A Very Irregular Head
The Life of Syd Barrett
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
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By:
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Rob Chapman
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.Listeners also enjoyed...
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In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
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Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
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John Lennon
- The Life
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Philip Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the definitive portrait of John Lennon. This biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into almost a secular saint.
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Really Bad Abridgement Job (slash job)
- By Let's Be Reasonable on 12-04-08
By: Philip Norman
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Light & Shade
- Conversations with Jimmy Page
- By: Brad Tolinski
- Narrated by: Robert Fass, John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer.
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Production History, FY!
- By Amy Peacock on 02-21-17
By: Brad Tolinski
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The Never-Ending Present
- The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip
- By: Michael Barclay
- Narrated by: George Stroumboulopoulos
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From our talent-rich neighbor to the north comes this biography of one of the most successful Canadian rock bands, The Tragically Hip, which announced a year-long tour after sharing the news of lead singer Gord Downie’s inoperable cancer. Now available to US listeners, The Never-Ending Present details what led up to the memorable night when music fans all over the world watched Downie’s heroic final performance.
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Hometown Heroes
- By Tommy Garou on 12-13-18
By: Michael Barclay
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Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
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A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
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Who I Am
- By: Pete Townshend
- Narrated by: Pete Townshend
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair; wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer; became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor; drank too much and nearly died; detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died; planned to write his memoir when he was 21; and published this book at 67.
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Glad To Meet You
- By Mel on 10-12-12
By: Pete Townshend
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Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
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INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
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Paul McCartney
- A Life
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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The best-selling author of the definitive biography of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson offers new insight into the life and music of Paul McCartney, one of the world's most popular and influential musicians. Informed by new, exclusive interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators, the book describes McCartney's many triumphs as well as his failures, from the Beatles era through his decade with Wings and his subsequent solo career.
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Great...But
- By Diego on 05-02-10
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Keith Richards
- The Unauthorised Biography
- By: Victor Bockris
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 20 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1992, Victor Bockris' celebrated biography was the first to recognize Richards' pivotal role in the legend of the Rolling Stones. Now that book on rock's most incredible survivor has been expanded. Here are the true facts behind Richards' battles with his demons: the women, the drugs and the love-hate relationship with Jagger. His struggle with heroin and his status as the rock star most likely to die in the 1970s. His scarcely believable rebirth as a family man in the 1980s. Illuminated with revealing quotes and thoughtful insights into the man behind the band that goes on forever.
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doesn't comapre to LIFE
- By A. Garofalo on 02-20-14
By: Victor Bockris
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Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
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Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
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Being John Lennon
- A Restless Life
- By: Ray Connolly
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What was it like to be John Lennon? What was it like to be the castoff child, the clown at school, the middle-class suburban boy who pretended to be a working-class hero? How did it feel to have one of the most recognizable singing voices in the world but to dislike it so much he always wanted to disguise it? Being John Lennon is not about the whitewashed Prince of Peace of “Imagine” legend - because that was only a small part of him. The John Lennon depicted in this book is a much more kaleidoscopic figure, sometimes almost a collision of different characters.
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Stars taken off for inclusion of MDC’s story
- By rob on 12-09-22
By: Ray Connolly
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Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
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The smooth veneer of the duo's songs made Steely Dan popular and famous in the 1970s, but the polish glossed over the underlying layers of anger, disappointment, sleaze, and often downright weirdness lurking just beneath the surface. The elliptical lyrics—were—and continue to be-an endless source of fascination. What kind of person was capable of writing such songs? Donald Fagen has always kept his true self hidden behind walls of irony, confounding most journalistic enquiries. Nightfly cracks open the door to reveal the life behind the lyrics.
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Born just outside London in 1942, Glyn Johns was 16 years old at the dawn of rock and roll. His big break as a producer came on the Steve Miller Band's debut album, Children of the Future. He went on to engineer or produce iconic albums for the best in the business, including Abbey Road with the Beatles. Even more impressive, Johns was perhaps the only person on a given day in the studio who was entirely sober, and so he is one of the most reliable and clear-eyed insiders to tell these stories today.
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No tell all ... not at all
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Acclaimed journalist Peter Doggett recounts the previously untold story of the dramatic final chapter in the lives, loves, and legal battles of John, Paul, George, and Ringo - a.k.a. The Beatles - from their breakup in 1969 to the present day. Called "refreshingly straightforward and highly readable" by the Daily Telegraph (London), You Never Give Me Your Money is the dramatic and intimate story of the breakup and aftermath of The Fab Four as it's never been told before.
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Joni Mitchell is a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans. In her heyday she released 10 experimental, challenging, and revealing albums; her lyrics captivated people with the beauty of their language and the rawness of their emotions, both deeply personal to Mitchell and universally relatable to her audience. In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs.
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Fairly interesting text, maddening delivery
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Thelonious Monk
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Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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The definitive bio of Monk
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All Things Must Pass Away
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George Harrison and Eric Clapton shared a legendary and tumultuous friendship that shaped not only their respective lives and careers, but the shifting face of rock itself in the early 1970s. All Things Must Pass Away traces that friendship from its earliest roots in 1964, when Beatles-averse blues-rocker Eric met George backstage at the Hammersmith Odeon, through the messy trials of Clapton's affair with Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, to the turn of the century, as the two elder statesmen of rock traded honors during Harrison's final days.
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I know some but not all…
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The Real Frank Zappa Book
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The legendary Frank Zappa, one of the most influential, innovative and controversial musical artists for the past 20 years, takes us on a wild, funny trip through his life and times. Along the way, Zappa offers his inimitable views on many things such as art, politics, and beer.
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Some good parts, some not...
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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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Overall
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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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