Introduction 4

From Opel: Immersion Set for Distant Shores
Jump to navigationJump to search

White2.jpg
Go to cover page
Go to i. Introducion
Go to ii. The title
Go to iii. The totem
Go to iv. The far distant shore
Go to v. Driftwood
Go to vi. Dry tears
Go to vii. A circle of grey
Go to viii. To be found…
Go to ix. Information pack

Go to previous page

page 6

Go to next page

Hand-right2.jpg

Syd was having a breakdown mostly from raw hypersensitivity to constant industrial quantities of psychedelics with no let up. … Most of us had rests and meditations as suggested by folks like Timothy Leary and Baba Ram Dass, which gave us chance to review and reflect. Syd just jumped back on the merry-go-round with all its yawning chasms before he could touch what we laughingly call reality. Nothing is concrete.

— Dr. Sam "Smutty" Hutt  


"Opel" was actually recorded almost two years after. Malcom Jones, the producer, assumed it wasn't included in the first LP by Syd's decision, but why the jewel of the "Opel" recording has been jealously hidden in the EMI's land of unreleased songs for 19 years?
The reason is common underestimation.

Gilmour also regrets this part of the album which, given another chance, he'd do differently. … Questioned about the exclusion of 'Opel', Gilmour cannot remember the track and wrongly assumes it to be an alternative title for one of the released songs. Sadly, it appears that during the undignified scramble of the final recording and mixing, this classic Barrett track was overlooked.

— Mick Rock, The Mick Rock Photo-Sessions

The beauty of "Opel" is now proved by fans who have stated it is one of their favourites, but while throughout all those years none of the chords were known, the lyrics and a brief opinion given by Malcom Jones in 1982 have been the only preciously known thing for the 6 years before the release.

It was an extremely haunting song; very stark and poignant. … I still think, to this day, that this is one of his best and most haunting tracks …

— Malcom Jones, The Making Of The Madcap Laughs



sources →

Palacios, Julian. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe. London: Plexus Publishing Limited, 2010. 266. Print. http://books.google.com/books?id=DvgH58uEPFAC&pg=PA266
Rock, Mick. Syd Barrett: The Madcap Laughs: The Mick Rock Photo-Sessions. London: UFO Music Ltd, 1992. Print. http://www.oocities.org/vienna/strasse/2724/mickrock.html
Jones, Malcolm. Syd Barrett: The Making Of The Madcap Laughs. London: private publication, 1982. 4, 8. Print. http://www.pink-floyd.org/barrett/MADCAP.txt