Last Laughs For The Madcap

Mixed 17-18 July 2006

I don't idolize Rock Stars, or get caught up in nostalgia trips for music made before I was old enough to read, but there was something uniquely cool and tragic about Syd Barrett, and his recent death touched me. I wrote elsewhere that it was a weird combination of pathos and bathos — the inevitable conclusion of a sad story that most of us had forgotten was still going on.

But then again, who are we to say it's sad? For all I know, Syd Roger led a perfectly nice, ordinary life in the 35 years since he cocooned himself away from the public eye. Meanwhile, other artists were clothing themselves in the butterfly skin he shed, viz.:

Track listing:

(since there is only one file, the start time of each track is shown.)

00:00 Pink Floyd — “Arnold Layne”
7" single (1967)
02:52 Robyn Hitchcock — “Brenda's Iron Sledge”
from Black Snake Dîamond Röle (1980)
05:45 Pink Floyd — “Lucifer Sam”
from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
08:48 The Dukes Of Stratosphear — “Your Gold Dress”
from 25 O'Clock (1985)
13:27 Broadcast — “Pendulum”
from Haha Sound (2003)
17:35 Deerhoof — “Spirit Ditties Of No Tone”
from The Runners Four (2005)
20:18 Pink Floyd — “Interstellar Overdrive”
from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
29:37 Sigur Rós — “Syndir Guos”
from Von (1997)
36:59 Pink Floyd — “Astronomy Dominé” (live)
from Ummagumma (1970)
45:10 Macha — “Visiting The Ruins”
from Macha (1998)
53:06 Pink Floyd — “Bike” (edit)
from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
55:00 Tones On Tail — “Slender Fungus”
from Pop (1984)
58:30 Syd Barrett — “Rats”
from Barrett (1970)
61:21 Robyn Hitchcock — “Satellite”
from Eye (1990)
63:03 Syd Barrett — “No Man's Land”
from The Madcap Laughs (1970)
65:53 The Fall — “Bug Day”
from The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall (1984)
70:45 Sonic Youth — “Schizophrenia”
from Sister (1987)
74:40 Danielle Dax — “Cutting The Last Sheaf”
from Pop-Eyes (1982)
77:42 Pink Floyd — “Bike” (reprise)
from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
79:08 Total

Download:

Last Laughs For The Madcap [73MB MP3]