sounded like :- Ray Davis to name a few from the interview. Hear for yourself ruclips.net/video/ohlVo31fXag/видео.html
@Mark Konzerowsky T-Rex was in the - Crap Only the English Like - category for any American that wasn't a 12 year old girl. Bang a Gong was his Bubble Gum hit here. He tried to follow w the pandering Its a Rip- Off, using what he apparently thought was a cool expression here , that was actually laughed at when the media tried to use it . Most hip people thought it was just a bullshit excuse to make common stealing seem political... I think Bowie's attack, don't ignore , approach to their feud worked much better, "I wanted TV, but I got T-Rex" ... BTW there's also Crap Only Americans like , see LA Hair "Metal"
@@terryenglish7132 learn what the fuck what you're talking about before posting......Bowie is [praising Bolan saying "I Need Tv When I Got T.Rex' Lady Stardust is about Marc......McCarney said he couldn't stop playing Electric Warrior when it came out.......he's hall of fame and has fans around the world. Hell Rod Steward just released a song praising him on his last Lp.....
Thanks for doing this. I used to have the Pink Floyd Press Reports book and Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour also both did Blind Date single reviews which were anthologized in that book.
From Discogs profile :- Writer, comic strip cartoonist and jazz musician of Italian and Jewish descent, most famous for his work with the magazine Private Eye.
@@YesterdaysPapers I'm learning so much today! I'm British & fairly knowledgeable on 60's pop (being a teenager then), but I've never heard of "A Whole Scene Going."
Maybe I'm biaised by just having listened to Paul McCartney's February 1967 reviews... But I laughed at how many artists Syd guessed wrong. With that said, I'm impressed that he was able to hear "a welsh influence on the strings" in the Tom Jones single. I liked what he said about the soul scene and the Gene Latter single too. He really comes across as a forward-thinking and passionate music lover here... Wich makes it even sadder to think about what happened to him.
@@svalbardstudios7198 Perhaps. What I had in mind was the state he was in from Summer 67 (roughly) to his dismissal from the band and also until the mid-70's when he was seen by the band during the Wish You Were Here recording sessions and later by Waters ... After that, I don't know.
Singles were played at 45, LP's at 33 1/3, and older records were played at 78 rpm's. Fun to hear Sid's thoughts on singles that never made it to the USA. None of the sound great to me either.
Bowie made a joke. Syd likes jokes. The Pink Floyd like jokes. I like jokes. I like Syd. Syd likes jokes. Bowie didn’t like Syd’s joke. I like Bowie. Ziggy likes jokes. Geralds a good mouse. I like Eskimo chain, but it tattoos the brain. U like jokes?
i would say syd summond those songs up nicely. and he was right imo. ye cant help but wonder what pink floyd would have been like if syd didnt become ill. would there have been a dark side of the moon. or the wall. or would the band have got worse? it can and does work both ways as we know.
THANK you for that information! I'm a band pathology nerd; I love it. That scene in the film School of Rock, where Jack Black has a Rock and Roll family tree/timeline-style graph hand-sketched on the chalkboard behind him as he lectures is a gem.
The Tom Jones one was the only one that I knew. I wouldn't mind hearing some of the others in their entirety, seemed kind of cool to me, especially the one he dismissed and said should be played at 78 lol
In the background video at the beginning you can see some colour footage of Pink Floyd playing live. I believe it is Atonomie Domine a version of which has been widely available in black and white. This footage is in colour however and it looks extremely cool. Where can I get this colour video? Does anybody know? I have seen a couple of colour photos I think too but many years ago.
@@YesterdaysPapers What a revelation! I have been watching this video(Look of the Week) for over 30 years. For a long time I could only get bootleg versions. I figured that it must have been filmed in colour and I knew it would be very cool. Still, it is far more psychedelic than I could possible imagine. Thank you so much for posting this. I am sure I will watch at least a hundred times in the next couple of years.
Syd Barrett reviews Jim Reeves - now I've heard everything! And that song by Art - For What It's Worth. I always thought it was a Buffalo Springfield (Steven Stills) song and referred to the Ohio shootings of 4 students in 1970. Think again...
Hmm, he actually had good takes on the music which pretty much completely aligned with mine. Well done, sir but maybe being a downer on peoples work and knowing that it'll most likely be posted in the media, ain't a good look. Though it was honest and it's what I assume, this magazine did for that time. Personally love the honest take, though.
