Syd Barrett vs. Roky Erickson

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I couldn't find a previous question similar to this sooooo.......
I think I may lean more toward Syd Barrett, but I'd like to hear anybody else's opinion. Oh yeah, and the only reason this isn't titled Syd Barrett vs. Roky Erickson vs. Skip Spence is because I've yet to hear a thing by Skip Spence! Should these guys be compared at all? Do tell!!

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Sunday, 5 March 2006 09:34 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, I think this is a great match-up. Cheers.

― Bimble The Nimble (Bimble...), Sunday, 5 March 2006 09:57 (nineteen years ago)

Hmmm...might've included Peter Green into the mix, too.

Anyway, easy breakdown:

Singing - Roky
Songwriting - Syd

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 5 March 2006 10:49 (nineteen years ago)

Roky x10000!!!

I can't express how mediocre I find Syd Barret, most of the time. Aside from a couple of tracks, his post-Piper output is NOT UP TO SNUFF.

Roky, though... Roky's pretty solid all da way. And such songs!! I can't think of a Syd Barret/Floyd song that has meant as much to me as "Dust" or "Splash 1" or "Slip Inside This House."

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but Tommy Hall wrote the words to those (actually I think his Clementine Hall wrote the words to "Dust?").

Syd.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

well, okay, then tommy hall > roky > syd... but skip might be numbah one. Oar is one of the greatest albums evah, and the 1st moby grape is also killer.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

and roky's solo stuff is awesome two!!
two head dog!!

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

(I meant "Splash 1." Tommy Hall wrote the words to "Dust.")

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

tim send me book.doc or book.pdf

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

it's too hard for me to choose. i heart syd a ton. and yet, and yet... yeah, it's too hard. slip inside this house is probably on my top ten of fave songs ever. i refuse to choose!

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

and as much as i love oar and skip's grape work, he wouldn't be in the running.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

I agree with that.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

definitely the two finest psych bands of their respective countries (in my oh so humble opinion). that's what makes it even harder. and my two favorite psych bands(personally). probably. if i don't think too hard.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

you guys like upbeat music too much.
xpost

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

but at least you guys have inspired me to take out the madcap laughs again. i will get back to you in t-minus 36ish minutes.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

"I can't express how mediocre I find Syd Barret, most of the time."

THIS IS JUST YOUTHFUL ICONOCLASTIC HYPERBOLE, RIGHT???

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

Barrett > The Madcap Laughs

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

I WOULD LOAN YOU MY PRISTINE JAPANESE PRESSING OF MADCAP WITH OBI IF I ONLY COULD. SOUNDS LIKE A DREAM.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

MAYBE?>>??? I DUZNNO.

i don't like the braying thing he does with his voice, and despite thinking that there are a few great tracks on barret & the madcap laughs, I NEVER listen to them. ever. they're not that memorable, to me, for whatever reason. i like piper a lot, though.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

scott p.s. there is a mono copy of sgt. peppers with all inserts at my store for like $40 or something. it is not MINT though. vg+?

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

cid

― o -- (eman), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

okay, barrett is on now, at tim's suggestion. i always remember liking the picking thing that opens it.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

I AM POOR. YOU SHOULD BUY IT! OR at least listen to it and spot da differences. what kind of pothead doesn't like syd barrett?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

i am listening to madcap now too. it is sunday with symphony syd.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

there is no way this stuff is as good as Oar.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

how can you not love no good trying. such a great song. i have always loved his voice.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

bah. i dunno. that is a good song especially the space moog(?), but sometimes i find the lyrics to be too goofy "mane of a red & yellow horse..." etc. the clickity clack of his strum detracts, also.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

"Dominoes" is such a great song.

I really hate the "oooh! look at the scary crazy man!" vibe of madcap laughs.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

the whole "marching band on acid" thing wears thin for me in ways that a classic guitar/bass/drums line-up never will.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

i get the sense that everything is competing with his voice,and that sucks. cuz i want more/louder fuzz guitars on "no man's land" ferinstance.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

"I really hate the "oooh! look at the scary crazy man!" vibe of madcap laughs."

Is that the vibe that you really get when you listen to it?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

also, i prefer the incredible string band for wide-eyed trippin' observations re: nature & human existence.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

syd has an emotional resonance that the string band never achieves (which isnt to say i dont like them, they just sail different waters that were filled by the folk scene and its need for cataloguing).

