Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head by Rob Chapman
(Faber and Faber [UK]; Da Capo Press [US], 2010 hardcover/2011 paperback)

Review by Rebecca Jansen

I’ve managed to avoid reading much about Syd Barrett, other than Nick Mason’s lavish Floyd book of a few years ago, and one chapter of Richie Unterberger’s Unknown Legends. Which isn’t to say I haven’t admired and enjoyed his music many times. Unlike some of the people quoted in this book, however, neither he or his work have come close to changing my life or becoming a major obsession. Here is my outsider’s take then, which seems appropriate as in many ways Syd was an outsider to the commercial pop music scene he functioned within for awhile.

Unlike Syd’s own prose, at 400+ pages the biography is not economical; it is full of details and cross-references pertaining to poets and painters mostly outside the commercial arts, and of eras beyond Syd’s own. How necessary this is may depend on how much the reader wants to see Barrett’s work as singular and fueled by intangible outer realms of mental mystery. The author argues for the influence of his peers and surroundings rather than chemical inspiration, such as the often overlooked influence of Mike Leonard’s light show on the music of Pink Floyd. Personally, I like my non-fiction cluttered with details and tangents, so encountering John Clare, Bob Cobbing, Chaim Soutine and Edward Lear in these pages heightens my interest and appreciation.

Another way in which this book seems very unlike its subject, and my only real criticism of it, is in the sharply dismissive criticisms of music made by the author and other fans of Syd Barrett. I suppose that in their zeal to impress their love of Syd’s best work they think savaging such things as later Rolling Stones and Lennon & McCartney music will make Barrett’s work shine the brighter. There is even the opinion that all pop or rock music since the late sixties is retrograde or simply not trying in the least. This in a book about the virtual poster boy for retreat, inactivity and regression? These sorts of harsh judgements are only aimed at Syd’s work in so far as the author castigates the 1965 demo “Lucy Leave” as unworthy of much notice. The first original recording by the book’s subject and Pink Floyd not worth much attention? Only for somebody overly fixed on one style and time period of music. Many people have found that recording genuinely awe inspiring. Syd’s surly proto-punk vocals are startlingly on a par with Mick Jagger, Sky Saxon and Iggy Pop here, making it seem a shame that a “Lucy Leave” b/w “King Bee” single couldn’t have materialised at the time. I wonder what might have followed such a single.

The author is probably right in it ultimately being a good thing that nothing came of the recording and that Bob Klose the lead guitarist left soon after. The breakthrough psychedelic Pink Floyd sound might never have happened otherwise, and the pop music business would have forced Syd into retreat that much earlier. The opinions about other musical artists here are all about their authors and nothing really about Syd himself. If something wasn’t interesting to him it seems he simply opted out and gave it no attention or effort to the point of seeming rude. Having no opinion, or suspending closure to use the psychological jargon, did have a lot to do with his creativity. The reader is regularly shown how during the height of production Syd created stream-of-consciousness style without editing or censoring, or closing off from what was current in his surroundings. The few times he does voice an opinion in the few interviews he gave it is always amenable to being altered with any pressure. His facile mindset is part and parcel of the creator and his human condition.

That aspect aside, anybody interested in further exploring Syd the artist will find a lot in this book to think about and follow up on. If your interest is more for a good read storywise, as many music bios are, you will probably find this pretty bumpy and a bit dry. Chapman spends a fair amount of the time debunking and questioning the scale of the purported negative influence from drug use, and I think does a good job of untangling that layer of sensationalist hype from what the reality was. Other factors to do with the restrictions and demands of commerce and the stultifying influence of some people literally surrounding him are as or more likely to have caused the gradual backing away and undoing as the taking of too much acid. A number of friends, family and associates were interviewed for the book who have not been heard from before.

Rebecca Jansen is the one of the English-speaking world’s foremost authorities on Los Machucambos. Her writing and artwork can be seen at Hippies stole my blog! *.

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