In the 32 years that elapsed between Syd Barrett’s last unproductive visit to a recording studio in 1974 and his death on July 7, 2006, much was written about Pink Floyd’s former creative leader, most of it based on pure conjecture. Barrett’s retreat away from his former life méant that, as his myth grew through his absence, he was effectively viewed through the fragments he presented of himself in his recordings. This bespoke Mojo collection seeks to present that elusive sense of what can only therefore be described as “Sydness”.
Included are tracks by artists that influenced Barrett-era Floyd (fellow sonic adventurers AMM alongside Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, the two bluesmen who gave the band its name), as well as Syd’s contemporaries (Soft Machine, Gong, Hawkwind, Frank Zappa, the Bonzos, Kevin Ayers)…

You know the situation is getting desperate when a compilation recycles material from an outtakes collection released a decade prior. Such is the case with The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?, a package that basically combines the best of Syd Barrett's two proper albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, with a number of previously issued outtakes and a straggler from producer and Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour's vaults ("Bob Dylan's Blues"). But to be perfectly fair, the now-recycled outtakes release in question, 1989's Opel, was a rare instance where such a release lived up to the quality of the artist's proper studio albums.

Although there are those who nail their spirals to Vertigo as the prog label of choice, EMI’s Harvest certainly vies with it for pole position. With Harvest, the detail was everything. Loaded with the bizarre, striking and the strange, turns abounded like the Third Ear Band, Kevin Ayers and The Greatest Show On Earth. From the bad acid of Edgar Broughton’s There’s No Vibrations, But Wait through the squiffy majesty of Dave Mason’s You Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave, to Be- Bop Deluxe’s future pop of Jet Silver and the Dolls Of Venus, this collection is impressive and nostalgic – its very lack of a house style providing its consistency.

There have been a number of Syd Barrett compilations but, remarkably, 2010’s An Introduction to Syd Barrett is the first to combine Pink Floyd material with his solo recordings, so it truly provides an introduction in a way no previous collection has. It’s possible to quibble that there are a few Floyd songs that should have made it here - mostly selections from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, including “Astronomy Domine” and “Lucifer Sam,” but this favors the non-LP early singles “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play,” and “Apples and Oranges,” which do point the way toward such solo cuts as “Octopus,” “Baby Lemonade,” “Terrapin,” “Gigolo Aunt,” and “Effervescing Elephant,” all present and accounted for here. Some may also quibble about inclusions of new mixes for “Here I Go," “Octopus,” “She Took a Long Cool Look,” “Dominoes,” and “Matilda Mother,” preferring the original mixes, but these new mixes don’t call attention to themselves nor do they detract from the first disc to provide a strong, concise introduction to Barrett’s twisted genius.

For several years, the existence of "lost" material by Syd Barrett had been speculated about by the singer's vociferous cult, fueled by numerous patchy bootlegs of intriguing outtakes. The release of Opel lived up to, and perhaps exceeded, fans' expectations…

Selected tracks from the 1992 Box Set - Shine On.

Wisely, The Madcap Laughs doesn't even try to sound like a consistent record. Half the album was recorded by Barrett's former bandmates Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, and the other half by Harvest Records head Malcolm Jones. Surprisingly, Jones' tracks are song for song much stronger than the more-lauded Floyd entries…

On his second solo album, Barrett was joined by Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and Pink Floyd members Rick Wright (organ) and Dave Gilmour (guitar)…

You know the situation is getting desperate when a compilation recycles material from an outtakes collection released a decade prior. Such is the case with The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?, a package that basically combines the best of Syd Barrett's two proper albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, with a number of previously issued outtakes and a straggler from producer and Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour's vaults ("Bob Dylan's Blues")…