A Very Irregular Head

Not a horrible book, but it could have been much better. There wasn’t really much new information in the book. There was some interesting analysis of Syd’s songs, such as Octopus, and how certain lines were taken from English poets. But the author waffled on too long about Syd’s influences. He goes on and on about John Clare, for example, for far too long. If I want to read a book about John Clare, I’ll buy a book about John Clare, I don’t need Rob Chapman to waffle on about him for pages at a time. It gets rather annoying after awhile. It seems he’s trying to pad out the book with pages and pages on his influences, instead of focusing on Syd. Also, the author’s personal opinions regarding some of Syd’s music are strange, to say the least. Well, they are personal opinions, so whatever. Some of his other statements are rather odd too. He tries to present latter-day Syd as a well-dressed man pottering about town in his neatly pressed slacks. Um…I’m not sure what pictures he’s seen, but I’ve never seen any latter-day pictures of Syd looking like that. Not that there way anything wrong with Syd’s dress sense in his later years, but the author’s descriptions are inaccurate.
It would have been nice to have more info regarding Syd’s later life, but I suppose the people that would know something are not keen on highlighting that time of his life. His sister Rosemary gives some interesting anecdotes, and the woman probably deserves a medal if she was indeed basically his sole caregiver for the last few decades. But she seems to change her tune in every interview. I realize she doesn’t want to make her brother look bad, but in a 2009 interview she said he had no mental illness, but in a 2006 interview in Mojo, she said he was “quite mad.” So which is it?

I have read all the books out there on Syd Barrett and this one is simply the best and most comprehensive, and actually much more accurate and factual. Very through and well researched. If youre trying to choose one book, this one is it.

This is the second biography Ive read on Syd, and I found this one hard to follow. The author consistently veers off on tangents relating to other people, places, etc. I wound up skimming and skipping pages in order to get back to the mention of Syd. No wonder this book was so long, which thrilled me when I first received it.
I was overall disappointed.

The author talked to much about other stuff other than Syd.

it’s a sad tail of a young man taking a wrong turn that may or may not have been intentional. Rob Chapman goes into meticulous detail as best one can with someone in that condition with the help of his loving family. i wished there were more of just the thoughts that were going on with him in his day to day life. Love the last line.

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