SYD BARRETT'S FIRST TRIP*

At my local video store, there is a lovely gimic called Free with rental. On the one hand, you can get some amusing odds and sods here and there (examples include the odd amusing short indie film, and once I even got a live Doors preformance of Light My Fire, which was fun, if not terribly deep).

Of course, there is a darker side to free with rental...like the odd DULL short indie, or, for example, Syd Barrett's first trip.

This is an utterly useless documentary of sorts; it's about as short as a four year old's attention span will allow, absolutely sound-free, and lacks any kind of...hell, you name it. Authenticity? None! Education value? Nary a drop! Insight into the artist? Yeah right!

There ARE some quick shots of the early Floyd tacked onto the end, but, whatever. The music that plays in the background isn't even them.

I was tempted to give this thing two-stars, but you know what? Why bother! It's not that good, and, what's more, it's somewhat offensive. I mean, this DVD (I think mine was a video, if that matters) just pushes into the faces of gaggle-eyed fans the whole Syd was a psycho drug user image without a drop of sensitivity or intelligence.

I care about Syd's legacy. A lot. A lot more than I should, in fact. And, in all honesty, I can deal with the fact that the poor bugger was a raving looney. But this is explotation without...anything. Sensitivity, payoff, whatever. A waste of time, and of Syd's name, and above all, utterly useless. Rent something else.