BARRETT

While his mind was already out of this world, the old mates tried to help Syd by producing his second solo album. Gilmour and Wright try to make it sound "normal", but the playing effort of Syd is really too evanescent so instead of being a document as The Madcap Laughs was, this album sounds "plastic" and fictitious, or it's maybe the impression that we who know the story can have.

On the other hand, there are songs inside. They are still that mixture of childish songs, fairy tales and acid visions of which the eraly Pink Floyd were made. Syd is still able to use the best words to describe a situation, a story, or a vision taking care of how they sound inside the song. The sound of the words is as important as the sound of guitar.

In this album songs like Baby Lemonade, Gigolo Aunt, Dominoes (still played live by Gilmour) and the crazy Effervescing Elephant are still witnesses of Syd's genius.

From a purely musical perspective, Rick Wright makes a great work in making those song sound like Pink Floyd stuff. In particular the short "It's Obvious" was originally a two-chords song that Rick transformed into a Pink Floyd song.

At the end this is a good album on which the genius of Syd is still present, good enough in the arrangements with the only defect of being not "genuine".

4 stars in my heart and 3 in my mind