Making the Madcap Laughs
The first session was booked for
Thursday, April 10th, in
studio three. E.M.I.'s studio complex is still arguably one of
the best in the world. In 1969 it most certainly was. Studio
One was the largest, and almost exclusively used for large
orchestral recordings (when I had first seen it I was convinced a
helicopter could fly in it!). Studio two was always fully
booked, often by the Beatles, the Hollies, and other top E.M.I.
artists and, of course, the Floyd often were using it for
'Ummagumma'. Studio Three was the smallest, 'though still large
by studio standards, and more intimate than studio two (but less
technically advanced; studio two had 8 track machines while
studio three was still four track). Both Syd and I were
familiar with Number 3 (I had produced Love Sculpture's first
album there) so we settled for that one. Studio Two had a
control room set at a higher level than the studio itself, which
meant looking down on the musicians - and frankly I disliked
that. It's easier for the producer to see what's happening but I
felt it was harder for the musicians to see into the control
booth, and Syd needed a relaxed atmosphere. Plus, three was
easier to book at short notice!
Syd and I spent the first session alone (7p.m. to 12.30)
investigating the old tapes made a year earlier to see if
anything was usable. We first overdubbed guitar and vocal tracks
onto 'Silas Lang' ('Swan Lee') and experimented with ideas for
'Clowns And Jugglers'. Neither of these was eventually used
(Clowns And Jugglers, re-recorded as 'Octopus', was used in
another version), and we both agreed that the new songs were far
better than the old tracks. But at least we had checked each
other out and we returned to Earls Court ready to start afresh
the next evening.
The next evening we got down to business proper. Syd was in
a great mood and in fine form, a stark contrast to the rumours
and stories I'd been fed with. In little over five hours we laid
down vocal and guitar tracks (extra backings on most came later)
for four new songs and two old.
The first we made (the engineer was Peter Mew) was 'Opel',
at Syd's request. We both felt at the time that it was one of
his best new songs *(1) After Dave (Gilmour) and Roger (Waters)
took over production, I left the final say to them and Syd as to
which songs were included in the final album. I was nevertheless
very sad that 'Opel' was left out, especially in the light of
what I thought to be lesser songs being included. I assume it
was Syd's decision.* It took Syd nine runs at it to get a
complete take, and even that was not perfect. Nevertheless it
had a stark attraction to it, and most of the early takes were
merely false starts. Anyone who has experience of studio
techniques will appreciate that it takes several attempts to get
the right feel and to feel totally relaxed. ('Hound Dog' took
over 30 takes!) Many of the unsuccessful takes are merely lapses
of memory, technical faults, popping the letter 'p' at the
microphone, squeaky chairs, etc. Syd always had lyric sheets in
front of him, and turning the pages was often caught on tape (it
was left in on 'She Took A Long Cold Look'). Two complete takes
were made, the rest were false starts similar to the ones Dave
and Roger left in on 'If It's In You'.
Most of the tracks on this were just with Syd and his
guitar. I felt that, with his guitar alone we could put down
some songs and overdub backings later as necessary (contrary to
usual policy of making backings and adding vocals afterwards).
Next we did 'Love You' - again just guitar and voice. We did
several takes of this. The first was fast, in fact VERY fast
(faster than the issued one). The second was very slow! Take
three was a false start, and take four was the one we later
overdubbed and issued. All three good takes were perfect, and in
fact we weren't sure which take to use. The studio note says
'Best to be decided later'. All takes took less than twenty
minutes to do. This was Syd at full tilt! At this session Syd
was in great form, and very happy. No matter what people may say
to the contrary, Syd was very together, and this was his first
session with the new songs. Although Opel needed 9 attempts,
Love You needed only one re-take. The next track we did, 'It's
No Good Trying' was much the same. The very first take, with Syd
and his blue speckled Fender Telecaster, was good. Take two was
a false start, and take three was the version we used (although
at 5 minutes 14 seconds it needed a little shortening). I kept
Syd on the move, refusing too many retakes. And it was working.
In the two hours between 7.30 and 9.30 we had completed several
successful takes of three songs.
