I am by no means a Pink Floyd fan. I was sad to hear Syd Barrett had finally shuffled off, though. It was especially resonant to hear the news after this weekend's viewing of A Scanner Darkly; itself another example of gobbling obscene amounts of drugs and creating artistic brilliance at the cost of sanity.
I like the Barrett-era PF, even the silly things about gnomes and mice. Piper at the Gates of Dawn, recorded at Abbey Road the same time as Sgt. Pepper, is, I think, a far better album than the Beatles work. At the very least, it makes the Fab Four's foray with "psychedelia" look like they were experimenting with Flintstones Chewables. I don't actually own any in an appropriate medium, so here instead is some Robyn Hitchcock; one of my favorite artists, and himself clearly influenced by Syd. Here's RH and The Soft Boys, first covering a Barrett song, then doing an original which IMO has an element of "Arnold Layne" in it.
The Soft Boys - Vegetable Man
The Soft Boys - Old Pervert
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