Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs

Might be slaughtering a sacred cow here. The Madcap Laughs just isn't a very good album unfortunately. When Syd was still with Pink Floyd he was excellent, but unfortunately by this point either the drugs or the mental health problems had got too much and it doesn't make for a particularly enertaining listen. The songs meander and sound unfinished and compared with his work on "Piper At The Gates Of  Dawn" it's entirely substandard. There are a few tracks that with more work (and possibly earlier in his career) could have been excellent (particularly Octopus) but on this album don't live up to their potential.

It's a sad album to listen to as it includes parts of the recording where Syd forgets where he's going and stops songs to start again. Unfortunately, because of this it's not an album I'd recommend to too many people, It's certainly an acquired taste anyway. Here's Octopus...