First trip with…psychedelics.
A home video of Syd Barett’s first experience being under LSD has surfaced, aptly titled Syd Barrett’s First Trip.
The Pink Floyd founder was filmed with his band mates frolicking around a field, rolling in the grass, and starting a fire. Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon is the man who shot the film. He has synopsis for the footage that can be found on the film’s IMDB page. It reads,
“I am Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon and I shot this film of Syd on a visit from film school in London to my hometown, Cambridge. We were on the Gog Magog hills with a bunch of friends. David Gale is there along with Andrew Rawlinson, Russell Page, Lucy Pryor and my wife, Jenny. She’s the one in the yellow mac talking to the tree. The mushroom images are iconic and will last forever. It is an unselfconscious film. It was not planned. It just happened.
The guy on the balcony is me at 101 Cromwell Road, London SW7. This footage was shot by Jenny. When David Gale wrote about 101 in The Independent he recalled: As the 60s began to generate heat, I found myself running with a fast crowd. I had moved into a flat near the Royal College of Art. I shared the flat with some close friends from Cambridge, including Syd Barrett, who was busy becoming a rock star with Pink Floyd.”
Among the people in the film is graphic artist Storm Thorgerson better known as the founder of Hipgnosis, creator of Pink Floyd’s album covers.
The film features video cuts of a psychedelically-dressed Pink Floyd band members just outside Abbey Road studios, where they are celebrating having just signed their first contract with EMI.
Watch the raw, unedited footage below.