It seems to something about kissing somebody feet . I Wonder what would of happened if Syd Barratt met Jim Morrison in the studio and they made an album together what treasures would they record
On 'Rats' and 'Maisie' Syd's now much darker and angrier mood reminds me very much of Jim. Both acid poets, both highly intelligent and perceptive, both hated fame. Both geniuses and my favorites along with the Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Music for the heart, mind and soul. Late 30th century classical music (it will be anyway).
the pink floyd was called "the pink floyd" back then. for awhile, when the name first came about by syd, they were known as "the pink floyd sound" which came from two blues records that syd had in his collection........ one by pink anderson and one by floyd council..... hence the pink floyd sound... the sound dropped off, and they went by the pink floyd until the "the" eventually dropped off
I guess he didn´t know that Art song was a cover of the Buffalo Springfield hit "For what it´s worth". For me the original is a masterpiece in musical social commentary in how it presents us a time and place of generational social conflict. It seems those guys from Art went and made it more rock and loud when the original is more of a psych folk tune. But of course Buffalo Springfield also related with the more conflictive situation in the US with the huge anti-war protests and the "race" riots" while in the UK things were more peaceful and perhaps more prosperous economically for the majority around 67
According to the person from Melody Maker who played the records and got Syd's responses, Syd was charming until they got to the Bowie record, then he got annoyed.
"The Laughing Gnome" recorded Jan-March '67 released April '67. "The Gnome" recorded March '67 released November '67. Although Anthony Newley was the inspiration for Bowie not Barrett......😉
@@SuperNevile "The Gnome" was released in August of 1967 (UK release, Piper at the Gates of Dawn). I don't know when the two songs were written, but perhaps Barrett thought Bowie's song was a piss take of some kind. Actually, Bowie admired Barrett. I can only imagine what he thought when he heard what Barrett had to say about "Love Me 'Til Tuesday"
@@svalbardstudios7198 Eventually, hence his version of "See Emily Play" on "Pin-Ups", although that album gives all his 1973 influences. But I'm sure Syd Barrett was number 1..........
Quite good reviews. Some made me laugh. It's one of those reviews that should be played at the normal speed. Or a bit faster. I'd like it more at a lower speed.
I've never heard the bloke called David Bowie nor remember any hit song called "I'll Never Fall in Love Again". But Sir Barrett had a prolific music career for decades.
Wonder what syd thought about Bowie’s later works?.... he cut this early one to ribbons. Bowie would’ve probably agreed, but syd’s snarky sting here probably cut him deep.
Ha ha. Syd was supposed to have been a really nice guy but he was as snarky as Dave Davies here. I think Dave may be the best reviewer. Syd was brutal when reviewing Bowie. I think this is before Bowie was put under the guidance of Tony Visconti. It seems like everything Bowie did without Visconti, including the later years, was pretty bad. The movie Velvet Goldmine covered Bowie's pre-Visconti years well.
Some of Bowie's early stuff was cool but he recorded too many novelty songs in those days You're right, the really good stuff started when he began working with Visconti.
I'm really pleased to hear that Syd was greatly inspired by The Mothers Of Invention, people really underestimate the effect they had on music at that time.
Somebody should do a video about Suzy Creamcheese .... and how there were actually at least three or more of them, one who the song was originally about and another "Suzy Creamcheese" who was on the bill at the UFO club but was just some other chick that Zappa had stand by the door or something. But it appears everyone was fooled. And so all the young hip English psychodelicates thought the Suzy who took tickets at the UFO club was THE Suzy Creamcheese. Though maybe they identified with the self-identified "Suzy Creamcheese" who came to John Peel's sick bed in the hospital and threw peas on him to make him get better? It's all a blur.
Syd talks in bits & pieces. Fragmented & abstracted at times. I e i hear a welsh influence on the strings. I think he's joking as he knows it's Tom Jones. Weird way to put it though. I would expect something like hmm i think i hear a welsh influence here. Although i know he was born with Synesthesia which is seeing sounds & hearing colour's
You get a good glimpse of their personalities from these. John Lennon is very unsure of himself, ending his analysis's with a question or a "maybe" but Barrett assesses a song's hit potential meaning he was getting sick of the industry already.
@Dan Michaels I don't think it was so much that he was getting sick of the industry as it was that he was already beginning to feel the effects of too much acid on his mental state.
@@robertbykowski1398 well he sounds pretty smart and clear headed to me but it seems like a lot of these 60’s artists analyze songs in terms of whether it will be a “hit” which surprises me. Barrett wasn’t alone apparently.
I was a radio DJ at the time. Every Friday we auditioned a stack of 45's a foot tall. Almost all of them were forgettable. I probably heard all of the ones in this vid, but only the Buffalo Springfield song stands out today. Edit: It has been pointed out to me that _For What It's Worth_ as featured here is not the Buffalo Springfield version. So nix that one too.
Now that time has passed it's funny that some older people have a distorted view of how good music was back in the day. Some think the greatest music has already been made, and that the music made today will never last. In my opinion, good and bad music is always being made, we just forget about all the bad and mediocre songs and remember all the good music.
