It was 50 years ago that a most unique rock album was released, The Madcap Laughs by Syd Barrett – an example of “art brut” in music. In a distinctly non-commercial move, the album missed the Christmas market, in spite of a final recording session as early as July 26, 1969. Some say it was held back not to compete with Ummagumma. Syd Barrett probably did not care.

The famous photo sessions with daffodils and a naked Iggy Rose took place in April. The less known but officially commissioned “yoga session” actually took place in October. Some of these so-called yoga photos by Storm Thorgerson ended up on the inside of the original gatefold cover – with the madcap theme in full bloom.

Storm shows us Syd Barrett with his head up in the clouds and beyond, and several creepy images that spawn almost like octopus tentacles from his torso. To remove any debate about the nature of the imagery there is also an image of Syd with a cracked head at the bottom of the gatefold. Top center, Syd seems to have his head stuck in a TV set and top left is an even more odd image and a bit of a mystery: A baby and some sort of tool against nasal congestion (?). Storm took weird to new levels with this inside cover! EMI probably did well in selecting among the April photos for the cover.

The cover art notwithstanding, The Madcap Laughs was actually created in a happy time window. Syd had in 1969 left behind him his annus horribilis and gained new hope, much thanks to Malcolm Jones, and new love with Gala Pinion. The spring and summer also included the build-up to the moon landing, the anticipation of the Woodstock concert and, more importantly for Syd, the return to stage by Bob Dylan after three long years away from the public eye.

When the album was released things had changed. The end of the year turned darker, much darker, and all too well showed that the 1960s were over. For the hippie generation, two serious blows were dealt when in December the link between the Manson family and their atrocities was fully uncovered and the tragic Altamont festival played out.

Therefore, The Madcap Laughs, in all its darkness, holds a special lighter place in time. Syd, in love again, had embarked in a daffodil-filled springtime on recordings that would go on to form an outstanding collection on one of rock music’s enduringly legendary albums.

Join us in wishing Happy Golden Anniversary to the magic Madcap album.

Set The Controls for Record!

The perfect opportunity to have a look (and save some money). If you have access to Sky Arts then our film “Live At The Roundhouse” is on next Saturday 21st November at 10pm.

The full version is being screened which includes all of the band talking about the project amongst some fantastic songs that the band LOVE (and miss) playing together.

Released 7th November 2020 is the new single from Holly Penfield, Co-Written by the legendary Ian Ritchie who has been the saxaphone player in Roger Waters Touring band since 2006 and was the producer behind Roger’s Radio K.A.O.S album.

Written as a stand alone single in November 2020 the song features Holly Penfield (ukulele, vocals), Ian Ritchie of Roger Waters fame (bass, vocals, harmonica), Jack Thomas (drums), John Ashton Thomas (keyboards) and Dave Kilminster Lead Guitarist of Rogers Touring band since 2006 (guitars).

To Coincide with the October release of the critically aclaimed Roger Waters : Us & Them Film, A Fleeting Glimpse is delighted to offer our visitors from all across the world a chance to own the NTSC DVD version for their collection.

Roger Waters: Us + Them is a 2019 British concert film by English musician Roger Waters, founding member of Pink Floyd. The film was directed by Waters and Sean Evans, and it captures a truncated performance from Waters’ 2017–18 live tour.

The film features songs from Pink Floyd albums and Waters’ last album, Is This the Life We Really Want?. It also featured across the four shows from the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. The film starts focusing Roger Waters, Dave Kilminster, Jon Carin, Jonathan Wilson, Joey Waronker, Gus Seyffert, Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe from the band Lucius, Bo Koster and Ian Ritchie.

A Huge thank you to all 512 of you from across the globe that have entered, 309 of you got the correct answer, We inputed all names into a random name picker to make this as fair as possible.

Winner Announced : Congratulations David, Please check your emails for all correspondance. Thank you all for entering.

Jon Carin a Grammy Award winning musician, singer, songwriter and producer who has been a longtime collaborator with  Pink Floyd and the solo careers of David Gilmour and Roger Waters has been incredibly busy these last few months,

He has been putting in preparations for the upcoming Roger Waters : This Is Not A Drill Tour which was originally planned for July 2020 and has now been pushed back until 2021 with new dates still to be announced.

With the unexpected global lockdown due to the current Covid 19 situation Jon has found himself in his studio writing and creating music as an outlet during these difficult times.

With the 80th Aniversary of the great and legendary John Lennon on what would have been his 80th Birthday, Jon has put together a version of “Gimme Some Truth” which is a song written and performed by John Lennon first released on his 1971 album Imagine.

” I did this quickly to honor John Lennon on his 80th birthday, half a lifetime later, but the internets made me wait a few days to share it. Hope it’s ok. Play it loud ” – Jon Carin

Further to this recent interpritation of the Jon Lennon classic, Jon has released 2 completely original songs of his own.

The First single released back in May 2020 is entitled : Fear Of Everything written with the intention that it felt related to what the world is going through at the moment and keeping in mind that the greatest way to overcome fear is to acknowledge it.

You can read and listen to Jon’s “Fear Of Everything” release in our previous news article by Clicking Here

The 2nd single released in August 2020 is entitled : Like A Drug Written about empathy, kindness, respect for the rules of nature & love of each and every one of our fellow man.

You can read and listen to Jon’s “Like A Drug” release in our previous news article by Clicking Here

Pink Floyd famously toured The Wall with a limited number of shows taking place from 1980 to 1981, because of the scale of the spectacle that Roger Waters had devised. Of this tour, only 1 leg took place in mainland Europe, with Dortmund in northern Germany being the lucky city chosen.

Even luckier still, was AFG reader Hugo Grimes, who happened to be in Germany at the time of the shows. He attended the show on 20th February 1981:

I had arrived in Dortmund to work for 7 months as part of my university studies.  I was very surprised/delighted to find out that Pink Floyd were playing at a huge concert hall within walking distance of my flat!

 

I also saw Thin Lizzy, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Jethro Tull, Blues Band, Stevie Wonder in the next few months.

 

Hope people enjoy them – I was sat in the front row – but my ticket said row 32 – so I only had a few exposures left on my camera – it I had known I would have bought another film!

Enjoy the photos below:

Thanks again to Hugo, and remember that if you have anything Floyd related that you think may be of interest, drop a line to sean@pinkfloydz.com OR tony@pinkfloydz.com