Shortly after releasing his first album, The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett was invited to perform at John Peel's Top Gear show where he presented only one song from the newly released album. Two days later, he began working on the second album in the Abbey Road Studios, this time with David Gilmour as a full-time producer and musician.
Joined by Jerry Shirley and Pink Floyd's Rick Wright, Barrett was produced in a much more disciplined fashion that The Madcap Laughs (which explain the short six month production time). The first tracks produced were Baby Lemonade and Maisie before Barrett started the first of 15 takes of Gigolo Aunt (from which only three were complete). The following day Barrett produced four demos: Wolfpack and Waving My Arms In The Air, which made their way in the album, and Living Alone and Bob Dylan's Blues, who did not make into the final album. The last is considered to be one of the best efforts Barrett did in the second album, as was presumed to be lost until included in the Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? 2002 album. After a brief pause, recording restarted in June, when Barrett presented demos of Rats, Wined And Dined and Birdie Hop, and also picked up an early composition from Pink Floyd, She Was A Millionaire, renamed to Millionaire. After another short break, Effervescing Elephant, Wined And Dined, Love Song and Dominoes were recorded. At this time, both Dolly Rocker and Let's Split were recorded, but were shelved and appear in Opel. In the final recording days, Love Song was completed, Barrett stopped dubbing Dolly Rocker and wrote Word Song. The last track that was to be included in Barrett completed was It Is Obvious. The result, altough a more consistent effort than the debut album, is considered by some fans to have been over-produced by Gilmour and Wright. Still, the 1993 CD release contains some of the "rough" vocal and guitar only versions.
Track Listing
- Baby Lemonade (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 26 February
- Love Song (3'05)
- Take 1, Recorded 17 July, overdubs added 17 July
- Dominoes (4'11)
- Take 3, Recorded 14 July
- It Is Obvious (3'00)
- Take 1, Recorded 17 July
- Rats (3'02)
- Demo, Recorded 5 June, overdubs added 7 May
- Maisie (2'51)
- Take 2, Recorded 26 February
- Gigolo Aunt (5'47)
- Take 15, Recorded 27 February, overdubs added April 1970
- Waving My Arms In The Air (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 27 February, overdubs and new vocal track 2 April
- I Never Lied To You (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 27 February, overdubs and new vocal track 2 April
- Wined And Dined (4'11)
- Take 10, Recorded 14 July
- Wolfpack (4'11)
- Take 2, Recorded 3 April
- Effervescing Elephant (4'11)
- Take 9, Recorded 14 July
- Baby Lemonade (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 26 February
- Guitar and double track vocals only
- Waving My Arms In The Air (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 27 February
- Guitar and vocals only
- I Never Lied To You (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 27 February
- Guitar and vocals only
- Love Song (4'11)
- Take 1, 14 July
- Dominoes (4'11)
- Take 1, Recorded 14 July
- Dominoes (4'11)
- Take 2, Recorded 14 July
- It Is Obvious (4'11)
- Take 2, Recorded 17 July
- Electric Guitar and Vocal
1The extra tracks present in the CD version (tracks 13 to 19) add about 18 minutes of different takes recorded.
Staff
Syd Barrett - Guitar, vocals;
David Gilmour - Organ, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar and guitar, bass, arranger, drums, producer;
Rick Wright - organ, piano, harmonium, keyboards, producer;
Jerry Shirley - Percussion, Drums;
Vic Saywell - Tuba
John Wilson - Drums
Tim Chacksfield - Coordinator
Peter Brown - Engineer
Gareth Cousins - Mixing
Willey - Percurssion
CD 1993 release compilation, remixing, mixing and package design by Phil Smee and Brian Hogg