During the tea break we discussed going back to some of the
songs started the previous year, in particular 'Golden Hair', and
perhaps 'Late Night' although the original version of that had
been destroyed, it seemed. We returned to the studio and started
work on another new song, 'Terrapin'. In one take Syd laid down
a guitar and vocal track that was to be the master! At my
suggestion Syd double tracked his vocal part, and that was it!
(he later overdubbed the solo).
When we resumed Syd overdubbed slide guitar (using his
cigarette lighter as a slide) on the backing track of 'Late
Night', plus the vocal. The vocal took no time at all, and we
swiftly moved on to 'Golden Hair' which we had transferred from
the original 4 track to an 8 track master. I do not know who the
musicians were on this track, but the instrumentation was
identical to the re-made version that Dave and Roger were to
produce later - vibes, bass, drums and guitar. The version I
worked on with Syd was not the one used on the album, although
the remake was a direct copy of mine. This first version
featured Syd's guitar more prominently. In fact there were two
versions made at this session, the second featuring an added
harmony vocal line by Syd. When I heard much later that Dave and
Roger re-made 'Golden Hair' I was, to say the least, surprised.
The issued recording, while technically better, is far less
atmospheric than the original, and I still feel that a re-make
was unnecessary.
By midnight we felt we had done enough for one day. We had
worked on seven titles in one way or another, and we both felt we
had made great progress. In the cab back to Earls Court we
discussed our next session, and I was looking forward to a quiet
and relaxing weekend. I told Syd I would pick him up the next
Thursday as usual; Syd replied by saying he'd bring along some
musicians to play on some of the tracks we were planning, and
with that we parted company.
The following Thursday, as planned, I called a cab and went
to collect Syd. We dropped in at Dave Gilmour's flat round the
corner to borrow an amplifier, and set off for Abbey Road. At
the studio we met up with Jerry Shirley and 'Willie' Wilson, the
musicians Syd had invited along. The session was to be done
'live' i.e. everyone recording their parts at the same time,
including Syd's vocal and guitar parts. As usual, Syd played his
blue Fender Telecaster, unamplified, as rhythm. *(1) Syd had
maintained fairly constant contact with David Gilmour, who's amp
we were using. When he delivered the tapes for the 'More' album
to me, David quizzed me as to how the sessions were progressing,
although he showed no interest at the time in producing Syd. By
April he had completed most of his solo contributions to
'Ummagumma', and had more time to spare.* We started with 'No
Man's Land', and Syd ran through the song several times with
Jerry and Willie following to pick up the sequences. After a
little rehearsal we tried for a take to let everyone hear how we
were progressing (frequently a 'take' is attempted, not for a
master, but simply to check that the equipment is working
correctly and to let the performers hear how they sound in the
control room). After several other run throughs we went for a
master, and in all we completed three takes successfully, the
last being the best. The bass was later re-recorded *(2) The
original bass track showed room for improvement, which we did
later on during the session, after Syd's guitar parts had been
recorded.* Syd then recorded the guitar solo and the spoken
part, which was as unintelligible then as it is now! The other
guitar part was overdubbed later (see session lists). Syd's
guitar playing could, at times, be extremely erratic. He would
frequently switch from playing rhythm to lead at double the
volume, setting the meters well into the red and requiring a re-
take. It was a matter of having too many ideas and wanting to
record them all at once!
This April 17th session was the first that we did in Studio
Two instead of Studio Three. Whereas the April 11th session had
been mainly voice and guitar tracks, with no backings, this one
was to employ Jerry Shirley and John 'Willie' Wilson (who also
lived in Earls Court!). The greater scope afforded by the 8
track machine in No. 2 (Studio three was 4 track) would allow us
to do more overdubs if necessary, particularly on 'No Man's
Land'. No. 2 also had a much better drum sound (it is a larger
studio) and it isn't hard to tell that Jerry Shirley plays
extremely loudly in the studio, especially on 'Here I Go'.
Compare the drum sound on this to Ringo's Beatles work of the
time. They are very similar.
