Interview with Malcolm Jones:
Malcolm Jones was
producer of 'The Madcap Laughs' and gave this interview in the "Opel" magazine N.4 late 1984 to Ivor
Trueman.
Fans of Syd Barrett owe
Malcolm Jones more than he'll ever probably get, not only was he responsible
for producing the better solo sessions he's also took the time and trouble to
document "The Making Of The Madcap Laughs" in a booklet of the same
name. Last month I went to his home to interview him, listen to some of the
outtakes and try and persuade him to let me reprint his The Making Of The Madcap Laughs' booklet. I should however explain that
I didn't particularly ask about the 1969 session details etc purely because
they are already covered extensively in "The Making...".
For those people without this book I hope you forgive that and if you do ever
get a copy, you'll understand why I didn't ask about those kind things...
Firstly, before I switched
my recorder on, Malcolm played me snatches of Ramadan, Lanky pt's 1 and 2, Opel and Love You (slow version) etc. Ramadan / Lanky
seemed better than I'd expected.
They are very loose 'acidy
jams' sort of like a lot of stuff in1968. They seemed very freeform and
reminded me of The Soft Machine, Syd's contribution
was not particularly self-evident but the tracks are still good.
I'd heard Opel before but Love You (slow version) was very nice and I
hope it like the other outtakes sees the light of Day soon. What else can you
say, it is slightly different... Then Malcolm explained that he only plays
snatches of songs to people because of some
He was given this in 1968
by Roy Featherstone (his boss) who didn't like the direction the Floyd were heading along; he wanted a second opinion. I switched
on my cassette and the interview was underway.
Malcolm Jones: There's definitely a melody there,
it's obviously a backing track for something they'd thought out in some form.
Ivor Trueman: She was a millionaire?
Malcolm Jones: Have you heard that?
Ivor Trueman: No... Untitled?
In the Beechwoods? John
Latham? (looking through the recording titles in
Malcolm's booklet)
Malcolm Jones: I often wondered on those tracks
(pointing to book) because in the studio somebody says "Oh this is what
it's called". On Silas Lang, there is a line in it that goes "the land
in Silas stands" and I always assumed that was just the engineer getting
the title wrong and I actually went through on the early albums and tried to
listen to every lyric to see if there were any alternate lines that would have
been early titles.
Ivor Trueman: Sunshine - Wondering and Dreaming
etc.
Malcolm Jones: Yes.
Ivor Trueman: You know the Octopus single that
came out, it was released in
Malcolm Jones: They always did in those days, that was virtually standard procedure. I mean
Ivor Trueman: It looks like in Syd's style.
Malcolm Jones: I doubt whether it would be, I'm
sure if we'd any requests for Syd to do something it would have come through me
at the time. If they'd rung up EMI, EMI would have come round to me. It's
probably some young kid, whose as enthusiastic as the
rest of us, but I'm only guessing.
Ivor Trueman: Have you seen any of Syd's drawings at all?
Malcolm Jones: Yes a few, but I've probably seen a
lot of them without realising.
Ivor Trueman: Do you know what's happening with
Peter Jenner and Andrew King?
Malcolm Jones: No, last I heard of them Peter was
doing the Blackhill thing, but I'm not really sure
what Andrew King is doing.
Ivor Trueman: I've heard that Peter's managing
Swan's Way... and Billy Bragg
Malcolm Jones: He always had good taste.
Ivor Trueman: I think Andrew's forking for
Westminster Music.
Malcolm Jones: You're joking, really..
Ivor Trueman: Well he's the guy who signs the
copyright letters to us.
Malcolm Jones: Won't be Andrew, doesn't sound like
his style.
Ivor Trueman: Were you still working for Harvest when
'Barrett' was released?
Malcolm Jones: Just, I was just about to leave, I
think it came out just as I left or just after. I'd seen the sleeve but I don't
think I had the record. I had to write back to EMI and call them and ask them
to send me one.
Ivor Trueman: What did you think of it?
Malcolm Jones: Mmmm.
Alright. Except I was quite pleased when Time Out said that my tracks were
better... though they'd done better stuff, when I listen to some of their
recordings...
Ivor Trueman: You've listened to some of their
recordings,
Malcolm Jones: Mmmm,
just even the other tapes. It's quite nice to hear people sort of making
cock-up's in the studio but they could have used better cock-up's
with Syd in a slightly better mind.
Ivor Trueman: The way they coupled take 1 of Feel
onto take 5 of If It's In You is misleading.
