Syd Barrett Reviews the Singles of July, 1967
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- July, 1967.
Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett reviews the singles of July 1967 for Melody Maker magazine. A week after this, on the 4th of August, Pink Floyd's debut album "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" was released. The so-called Summer of Love was in full bloom and the world went psychedelic.
.
"It will sell a lot but I won't buy one"..... This is what makes Syd so great.
Druggies are also delightful - stewed......................
"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.
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.
"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!
"Let me think... who's dead?" Classic Syd.
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.
Been scrolling through these and this is the best, of course, good old Syd! This should be read at 78.😀
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
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.
Love Syd's reviews!
Syd tells it as it is RIP you are missed.
Syd on See Emily Play by the Pink Floyd: “It’s nice. I like it very much but it won’t be a hit.”
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!
My all time favorite reviews by - Syd Barrett. Cheers.
So many cool singles Syd reviewed with spot on analysis. He was a fan !
Shine on you crazy diamond R.I.P Syd
Simply amazing 🤩 as a syd fan I’m dying for any content. This was incredibly well done!
Agreed.
Awww Syd makes me both happy and sad this sort of thing.....poor bugger
I really enjoy how your bring these moments back to life, its as if we were there.
Spot on Syd, As Always!
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
Love it! Syd liked to play around with record playback speeds as much as I do
This is awesome. Suds writing & spoken word bits between track takes are as captivating as his music is. I just wish they recorded more.
Absolutely, fabulous, thank you, good time for you
see new things related to Syd I love them, thanks for this
Your review segments are always of high quality..keep them going.
“It’ll sell a lot but I won’t buy one” lmao
How Coherent and Clever Syd was.
These videos are great and very addictive, thanks very much for your hard work!
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.
Well you asked Sid to review the songs and he did. Loved it!
Damn great insights and spot on in hindsight… who knew Syd could have been a great A&R man?
Love The Very Influential & Hilarious Syd Barrett... Peace
This is a cool video. Highly entertaining and this is a great look into the window of 1967.
I love these videos! Please continue doing these!!!
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."
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.
This was fascinating!
I love how we talked in the 60s, all the dig this and dig that and its a drag ect
this is actually 'blind date' from MAY1967
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.
I love the fact that syd liked mothers of invention
This is a great series you've put together here, very original. Consider me subscribed.
I found "I'll Never Fall In Love AGain" thanks to this video. Thanks!
Syd was brilliant 🇬🇧🎸👍🏻
I really enjoyed the commentary. I'll steal some of them for my own use. I bet even the bargain bin rejected these records.
We had loads of these records coming into our house in the 60s. We used to play a blow torch on them and turn them into plastic ashtrays.
It's interesting he recommends playing songs at slower or faster speeds. Pink Floyd used that effect on some of their early songs.
Fantastic reviews! They should have hired him as the chief editor
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.
Amazing….really sharp and funny guy
I love his conflating Tom Jones with Sandy McPherson who was well known for playing with his huge organ on the BBC Light programme...
Pervert!
I guess the logical query would be: Was Sandy ever arrested for conflating or was it a first offense? Woeful lack of judgment and poorly played by Sandy to implicate the highly regarded Mr. Jones, not to mention the squeaky clean of scandal BEEB in controversy. Big organ or no.It was bound to leave a stain.
Wow, Syd Barrett. So cool. I like the one with Brian Jones the best. He knew every artist.
"Maybe it should be played at 78".... good on you Syd... Love ya! :-D
Addicted to this series
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.
Good review by Syd
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.
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: th-cam.com/video/rHqNeUlC2Dc/w-d-xo.html
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. th-cam.com/video/lFvf3Pq_9M4/w-d-xo.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 th-cam.com/video/ohlVo31fXag/w-d-xo.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.....
Great video.
These reviews a so fricken' cool.
Ohhhhhhh Syd, m'man.
Blesshya, my son.
So cool. Syd before he lost his mind. And also in America we didn't hear 90 % of this stuff. An English version of the Buffalo Springfield classic? How bizarre. How bizarre. Keep this stuff coming man.
the old version by Band of Joy with Robert Plant and John Bonham was awesome
I loved 'Syd's humour! very funny subtle!