@@SilentAttackTV I often see comments by young people about how they were "born in the wrong century" or whatever. They are nostalgic for a time that never existed. Ironically, we have far better access to that old music today than we did when it was new.
Jive did you get to see syd w/ Floyd live?... I’ve heard syd was also a doors fan. I know morrison liked Floyd. Both bands seem similar to me. Syd played the whisky in early 68 before meltdown. I wonder if he met morrison.
@@kelvinkloud Nope. I only saw acts IRL if they played Austin. Edit: I smoked doobie with Johnny Winter, and on another occasion, The Fugs. There were other "brushes with greatness."
The truly brilliant hits of the 60's were gems floating in a sea of absolute dross. I would say that the gems seemed to be of higher quality and more numerous back then than they are today.
@MrDino1953 That's an understatement ! I don't totally agree about the sea of absolute dross part though. You have to remember that most of the weaker singles they play in these reviews-by-artists film clips are songs by British performers that may have charted high in the UK, but had very moderate success on the US charts. American radio in the US, both AM and FM, was quite good in the '60's for the most part.
Not true. People always use this argument to say that old music wasn't really better, but not only is it blatantly false since the big hits were always way better, but not all of this is dross. The chart toppers were usually solid and there were dozens upon dozens of under-sellers that were fantastic.
Hilarious ....when at least he still could bring himself to do something like this . "John's Children" , a typical group Jesterdays Papers should do a small feature about. Got two 45's of them in '67.
I'm convinced he took "STP" later on in that year. It was a research chemical made to be 10 times stronger than lsd, going around wildly by this point in the UK and America. LSD builds such a tolerance, it just wouldn't make sense to me for it to be just that. Tranqulizers on top of it didn't help tho...
@@Valientlink You're probably right. Clapton took it that year and he was tripping for 5 days. People in London were shocked to see God laying down in the gutter as his Girlfriend tried to get him on his feet.
@@ustheserfs On first hearing "Emily Play" it was distinctively an English accent and unusual for a pop record (apart from comic records by Lonnie Donegan, Anthony Newley, Stanley Holloway etc.). Never heard Bowie's record ever being played on the radio........
So many of these songs were so outdated and simple, literally some artists didn't write them themselves. Meanwhile the Beatles writing complex, varied, innovative masterpieces with revolutionary instrumentation like sitars, tambura, swarmandal, flutes, mellotrons, cello's, tape loops, backwards and sped up and slown down music, avant-garde buildups, sound effects, etc. Shows how they were light years ahead of their time.
I really thought he would have liked the last song, to me its the most Barrettlike of the songs but maybe he is like Morrissey. For Morrissey no song is really good, when he thinks something is really good he will say: its ok.
![State of Play | September 24, 2024 [ENGLISH]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fVs0suPHAX8/mqdefault.jpg)
"I don't know who that is. Wait - let me think: who's dead? Oh, that must be Jim Reeves." I'm absolutely crying
Literally 💀💀💀 he did NOT hold back
@@sonofnothing2816 you didn't have to say literally. Are you American?
@@steffanhoffmann8937 You actually care about a word this much to reply? Lmao sheesh
@@Valientlink I cannot stand the way American English, has defiled its beauty.
It's not about a word; my dear fellow 😂 🇬🇧🤝🇺🇲
Sheesh is another example. Lmao is more nonsensical gibberish.
Obviously, "literally" is another *no need for*
If someone says something; it's obviously LITERAL.
Reworded? *He did not hold back. Forthright.*
At the same time my good fellow 😊.... Mister Syd Barrett, both spoke; and wrote like me.
Thanks 👍
@@steffanhoffmann8937 get over yourself, man. You’re not him lol.
Syd on See Emily Play by the Pink Floyd: “It’s nice. I like it very much but it won’t be a hit.”
"Very chirpy but I don't think my toes were tapping once"
"It's nice and I dug it but it won't do anything"
"It moved me a little bit but I don't think it will be a big hit"
"It will sell a lot but I won't buy one"
He didn't butter no parsnips our Syd 😂 I love how honest he was ❤️
Gotta admit 'chirpy' was a pretty good adjective from Syd to describe Bowie's Deram era Anthony Newly stuff
a joke. the floyd like jokes. monday or tuesday?
@@markymarc9339 newly? pop? sinatra?
Took Bowie awhile. In the US he wasn't known till Changes.
Will sell a lot but not be a hit? Impossible as "hits" were determined by sales and how often stations played them. At least I think so.
This is AMAZING from start to finish! I especially love the tidbit of "I love the Byrds, the Mothers of Invention, and the Fuggs. We have drawn quite a bit from those groups." It's so rare that one of my pop idols will just come right out and SAY who their direct influences are.