Malcolm Jones: There was something odd now I
remember.
Ivor Trueman: Have you any idea how many copies
of Madcap were sold?
Malcolm Jones: It didn't sell at first
Ivor Trueman: It went gold
Malcolm Jones: Well I wish I could give you the
total figures, because when I wrote to EMI when I was trying to get this stuff
I did released, the first thing I did, was write to the royalties dept to be
sneaky and find out what it's sold. And they suddenly found out that they'd
underpaid royalties so that meant Syd got a few grand. But it's still on
catalogue and I still get royalty statements and it's amazing to see, I mean
it's not available in so many countries as it used to be but it's fascinating to
see it's still in the catalogue in
Ivor Trueman: Were you responsible for any of the
recent T Rex releases? (Malcolm also had quite heavy T Rex connections)
Malcolm Jones: (shakes head sideways) I find it amazing, if EMI give away -or
let someone else release their stuff then why can't they do the same for Syd?
At one stage I felt like just putting it out andsaying
sue me if you want but one of the reasons I particularly wanted to go through
EMI was so they could pay Syd, just because of his royalties, I dont know if he still gets them.
Ivor Trueman: But the thing is the Pink Floyd as
well.
Malcolm Jones: That's what I was saying about the
contract, I never knew with Syd, Bryan Morrison said he was going to
re-negotiate a contract for Syd on his own; because he would be getting, in
those days on Syd's solo stuff; Well I don't know
what the Floyd got but they were probably getting something around 6% royalty,
so that's 1 1/2% each...So if that carried on on that
basis that meant on his solo stuff he got a quarter of 6%. I never knew if that
happened or not.
Pause while I load the
"new" Syd Barrett tape into Malcolm's hi-fi. Last time I said the first track
was not "Swan Lee" due to all the usual fuck ups. This is now the
sound of me eating my words. Meanwhile the tape begins.
Malcolm Jones: Swan Lee... the bass doesn't sound
right, probably is. The bass sounds a bit fussier than I remember it to be.
Malcolm Jones: Syd sounds posh when he's singing, he's got a rounded vowel sound you know? All his 'o's are 'O's. (Syd appropriately sings MOuses.)
Like the previous track,
this version is similar to those found elsewhere so there was little to comment
on. We were looking through the tape listing at the back of Malcolm's book,
trying to find where these two tracks could have come from. Since this version
of Vegetable Man is close to the 'Unforgotten Hero' version we wondered if it
could just be an overdubbed 'Unforgotten Hero' take.
Malcolm Jones: What also happened, I'm only
guessing, was that if that was the 4 track tape they might mix it down to
stereo and add some other instruments, playing along as you mix. There's no
point in transferring it onto another 4 track - you might as well mix it and
save a generation of tape. So the only place that overdub will exist will be on
the stereo master. That happened to me once with something else and we had to
go all the way back...
Malcolm Jones: Whose tape is this? There's no echo
or anything to suggest it's recorded in a studio. It sounds like he's doing it
for overdubbing though, strumming acoustic through the whole solo.
Ivor Trueman: He does that on Opel.
Malcolm Jones: ... leaves gaps
Ivor Trueman: I can't believe this would be left
out of 'Barrett'
Malcolm Jones: Seems odd if it was...sounds like
the same guitar as Dave's stuff, I don't remember him having an acoustic
guitar. (track ends)
Malcolm Jones: He is pretty together there isn't
he?
Ivor Trueman: He is everywhere except on those
three Dave Gilmour tracks.
Malcolm Jones: That's... (Syd makes a slight
mistake)... You see that I think is an acceptable mistake whereas the stuff
they put on, I don't think that it shows the song writing process or whatever
he's doing; that he made a mistake and that he knows to go back and so on,
whereas the Madcap things they did just made him look a babbling fool.
Ivor Trueman: It tends to play up to the lunatic
image.
Malcolm Jones: That's creating an image for somebody
who didn't necessarily deserve quite as bad as that.
(2nd version ends).
Malcolm Jones: I think that's better than some I
have got.
Ivor Trueman: Is this one of yours?
Malcolm Jones: No. I have got other versions of
this. It sounds as though someone's adding echo to identify it as their bootleg
rather than anybody else's.
Ivor Trueman: That's happened before...
Malcolm Jones: I always liked this one actually,
this song. Ivor Trueman:
What was your reaction to the version that came out, were
the other versions better?
Malcolm Jones: I think so yes, a bit sad really,
something is, after a while you get used to some the more you hear it and you
forget how good the other things were.
