During the summer of 1965, Barrett had his first acid trip in the garden of his friend Dave Gale,[4][5] with Ian Moore and Storm Thorgerson.

[4] While on the influence of the substance, Barrett had placed an orange, plum and a matchbox into a corner, while staring at the fruit, which he claimed symbolized "Venus and Jupiter".

[4] After the unexpectedly massive success of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, EMI re-issued the Barrett-era albums The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets as A Nice Pair in the hope that fans would be interested in the band's earlier work with Barrett.

[1] As a result, The Madcap Laughs/Barrett (as it was titled in the US) made number 163,[1] giving Barrett his only US chart album.

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote of the album: "Admittedly, a lot of what results is worthy of the wimp-turned-acid-casualty Barrett is.