'Here I Go', the second song of the session, was also the
second 'old-tymey' song Syd did on the album - that is using a
music hall style chord structure. With its unusual introduction
and overall theme, it shows Syd at his relaxed best. He wrote
it, I seem to remember, in a matter of minutes. *(1) Syd nearly
always had his lyrics in front of him on a stand, in case of the
occasional lapse of memory. This song was the only one I
remember him needing no cue sheet at all.* The whole recording
was done absolutely 'live', with no overdubs at all. Syd changed
from playing rhythm to lead guitar at the very end, and the
change is noticeable. (Syd, however, would change like that
often. Whereas it was accepted practice to record, say, the
rhythm guitar for the whole duration of the song and then to go
back later and overdub the solo. To Syd this was an unnecessary
procedure! He'd mix them together. That accounts for the 'drop'
during the solo, as Syd's rhythm guitar is no longer there!) The
whole session lasted for just three hours (in the afternoon). At
the end I casually asked Syd if he had any more songs for the
next one in a week's time. 'Not really, but, er, I've got a
weird idea I want to try out' was all he would say. 'Well,' I
replied, 'does it need other musicians ? - because if so I'll
need to book studio two again.' 'No' was his reply. A couple of
days later I was none the wiser, and getting rather anxious. On
the one hand I didn't want to book the wrong studio, and on the
other I didn't want to hold valuable studio time with no real
plans. Syd eventually said that he had no new songs but would
quite like to see if there was anything we could do with one of
Pete Jenner's old tracks, 'Rhamadan'. This was a long (even
boring) track, lasting about 18 minutes, which Syd (or, at least,
I have always presumed it was his playing) had made the previous
May. It featured several conga drum overdubs, with no apparent
theme or direction. Reluctantly I agreed to check it out, but
said that we really didn't need a studio for that, we could use
one of the mixing rooms. Just in case, I arranged for a stereo
machine to be set up so we could mix it for reference later at
home or in my office. On the morning of April 23rd., Syd and I
again set out for Abbey Road.
Syd was carrying a small, portable cassette player, which I
assumed he was bringing so that we could make him a copy of
'Rhamadan'. I was very wrong. 'I'd like to overdub some
motorbike sounds onto 'Rhamadan'', he said, 'so I've been out on
the back of a friend's bike with the cassette player. They are
all ready to put onto the 'Rhamadan' four track.' When Syd
played the cassette of the sound effects, it was terrible! Not
only was it poor quality for casual listening, it was certainly
no good for professional recording. Syd was quite insistent, so
I said nothing more until we got to Abbey Road. I planned to let
engineer (Peter Mew, I believe) reinforce my feelings. For
almost an hour we struggled to wire Syd's machine into the 4
track master machine. The trouble with such an operation is that
professional electrical fittings are bigger, better and more
complex than those purchased over the counter of the average hi-
fi shop. Someone in the workshop at Abbey Road had to actually
make a connecting lead from Syd's cassette machine to the Studer
4 track. When we eventually wired the two together (cassette
players are more common place in studios today with the increase
in quality achieved over the last five years), it was apparent to
all of us that the quality was not good enough. Even mixed into
the conga drums at low level the tape hiss and extraneous noises
were unacceptable.
Fortunately, E.M.I. came to the rescue. One of the many
advantages Abbey Road possessed over other studios of the time
was its superior back-up facilities *(1) The workshop that made
up the connecting lead for us was also responsible, as a matter
of policy, for taking apart any equipment from outside sources
and checking that it was up to E.M.I.'s technical standards.
When the Beatles wanted to record in their newly opened Apple
studios, it was E.M.I.'s equipment that was shipped out, in bulk,
to Apple to do the recording. All Apple Studios started with was
an empty room! And it wasn't long before they were back
recording in Abbey Road.* , including a large sound effects
library. The next hour was spent selecting the right combination
of starting up, revving, starting off and various gear changes,
etc. for a thirty second tape, this time in stereo. Exactly what
Syd intended to do I shall never know, because he later changed
his mind and abandoned the project. Maybe it still lies,
rejected, in the archives.
The session we planned for two days later was almost
abandoned due to illness on my part. I had suffered from colitis
for some time, and a recurrence of the illness prevented me from
attending the session. All that we planned to do was transfer
all the tracks originally made on 4 track to 8 track for more
overdubs, and I suggested to Syd that he might like to go ahead
on his own and mix them down himself. Studio Three was now
(just) able to cope with 8 track machines, although it still had
the old 4 track mixing desk. Nevertheless it was an improvement
which we wished to take advantage of, especially as we had
decided to overdub backings onto 'It's No Good Trying', 'Clowns
and Jugglers', 'Love You', and several others (see appendix). I
noticed when preparing the appendix that 'Opel' was among them.
