IN SEARCH OF SYD

Nice little compilation, not worse than many compilations that are bundled with magazines, but don't expect too much of a prog rock here. As usual, rock magazines are absolutely ignorant of prog most of the time (although the situation is changing in a last few years) and this one is not an exception.

Perhaps it's a good reference point to distinguish psychedelic rock from psychedelic prog rock - this one is certainly more accenting so-called neo-psychedelia. That's not a bad thing per se, but it falls flat to represent truly Barrett's heritage and how his musical genius really affected the rock world in forthcoming years.

The bunch of neo-psych songs are okay, but nothing to die for. The other ones, that supposed to be more elaborate, are not the best ones around; even Soft Machines tune is not very memorable. Zappa is, of course, okay, but it's more on the avant side, and I doubt how much of Syd's influence is there. 'Cymbaline' by Hawkwind is not improving Pink Floyd's original (which is from post-Barrett era if I'm not much mistaken).

Perhaps the best of the bunch is Bonzo's 'Humanoid Boogie', with their typical humour and sublime wisdom.

The two blues numbers, by Floyd Council and Pink Anderson seems out of place here. Of course, they're origins of the Pink Floyd's name, but one would have to dig deep into the beginnings of THE PINK FLOYD SOUND, in the time when Syd Barrett and Bob Klose were jamming around with blues patterns. A brave move from the editors, but not self-explanatory from the sonic side.

The biggest problem is- -there's not much explicit musical evidence of Syd's approach - exceptions may be Ayer's song and '4 and 20 schoolgirls' from Gong's pre-trilogy era, but we knew that already.

As a compilation, I believe it's worth two stars, but I'm giving it three (two and a half would be fair) because I love psychedelic rock music in almost any shape or form.