Syd Barrett - A Madcap Mystery Solved

by Stuart Penney

In late 1969 photographer Mick Rock visited Syd Barrett at his flat in Wetherby Mansions, Earls Court to take pictures for the cover of Syd’s first solo album The Madcap Laughs.  Those images are among the most powerful rock photos of the era and many ended up in the hugely collectible (and now very expensive) book Psychedelic Renegades (Plexus Publishing 2007).  

(Ed. Note: Mick Rock has said the photo session took place in Autumn 1969, while other sources claim it happened much earlier in the year. We assume Mick's date is correct).

Due to his “erratic behaviour” Barrett had been ousted from Pink Floyd in early 1968 and embarked on a hesitant and short-lived solo career.  While Syd was not officially fired from the band, the Floyd members have said they simply stopped calling ‘round to pick him up for gigs.

The Madcap Laughs was eventually released in January 1970, followed later in the year by Barrett, his second and final album. After this Syd went into rapid decline, disappearing from public view in the mid-70s and eventually moving back to his hometown of Cambridge. Barrett’s mental health may have been fragile in autumn 1969, but Mick Rock captured him at his lithe, handsome best.  With wild, tousled hair and eyes heavily lined with kohl Syd cut a magnificent figure and it’s probably true to say that he never looked better than in the series of photos taken that day.

A few outdoor shots show Syd stretched along the bonnet of his 1959 dark blue Pontiac Parisienne in red velvet trousers and regulation rock star Cuban heel shoes from Gohil’s.*  The enormous left-hand drive American car languished, neglected and undriven, for months in the street outside the Earls Court mansion block until it was eventually removed (some say Syd gave it away). The car was later pictured on the back cover of the Barrett LP.

*(Ed. Note: Velji Gohil opened his Camden store in 1966 making handmade leather boots and shoes which became popular with the rock aristocracy.  Roger Waters later name-checked the shop in the song “Nobody Home” on side three of The Wall: “I’ve got a pair of Gohills [sic] boots, and I’ve got fading roots.”)

The Pontiac resurfaced in the 1970 black comedy film Entertaining Mr. Sloane, wearing the same London registered number plate VYP 74 but resprayed bright pink.  As to the car’s history, the story goes that Mickey Finn of T.Rex bought it in an auction at the Royal Albert Hall but didn’t like the attention it brought him.  So, a swap was arranged.  Syd became the new owner of the Pontiac, while Mickey got Barrett’s Mini in exchange.  True or not, it’s a great tale.

Another photograph shows a shirtless Syd crouching next to an open window, with the sunlight streaming in.  The bare wooden floorboards have been painted alternately orange and dark blue, the kind of project which probably seemed like a great idea at the time before it became clear, in the cold light of day, that the high gloss paint would probably take an eternity to dry.  The same photo also shows some unpainted floorboards, indicating the job was unfinished (a paint pot and brush are visible nearby).  Those famous Wetherby Mansions floorboards can be seen in all their striped glory on the front cover of The Madcap Laughs.

UPDATE: In July 2024 those actual painted floorboards from Syd's flat were offered for sale by Omega auctions. The approx. 70 planks, each about three metres in length, sold for a total of £28,500.

To the right of the photo is a stereo separates system.  Sitting next to an amplifier of indeterminate make we see a Garrard SP-25 Mk 1 idler drive turntable, then standard issue hi fi equipment for budget conscious music lovers across the land.  Introduced in 1967 the SP-25 is a four speed semi-automatic turntable capable of playing records at 16, 33, 45 and 78 rpm.  It wasn’t exactly high-end audiophile gear, but it was robust enough and did the job just fine.  A pair of giant loudspeakers (possibly Wharfedales) are placed haphazardly in the centre of the room, atop which sits a domestic reel-to-reel tape recorder.

On the turntable is an LP with a yellow label.  Keen-eyed record spotters will quickly identify the Direction label, a CBS offshoot launched in November 1967 to issue mainly American soul and R&B in the UK.  Direction didn’t flourish, however, and CBS closed the label in 1970 after releasing only around 26 albums and approx 100 singles. But since we can't read the label and the sleeve is nowhere to be seen, how can we identify the LP on Syd’s turntable?

Fortunately, with only around two dozen Direction LPs to deal with, it was a relatively easy task to work out that the record is The Natch’l Blues (Direction S58-63397) the second album by bluesman Taj Mahal and the 10th LP issued on the label.  It was a fairly new release in the UK at the time, appearing in March 1969 (although the US version had been released several months earlier on Columbia with a totally different sleeve design).  

How do we know this?  Zooming in, Syd’s record shows five banded tracks.  Four of them are roughly the same width, but the last one “Done Changed My Way Of Living” is much wider, running around seven minutes.  Not one of the other 25 Direction LPs have tracks which exactly match this pattern (yes, I methodically worked through all 50+ sides). So, by a process of elimination, it can only be side one of The Natch’l Blues.

Further evidence emerged in a January 1970 Record Mirror interview (later reprinted in issue #17 of the mid-70s Barratt fanzine Terrapin.) When asked what music he'd been listening to, Syd said: “During the past six months there have been some very good things released.  The best things I've bought are the new Taj Mahal album, Captain Beefheart and The Band.  I don't think any of them have influenced my writing though.  I've been writing in all sorts of funny places.”

Of course, in the interview Syd could have been referring to the third Taj Mahal album, the double Giant Step / De Ole Folks At Home (Direction S8-63820/1) which was released in the UK in November 1969, but I like to think he meant The Natch’l Blues. 

All photos of Syd by Mick Rock (1948 - 2021) and Aubrey "Po" Powell