The Curse of Syd's Final Singles: 'Scream Thy Last Scream' and 'Vegetable Man'

These two Syd Barrett compositions were recorded in late 1967 during the Piper at the Gates of Dawn sessions but never issued as the intended follow-up to “See Emily Play.” The band and their label judged them too disjointed and lyrically uncomfortable – “Vegetable Man” in particular sounds like Barrett angrily mocking his own mental decline, and “Scream Thy Last Scream” is a fractured nursery rhyme about death. They were shelved permanently in favor of the safer “Apples and Oranges.”

For decades the only way to hear them was on grey-market vinyl