Rob Chapman - A Very Irregular Head: The Life of Syd Barrett

I dont think Im easy to talk about. Ive got a very irregular head. And Im not anything that you think I am anyway.Syd Barretts last interview, Rolling Stone, 1971

Syd Barrett was the lead guitarist, vocalist, and principle songwriter in the original line up of Pink Floyd. During his brief time with the band (1966-68) he was the driving force behind the unit. After he left the band he made just two further solo albums which were both released in 1970, before withdrawing from public view to lead a quiet, and occasionally troubled life in Cambridge, the town of his birth.

Rob Chapmans book is the first authoritative and exhaustively researched biography of Syd Barrett that fully celebrates his life and legacy as a musician, lyricist and artist, and which highlights the influence that he continues to have over contemporary bands and music fans alike.

Chapman has unravelled the skeins of rumour, exaggeration and anecdote that have been wound so tightly around Barrett... Chapman is very good on the array of almost exclusively literary influences that made Barrett such a singular and definably English songwriter... A Very Irregular Head is a consistently illuminating, and often surprising, read... the best book yet about him. --Sean OHagan, Observer

Rob Chapman bravely hacks his way through the undergrowth of innuendo and speculation to give us the clearest insight yet into the rise and fall of one of rock s greatest enigmas. This being an authorised biography, Chapman was granted access to letters and archives, and has assiduously interviewed family and friends... Chapman s...critical analysis is generally inspired. His panorama of what he calls Barrett s found world, an unprecedented meeting of a whimsical English tradition and modernist techniques is impressively researched. --Mike Barnes, Wire Magazine

Rob Chapmans biography is by far the most diligent yet at disengaging reality from sensationalism. Barrett s early years, in particular, receive a forensic going over, with new insights from his sister Rosemary...and a fascinating evocation of the libertine environment of early-60s Cambridge...Detailed analysis of Barrett s literary and musical sources dominate the later narrative, exposing the singer s rich intellectual inner-life and gifts as a poet. --Pat Gilbert, Q Magazine

Rob Chapman is currently the holder of a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship at The University of Manchester. He was for a long time a freelance radio broadcaster with the BBC national network and a music journalist. His work has appeared in Mojo ,The Times, The Guardian, Independent on Sunday, Uncut, Word andJockey Slut. He is the author of Selling the Sixties: The Pirates and Pop Music Radio (1992), The Vinyl Junkyard (1996) and the acclaimed biography Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head (2010). His first novel Dusk Music was published in 2008. He lives in Todmorden, Lancashire.