Also, MAN, I wonder if Bowie read this at the time? He LOVED "Syd's Pink Floyd." It's hard to tell whether Syd was being totally sarcastic about how much he loved the joke, or whether he was tripping balls at the time and actually sort of meant it. But "it's very chirpy" is a bad review in any state of mind.
I'm pretty sure Bowie read it. Melody Maker was a very popular music paper at the time and most musicians read Melody Maker because it was more serious about music.
He was also a big fan of Love and Arthur Lee.
@@d.m.collins1501 Syd was rarely sarcastic, he usually meant what he said. Roger Waters had more than enough sarcasm for all of them!
This is great! Syd gets a diverse bunch of sounds and he's pretty up on what's cool and what's not. Points deducted however for Syd not knowing For What It's Worth was originally done by Buffalo Springfield. Highlight of his column was suggesting Tom Jones single should be played backwards. LMAO. Syd rules, Syd forever.
@marky marc
Yes I was surprised he didn't know Buffalo Springfield did that one. Him saying Tom Jones records should be played backwards or upside down is a classic Syd quote from now on, and I don't hate Tom Jones music either.
Wonderful to hear the humour in Syd's comments, reflecting the absurdity and sheer awfulness of the records. His illness really caused an immense loss to the creative world.
i love how sid was all about changing the speed of the record to make it sound better.
I agree with sid, most 45 rpm singles sound better played at 33 rpm
Then there was one that was truly awful and would be better at 78
"It will sell a lot but I won't buy one"..... This is what makes Syd so great.
Druggies are also delightful - stewed......................
It would be interesting to have to have had Syd's thoughts on Bowie's 'Laughing Gnome' single from the same album after having himself written a song called 'The Gnome' with Pink Floyd at around the same time.
Simply amazing 🤩 as a syd fan I’m dying for any content. This was incredibly well done!
Agreed.
Cool that he was aware of Bowie and Bolan (John's Children) about four years before the mainstream caught up with them.
He wasn’t really aware of them any more than anyone else. He was given a pile of singles to review. Both were all over the English music press at the time
He did not know Bowie and John`s Children was a short time sensation in 1967.
@@markforster2794 I thought SBA´s comment "about four years before the mainstream caught up with them" was so far fetched that I felt I´d do some time line checking. First - Syd did not identify it was Bowie´s song then mistakenly identifies John´s Children saying "maybe it´s one of those young groups like..." when in fact John´s Children had already put out two singles in ´66 (before Floyd´s debut 45´ in ´67) Also Marc was not the original guitarist as he took over from Geoff McClelland earlier in ´67, a few months before Syd did this review. Second - Marc started Tyrannosaurus Rex the next year ´68 and Third - Bowie releases Space Oddity in ´69, ...in no way a four year time laps.
This is nothing against Syd´s extraordinary talent but I´m never keen on youngsters rewriting rock history.
Dude. This wasn't his personal selection. These were the top hits of the week. Everybody was listening to these songs, not just Syd. And, if you actually listened to him, he doesn't know who some of these people are.
the fugs
Just reminder there that in the 60s there were crooners (and novelty, 'joke' records) in the charts and not just bands. Tom Jones was the pick of those pops for me.
Absolutely, fabulous, thank you, good time for you
Love it! Syd liked to play around with record playback speeds as much as I do
Damn great insights and spot on in hindsight… who knew Syd could have been a great A&R man?
How Coherent and Clever Syd was.
It's interesting he recommends playing songs at slower or faster speeds. Pink Floyd used that effect on some of their early songs.
This was fascinating!
Funny how David Bowie sounded like David Jones at this point in time
And he sounded more like Syd soon after. Lol. I love them both.
FYI, John's Children's Marc Bolan was a HUUUUGE Syd fan to the point of adopting (copying) his look, and basically just added some makeup and glitter which played a huge role in the early/mid 70's glam rock scene.
More props to Syd and his amazing influence and footprint
Can you back up this claim with some evidence please.
@Mark Konzerowsky Was there, done that! Show me the Barrett influence here. ruclips.net/video/lFvf3Pq_9M4/видео.html
@Mark Konzerowsky eg. Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Page, Dylan. Who he sounded like :- Ray Davis to name a few from the interview. Hear for yourself ruclips.net/video/ohlVo31fXag/видео.html
@Mark Konzerowsky T-Rex was in the - Crap Only the English Like - category for any American that wasn't a 12 year old girl. Bang a Gong was his Bubble Gum hit here. He tried to follow w the pandering Its a Rip- Off, using what he apparently thought was a cool expression here , that was actually laughed at when the media tried to use it . Most hip people thought it was just a bullshit excuse to make common stealing seem political... I think Bowie's attack, don't ignore , approach to their feud worked much better, "I wanted TV, but I got T-Rex" ... BTW there's also Crap Only Americans like , see LA Hair "Metal"
@@terryenglish7132 learn what the fuck what you're talking about before posting......Bowie is [praising Bolan saying "I Need Tv When I Got T.Rex' Lady Stardust is about Marc......McCarney said he couldn't stop playing Electric Warrior when it came out.......he's hall of fame and has fans around the world. Hell Rod Steward just released a song praising him on his last Lp.....
