On Madcap and Barrett, Syd is emotionally dissipated, occasionally just going through the motions. The talent is still evident, the voice is as distinctive and disarming as ever, but he’s basically a human crater. “There’s no way to avoid feeling,” wrote Kris DiLorenzo, “that the two albums are the portrait of a breakdown.” The party was over, but no one was left to clean up the mess.
