Esal - Oh boy... I can see you and I are going to disagreee on lots ofthings. That's OK I guess. I like this album even if it doesn't sound anything like Pink Floyd (well not The Wall or any of that).  To me it's a completely unprofessional nightmare that reminds me alot of some of the stuff I've done and dozens of my own mates havedone when they didn't know anyone was in the next room. I agree this is not an incredible album musically. It meanders and confuses itself, it's anything but tight and seems to stagger about the basement looking for orange juice at a couple of times. Not many of
us speak openly about OJ dependence but those moments just before juice can be creative madness. Those joyous moments are sorta evident in places like the first couple/few minutes of :If It's In You.
    I'm glad to see you like Octopus because I think everyone knows (including yours truly) that there are times it is good to be lost in the woods. This of course depending on the intentions of whoever wants you out of the woods... a bunny's life it be. Better thangroveling on a recording exec's stinky carpet.
    If everything I've liked had to be a masterpiece I'd have missed out on all the fun of After Bathing at Baxters, The Bristol Stomp, Leonard Nimoy's wonderful renditions of traditional American musicana, Kaptain Kopter and the Fabulous Twirlybirds, Lyle
Lovette's complete collection would be off limits and that wouldn't be fair! Your average American (or Canadian for that matter) really should have the right to embrace (perhaps seize and fondle) frivolous mediocrity when it makes them feel good.
    Many of us have wide spread musical indulgences and it's essential to admit or even shout out that Varese can be great but not at a time when your heart and loins scream for Louie Louie even if the guitarist is on the toilet. I would love to have been there for The Madcap Laughs and if Syd wouldn't have walked into a wall while going for juice I probably would have. A playful blackness is good for the soul when mixed unequal parts naievity, rebel and broken genius.

Ian's Music Reviews - Thanks for the feedback...yes, it's more than OK to disagree on things. Divergence of opinion is a good thing. It keeps life interesting, that's for sure.
    I hear what you're saying about Madcap Laughs. An album doesn't need to be a masterpiece to be worthwhile. Sometimes mediocrity is just fine. I don't dispute this point of view (maybe I should seek out that Leonard Nimoy CD!), but when I listen to Madcap Laughs, all I can hear is "what could have been," and not what actually was. Syd's genius is all over the place on Madcap laughs, but it sporadic, sometimes frustratingly so. When I compare it to some fo the material on the first Pink Floyd album (and the first several Floyd singles), I can't help but be disappointed.