Syd Barrett (6,584 views)

[EddieCheivz]

Voice Type: See Baritone Play
Vocal Range: C2-A5
Associated Acts: Pink Floyd
Years Active: 1964-1970
Nationality: English

Roger Keith Barrett, better known as Syd Barret was the leader and co-founder of legendary english band Pink Floyd.
He just recorded two albums with Pink Floyd (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful Of Secrets) the last one just include one song by Barrett that is Jugband Blues. This because his mental issues and his strong and constant drug addiction dented his mental health and his productivy in the band.
Syd was expulsed from Pink Floyd in 1968 and was sustituted by David Gilmour (himself was present too in A Saucerful Of Secrets recording), at the first time, the idea was David just replace Syd during the shows, and Barrett could still composing and singing in the studio. But Barrett's efficiency was very poor, and that thing could not works.
A Saucerful Of Secrets is the only one album from Pink Floyd where the five iconic members are together (Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rich Wright, Nick Manson and Syd Barrett of course.
After Pink Floyd, Syd just recorded a few solitary albums with a help from David Gilmour, his last recordings with voice was in 1970 (maybe 1971), after that, just there are some audios of him playing the guitar in 1974.

Significant High Notes:

A5 ("Pow R. Toch H.")
E5 ("Astronomy Domine", "Long Gone")
E♭5 ("Apples and Oranges")
C♯5 ("Long Gone", "Pow R. Toch H.")
B♭4 ("Dark Globe", "Terrapin" Radio One Session 1970)
A4 ("Apples and Oranges", "Giolo Aunt" take 9, "Let's Roll Another One", "Long Gone", "Octopus" takes 1 & 2, "She Took a Long Cold Look at Me" take 4, "Wolfpack")
G♯4 ("Apples and Oranges", "Remember Me", "Terrapin" Radio One Session 1970)
G4 ("Candy and a Currant Bun", "Clowns and Jugglers", "Dark Globe", "Giolo Aunt" Take 9, "If It's in You", "Lucifer Sam", "Lucy Leave", "Octopus" takes 1 & 2, "Rats", "Remember Me", "Wolfpack")
F♯4 ("Clowns and Jugglers", "Effervescing Elephant", "Let's Roll Another One", "Milky Way", "Octopus" takes 1 & 2, "Remember Me", "She Took a Long Cold Look at Me" take 4, "Vegetable Man", "Two Of a Kind", "Wolfpack")
F4 ("Butterfly", "Clowns and Jugglers", "Dark Globe", "Milky Way" different version, "Octopus", "Rats", "Terrapin" Radio One Session 1970, "Two Of a Kind")
E4 ("Arnold Layne", "Apples and Oranges", "Baby Lemonade", "Butterfly", "Candy and a Currant Bun", "Flaming", "Giolo Aunt", "If It's In You", "Long Gone", "Love You", "Lucifer Sam", "Lucy Leave", "Matilda Mother", "Scream Thy Last Scream" live BBC London 1967, "See Emily Play", "She Took a Long Cold Look at Me" take 4, "Vegetable Man", "Walk With Me Sydney")
E♭4 ("Baby Lemonade", "Birdie Hop", "Dolly Rocker", "Octopus")

Significant Low Notes:

C♯3 ("Arnold Layne", "Giolo Aunt" take 9, "Golden Hair", “The Gnome”, "Here I Go", "Late Night", "Let's Split", "No Man's Land", "Opel", "Rats", "She Took a Long Cold Look", "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)")
C3 ("Apples and Oranges", "Bob Dylan Blues", "Candy and a Currant Bun", "Clowns and Jugglers", "Dolly Rocker", "Giolo Aunt", "Golden Hair", "Jugband Blues", "Love Song", "Lucy Leave", "The Scarecrow", "Two Of a Kind", "Waving My Arms in the Air", "Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe)", "Word Song")
B2 ("Bob Dylan Blues", "Butterfly", "Clowns and Jugglers", "Dolly Rocker", "Double O Bo", "Golden Hair", "Here I Go", "If It's in You", "It Is Obvious" take 2, "Late Night", "Lucy Leave", "No Man's Land", "Octopus" takes 1 & 2, "Opel", "Vegetable Man", "Wined and Dined", "Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe)")
B♭2 ("Clowns and Jugglers", "Dolly Rocker", "Long Gone", "Opel", "Remember Me", "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)")
A2 ("Arnold Layne", "Candy and a Currant Bun", "Clowns and Jugglers", "Dolly Rocker", "Effervescing Elephant", "The Gnome", "Golden Hair", “Here I Go", "I Never Lied To You", "Let's Split", "No Good Trying", "Octopus" takes 1 & 2, "Opel", "The Scarecrow", "She Took a Long Cold Look", "Waving My Arms in the Air", "Wined and Dined", "Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe)")
G♯2 ("I Never Lied To You", "Octopus" takes 1 & 2, "Matilda Mother" live at BBC 1967, "Rats", "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)", "Terrapin", "Two Of a Kind", "Vegetable Man")
G2 ("Candy and a Currant Bun", "Effervescing Elephant", "Long Gone", "Maisie", "No Good Trying", "Rats", "The Scarecrow", "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)", "Waving My Arms in the Air", "Vegetable Man", "Walk With Me Sydney", "Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe)")
F♯2 ("Effervescing Elephant" take 2, "Here I Go", "It Is Obvious" take 3, "Octopus", "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)")
F2 ("Here I Go", "Maisie" "No Man's Land", "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)")
E2 ("Golden Hair", "Here I Go", "I'm a King Bee", "It Is Obvious" take 3, "Long Gone", "Maisie", "No Man's Land", "Rats" take 1,"Vegetable Man")
C♯2 ("Maisie")
C2 ("No Man's Land")