His Jim Reeves review was hilarious.
I really enjoyed the commentary. I'll steal some of them for my own use. I bet even the bargain bin rejected these records.
Thanks for doing this. I used to have the Pink Floyd Press Reports book and Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour also both did Blind Date single reviews which were anthologized in that book.
Ohhhhhhh Syd, m'man.
Blesshya, my son.
1967 Bowie, we didn't get him in US for 4-5 years
Oh wow, Syd giving them venom. Makes sense as I’ve heard nothing more dangerous than his Esquire apocalypting out of that Selmer amplifier.
I agree with Syds assessments of bowie
This is a great post. Well thought-out, not just the actual records to support the commentary but sleeves as well (who the hell's Barry Fantoni?)
From Discogs profile :- Writer, comic strip cartoonist and jazz musician of Italian and Jewish descent, most famous for his work with the magazine Private Eye.
@@projektor4 OK, thank you.
Fantoni was also the host on a british TV show called "A Whole Scene Going". He was also a close friend of Ray Davies.
@@YesterdaysPapers I'm learning so much today! I'm British & fairly knowledgeable on 60's pop (being a teenager then), but I've never heard of "A Whole Scene Going."
@@appledoreman The show didn't last long. Here's one of the episodes with the Who as guests: ruclips.net/video/rHqNeUlC2Dc/видео.html
Amazing….really sharp and funny guy
Maybe I'm biaised by just having listened to Paul McCartney's February 1967 reviews... But I laughed at how many artists Syd guessed wrong. With that said, I'm impressed that he was able to hear "a welsh influence on the strings" in the Tom Jones single. I liked what he said about the soul scene and the Gene Latter single too. He really comes across as a forward-thinking and passionate music lover here... Wich makes it even sadder to think about what happened to him.
he had a pretty happy life after the 70s
@@svalbardstudios7198 Perhaps. What I had in mind was the state he was in from Summer 67 (roughly) to his dismissal from the band and also until the mid-70's when he was seen by the band during the Wish You Were Here recording sessions and later by Waters ... After that, I don't know.
I think in regards to the Tom Jones single, he most likely knew who it was (e.g. the Welsh reference), and was just taking the piss.
@@JFS3 Yup. Those strings come from Hollywood, not Wales!
"I belive it's one of those numbers you should play at slow speed or backwards or upside down."
Singles were played at 45, LP's at 33 1/3, and older records were played at 78 rpm's. Fun to hear Sid's thoughts on singles that never made it to the USA. None of the sound great to me either.
David Bowie's early work is so underrated
Sell me a coat... Banger
It's terrible
Bowie made a joke. Syd likes jokes. The Pink Floyd like jokes. I like jokes. I like Syd. Syd likes jokes. Bowie didn’t like Syd’s joke. I like Bowie. Ziggy likes jokes. Geralds a good mouse. I like Eskimo chain, but it tattoos the brain. U like jokes?
I loved 'Syd's humour! very funny subtle!
love Luv ❤ oh my Love you so !
Once again, I only know Jones' song and never heard of the other groups. Buffalo Springfield's " For What it's Worth " is the definitive version.
Nice to hear Syd liked Frank Zappa.
Love Honesty.
Alex Harvey is a legend
The Tom Jones one is just Unchained Melody slowed down!
i would say syd summond those songs up nicely. and he was right imo. ye cant help but wonder what pink floyd would have been like if syd didnt become ill. would there have been a dark side of the moon. or the wall. or would the band have got worse? it can and does work both ways as we know.
Syd was wrong about the Barry Fantoni song. That's the best song in this video
It’s his opinion
Hilarious. What a treat!
"Art" was an early line-up of "Spooky Tooth"(before Gary Wright joined the group)
THANK you for that information! I'm a band pathology nerd; I love it. That scene in the film School of Rock, where Jack Black has a Rock and Roll family tree/timeline-style graph hand-sketched on the chalkboard behind him as he lectures is a gem.
The Tom Jones one was the only one that I knew. I wouldn't mind hearing some of the others in their entirety, seemed kind of cool to me, especially the one he dismissed and said should be played at 78 lol
Barry Fantoni was a cartoonist in Private Eye.
