Saturday Music Hall: Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Syd Barrett, the troubled and highly influential co-founder of Pink Floyd, passed away on July 7th at age 60 from complications related to diabetes. The video above presents a live performance at the BBC in 1967, when Syd was still with the band. They perform the Barrett composition, "Astronomy Domine," which was quite the adventurous bit of creative psychedelia at the time. Pink Floyd gained its early fame mostly due to Barrett's exploratory take on rock and his experiments with dramatic visual effects and multimedia "happenings" that made thier mid-to-late-60s performances at London's UFO Club, Marquee Club and others a must-see for hipsters and fellow musicians alike.

Early Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett up front on right.

Despite leaving the band in 1968 due to mental problems worsened by heavy LSD use, and trouble coping with the pressures and pleasures of fame, Syd left his mark on the band's style for decades to come. David Gilmour replaced him on lead guitar and vocals. Their 1975 album, "Wish You Were Here" was expressive of the band's continuing emotional and musical ties with Barrett, especially on the album's title song and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," written for Syd. Strangely enough, Barrett unexpectedly showed up at one of the recording sessions for the album after years of being incommunicado. The other band members could barely recognize him.

He then vanished from the scene once more, spending most of the rest of his life living quitely in his mother's suburban home, with several short, voluntary stays in mental institutions. He painted, he gardened, he wrote more music, but he did so privately. Here's a good article on Syd's musical legacy, and a site with many photos of him from childhood on.

I was an early Pink Floyd afficionado, and must have listened to albums like "Piper at the Gates of Dawn," "Atomic Heart Mother," "Meddle," "Ummagumma," "Meddle" and the first release of "Dark Side of the Moon" thousands of times in various states of consciousness.

I only got to see them live once, during their initial Dark Side of the Moon tour in 1973. The concert was at the old International Amphitheater in Chicago, long after Syd had left the band. The echoes of that powerfully elaborate performance still reside in my memory bank in all their many layered glory. It was that good. The band used very advanced (for the time) 360 degree sound in the huge old cavern of a venue, and of course the light show was spectacular and dramatic, just right for an audience tripping the light fantastic. Now one of the band's founders has left on a different kind of trip....

January 6, 1946 - July 7, 2006, R.I.P.