Syd had obviously, at this stage, not decided to exclude it from
the album. I still think, to this day, that this is one of his
best and most haunting tracks, and it was tragic that, for
reasons unknown to me, it was not included on the final album.
On May 3rd Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt of the Soft
Machine overdubbed various parts onto the 8 track copies made the
previous session. In contrast to their own recordings, Syd's
tracks were very erratic and unpredictable. Although Syd booked
them he wasn't very good at explaining to them what he wanted.
'Love You' was a simple overdub of jangle piano and drums, plus
of course, Hugh Hopper on bass. Lack of adequate rehearsal gave
the Soft's performances a rather ragged aspect, for which I must
take responsibility. If I had been able to give them more studio
time they would have delivered better backings, although I must
add that over the years the erratic quality of these tracks has
been what endeared them to Barrett fans. I can't help feeling,
'though, that the Soft Machine themselves were not very proud of
their own contributions!
We had done 'Love You' first because it was the easiest.
Next came 'It's No Good Trying'. This was not a particularly
easy track to overdub. Between lines, (or verses) Syd had
varying passages of blank guitar chords with no regular form to
them. At one moment there would be 8 bars between verses, at the
next maybe 6 or seven.. very hard for a musician other than the
composer to follow! A drummer likes to be able to 'lead into'
the next verse with either a roll or a pause, or anything to
announce the arrival of another new verse. Without written parts
(charts) it had to be done from memory, and given such a task
they fared extremely well. If 'Love You' was a little irregular
(Syd went into the next verse, occasionally, after 6 1/2 or 7
bars instead of 8) then 'It's No Good Trying' was positively
impossible! Syd had, before the session, taken copy tapes of
many of these tracks which I had presumed were to give to the
musicians he was booking to learn ahead of the session.
Unfortunately I was wrong. He kept them! Anyway, after a bit of
a struggle, we overdubbed 'It's No Good Trying' and moved on to
'Clowns and Jugglers'. This was the version I had worked on with
Syd, originally, on our first session together on 10/4/69, when
we had overdubbed guitar and voice onto a rough guitar backing
Syd had made alone the year previously. It was in a higher key
(than the issued one) and Syd had to sing really forcefully to
make it work, but it still rates as one of my favourite unissued
Syd recordings, after 'Opel'. Unfortunately he wished to overdub
bass and drums (as was done, in a further re-make, for the
version Dave and Roger produced that eventually appeared on the
album). I liked it as it was, with Syd's voice and several
guitar tracks to back him up. It had some very effective sounds,
made by Syd, by half speaking words and sounds, during the solo.
Unfortunately, the contributions at this overdub session by the
Soft Machine were, in all honesty, pretty dire, and it must have
been THIS version that Dave Gilmour heard and which led him to
persuade Syd to remake it later. Mike Ratledge was required to
improvise long passages of organ chords which, frankly, didn't
work, and Robert Wyatt ended up playing tambourine. It was
easier than trying to follow Syd's erratic bar structures!
The following day we had a further session and Syd
overdubbed his backwards guitar track on 'It's No Good Trying',
and the lead guitar line on 'Terrapin', and 'No Man's Land'.
During most of the later sessions Dave Gilmour had been
taking a casual interest in what Syd was doing in the studios.
The Soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder's 'More' film had been
completed (it was, out of interest, not made at Abbey Road as it
was not a regular Pink Floyd album, being made as a commission
for someone other than E.M.I. The royalty rate was consequently
higher than usual as the recording costs were born by the film
makers and the Floyd). With 'More' out of the way, Dave was back
at Abbey Road with the rest of the Pink Floyd recording material
for 'Ummagumma', their first major album without Syd at all (he
does play on several tracks on 'A Saucerful Of Secrets', contrary
to stories stating otherwise). Syd had been seeing Dave a lot,
and had even been to see him backstage at a Floyd show in
Croydon. It was only a short step to Dave (with Roger Waters)
suggesting to Syd that he should produce some tracks as well as
myself.