― Jack Cole (jackcole), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

i like syd's way with words. i never tried to derive much meaning from it. i just like the way it trips off his tongue.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

why does anyone like "the octopus"?

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

god that guitar on long gone sounds so beautiful to me. why doo the brits own the acoustic so majorly? cuz they doo.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

"why does anyone like "the octopus"?"

WE GET IT YOO HATE JAUNTY!!!

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

omg that's it!! i hate jaunty!!!!

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

this is the thread where i make my big music snob confession. r u ready for it?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

Let's hear it!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

okay, here it is: I HAVE NEVER HEARD PIP PROUD!

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

I feel better now.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

as unfinished portraits go, madcap is a good one. okay, maybe it's not as good as oar, but skip spence never wrote arnold fucking layne now did he???

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

okay, i admit that "the way you kiss will always be a very special thing to me" is a grebt line.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

ian, i forgot about beefheart on yer sabbath thread. those records come really close.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

scott, pip is great. i think you'd like him, either the young cynic or the apocalyptic old man.

― Jack Cole (jackcole), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

i've never come across any reissues of any of the stuff he has done with tom carter.i've heard mixed things about the carter collabs. i'd probably want to hear the original recordings first.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

It didn't seem like that Eaglewise compilation of stuff from his two Polydor albums got distributed at all in the US. I have a tape dub of it that a friend of mine, I think, taped from a New Zealand friend.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

there is a pretty cheap comp of the old stuff called one of these days that i see on ebay a lot for like 12 bucks.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, I have that. It's half unreleased stuff from the sixties and half new stuff. It's pretty good! You totally want to hear Eaglewise, though.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 5 March 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

WOW! This is actually a question I have wanted to post for a while now, I'm honestly surprised that no one has asked it yet, because, at least to me, these two guys are always being compared. I really like them both, but the only reason why I said that I might lean more toward Syd is, I think, is because of his guitar playing, which seemed unique to me (you know, zippo lighter, echorec, and all) either that or I heard him first, I really can't remember though. Thanks for the answers, cheers indeed!!

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Sunday, 5 March 2006 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

my horrible confession is that I can't find much to love about Roky's post-Elevators work. I got that comp last year for free and the bulk of the later stuff didn't grab me at all, just something off about the production and so forth. enlighten me. I think Barrett is the best of all three, but there's nothing I love more than Moby Grape's first record, and parts of "Oar." speaking of which, I hear tell of a record by a guy named Imaad Wasif that was recorded in Nashville by Mark Nevers of Lambchop fame, that's being compared to "Oar." rightly or wrongly, I don't know, since the publicist still hasn't sent it to me...?

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 5 March 2006 23:40 (nineteen years ago)

post-elevators, i would suggest that people buy The Evil One. Either the newer expanded version or the original version. Great songs, music is cool, it's really the only one i play that much.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 5 March 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

i think Opel is my favorite solo syd record

― o -- (eman), Sunday, 5 March 2006 23:56 (nineteen years ago)

Opel really doesn't get that much credit, but I'd really consider it ONE OF MY FAVORITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Monday, 6 March 2006 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

Dude, decaf, really.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 March 2006 01:05 (nineteen years ago)

i guess its not really an official record of his, more a comp. but still, the song 'opel' is pretty epic

― o -- (eman), Monday, 6 March 2006 01:23 (nineteen years ago)

eehhhhh...... caffeine has nothing to do with it. I just tend to get overly enthusiastic about things I like when I'm a bit tipsy.

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Monday, 6 March 2006 07:22 (nineteen years ago)

a very appropriate Q, i'd say...

syd- great w/ the PF, solo's a little dodgy, but still worth listening to...

Roky- great w/ the 13th Flr. d00ds, but solo's a little dodgy, too.

Skip- great w/ the Grape, solo's great IMHO.

that all said, Syd wrote Interstellar Overdrive.
Syd wins teh race by a spacey mile...

― eedd, Monday, 6 March 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

Roky!

13th Floor Elevators=awesome
Syd-era Floyd=mostly awesome

but SOLO ROKY blows Syd out the fuckin' water so ROKY!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

Something about Roky Erickson's stuff is more haunting and earnest to me, which is why I prefer him.

― UL® (blastocyst), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 02:18 (nineteen years ago)

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