Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Syd Barrett (2022)

In the second half of 1967 and through to early 1968, while still part of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett's behaviour became increasingly erratic and unpredictable, with reports of him on stage with the group during this period strumming on one chord through an entire concert or not playing at all. Following an increasingly difficult US tour with him in 1967, and with David Gilmour drafted in to help out with live dates, the rest of the band decided that they couldn't work with Barrett any more, and on 6 April 1968 they officially announced that he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd. After Barrett left Pink Floyd, Peter Jenner and Andrew King, from the band's management, followed suit, feeling that as Barrett was the creative centre of the band, they would rather represent him than Pink Floyd. In May Jenner led Barrett into EMI Studios to record some solo material, but this was only partially successful, with most tracks having no vocals. Recording resumed in June and July, with better progress being made this time, but shortly after the July dates, Barrett abruptly stopped recording, breaking up with girlfriend Lindsay Corner, and then going off on a drive around Britain in his Mini, at the end of which he ended up in psychiatric care in Cambridge. 

By the start of 1969, a somewhat recovered Barrett decided to return to his musical career and revisit the Jenner-produced recordings, and so in April 1969 he began working on newer material, while reworking the 1968 recordings. After some months of work on the songs, Barrett told his flatmate that he was going off "for an afternoon drive", but instead followed Pink Floyd out to Ibiza, and during the trip, he asked David Gilmour for his help on the album, and so at the end of May, Malcolm Jones abandoned his production responsibilities and Gilmour and Waters took over. Although they were in the process of completing Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma' album, they took time out and helped Barrett finish his album, managing to record a number of his songs during a June session, and then coming back to complete the project after taking a temporary break to mix 'Ummagumma' and undertake a tour of the Netherlands. After several months of intermittent recording, the album was finally deemed complete, and once the final recording sessions for the album had been completed, Gilmour and Waters mixed not just the tracks they had produced, but also the previously recorded songs with Malcolm Jones, in a matter of two days. 

'Octopus' was released as a single in November 1969, and 'The Madcap Laughs' followed on 2 January 1970, with both records appearing on the Harvest Records label. The album was fairly well-reviewed by music critics, and has since become something of a classic of the psychedelic music genre, and so the songs are ripe for interpretation by other bands with the same midset. Marc And The Mambas deliver a great take on 'Terrapin', and Slowdive's version of 'Golden Hair' is pretty much exactly as you would expect it to sound. REM have covered 'Dark Globe', and The Shamen and The Mock Turtles have both provided superb takes of a couple of songs from the record for official tribute albums to Barrett, while two of my personal favourite bands finally appear together, with The Green Pajamas and The Cleaners From Venus both giving it their best. I'll have to admit that this is one of the most idiosyncratic collections in this series, but every artist on here shows an obvious love for the source material, and so in the end it makes for an intriguing and enjoyable listen. 

Track listing

01 Terrapin (Marc And The Mambas 1982) 
02 No Good Trying (The Mock Turtles 1987)
03 Love You (The Besnard Lakes 2010)
04 No Man's Land (Race Horses 2010)
05 Dark Globe (REM 1989)  
06 Here I Go (The Balters 2022)
07 Octopus (Carnival Art 1990)
08 Golden Hair (Slowdive 1991)
09 Long Gone (The Shamen 1987)
10 She Took A Long Cold Look (The Green Pajamas 2000)
11 Feel (Marinus Pee 2015)
12 If It's In You (Jennifer Gentle 2010)
13 Late Night (The Cleaners From Venus 1985)

The Shamen - Strange Days Dream (1988)

The Shamen were a Scottish electronic dance music band, formed in 1985 in Aberdeen. The founding members were Colin Angus, Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie, with Peter Stephenson joining shortly after to take over on keyboards from Angus. The band were originally called Alone Again Or in 1984, under which name they released two psychedelic/electronic pop singles, and after the name change further singles picked up airplay from John Peel. A flexi-disc that came with the Scottish fanzine Skipping Kitten 2 in May 1986 raised their profile further still, and the band released their first album 'Drop' in 1987, which demonstrated their love of 60'd psychedelia, with influences such as Love, Syd Barrett and the 13th Floor Elevators, with covers of classic psychedelic songs by Syd Barrett ('It's All Around', 'Golden Hair', and 'Long Gone'), The 13th Floor Elevators ('Fire Engine') and The Turtles ('Grim Reaper Of Love') being recorded but left off the album. By mid-1987, Angus was discovering the sounds of early house-music pioneers such as S-Express and M/A/R/R/S, and increasing his knowledge of the latest studio gadgetry, and it wasn't long before he was applying these techniques to the band's music, mixing rock guitars, techno and hip-hop rhythms and sampled radio voices. The 1987 single 'Christopher Mayhew Says' was their first to experiment with beat machines and samples, fusing them with their psychedelic rock sound, but this new direction proved too radical for co-founder and vocalist Derek McKenzie, who left the band in late 1987 to study at university. Will Sinnott, aka Will Sin, joined the group that October on bass and keyboards, freeing up Angus to handle vocals and guitar, and this new line-up released their first full-length foray into a more dance-orientated sound with the 'In Gorbachev We Trust' album. The 10" mini-album 'Phorward' cemented their success, and from this point on the psychedelic pop took a back seat. I still think that 'Drop' is a brilliant album, and I loved their early work before the introduction of the electronic element, so the Italian 'Strange Days Dreams' album was most welcome when it hoovered up some rare early recordings, like those aforementioned covers and odd b-sides, but it also missed off a lot of music that it could have included, so this upgrade adds the 1986 flexi, some missing b-sides, an otherwise unrecorded John Peel session track, and those early recordings by Alone Again Or, for a more complete over-view of how The Shamen started out in the mid to late 80's. While I still followed the band in their more dance-friendly incarnation, I often wonder if they would have been as successful had they stuck with the psychedelic pop stuff, but bearing in mind the upsurge of acid house in the 90's I somehow think they made the right decision.  

Track listing

01 Drum The Beat (In My Soul) (single 1984, as Alone Again Or)
02 Dream Come True (single 1985, as Alone Again Or)
03 Smarter Than The Average Bear (Ursa Major) (b-side of 'Dream Come True')
04 Drum The Beat (Shall We Dance?) (b-side of 'Dream Come True') 
05 Do What You Will (b-side of 'Something About You' 1987)
06 It's All Around (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
07 Grim Reaper Of Love (b-side of 'Something About You' 1987)
08 Stay In Bed (from the free flexi-disc with Skipping Kitten magazine 1986)
09 Long Gone (from 'Beyond The Wildwood: A Tribute To Syd Barrett' 1987)
10 Strange Days Dream (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
11 Golden Hair (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
12 Christopher Mayhew Says (A Lot) (12" single 1987 - exclusive mix of A and B sides)
13 Knature Of A Girl (Submission) (single 1988)
14 Shitting On Britain (b-side of 'What's Going Down?' 12" single 1988)
15 Fire Engine (b-side of 'What's Going Down?' 12" single 1988)
16 Darkness In Zion (b-side of 'Jesus Loves Amerika' 1988)
17 Nothing (John Peel session 1988)
18 What's Going Down? (single 1988)