Upon release, Gilmour said: "Perhaps we were trying to show what Syd was really like. But perhaps we were trying to punish him ..." Barrett stated that "It's quite nice but I'd be very surprised if it did anything. If I were to drop dead, I don't think it would stand a stand as my last statement." Waters was more optimistic, declaring Barrett a "genius". Malcolm Jones was shocked by what he perceived as the substandard musicianship on the Gilmour and Waters-produced songs, however: "I felt angry. It's like dirty linen in public and very unnecessary and unkind ..." Barrett later said of the album: "I liked what came out, only it was released far too long after it was done. I wanted it to be a whole thing that people would listen to all the way through with everything related and balanced, the tempos and moods offsetting each other, and I hope that's what it sounds like." In a bid to increase sales, Jones wrote a letter to music magazine, Melody Maker, under an alternate name, writing how great the album was.