AN INTRODUCTION TO SYD BARRETT

As of this writing Syd Barrett now has four times more compilations of his work than actual studio albums: not a bad ratio for a burned-out acid casualty who released only a pair of solo LPs over four decades ago.

This one is a winner, however, and not just for new fans wanting what the title promises: a one-stop primer to the brief, troubled career of PINK FLOYD's original crazy diamond. The songs here have all been re-mastered (and in many cases entirely remixed) by none other than David Gilmour...that's right, the same guitarist who took Syd's place in his own group and then went on to international superstardom is ironically now the caretaker of Syd Barrett's legacy.

Thankfully so, I might add. Geriatric chestnuts like "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" have never sounded better, and other tunes are greatly enhanced by the sympathetic remixes. The whimsical early Floyd nursery school daydream "Matilda Mother" is the most radically different, using an alternate take with unfamiliar lyrics and an extended instrumental coda.

I still question the inclusion of the ragged false start to "If It's In You": the song by itself reveals more than enough of Barrett's disintegrating psyche without the voyeuristic look at his struggling attempts to find the right key. And the absence, once again, of the still unreleased but widely bootlegged Barrett classics "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream" is a disappointment: both are essential to any understanding of Syd Barrett's fragile genius, for reasons beyond even the obvious implications of the song titles by themselves.

Instead we get relative rarities like "Apples and Oranges" and the stinging Folk Rock parody of "Bob Dylan Blues", neither one completely unknown, but welcome additions to this set. And buyers of the CD (or borrowers, like me) will be allowed to download the bonus track "Rhamadan": a rambling twenty-minute (!) jam from one of Syd's more desperate studio sessions.

As a cultural artifact it's a fascinating (but failed) attempt at instant composition. But as a piece of music it doesn't add up to anything more than a rather pathetic group improvisation by players obviously unskilled in the art of extemporaneous music making (notice how little Barrett himself actually contributes to the track). I suppose it deserves to be heard for historical (if not quite for aesthetic) perspective. And for armchair Barrett archeologists in particular the experience will be like striking a rich vein of glowing pyrite.

If nothing else the extra track is a generous afterthought to an already well-rounded compilation, maybe the best of the many Syd Barrett collections on the market. Until the next one, at least...