The Fugs were an influence!
nice!
In the background video at the beginning you can see some colour footage of Pink Floyd playing live. I believe it is Atonomie Domine a version of which has been widely available in black and white. This footage is in colour however and it looks extremely cool. Where can I get this colour video? Does anybody know? I have seen a couple of colour photos I think too but many years ago.
Here it is. I posted it a few months ago: ruclips.net/video/U5W8WrK5HZw/видео.html
@@YesterdaysPapers What a revelation! I have been watching this video(Look of the Week) for over 30 years. For a long time I could only get bootleg versions. I figured that it must have been filmed in colour and I knew it would be very cool. Still, it is far more psychedelic than I could possible imagine. Thank you so much for posting this. I am sure I will watch at least a hundred times in the next couple of years.
Syd Barrett reviews Jim Reeves - now I've heard everything! And that song by Art - For What It's Worth. I always thought it was a Buffalo Springfield (Steven Stills) song and referred to the Ohio shootings of 4 students in 1970. Think again...
It's a cover of the Buffalo Springfield song.
Hmm, he actually had good takes on the music which pretty much completely aligned with mine. Well done, sir but maybe being a downer on peoples work and knowing that it'll most likely be posted in the media, ain't a good look. Though it was honest and it's what I assume, this magazine did for that time. Personally love the honest take, though.
It’s really too bad that Syd had to listen to a bunch of crap singles! I would’ve loved to hear his take on some of the pop classics of the period.
I think some of the singles are pretty good. The Blues Magoos, for instance, recorded some really fine albums in the 60s.
It seems to something about kissing somebody feet . I Wonder what would of happened if Syd Barratt met Jim Morrison in the studio and they made an album together what treasures would they record
On 'Rats' and 'Maisie' Syd's now much darker and angrier mood reminds me very much of Jim. Both acid poets, both highly intelligent and perceptive, both hated fame. Both geniuses and my favorites along with the Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Music for the heart, mind and soul. Late 30th century classical music (it will be anyway).
"The" Pink Floyd.
In those days, Cream was often referred to as The Cream, particularly in the States.
@@simonvaughan6017 Def Leppard were often called The Deaf Leopards.
the pink floyd was called "the pink floyd" back then. for awhile, when the name first came about by syd, they were known as "the pink floyd sound" which came from two blues records that syd had in his collection........ one by pink anderson and one by floyd council..... hence the pink floyd sound... the sound dropped off, and they went by the pink floyd until the "the" eventually dropped off
I guess he didn´t know that Art song was a cover of the Buffalo Springfield hit "For what it´s worth". For me the original is a masterpiece in musical social commentary in how it presents us a time and place of generational social conflict. It seems those guys from Art went and made it more rock and loud when the original is more of a psych folk tune. But of course Buffalo Springfield also related with the more conflictive situation in the US with the huge anti-war protests and the "race" riots" while in the UK things were more peaceful and perhaps more prosperous economically for the majority around 67
Good comment, I agree. Art changed their name a year later and became Spooky Tooth.
The song is about hippies on Sunset Strip getting in trouble with the cops nothing to do with race riots
@@jamesfitzgerald6636 It does and it doesn't. For many people, unfamiliar with the song's origin, it means whatever they think it means.
According to the person from Melody Maker who played the records and got Syd's responses, Syd was charming until they got to the Bowie record, then he got annoyed.
"The Laughing Gnome" recorded Jan-March '67 released April '67. "The Gnome" recorded March '67 released November '67. Although Anthony Newley was the inspiration for Bowie not Barrett......😉
@@SuperNevile "The Gnome" was released in August of 1967 (UK release, Piper at the Gates of Dawn). I don't know when the two songs were written, but perhaps Barrett thought Bowie's song was a piss take of some kind. Actually, Bowie admired Barrett. I can only imagine what he thought when he heard what Barrett had to say about "Love Me 'Til Tuesday"
@@amtlpaul Correct, I got mixed up with the Flaming/Gnome single released in the States. Thank goodness David "changed direction"..........
@@SuperNevile also bowie said his primary influence was syd
@@svalbardstudios7198 Eventually, hence his version of "See Emily Play" on "Pin-Ups", although that album gives all his 1973 influences. But I'm sure Syd Barrett was number 1..........
this is the most ive ever heard syd talk is it actually him speaking?
no. Same dude does all the videos
What's the deal with that drawing of Syd Barrett in the news paper? Start of the video. like Mick jagger.
That gene latter song isn't on Spotify ffs....
Quite good reviews. Some made me laugh. It's one of those reviews that should be played at the normal speed.
Or a bit faster. I'd like it more at a lower speed.
