Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46333 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-02-06
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: German, English, Danish, Italian, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 236 minutes

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
Profiling the fascinating story of the early years of one of rock's biggest and most popular bands, Pink Floyd. Formed by Syd Barrett and Roger Waters at Camberwell art college, the band quickly became popular as part of the London psychedelic scene in the 1960's. However, Barrett's behaviour was becoming more and more erratic. Forced to replace him at the end of the decade, Pink Floyd would go on to huge success around the world whilst Syd retreated to life as a virtual recluse. Features interviews, insights and rarely seen footage.

Customer Reviews

Not a bad effort for Syd Barrett fans.
Having been a huge Syd Barrett fan for many years, I was looking forward to finally watching a legitimate DVD issue focusing on his work. It is not a bad effort, it has to be said.

The DVD title menu format is very good and the Omnibus programme itself contains a wealth of information. There are some excellent interviews, particularly from Roger Waters and David Gilmour, and it cover his whole career from the beginning of Pink Floyd to the end of his solo material. There is also plenty of film footage which is interesting to view.

My criticism of the DVD is the same as some of the other reviewers. There is plenty more other material that should have been included in its full length that was not. Bonus material should have included full length versions of "Syd's First Trip", "Arnold Layne", "See Emily Play", "The Scarecrow", Vegetable man" and "Let's make love in London", all of which I have seen on bootlegs before. Interviews of "Barrett" fans are not really very interesting. Also made up videos for "Bike" with additional echo ended is frustrating.

Overall, this DVD could have been absolutely definitive. Instead, it leaves Barrett fans needing to rummage around with unofficial fan clubs more.

Syd in the words of those who worked with him
I suppose this is the Pink Floyd members official memories of Syd Barrett. There is a 50 minute documentary which includes snippets of footage from the early Floyd gigs, images from Syd's first trip, all the usual stuff which Syd fans have seen 100 times. What sets this DVD apart is that it includes the full interviews with Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason & Rick Wright (snippets were used in the documentary). Also included is a splendid acoustic version of "I Love You" by ex-Blur member Graham Coxon. The best compliment I can pay to this DVD is that it reawakened my interest in Syd's solo albums. Obviously there are no comments from Syd himself but I always suspected that he didn't really understand what all the fuss was about. But there's a sense of some friends remembering their lost friend, which in the light of Syd's death is kind of touching. The documentary was made in 2001 btw.

A dreadful epitaph -- poor Syd
This is the Omnibus program on early Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett, stitched up and transfered to DVD so you can get all the too-brief performance snippets legitimately rather than on that dodgy home video. You also have to suffer Graham Coxon, an ephemeral rock star if there ever was one, wittering like a schoolkid about how he's scared of the "insane goose" at the end of "Bike", and hilarious captions such as "UFO Club 1966". The extras are even more inane and even more pointless interviews with Coxon et al. No full length pop videos, no TOTP performance, just the interviews. Sigh.

There are huge things which could have been done with the Syd Barrett story, and this doesn't do them any more sympathetically than the gory book bios have. What a crying shame. How would you want to remember Barrett? As a brilliant pop star and avant garde psychedelic experimenter, who briefly created some great and lasting music? Or as a wasted drop-out shambling around Abbey Road with a Harrods shopping bag?

Essentially, Barrett doesn't have a chance. The Pink Floyd corporate image has been built on the idea that he was a madman -- that's the hook of all the post-Meddle "golden period" material. Madness and Syd Barrett. So rather than a celebration, this spends the first twenty minutes on the glorious rise, and an eternity charting the downfall. And rather than a laughing, happy Syd on the cover, we get one of those unshaven, lank haired post-downfall shots in stark black and white. Poor Syd. Whatever happened to him in 1967 -- and whatever the official party line, that's still very much in debate -- the books and this DVD are hardly the legacy he deserves.

So, the simple advice is this: if you're a PF obsessive, don't bother with this DVD just in the chance of a slightly better quality few seconds of the BBC "Astronomy Domine" broadcast. The rest is a drag. If you're new to Barrett, this will not tell you anything positive about the guy. Maybe it's all an anti-drugs warning, who can tell. Don't risk it. Grab the Whitehead version of "Interstellar Overdrive" ("Pink Floyd 1966-67" et al) and listen to one of the most extraordinary guitarists -- and extraordinary bands, they're all amazing on this recording -- there ever was. But don't remember him like this.