A Very Irregular Head

The Life of Syd Barrett

By: Rob Chapman

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

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.

©2010 Rob Chapman (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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.

Great book!

I read it 3 times! Sincere author is an obvious fan, and Book is very interesting! I would gighly recommend.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

Great detail

Amazed at the level of detail, from thr people around Syd, to the songs, etc... highly recommended

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.

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.