Love it! LOL
I've never heard the bloke called David Bowie nor remember any hit song called "I'll Never Fall in Love Again". But Sir Barrett had a prolific music career for decades.
Sir Barrett, I like that.
" Okay Syd, stick your head into this bag of garbage and tell us all what you think about it."
" I think me face fell off in there".
"Nice record" sounds like a left-handed compliment.
G J - * back-handed compliment.
I'm left handed, and I don't give compliments
He called Tom Jones someone else
The Fugs are neato, then the Rounders were just that weird extension of Fugness
Syd and Bowie met twice but didn't get on so bowie said
Bowie said he regretted never meeting Syd
Did syd meet Jim Morrison?... Floyd played whisky w/ syd early 68.
Wonder what syd thought about Bowie’s later works?.... he cut this early one to ribbons. Bowie would’ve probably agreed, but syd’s snarky sting here probably cut him deep.
True, as Bowie was heavily influenced and was a huge fan of barrett.
Ha ha. Syd was supposed to have been a really nice guy but he was as snarky as Dave Davies here. I think Dave may be the best reviewer. Syd was brutal when reviewing Bowie. I think this is before Bowie was put under the guidance of Tony Visconti. It seems like everything Bowie did without Visconti, including the later years, was pretty bad. The movie Velvet Goldmine covered Bowie's pre-Visconti years well.
Some of Bowie's early stuff was cool but he recorded too many novelty songs in those days
You're right, the really good stuff started when he began working with Visconti.
Gotta like Syd's continual reference to rpm speeds...he's on the 8-track
Jim Reeves(baritone) ."very way out record..let me think, who's dead? ..."3:23 "would sound better at 33{rpm}".Lmao-demolition job.
@@iconicshrubbery
Get real2reel'n in those 👂's
In Syd’s defense they offered him a stack of shite records to review.
I'm really pleased to hear that Syd was greatly inspired by The Mothers Of Invention, people really underestimate the effect they had on music at that time.
True and velvet underground
the fugs too. no one ever fuckijg talks about the fugs.
Somebody should do a video about Suzy Creamcheese .... and how there were actually at least three or more of them, one who the song was originally about and another "Suzy Creamcheese" who was on the bill at the UFO club but was just some other chick that Zappa had stand by the door or something. But it appears everyone was fooled. And so all the young hip English psychodelicates thought the Suzy who took tickets at the UFO club was THE Suzy Creamcheese. Though maybe they identified with the self-identified "Suzy Creamcheese" who came to John Peel's sick bed in the hospital and threw peas on him to make him get better? It's all a blur.
He also liked Captain Beefheart and Amon Düül. Syd really had a great taste in music.
... and the Fugs. I partied with the Fugs with my duplex neighbors, who hosted them in Austin. Smoke was involved. A lot.
Sid's honesty was hilarious! (It was morbid - I don't want to hear it again"). Also, Great idea to post these old magazine reviews.
Play it at 78...lol...that is pure Syd...there was that one part that was sped up in See Emily Play that makes more sense now.
“It’ll sell a lot but I won’t buy one” lmao
"Let me think... who's dead?" Classic Syd.
This is some amazing content, thank you so much for this
Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers!
@@YesterdaysPapers Cheers!!
Syd talks in bits & pieces. Fragmented & abstracted at times. I e i hear a welsh influence on the strings. I think he's joking as he knows it's Tom Jones. Weird way to put it though. I would expect something like hmm i think i hear a welsh influence here. Although i know he was born with Synesthesia which is seeing sounds & hearing colour's
@@iainstewart7104 Sounds like Syd is joking in nearly every comment, actually.
@@syater Absolutely, but what a great post!
You get a good glimpse of their personalities from these. John Lennon is very unsure of himself, ending his analysis's with a question or a "maybe" but Barrett assesses a song's hit potential meaning he was getting sick of the industry already.
@Dan Michaels I don't think it was so much that he was getting sick of the industry as it was that he was already beginning to feel the effects of too much acid on his mental state.
@@robertbykowski1398 well he sounds pretty smart and clear headed to me but it seems like a lot of these 60’s artists analyze songs in terms of whether it will be a “hit” which surprises me. Barrett wasn’t alone apparently.
@@robertbykowski1398 that and the pressure of being the creative force behind an entire new kind of music in London.
Syd tells it as it is RIP you are missed.
I don’t know about this video. It’s very nice, but maybe I should try it at 1.25x
this is actually 'blind date' from MAY1967
Totally dissing early Bowie! Barrett was David's god!
Awww Syd makes me both happy and sad this sort of thing.....poor bugger
I was a radio DJ at the time. Every Friday we auditioned a stack of 45's a foot tall. Almost all of them were forgettable. I probably heard all of the ones in this vid, but only the Buffalo Springfield song stands out today.
