Scream Thy Last Scream: Syd Barrett's Last Trip

By now the news is spreading like wildfire. I'm sure in the next few days there will be more outpourings like this one. I know many fans cared deeply for the man even though they'd never met him. I suppose I'm one of them, although over time I've come to realize that my interest in "Syd" was more about what he represented than who he actually was. For a very short span of time he channeled some very intense energy into a small body of work: "Piper At The Gates of Dawn", one song on "Saucerful of Secrets", two solo albums- "Barrett" and "The Madcap Laughs" - and some unreleased gems like "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream". Then he disappeared, walking from London back to Cambridge, as the legend goes, to live a life of seclusion. It's all very Romantic English Poet Tragic, a pop-culture Keats trajectory that still resonates thirty-years on. But while the story is fascinating, and the pictures are fun to look at, it's the music that first spoke to me and continues to speak to me all these years later. Songs like "Lucifer Sam" and "It's No Good Trying" are the heaviest psychedelic shit I have ever heard. Heavier even than "I Am The Walrus" or "Purple Haze". Heavier than the dozens of lesser-known bands whose output I have collected obsessively over the years since I first heard "See Emily Play" and thought this sounds fantastic! The music was a transmission from a higher plane, portraying a revolution in consciousness where typical words and chords were transformed into something new, unique, and exciting. And that's the lasting appeal of Syd. Like the shamans of long ago he took the trip and came back to communicate what he'd glimpsed so that all of us could share the experience. That's the work of a true artist and that's who Syd Barrett was. Rest in Peace.