Malcolm Jones: There's a bit, a chord sequence
that comes from Silas Lang, the bit there is the chord sequence of "the
land in Silas stands"...that semitone up thing sounds quite unusual...did
Syd ever like saxophones?
Ivor Trueman: (See the Miles book for what I said
here.)
Malcolm Jones: I don't recognise
it but certainly the guitar style is Syd isn't it?
Malcolm Jones: This is Syd. It annoys me that
people, whenever I've played anything for anybody..
Ivor Trueman: But this hasn't come from you, it's
from EMI
Malcolm Jones: Then why don't they release it?
Malcolm Jones: Is the song complete, the whole
thing goes on for 7 minutes or so. Ivor Trueman: I think so, except Syd doesn't sing the line
"I'm drowning, I'm drowning"
Malcolm Jones: The whole pathos comes in the line
'I'm drowning', that's the whole... Perhaps it's just on the tape that he sung
to me then? That does sound almost exactly, well to my ears, exactly the same
tape.
Ivor Trueman: Without that line...
Malcolm Jones: Don't say anything, let me just...
At the beginning, there is something odd about it that I couldn't fathom.
There's a certain timbre on his voice that's not there it could just be the
tape, it's his style. It is Syd. Don't suppose is has a title has it?
Ivor Trueman: People call it The Word Song or
Untitled Words
Malcolm Jones: Syd's not
said what it's supposed to be called?
Ivor Trueman: I don't know.
Malcolm Jones: I've never heard this before,
where's this meant to have come from? Did it come from
Ivor Trueman: They said that about STLS/VM.
Malcolm Jones: I'm just wondering if I ever sent
them a cassette of the stuff I've got, in which case it could just be in
somebody's drawer, because when I wrote to Terry Slater, I'm just trying to
think if I sent him a cassette or not; he's the AR guy who I was trying to get
to release the stuff. He'd never even return my call.
Ivor Trueman: Perhaps he didn't like it?
Malcolm Jones: Well yes, but all he'd have to do
is look in the sales figures and find out how many Syd Barrett albums they've
sold. It's just a purely commercial venture isn't it? Nothing
to do with whether he likes it or not. There are plenty of people who
do, but he just never returned my call. I wrote four time and then I rang up
and He said "Oh no the person you need now is Dick Landser",
who I used to know when I was at EMI. Who is, shall we say, an ageing bald man
who puts out all the Geoff Love albums and all that stuff. So why they've
referred Syd's stuff to him I've no idea, and I
actually rang up one Friday and said 'look I've had all these people... Two
records companies that I know of want the stuff, are you interested or are you
not?' And I spoke to his Secretary, this is about
Ivor Trueman: What about the last Harvest
compilation, the Art School Dancing LP, I mean Syd got a track on that?
Malcolm Jones: Yes, oh sure there are people there
who are interested, those things are rather silly
because, it's like when they did the Dave Edmunds thing. The Dutch put a really
great Dave Edmunds compilation out and I wrote to EMI and said if you do the
equivalent here ring me up because I've got all the longer versions of things, and
it would make it slightly more interesting. And it's the same with the Harvest
stuff. Somewhere, and I really don't know where, I've
kept an acetate of "Singing A Song In The Morning" with Syd on.
(Julian's note: Probably the same acetate that turned up on the 'Ramadan' RoIo)
Ivor Trueman: Religious Experience
Malcolm Jones: Yes, and it actually said on the
label 'Religious Experience'. It was before we even changed the title and you
know "ring me up" I'm not going to find it if EMI weren't interested;
nobody did anything about it, it's really sad, because it'd make it more
interesting than it was.
Ivor Trueman: Did you produce that session?
Malcolm Jones: No, my name's on the label, all I
did was mixing it. Peter Jenner produced the original
track and it was really rather messy, and it was a really good song, you know a
catchy tune.
Ivor Trueman: A commercial hit.
Malcolm Jones: Yes that was it, here was me saying
'hey this is a great record here but it's a bit messy' and so I rubbed Syd out!
Well, it was a great song, let's try for a hit. In those days it didn't matter,
Syd was still; we could still put Syd's version on
the LP or whatever, it didn't matter. But it was a very good song and Peter Jenner said 'Oh if we're gonna do
that let's call it Singing A Song In The Morning!
Trying to get Tony Blackburn to play it on his morning programme...Here
comes the dumb question.
Ivor Trueman: Have you got a favourite
Syd Barrett song? Malcolm Jones: (sighs). Everybody asks me that, not really,
no.