THE PINK FLOYD & SYD BARRETT STORY

If you are bored and you have nothing to do, or if you are just curious about who Syd Barrett really was, get this video. It's more than just a derivative tale of how a pop-rock star tumbled onto the concrete like a giant and heavy piano. It told me pretty much everything I didn't know about Syd: his childhood and teenage-hood, his artistic tendencies, his girlfriend, his first LSD trip, his songwriting and production techniques of choice, etc. It also shedded some light on his solo works and obscure activities in the early 70's, i.e. when he was a randomly acting musician having bad gigs with a backing band. The movie also told me a bit about Mike Leonard, a tutor who was experimenting with light and gave The Pink Floyd Sound (as they were known at the time) something to jam to.

I got to know about a few people on whom Syd made a significant impact, as well as their perceptions of what Syd was delivering in his songs, like 'Vegetable Man' and 'Dominoes'. By the way, when in the movie it was playing 'Jugband Blues' to a speedy montage that had its focus on Janis Joplin and a lobster, that's when that song just clicked with me. I know that's weird.

Maybe this movie does not look really cool and may seem to you as a bit of a preachy documentary about how drugs can take control of you, not the other way around, but I don't see it that way. Besides, I got to hear some of his oldies once again as well as an unheard improvisation The Pink Floyd Sound were playing to one of Leonard's photo-experiments. Odd enough, this is my most favorite "track" of all on the entire film. All it was is E minor, B minor, E minor, B minor, etc., and Rick Wright's organ tone was just something I had to hear.

Syd could have had a bright future had he not tripped too hard, but then again we'll never know.

Stamp: "I like it."