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A Very Irregular Head
- The Life of Syd Barrett
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
“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.
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Somewhere You Feel Free: Tom Petty and Los Angeles explores the artistic life of Tom Petty through his career-long relationship with Los Angeles and the many colorful characters and venues that inspired him and his music - including his work with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Johnny Cash, Roger McGuinn, Leon Russell, Rick Rubin, and Del Shannon.
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Conversations with Tom Petty (Expanded Edition)
- By: Paul Zollo
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Tom Petty has long been considered one of the great songwriters of American rock 'n' roll, as well as one of the key standard bearers of integrity in the music business.
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Good, but unnecessarily repetitive
- By Greg Jahnke on 10-22-21
By: Paul Zollo
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Van Halen Rising
- How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal
- By: Greg Renoff
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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After years of gigging everywhere from suburban backyards to dive bars, Van Halen - led by frontman extraordinaire David Lee Roth and guitar virtuoso Edward Van Halen - had the songs, the swagger, and the talent to turn the rock world on its ear. The quartet's classic 1978 debut, Van Halen, sold more than a million copies within months of release and rocketed the band to the stratosphere of rock success.
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Truly Outstanding!!!
- By Edgar F. Whitaker on 08-14-16
By: Greg Renoff
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That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound
- Dylan, Nashville, and the Making of Blonde on Blonde
- By: Daryl Sanders
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound is the definitive treatment of Bob Dylan's magnum opus, Blonde on Blonde, not only providing the most extensive account of the sessions that produced the trailblazing album but also setting the record straight on much of the misinformation that has surrounded the story of how the masterpiece came to be made. Including many new details and eyewitness accounts, as well as keen insight into the Nashville cats who helped Dylan reach rare artistic heights, it explores the lasting impact of rock's first double album.
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Some good moments overall
- By Bozobob on 03-28-19
By: Daryl Sanders
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Outlaw Journalist
- The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson
- By: Professor William McKeen
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Esteemed author and journalism professor William McKeen chronicles the mesmerizing life of legendary Gonzo journalist and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson’s childhood is detailed, along with his explosive relationship with his editors at Playboy and Rolling Stone, his drug use, his controversial persona, and life at his secluded Colorado home.
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Very enlightening and well written
- By D. Lichtenstein on 05-27-17
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Levon
- From Down in the Delta to the Birth of The Band and Beyond
- By: Sandra B. Tooze
- Narrated by: Rosemary Benson
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Levon is the dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm - the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of The Band.
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Shoot the producer!
- By Vince Pienaar on 08-08-21
By: Sandra B. Tooze
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Kansas City Lightning
- The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker
- By: Stanley Crouch
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker is the first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost authorities on jazz and culture in America. Throughout his life, Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: A revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at the age of thirty-four.
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A Disappointment
- By Stephen on 01-04-19
By: Stanley Crouch
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Rainbow in the Dark
- The Autobiography
- By: Ronnie James Dio, Mick Wall - contributor, Wendy Dio - contributor
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Prior to his tragic death in 2010, Ronnie James Dio had been writing his autobiography, looking back on the remarkable life that led him from his hometown in upstate New York to the biggest stages in the world, including the arena that represented the pinnacle of success to him - Madison Square Garden, where this book begins and ends.
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Horns up!
- By Big Daddy on 02-10-22
By: Ronnie James Dio, and others
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John Lennon 1980
- The Last Days in the Life
- By: Kenneth Womack
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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John Lennon 1980 traces the powerful, life-affirming story of the former Beatle’s remarkable comeback after five years of self-imposed retirement. Lennon’s final pivotal year would climax in several moments of creative triumph as he rediscovered his artistic self in dramatic fashion. With the bravura release of the Double Fantasy album with wife, Yoko Ono, he was poised and ready for an even brighter future only to be wrenched from the world by an assassin’s bullets.
