Captain Wasp is responsible for On A Distant Shore's cover of "If It's In You", my favorite Syd Barrett song as a kid. While the cover warps the tune with new musical trends (scratching and intentional skips), the original has always suggested a slowed-down, more fucked-up Public Image song. It has the same strange charm as Flipper's "Sex Bomb" B-side; once you hear it, just try to say "Did I wink?" in less than a minute -- and once you get old, just try to recall anything else that Barrett did. Since most kids turn to Barrett when they first start playing with drugs, don't bind yourself to childhood memories of his work. As I sang that "Did I wink" line so frequently as a kid (hell, it was even my line to girls as a teen), I recently approached Barrett's box set (Crazy Diamond) with the mistaken assumption that his solo career would be just 58 variations on that one song. No, such blinding "Did I wink" obsession came only from me.

Of course, this made all of Barrett's more delicate, fragile efforts revelatory as they were replayed with faithful affection from these young fans On a Distant Shore. Sixtynine and the Continuous People show both Barrett's rocking Piper side ("Lucifer Sam") and his crippled pet sounds ("I know where Syd Barrett Lives"), while Transelemen T and Full Dimensional stitch together the fractured heart and soul in his music as best as they can. The lo-fi recording adds to the overall flavor, making the whole project sound like it went down over tea and biscuits in a secluded hospital room. Aside from Captain Wasp, the assembled bands do a superb job at making you second-guess any thought you had about Barrett's work. These days, his art may sell largely on the basis of his madness, but his music was honest enough to truly earn and deserve a great tribute record. This is it.