Introduction 5

From Opel: Immersion Set for Distant Shores
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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

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Before the immersions in the words of "Opel", let's go to introduce the song with a brief overall analysis by Julian Palacios, followed by several people's thoughts found on the internet:

   Unreleased for almost twenty years ‘Opel’ is a long dirge with Barrett singing over constant chord changes and semi-tone falls in convoluted farewell. The song began with a reversed chord progression from ‘Arnold Layne’ (A E G D) – a recurrent motif in Syd’s songs. Despite a sinuous cavalcade of chords with complex changes, in ‘Opel’ Syd is trying, finding and giving all at once. Using a passage in Homer’s Odyssey which begins, ‘Have hither come from a far distant shore’ as a springboard, Syd opens with a stark image of a far-off shoreline. In a penumbra of desolate renderings, his phrasing balances on the backbeat in a talking cadence, as his landscape resonates with visions of the fall.

— Julian Palacios, Dark Globe

"Opel" illuminates paths that most of us will thankfully never walk, but about which all of us are at least a bit curious. It does so with one of the most leisurely, beautiful chord progressions you'll ever hear. It is one of Barrett's crowning achievements. The long chords he strums as the song’s conclusion gathers its dignified, steady strength will haunt you to the end of your days, even as the abrupt way in which he strums them will make you wonder how hard it must have been for him to maintain self-control.

— www.lastplanetojakarta.com




sources →

Palacios, Julian. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe. London: Plexus Publishing Limited, 2010. 342. Print. http://books.google.com/books?id=DvgH58uEPFAC&pg=PA342
Last Plane to Jakarta. "Milky Way." Web. http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com/articles/opel8.html