SPOILER: Click to show

{QUESTIONABLE NOTES}
B5 ("Pow R. Toc. H." [3] Altough doesn't sounds bad, (almost sure isn't Roger) if more people are agree i could get it into the main section)

??? "Remember Me" [1]
E2 "I Never Lied to You" [5] "Lucy Leave" [1]
D2 "Maisie"[5]

[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.

SPOILER: Click to show

{ALBUM RANGES}
Pink Floyd:
(1967) Piper at Gates of Dawn: G2-G4-A5
(1968) A Saucerful of Secrets: C3-D4

Solitary:
(1970) The Madcap Laughs: C2-B♭4-C♯5
(1970) Barrett: C♯2-A4
(1988) Opel (actually recorded around 1970 too): E2-G4

SPOILER: Click to show

{BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCES}
1.- Remember Me
2.- Lucy Leave
3.- Wolfpack
4.- Candy and a Currant Bun
5.- Apples and Oranges

*Underlines marks notes sung in backing vocals/harmonies.
*Italics marks non-melodic notes.
*Blue marks soft falsetto notes.
*Boldface marks noteworthy singer's capabalities.

[Holsety]

Pretty sure the A4 in "Arnold Layne" is Richard Wright, along with the falsetto bit in "Apples and Oranges".

[EddieCheivz]

May 30, 2020 0:53:05 GMT Holsety said:

Pretty sure the A4 in "Arnold Layne" is Richard Wright, along with the falsetto bit in "Apples and Oranges".

I'll remove the A4 cause at the first time i thoguht the same thing, sounds like his chest, and yeah, Rich sings that falsetto passage, but i can hear a Eb5 beyond his vocal melody, i assume is Barrett then

[halloweenjack95]

The Eb5 could be Syd. But I am not 100% sure.

[Henny Macc]

Not bad! Now we just need a Richard Wright thread, and we’ll have 4/4 for Pink Floyd vocalists  :D

[Zedd Squared]

Well we would except my Roger Waters thread was highly suspect and therefore not moved over. It'll need to be redone some time (probably as a group collab or something).

[Henny Macc]

Oh whoops, somehow I forgot that that one hadn't been moved over yet. (:)) What was wrong with it?

[Zedd Squared]

Nothing too bad in the range extremities but I don't know how we'd count all those lows nowadays since he's such talk-singy singer. I likely over-counted anacrusis notes for it as well.

[EddieCheivz]

-What does people think about this high-pitch section?

-I'm more inclined to think they're Syd rather than Roger, but i could be wrong i'd like to receive more oppinions.
-My other concern as well is how countable are they? i hear B5s and they're not just uncontrolled yelps or something like Waters pterodactyl screams, sounds with some control and precision in its execution, but they could be a bit unrepresentative or something, don't know but none of Floyd members has something above A5 in their listing so for anyone of them that pitch could worth.

-On the other hand i'm thinking on bring his highs down to D4 but i'm not sure, would you say that would be a bit unnecessary/redundant perhaps?

[motorist]

Whatever the A2 is in "Feel", I don't think it's countable, I assume it's from 1:58 in the song onwards, anything that low just sounds like him speaking with no intentional pitch, not really part of the song.

There are still some sung notes there. There's a B2 at 2:10, but I don't think it's countable either honestly, the G4 at 2:15 is slightly better despite still being crap, still probably wouldn't include but it's close. Up to you though. Edit: that G4 is part of the song "If It's In You", nevermind.

Don't know much about distinguishing between their voices but honestly I think that B5 is okay if it is Syd Barrett. Doesn't sound like a crazy unintentional shriek.

edit: I'm actually hearing a faint backing E5 in "Long Gone" here: youtu.be/nwisdIr61e4?t=149

also an F#2 in "Vegetable Man" I think: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fxPDelW9uk&start=96, and a questionable E2 at 1:45.