Edit: It has been pointed out to me that _For What It's Worth_ as featured here is not the Buffalo Springfield version. So nix that one too.
Now that time has passed it's funny that some older people have a distorted view of how good music was back in the day. Some think the greatest music has already been made, and that the music made today will never last. In my opinion, good and bad music is always being made, we just forget about all the bad and mediocre songs and remember all the good music.
@@SilentAttackTV I often see comments by young people about how they were "born in the wrong century" or whatever. They are nostalgic for a time that never existed. Ironically, we have far better access to that old music today than we did when it was new.
@@JiveDadson yes and we have a shit music inndustry now that puts out absolute garbage, so having good access to it doesn't really matter at all
Jive did you get to see syd w/ Floyd live?... I’ve heard syd was also a doors fan. I know morrison liked Floyd. Both bands seem similar to me. Syd played the whisky in early 68 before meltdown. I wonder if he met morrison.
@@kelvinkloud Nope. I only saw acts IRL if they played Austin. Edit: I smoked doobie with Johnny Winter, and on another occasion, The Fugs. There were other "brushes with greatness."
I love the fact that syd liked mothers of invention
"i didn't understand the lyrics at all... The lyrics are so unconvincing"
-Same man who wrote a song about a gnome named Grimble Gromble
So many cool singles Syd reviewed with spot on analysis. He was a fan !
The truly brilliant hits of the 60's were gems floating in a sea of absolute dross. I would say that the gems seemed to be of higher quality and more numerous back then than they are today.
@MrDino1953 That's an understatement ! I don't totally agree about the sea of absolute dross part though. You have to remember that most of the weaker singles they play in these reviews-by-artists film clips are songs by British performers that may have charted high in the UK, but had very moderate success on the US charts. American radio in the US, both AM and FM, was quite good in the '60's for the most part.
Not true. People always use this argument to say that old music wasn't really better, but not only is it blatantly false since the big hits were always way better, but not all of this is dross. The chart toppers were usually solid and there were dozens upon dozens of under-sellers that were fantastic.
Pity he didn’t answer orally so that we could here his voice.
Hilarious ....when at least he still could bring himself to do something like this .
"John's Children" , a typical group Jesterdays Papers should do a small feature about. Got two 45's of them in '67.
Syd dosent sound too far out in THIS interview at least.July 67....maybe his 'madness' may have been a tadge exaggerated or maybe it came later on
I'm convinced he took "STP" later on in that year. It was a research chemical made to be 10 times stronger than lsd, going around wildly by this point in the UK and America. LSD builds such a tolerance, it just wouldn't make sense to me for it to be just that. Tranqulizers on top of it didn't help tho...
@@Valientlink You're probably right. Clapton took it that year and he was tripping for 5 days. People in London were shocked to see God laying down in the gutter as his Girlfriend tried to get him on his feet.
it was his america tours that broke him.
Syd has skizo and its sometimes in on, sometimes off.
@@marguskiis7711 that's what I was thinking, Stockholm was so pleasent he was able to snap out of it on that tour.
funny Syd should have felt that way about David's single, considering he became what he did and took more than a page out of his book
the song was weak.
agreed but Bowie sang it with a distinctly English accent, something Syd said not enough UK acts were doing then.
@@ustheserfs On first hearing "Emily Play" it was distinctively an English accent and unusual for a pop record (apart from comic records by Lonnie Donegan, Anthony Newley, Stanley Holloway etc.). Never heard Bowie's record ever being played on the radio........
Ironically I think Bowie's last live appearance was covering "Arnold Layne" with Gilmour.
I tried getting into Bowie once, so I downloaded and listened to his entire discography, but I have to say his early work is really really bad.
So many of these songs were so outdated and simple, literally some artists didn't write them themselves. Meanwhile the Beatles writing complex, varied, innovative masterpieces with revolutionary instrumentation like sitars, tambura, swarmandal, flutes, mellotrons, cello's, tape loops, backwards and sped up and slown down music, avant-garde buildups, sound effects, etc. Shows how they were light years ahead of their time.
As was Pink Floyd, for that matter.
These reviews a so fricken' cool.
Love Syd's reviews!
Shine on you crazy diamond R.I.P Syd
It's ironic he reviewed a Bowie song since David was such a big Syd fan. I'd be curious if he was ever aware...
This is a great series you've put together here, very original. Consider me subscribed.
I really thought he would have liked the last song, to me its the most Barrettlike of the songs but maybe he is like Morrissey. For Morrissey no song is really good, when he thinks something is really good he will say: its ok.
Well he DID dig Buffalo Springfield...😁
My all time favorite reviews by - Syd Barrett. Cheers.