An Introduction to Syd BarrettEMI/Harvest

If your tastes veer towards early Pink Floyd and acid casualties, and if you like anything approximating oddball pop music, then Syd Barrett is your primary source. Collating early Pink Floyd singles, a few PF album tracks and rooting through Barretts shortlived solo career (prior to retiring to Cambridge in the late 1970s, where he lived a quiet life until his death in 2006), this useful collection pitches Barrett as one of contempoary rock's founding fathers. From the sheer vitality of singles Arnold Layneand See Emily Play, and the look- mummy-no-brain-cells-left charm of Bikeand Effervescing Elephantto the so-strange-it- makes- total-sense acumen of She Took a Long Cool Lookand Bob Dylan Blues, this is essential listening for space cadets young and old.

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Download tracks: Bike, Bob Dylan Blues, Arnold Layne