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In-Depth and Entertaining
- By Amazon Customer on 11-02-20
By: Kenneth Womack
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Comfortably Numb
- The Inside Story of Pink Floyd
- By: Mark Blake
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Mark Blake draws on his own interviews with band members as well as the group's friends, road crew, musical contemporaries, former housemates, and university colleagues to produce a riveting history of one of the biggest rock bands of all time. We follow Pink Floyd from the early psychedelic nights at UFO, to the stadium-rock and concept-album zenith of the '70s, to the acrimonious schisms of the late '80s and '90s.
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This book is Everything!
- By Dana on 11-22-18
By: Mark Blake
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Birth School Metallica Death, Volume 1
- By: Paul Brannigan, Ian Winwood
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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A landmark release, this is the first of a two-volume biography of Metallica, the biggest metal band of all time, told via exclusive interviews with the band and their world.
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Better than I thought!
- By Peter on 07-16-15
By: Paul Brannigan, and others
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Laurel Canyon
- The Inside Story of Life in L.A.'s Legendary Rock and Roll Neighborhood
- By: Michael Walker
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Laurel Canyon was the neighborhood perched above the clubs and record companies of Sunset Strip where Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison, Graham Nash, Cass Elliot, Carole King, Don Henley, and Peter Tork, just to name a few, lived and collaborated to make an indelible mark on our music and our culture.
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Interesting book. Poor reader.
- By Louise on 09-09-06
By: Michael Walker
What listeners say about A Very Irregular Head
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Johann Cat
- 11-30-22
Admiring but Obsessive, Skewed History
This detailed history of Pink Floyd's founding member has virtues and detriments that overlap: it is good at humanizing Syd Barrett by recounting his family and school days, including (especially) his reading history and interests in painting (though few of his paintings survive, many people assert that Barrett had more painterly than musical talent), but overloads the account with ephemera like Barrett's teenaged letters to friends (quoted at odd length) and a litany of the contents of his apartment at the time of his death. Chapman is especially good at analyzing the history of Barrett's lyrical and musical influences and empathetically re-creates the effect of his guitar-novice--but still dazzling--experiments onstage, but seems to preserve, in spite of better instincts, a teen-aged fan's mythic-scaled view of Barrett (as a pop star) which almost no one apart from the author authorizes within his research. This skewed view of Barrett as a romantic artist leads the author to read Barrett's depressions &/or his divided personality--often, yet not exclusively-- as canny artistic choices. Frankly, this inversion of creative insight (that catatonia or even schizoid separation can be a cool performative choice) seems a) an adolescent mis-understanding of creative people that the author has not out-grown and b) one key element in Barrett's negative-feedback loop. The "he wasn't crazy, just a cool artist " narrative line seems fanciful and even insensitive to Barrett's suffering at times. The wealth of detail on Barrett and the out-sized role assigned to him also leads Chapman to repress or ignore most of the other members of Pink Floyd, perhaps because he had limited access to them in interviews. In any case, even a provisional history of the band, and how they jelled musically, up to the summer of 1968 (that is systemic and not just Barrett-focused) isn't clearly narrated--an obvious part of the story not covered here is how quickly Pink Floyd metamorphosed into a different band in 1968 on Barrett's departure. Roger Waters and Barrett were friends since childhood; David Gilmour was also a close musical friend of Barrett's before joining the band. The musical history of the band, especially how the rest of the band fed and translated Barrett's influence and then, with Gilmour, outgrew it--could get more press in this book. Any clear statement of what ailed Barrett could also get a clearer analysis. Late in the book, Chapman does review most plausible theories (schizophrenia, drug-related problems, a "natural" reclusiveness apart from any real mental problems) and tends to gravitate to the unconvincing theory that there wasn't much wrong with Barrett. Roger Waters, who lived and worked with Barrett and saw him repeatedly at his best & lowest points, has said Barrett was "undoubtedly" schizophrenic. Chapman's focus on literary and artistic qualities in Barrett and his milieu is admirable, but the reduction of his persona into a blacksmith-like artist forging his own destiny is far too fanciful to explain the alienation--from art, from music, from his own friends, from the band he named-- that Barrett experienced. The book's most redeeming quality is that Chapman does allow many sane, creative, insightful people who knew Barrett (apart, again, from the band itself) to speak without grandiosity and with critical sympathy about Barrett's path into his days in the 1966-67 sun, what a delight he often was, and his tormented peregrinations after Pink Floyd. Despite needing a sympathetic editor, this amounts (in its wealth of interviews) to a well-detailed biography.
