[2][3] The album was produced by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Richard Wright, who also contributed on bass and keyboards respectively, along with previous Madcap contributor Jerry Shirley on drums.

It was remastered and reissued in 1993, along with Barrett's other albums − The Madcap Laughs (1970) and Opel (1988) − independently and as part of the Crazy Diamond box set.

[4] On 24 February 1970, a month after releasing The Madcap Laughs, Barrett appeared on John Peel's Top Gear radio show, where he performed only one song from the newly released album ("Terrapin"), three that would later be recorded for Barrett ("Gigolo Aunt", "Baby Lemonade" and "Effervescing Elephant"), and a one-off ("Two of a Kind", which was written by Richard Wright).

[10] For the radio session, Gilmour and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley accompanied Barrett on bass and bongos, respectively.

[11] Barrett played slide guitar on the radio version of "Baby Lemonade", with Gilmour on organ.

[3] On 6 June 1970, Barrett gave his one and only official solo performance, at the Olympia in Kensington,[16] backed once more by Gilmour and Shirley.

At the end of "Octopus", the fourth number of the set, Barrett baffled the audience and his backing musicians by abruptly taking off his guitar and walking off stage.

Which meant me on drums, David on bass, Rick Wright on keyboards, and Syd on ALL guitars, and that was something Dave was adamant about.

[18][nb 3][15][19] The next day, two-track demos of "Wolfpack", "Waving My Arms in the Air", "Living Alone" and "Bob Dylan Blues", were recorded.

[13] Again, Barrett recorded some work to a song, "Wolfpack", on the 3rd, before the sessions were postponed until 5 June,[15] this time due to Gilmour and Wright going on tour in the US with Pink Floyd.

[3] On the session of 5 June, Barrett managed to record an unknown number of two-track demos for three songs: "Rats", "Wined and Dined", and "Birdie Hop".

[nb 4][15] The "Rats" demo recorded here, became the basis for the album master,[15] and would later be overdubbed by musicians, despite the changing tempos.

[13] Two days later, on the 7th, Barrett recorded "Milky Way",[nb 5] "Millionaire", before being rounded off with overdubs for "Rats".

[26][36] The song features a backwards guitar solo by Barrett, and organ and Wurlitzer by Wright.

[19][40] "Gigolo Aunt" was performed by Barrett for Top Gear in 1970, and issued on The Peel Session EP.

[11] For Barrett's only solo performance, at the Kensington Olympia in 1970, he played four songs, one of them being "Gigolo Aunt".

[42] The song reflects on about Mediterranean evenings ("Musk winds blow"), and hauntings of Barrett's childhood ("Chalk underfoot / Light ash of blue")[26][37] evoked during a summer party he didn't want to leave.

[43] "Effervescing Elephant" was pastiche of the verse form of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales for Children.

[11] For Barrett's only solo performance, at the Kensington Olympia in 1970, he played four songs, one of them being "Effervescing Elephant".

[13][56] Barrett was released in November 1970 to less interest than had greeted The Madcap Laughs earlier in the year,[21] and as a result, failed to reach the chart.

[11][21][59] Bored and directionless, Barrett headed back to his hometown of Cambridge and – but for a brief dalliance with a band called Stars in 1972,[21][60] and some abortive recording sessions in 1974[60] – left his music career behind for good.