Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett dies at 60

Crap.

Elspode, where are you?

Syd was beautiful and nuts. RIP.

I'm surprised he lasted that long. Still, 60 doesn't seem that old to me anymore.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

I already mentioned this over on the other thread dead people thread.

Poor Syd.

Shine On indeed.

Fair winds Syd.

Griff wrote:

Crap.

Elspode, where are you?

Training on new software at work while still trying to integrate the merged company and its records into ours when I'm not hiring and firing people faster than you can say boo. Then, when I'm home, I'm usually scraping, priming, painting, texturing, cleaning, packing, reading real estate contracts or cleaning up after pets. Sometimes, I sleep. But not long.

Syd was what I think of as a shooting star. Brilliant, and all too briefly shining. The tragedy of Syd Barrett was not his death from complications of diabetes, but his drug addled and mentally tortured life. For those of us who remember Pink Floyd's earliest days, we know that, great though the band became under Waters and Gilmour's guidance, what it might have become had Barrett managed to keep his head screwed on straight and his otherworldly muse in line could have been truly mind boggling.

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Rock Steady wrote:

I'm surprised he lasted that long. Still, 60 doesn't seem that old to me anymore.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Read my mind ;)

I'm sad that the guy is dead,but had he not had his breakdown and stayed with the band Pink floyd would not have been the band that everyone knows and loves.
Barrett write some nice wee tunes but the driving force in the band has always been Waters,there was a lot of crap on the early albums under the guise of being progressive..sid was a 3/4 minute pop song writer..Roger Waters was the genius until his ego took over..

be-bop wrote:

I'm sad that the guy is dead,but had he not had his breakdown and stayed with the band Pink floyd would not have been the band that everyone knows and loves.
Barrett write some nice wee tunes but the driving force in the band has always been Waters,there was a lot of crap on the early albums under the guise of being progressive..sid was a 3/4 minute pop song writer..Roger Waters was the genius until his ego took over..

Yea, I agree with you. Sid had genius that hadn't bloomed yet. But, it's rediculous when someone says they're a pre-Dark-Side fan, as if they are true connossiors of progressive rock. I've fallen asleep listening to Echoes more than once.

Meddle is such an amazing album. The Wall will always be my favorite Floyd album, though. Dark Side is overrated, though it's great. Most of Syd's stuff is fun (come on, dont try to tell me you dont LOVE Bike), but its nothing super-special.

Oh, and The Final Cut is realy underrated. Not Now John is one of my favorite Floyd songs, and the whole album is brilliantly written... even if the, er, music isn't PF's best.

Ibram wrote:

Meddle is such an amazing album. The Wall will always be my favorite Floyd album, though. Dark Side is overrated, though it's great. Most of Syd's stuff is fun (come on, dont try to tell me you dont LOVE Bike), but its nothing super-special.

Oh, and The Final Cut is realy underrated. Not Now John is one of my favorite Floyd songs, and the whole album is brilliantly written... even if the, er, music isn't PF's best.

Thanks for posting this. Since I am 51 yo, I just gave up on Floyd after The Wall. I'll take another look at The Final Cut.

Since many consider Dark Side to be the best Rock album of all time, it's natural that some consider it overrated. But even so, Dark Side is the best Rock album of all time.

Roger's dark genius is a reason Pink Floyd is the band they are, but David Gilmour's guitar is godliness- they would not be the band they are thought of now if not for David. Gilmour is always in the race for top guitarist of all time, and in my mind, he is.

Shine on You Crazy Diamond
Remember when you were young, you
shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now
there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the
sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on
the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel
breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on
you stranger, you legend, you martyr,
and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the
moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by
shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you
crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random
precision, rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you
seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you
prisoner,
and shine!

Nobody knows where you are,
how near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile
on many more layers and I'll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And we'll bask in the
shadow of yesterday's triumph, and sail on the steel
breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser, come
on you miner for truth and delusion,
and shine!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Barrett

Rock Steady wrote:

Since many consider Dark Side to be the best Rock album of all time, it's natural that some consider it overrated. But even so, Dark Side is the best Rock album of all time.

:) If it wasn't, nobody would have done this. Seriously though. Rock is so bound up in our emotions that picking a best is really based on timing. But even so, Dark Side is the best Rock album of all time.

Gee, thanks. Now I have to buy that album. Rather true to the original, yet interestingly reggae flavored. I particularly enjoyed the rooster crowing added to the intro of "Time".