CRAZY DIAMOND

In my opinion, "Crazy Diamond" is a masterpiece of a boxed set and could be rated 5/5 stars as it is slickly produced, aesthically pleasing, and infinitely completist! However, it is NOT a 'Prog Masterpiece' in the same vein as 'Foxtrot' or 'Aqualung' and therefore can not be awarded a masterpiece rating.

Basically this 3-CD collection (with over 3 hours and 18 minutes of music!) has virtually EVERYTHING Syd Barrett recorded during his solo 'career' (except for 'Bob Dylan Blues', I can't see anything else that was omitted for the purposes of this compilation).

The set includes all three main 'studio' albums (replete with both the classic and brand new artwork). Each of the albums have 6-8 bonus tracks on them of the 'alternate take/editted version' format. Most of these versions are ironically NOT repetitive. Take a listen to 'It is Obvious (Take 5)' compared to (Take 2). Like Night and Day. Think of Eric Clapton's acoustic and electric guitar versions of 'Layla' and you get the idea of how differently Syd could approach the same song.

Each disc also has a detailed listing of where/when each song/alternate take was recorded (Abbey Road, Jan 17, 1970 for instance), who played on each song, and who produced it.

An amazing 20 page oversized book comes with the set. A short, but very informative biography is contained therein, as well as numerous, striking rare Syd pictures, and psych artwork.

This is an absolutely beautiful collection, and is very professionally put together. What every fan only wishes his favourite band/artist would release!