THE PEEL SESSIONS

A very rare live set performed at the BBC studios by Syd Barrett with the help of Jerry Shirley and Dave Gilmour in February 1970 and later broadcasted. (Don't remember seeing/hearing anything about Rick Wright being in the studio though? Indeed, no keyboards are heard on the recordings...) This (bootlegged?) version of "The Peel Sessions" was packaged in 1988 and sold under the Strange Fruit label.

The relatively few songs offered up (only 5) are merely adequate offerings of studio versions, as Syd had already started his downwards decline by this stage. Sound quality is below average. The total music on the disc adds up to a mere 12 minutes, but still, finding anything 'live' by Mr. Barrett is pretty challenging, hence the market for this kind of release.

This album was actually only officially launched in 2004 with a few extra tracks (an alternate take of 'Baby Lemonade', as well as versions of 'Dominoes' and 'Love Song'), and with a different title, "The Radio One Sessions". The sound quality on these three extra tracks are pretty poor, in fact even worse than the initial five.

If you've got to have just everything available from Syd, then by all means pick up "The Peel Sessions". Otherwise, buy the 'official' BBC version mentioned above: "The Radio One Sessions" for the three extra tracks. FOR DIEHARD COLLECTORS ONLY. 1/5 stars