On an overcast day late in the summer of 1966, Syd first tripped on mushrooms while film student/friend Nigel Gordon captured the event on 8mm film. This marked the point of no return to Syd's life as he knew it. The spirit that entered the Gog Magog hills that day would not be the same entity that returned. The second part of this historic video shows Pink Floyd after having signed their first recording contract with EMI Records outside Abbey Road Studios in April '67. It is apparent in this scene that Syd has not yet come down from the hill. Now for the first time ever, this historic film is available on DVD. Though the original film was silent, this DVD comes with the added bonus of music supplied by Hypnotic Records recording artists - Dilate, which provides the perfect audio "demention" for viewing this classic event!
""If the names Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Dave Mason elicit a response of "Who?" from you, chances are you should pass on this film, which, quite frankly, is for die-hard Pink Floyd fans only. If you do fall within that category, however, you will probably view "Syd Barrett's First Trip" as a chronicle of minor historical significance, as it is a brief visual documentary of the day that changed Barrett's world forever, and consequently the future of Pink Floyd.
The entire film runs a total of (approximately) 15 minutes, and is presented in two segments, the first of which takes place in the late summer of 1966, at a place called Gog Magog Hills. It was (according to all accounts) the very first time Syd "tripped out" on mushrooms, and friend/film student Nigel Gordon was on hand, recording it all on silent, 8MM film. Gordon was also there in April of 1967, outside Abbey Road Studios, on the day the Floyd signed their first recording contract with EMI Records, which comprises the second segment of the film. There are glimpses of Waters, Wright and Mason, but Gordon's camera was mainly focused on Barrett, whose state of mind at the time certainly seems open to conjecture. Very soon, of course, his situation would be beyond conjecture, as even before their first album was released a steady diet of LSD would take him to a place from which he would never return.
A soundtrack recorded by the Hypnotic Records group "Dilate" has been added to this film, effectively creating an appropriately ethereal atmosphere that evokes a surreal sense of timelessness as the seemingly innocent events captured here by Gordon unfold.
Some may argue that, in light of the fact that this was the beginning of the end for Barrett, this film is too personal to share with the world. There's no denying it has something of a "tabloid" feel to it, and without question, the significance of it is, historically, in an entirely different context than, say, the Zapruder film. But in the final analysis, 'Syd Barrett's First Trip' is neither invasive, nor is it in any way an inditement, or-- at the other end of the spectrum-- an affirmation of his life. In it's brevity, it's merely a glimpse; a quick look at a moment-- now frozen in time-- that marked the point of no return in a young man's life. Syd Barrett was an artist, who very soon after this film was made, would be unable to create anything ever again. One could say that the moment captured here was, in effect, the very instant that the music-- so alive within Syd Barrett-- died. To their credit, Waters, Wright and Mason-- Pink Floyd-- endured and, thankfully, continued on; tragically, Syd Barrett did not. And watching this film one can but reflect upon how truly fragile life is, and how quickly time moves on. After all, what you see in this film really happened; and moreover, it was only yesterday that it did." - Amazon.com user