A Very Irregular Head cover art

A Very Irregular Head

The Life of Syd Barrett

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A Very Irregular Head

By: Rob Chapman
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

“I don’t think I’m easy to talk about. I’ve got a very irregular head. And I’m not anything that you think I am anyway” (Syd Barrett, Rolling Stone, 1971).

Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett was the definition of a golden boy. With good looks and an aptitude for music, he was a charismatic child who fast became a teenage leader in 1960s England. Along with three school chums - Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason - he formed what would become Pink Floyd. Starting as a British cover band, they soon pioneered a new sound: British psychedelic rock. With early, trippy, Barrett-penned hits, Pink Floyd captured the zeitgeist of swinging London in all its technicolor glory.

But there was a dark side. Barrett fell in with some hardcore hippies and began taking large quantities of LSD. His already-fragile mental state - most believe him to have been schizophrenic - further unraveled. The once bright-eyed lad was quickly replaced by a sinister, dead-eyed shadow of his former self given to eccentric, reclusive, and sometimes violent behavior. Sacked from the band, Barrett retreated to his mother’s house, where he remained until his death, rarely seen or heard.

A Very Irregular Head lifts the veil of secrecy that has surrounded Syd Barrett for nearly four decades, drawing on exclusive access to family, friends, archives, journals, letters, and artwork to create the definitive portrait of a brilliant, tragic artist. Besides capturing the promise of Barrett’s youth, Chapman challenges the notion that Barrett was a hopelessly lost recluse in his later years and creates a portrait of a true British eccentric who is rightfully placed within a rich literary lineage which stretches through Kenneth Graham, Hilaire Belloc, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, John Lennon, David Bowie, and on up to Damon Albarn of Blur.

A tragic, affectionate, and compelling portrait of a singular artist, this will stand as the authoritative word on this very English genius for years to come.

©2010 Rob Chapman (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity England

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Wonderful

This was so interesting. A very well researched biography. The author clearly cared about his subject, it was respectful and very sensitively written. It managed to get behind the myths surrounding Syd Barrett. Also quite sad but not sure if anyone will understand how he felt in the later years of his life.
Highly recommended.

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Well researched and respectfully written

I loved this book. It's a sad tale indeed but highlights the connection between art. psychology, music history, literature and rock star trappings (amongst other things). I have been oddly inspired by this story. It doesnt unravel the mystery per se and leaves you with more questions which you know can never be answered. I tend to think Syd was more an architect of his own isolation than the traditional mythologies about him would have you believe. He was certainly damaged and a sad and misunderstood soul but seemed to find some solace in his own company. There are some very well used quotes from Susan Sontag in the text that tallk about the artist and silence that resonates so clearly with Syd's story. Upon finishing the book and listening to Syd's solo LPs I now get a sense of nausa that is difficult to explain. I feel out of my body and out of my own head!

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