At the time I never felt any sense of being ousted from my
role as producer. I had fared pretty well, and I still feel that
there was enough already made to complete an album. Much of what
David and Roger were to produce was little more than guitar and
voice tracks which any of us could have supervised. I have
referred to 'Opel' and the early versions of 'Clowns and
Jugglers' and 'Golden Hair', both of which later were re-made,
with minor improvements. But I had no objections at the time.
My original ambition had been fulfilled - to get Syd back on
record. How it was done was of no objection to me as long as it
was done professionally, so when Dave came to me and said that
Syd wanted him and Roger to do the remaining parts of the album,
I acquiesced. In a sense I was a little apprehensive. Although
I had my office duties (I was still, of course, head of Harvest
and had not relinquished my post acquiring recordings for other
E.M.I. labels), I felt that David in particular had a lot on his
plate (He still had to record major parts for 'Ummagumma'). But
I felt that it was very likely that he and Roger could produce
more interesting tracks than I ever could.
I think here I should correct a fallacy, recorded in Rick
Sanders; excellent book, 'Pink Floyd' (Futura Publications,
1976). In it he states that E.M.I. called a halt to the album,
saying: 'Barrett asked David Gilmour for help. Gilmour and
Waters managed to talk EMI into allowing three more days in the
studio to finish the album.' In fact, EMI had agreed that the
project should extend into an album after about the third
session, after they had heard rough mixes of several tracks.
Unknowingly, then, my last studio session with Syd was on
May 4th. From then on, I would act in executive capacity only.
The rest of the album was done in three sessions, on June
12th and 13th, and a month later, on July 26th. The reason for
the long gap, which Syd found very frustrating, was that both
Dave and Roger were in the studio mixing 'Ummagumma' *(1) Putting
all the sessions together they run thus:
12 June 1969 : Syd Barrett (5 titles)
13 June 1969 : Syd Barrett (1 title)
17 June 1969 : Mixing Dave's part of 'Ummagumma'
23 June 1969 : Mixing Roger's part of 'Ummagumma'
26 July 1969 : Syd's last session for the album
The additional cause for the delay in the completion of the album
was that the Floyd were on tour in Holland for much of July.*, so
Rick Sanders contention that 'half of 'the Madcap Laughs' was
recorded in a two-day sprint' is largely true.
On June 12th, Dave and Roger supervised the re-making of
'Clowns and Jugglers' (now re-titled 'Octopus') and 'Golden
Hair', plus two new titles 'Dark Globe' and 'Long Gone'. As I
was not present on these sessions I cannot, of course, describe
the atmosphere of the moment or describe how these tracks were
made. But from my session sheet made by the engineer and
producers at the time, this is approximately what went on.
The first track to be tackled was 'Octopus'. Although this
version was completed to Syd and Dave's satisfaction, it was
shorter than the issued version, running for 2.49 as opposed to
the issued 3.45 version. Only 4 tracks of the 8 were used,
probably two voices and two guitar tracks, all by Syd. 'Octopus'
was put to one side and 'Golden Hair' was started (again!). Syd
did 5 takes before a satisfactory one was completed, and both
takes 6 and 7 were more or less completed, although the files
indicate that only take 6 was satisfactorily completed, running
for 1 minute 44 seconds. Takes 8, 9 and 10 were all false
starts, and eventually, after eleven takes, the master was done!
After this, Syd overdubbed his vocal (the original takes were
just his acoustic guitar) plus the vibes, organ and cymbals of
Dave and Roger (although Roger does not appear on the engineer's
list of producers: Syd and Dave are officially listed) and,
possibly, Rick Wright?? This eleventh take of Golden Hair (not
to mention the many early takes of the original version!), plus
overdubs, is the one that was finally released. It had been a
long time in the making, although I must say it was well worth
the effort. It is one of Syd's best ever recordings, and I put
it on the 'B' side of 'Octopus', later.
The third recording was a second attempt (on that day, that
is), to record a successful take of 'Octopus'. This time, after
another 10 takes, it was the eleventh take of 'Octopus' (the re-
make) that constituted the basic track for the issued version.