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- Lonna Grom
- 03-23-19
Great book!
I read it 3 times! Sincere author is an obvious fan, and Book is very interesting! I would gighly recommend.
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- Ajit
- 05-01-17
Very Touching
Wonderful Book. Very calm study by Rob Chapman. Giving due respect to Syd Barrett and his family. Simon Vance is a pleasure as always.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Matthew Elliott
- 01-24-17
Unlocks the Mystery.
As a fan of Syd's work, I was excited to hear this book - am not disappointed!
An intimate, beautiful portrait of a struggling soul, who has often been sidetracked as a madman with very little regard.
Check it out!!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-16-22
Intimately Detailed Lifestory
Nice voice. Breathes life into a far away legend of a man. The inner struggles / turmoil were indeed one of Duration. How frail the mind can be, yet also can remain above water through diversion.
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- Keith
- 01-02-21
Valiant effort at an almost impossible biography
Chapman's book is thoughtful, articulate, and thoroughly researched. It is often illuminating and serves as a needed corrective to the mythologies surrounding Syd Barrett's life in and out of the public eye. Still, the book struggles with the very nature of the project, as Barrett's three decades of isolation and penchant for destroying journals and paintings leave a biographer with little to work with. Chapman fills the void with developed analysis of Barrett's songs, detailed contextualizing of England in the 1960s, and an exhaustive summary of Barrett's literary, artistic, and intellectual inspirations. While Chapman's analysis is interesting and insightful, he largely talks around his subject due to the impenetrable nature of Barrett. I can't imagine that there will ever be a better Barrett biography than this, but the ongoing fascination with Syd is tied to an interiority that no writer will ever be able to access.
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- Scott Newman
- 02-13-22
Story of Syd
If you’re wanting to get a deep dive into the life and times of Syd Barrett, this has got to be the book to pick up (or listen to in this case) It’s very well researched and detailed. Like Barrett’s life, the book has mainly two halves. The first half analyses and interprets his early life, influences, creativity and peak with Pink Floyd’s first album and singles. After that, the second half of his life (and the book) is detailed; from his solo albums to his slow steady decline into mental health issues and a semi-secluded life. The last quarter of the book (like Barrett’s life) does become a bit sad and dreary.
That being said, the author has many excellent insights and information about everything from the psychedelic era in London to the troubled relationship between the commercialization and commodifying of art and music and those creative souls caught in that machinery.
If I had one negative criticism, it would be that I don’t think enough was written about how the other members of Pink Floyd truly felt about Syd’s demise and ouster from the band. It is certainly covered but I would’ve liked a little more in-depth input from the other band mates in what has to be considered one of the most difficult decisions in music history. It literally changed the direction and sound of the band.
Very good read though. A must for anyone intrigued with Syd Barrett and that early groundbreaking Pink Floyd output.
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- alpinepj
- 01-15-24
Great detail
Amazed at the level of detail, from thr people around Syd, to the songs, etc... highly recommended
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- Anthbe
- 07-12-21
Excellent book
Likely due to the cover, I was surprised by the quality of this book, thoughtful and well written, factual and careful in its conclusions, very satisfying listen.
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- Andy Enright
- 11-23-21
Very well done. Thank you!
Thank you Rob Chapman for finally presenting the world and Barrett fans a comprehensive and well researched portrait of Syd the man, the artist, the musician instead of the normal fare of half-truths, myths, and sensationalism. Probably of little interest to those who are not already fans of Syd Barrett or Pink Floyd, but a gripping and haunting story of a little understood genius nonetheless. Bravo. Well narrated and well written.
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