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.
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...
His Jim Reeves review was hilarious.
1967 Bowie, we didn't get him in US for 4-5 years
Interesting to hear the influences on the early Pink Floyd. As a Zappa fan, my ears perked up when he mentioned the Mothers of Invention. I'm sure he's referring to their first album Freak Out.
yeah it's awesome, I also know Jim Morrison was big into Floyd, all my favorite sixties bands were really into one another
How could I not have realized the influence of the Mothers. Now that I heard him say it, it seems so obvious on See Emily Play
I agree with Syds assessments of bowie
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.
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 belive it's one of those numbers you should play at slow speed or backwards or upside down."
"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
This is a great series. Although it would be better to hear the voice of the artist making the comments, it's also cool to leave it up to the imagination especially in this case with Syd. I have no idea what he sounded like but he occupies a special place in my imagination. One he shares with Syme from Orwell's "1984."
If you still have no idea how Syd’s speaking voice sounded, you definitely should watch Pink Floyd’s 1967 interview with Hans Keller. Syd was giving very clever and interesting answers to the interviewer who was trying to “downplay” them.
And yeah I agree he occupies a special place in my imagination too.
@@resistandrevol And Syd had a beautiful, deep, soft, dreamy, sexy speaking voice. Very ASMR - inducing.
Poor Bowie, hearing his idol talk about his tune, like that. Bowie adored Syd.
Granted, it was early Bowie when he was poppy and a bit bubblegummy. He hadn't found his footing yet and I'm certain Syd would've appreciated his stuff when he hit his stride.
Very cool content.
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 don’t know about this video. It’s very nice, but maybe I should try it at 1.25x
love Luv ❤ oh my Love you so !
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?
"And what exactly is a joke?" I think Syd took the p*ss out of PF with that line. Shine on, Syd!
“I don’t know what it was all about it seemed to be about someone kissing someone’s feet, I don’t want to hear it again” PLSSS 💀💀💀💀💀
Pity he didn’t answer orally so that we could here his voice.
LMAO!!! Syd was hilarious.
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.
I often play my records upside-down.
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.
I wonder if Syd's mental health was slipping away at this point. He certainly sounds grounded and coherent. Syd was a talent. He gave birth to one of the great bands of all time. Such a sad ending for someone with such "shine".
He was never mentally healthy
That’s drugs for you …, acid in particular .
The timeline of Syd's troubles in 1967 included him being mostly fine the first few months of the year - but in late May - when David Gilmour visited Syd & the band in studio as they recorded "See Emily Play" - Gilmour was shocked by a change in his childhood friend's personality - and that Syd did not seem to recognize him at first.
By all accounts things had gotten so bad by mid-July - that the band was forced to cancel their entire schedule for August so that Syd could take an extended break. After the fairly disastrous U.S. tour - in November on the European package tour with Hendrix - Syd was barely functional - by Christmas the others all knew he had to go.
Rick talks about when Syd came back after spending a weekend somewhere.
Rick said Syd was unrecognizable, he seemed completely shutdown.
In this place that Syd was its said that his "friends" would put drugs in his juice/coffee without him knowing for their amusement
Who knows how much or how many different drugs he took that weekend
At this remove it is hard to get an accurate timeline, and also it seems like he had his good days and bad days (he was able to play really well and do lucid interviews on his better days as late as the end of 1967) but certainly the way the interviewer tells the story in retrospect, he had already heard of Barrett's instability before going to meet him with his turntable and records. But he said he was pleasantly surprised by Barrett's playful demeanour, until they got to the Bowie record. Then Barrett got 'annoyed', even 'menacing'.
Trying to find where PF’s See Emily Play in these reviews. It was June I thought.
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.
"I really like The Mothers Of Invention." -- at 1:07
Lol "I don't want to hear it again. Maybe it should be played at 78"
nice!
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.
Remember when people use to tell the truth? When telling the truth was cherished.
Oh give us a break........ Yeah, everybody in the 60s was telling the truth. Do you hear yourself? lol.
Barry Fantoni was a cartoonist in Private Eye.
David Bowie's early work is so underrated
Sell me a coat... Banger
It's terrible