Short Reviews [Various Artists - 2021 - "Love You. A Tribute to Syd Barrett"]

There is no doubt that Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett is viewed by many as being an incredibly important person in the history of music, even though his complete musical career was only ten years in length. He will always be remembered for being a founding member of Pink Floyd and the incredible lengthy improvised meanderings they developed onstage, but due to multiple reasons (often associated with mental health and drug use) he was let go from the band, recorded a couple of solo albums and then disappeared to his painting and gardening until his death from cancer. On the 75th anniversary of his birth this collection was released which attempts, for the first time, to bring together in one place all the songs Barrett recorded after left the band. To realize this, the organisers invited many artists from various parts of the world – Italy, Mexico, France, Ireland, UK, USA, Sweden, Japan, Belgium Germany, The Netherlands – and asked them to choose one song and rearrange it in their own way. The result is something that is somewhat strange, and not exactly compelling, even to those who believe that his solo albums are exemplary examples of great work. The artists really have taken each song as a starting point and then arranged and performed it in their own style, which means that while some songs are somewhat close to the originals, others are almost unrecognizable. This also means that there is little in the way of flow to the album, something which is a common issue in compilations in that the performances have been created with little regard to the others so while we may have a sitar here, we can have heavy guitar there, folk in that place, psychedelia in another. The result is something which is interesting while never being essential, and I was somewhat intrigued to see that of the 37 songs and bands on offer I only know one of them, ST 37, whose treatment of “Baby Lemonade” does not really stand out too far. The meandering introduction to “Astronomy Domine” by Boris Savoldelli & Umberto Petrin is somewhat pointless, and while I like the vocals on this one, the musical accompaniment is dire. Given the high calibre people who have been involved in making this happen, including artist Ian Barrett (Syd’s nephew), Matteo Regattin (author of the graphic novel “Syd Barrett Jugband Blues. A graphic trip on the tracks of Syd Barrett”), Nino Gatti (expert, biographer and collector of Pink Floyd) etc., there is no doubt that many see this as the complete tribute to one of the UK’s most intriguing musicians. Me, even though I appreciate the work that gone into this, I would rather return to the Barrett’s own recordings.