The song had had a very chequered career, starting life, in its
unissued form, in July, 1968, continuing with attempts by me to
have The Soft Machine overdub it (3/5/69) and eventually being
abandoned in preference to this remake of June 12th. The modus
operandi, as far as I can tell, was, much as I had done, to have
Syd record guitar and vocal only and to overdub the rest of the
instruments later. Certainly, from the studio notes, it seems
that this was what happened, as the session the next day
(13/6/69) was devoted solely to overdubbing drums, vocal, bass
and electric guitars.
NOTE: I hope that the reader is not, at this point, lost in
the welter of takes, re-takes, re-makes, etc. I suggest that you
refer to the session appendix later in the book and to the run
down of the album and when each track was recorded, also in the
appendix.
Having completed successful takes of 'Golden Hair' and
'Octopus', the next track tackled was a new song, 'Dark Globe'.
Syd obviously was best at ease with songs that he had not
attempted to record too many times, as he completed this one on
the second take. It is, admittedly, only guitar and voice, but
so too were the basic takes for 'Golden Hair' and 'Octopus' which
both took eleven takes to get the same basic track. I can draw
no assumptions from this other than the general one which - I had
always adopted with Syd, namely not to keep on with too many
attempts at the same song with no break. 'Long Gone', the next
title attempted by Syd and Dave, didn't work after two takes, and
was later replaced by another attempt. The last song on the
session was another take of 'Dark Globe', probably to see if they
could come up with a better take than the one already accepted.
Strangely, the issued version runs for only 1.57 minutes, while
the later, unissued one was as long as 3.15! *(1) For the
observant, the album states the time of the issued version of
'Dark Globe' as 2.10! Time it for yourself! Maybe there was a
false start from take one intended for use and excluded at the
last moment by Syd, Dave and Roger, which would have added extra
time. As I was not responsible, of course, for this title, this
is only supposition. But it certainly was the first version, not
the second, used.* I have never heard it but it would be good to
compare it with the short, issued version. Anyway, it was
decided not to use this re-make and to use the one made earlier
in the session.
As stated earlier, the session the next day was a short one,
devoted solely to the overdubbing, onto the previous day's master
of 'Octopus', the bass, drums, lead voice and electric guitar
that completed the issued master. Again, Syd and Dave are listed
as producers, with no mention of Roger Waters.
The session of June 13th was the last Syd would have for
over a month, as the Floyd had work to do of their own and, in
particular, a tour, during most of July, of Holland. His final
session for the album took place on July 16th, and was completed
pretty much in a hurry! Titles completed during that session
were 'She Took A Long Cold Look', 'Long Gone' (the remade, issued
version), an attempted re-make of 'Dark Globe' (Called 'Wouldn't
You Miss Me' on the session sheet!) and the continuous run of
'She Took A Long Cold Look (at me)' / 'Feel' / 'If It's In You'.
Again, I do not know how the first version on this session of
'She Took A Long Cold Look' went, but my original reaction,
(which I still hold) was one of disappointment. False starts are
O.K. if they give an insight into the musicianship / artistry of
those present, or even if they present the odd mistake which
everyone is capable of. But when I first heard the false starts
to 'If It's In You' my reaction then, (as now) was first one of
anger that they were left in, and, secondly, boredom! Now I hate
to wind people up, but the false starts to the tracks that I had
personally supervised were far more interesting than those left
in the final album. They certainly would have been more of a
candid insight to the atmosphere on the sessions and less
detrimental to Syd's abilities than the ones left in. Those left
in show Syd, at best, as out of tune (which he rarely was) and,
at worst, as out of control (which again, he never was). They
are still my least favourite tracks on the record, in direct
contrast to my favourites which also were Gilmour/Waters
productions ('Octopus', 'Golden Hair'). Apart from the
overdubbing of organ onto 'Long Gone', the whole of this session
was just Syd alone, a rather desolate ending to the recording of
an album that took over a year to make, with as much ending up on
the cutting room floor as on the issued album.
It is possibly an indication (contrary to reports) as to the
freedom that Dave, Roger and Syd had, that the album was
completed and mixed with no-one (including myself) knowing so!
So when Syd rang and told me that Dave and Roger had mixed the
tracks they had produced and that they intended to mix mine too,
I knew we finally had an album. The album was finally
assembled into its final running order by Syd and Dave on October
6th (it had taken over two months to mix, and Syd was a bit
pissed off with the delay, as I was!), and the next task was to
schedule the release date........at last!!!