Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe by Julian Palacios
| Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe by Julian Palacios | |
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| Category: Entertainment | |
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Reviewer: John Van der Kiste
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| Summary: A lengthy, very full biography of the original creative genius and front man of Pink Floyd. Palacios's biography is crammed with detail and insight into the man and his times, although somewhat rambling, and a rather shorter account would have made for a better read. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 416 | Date: November 2016 |
| Publisher: Plexus | |
| ISBN: 9780859655484 | |
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There were few sadder casualties of the sixties music scene than Syd (real name Roger) Barrett. The original songwriting genius and front man of Pink Floyd, he burnt out all too soon. A few months in the spotlight were soon followed by a pathetic postscript of a stuttering solo career, and over three decades as a largely housebound recluse.
Palacios charts the whole saga in remarkable detail, starting with the setting of Syd's home ground of Cambridge and the Barrett family background, against the early days of rock'n'roll, jazz, and the blues boom. Then came his like-minded friends who got together to form the Tea Set, later the Pink Floyd Blues Band, soon truncating the name and forsaking the blues in favour of more freeform electronic music and revolutionary light shows. He has explored his sources thoroughly, talking to colleagues, fans, and especially Syd's sister Rosemary. Everything is chronicled, from the early gigs and experimentation to his fascination with fairy tales and poetry, combined with his love of blues and folk-inspired guitar work. Mention must also be made of their producer Norman Smith (later a successful recording artist in his own right as Hurricane Smith), the George Martin-like figure who honed their avant-garde leanings into successful singles and albums.
One of their associates said that in the early days Syd was by far the most interesting of the group, the creative artist, whereas the others 'were architects and that showed'. Perhaps significantly, while the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Dylan are cited as among the main influences (did any up and coming group of the time not say much the same?), fellow original member Rick Wright, first and foremost a jazz fan, derided the Liverpool group's first album as 'puerile'.
Alas, it all slipped away too soon. Syd did not merely experiment with drugs, but lacked the willpower to walk away from them – he lived the life, and it consumed him. Various mitigating suggestions are hinted at. Did he have a predisposition towards mental illness, or was an electric shock on stage partly responsible for the damage? These factors may have contributed, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that too much acid left him permanently impaired. Many of his contemporaries dabbled, but knew when to let well alone. Syd was one of the unhappy few who 'lost it' and never found it again. It becomes quite poignant to read of the waste of opportunity, his increasing inability to perform, write, function, even communicate with the others. What can you make of somebody who detunes his guitar and thrashes away half-heartedly at one chord on stage, or who turns up late to meetings or rehearsals barefoot with feet bleeding, and listless staring eyes – if he turns up at all?
After the group's promising start with two hit singles and a Top 10 album came the disastrous gigs, Dave Gilmour's recruitment as a fifth member, and Syd's eventual dismissal. Efforts to launch him as a solo artist failed, but not for want of trying by others. The old Syd was gone, never to return, as he drifted into a twilight world of painting, existing but achieving nothing more of note in the remaining years. During the first flush of success, he expressed impatience with money and the business side of it all; to him it was all about art. Needless to say, his colleagues were more realistic. Their subsequent career without him, culminating above all in 'The Dark Side of the Moon', an album five years after his departure which ranks high among the all-time list of top-selling global records, says it all.
Palacios's knowledge of and insight into the time, as well as the man, is beyond question. It is however a rather rambling work in places. Occasional incomplete sentences without verbs interrupt the flow, as does his tendency to refer repeatedly to 'Syd' and 'Barrett' in the same paragraph. One also has the feeling that he has tried to cram absolutely every nugget of information into these pages about the psychedelic and underground scene, the freak-outs and general anti-authority free-for-all that characterised 1967. While it is all relevant, a certain amount of pruning and omission of peripheral detail would have made a more taut book. Moreover, with a musical biography of this length, an index and discography would have been more than welcome. We have neither. Much as I enjoyed the book, learnt a good deal from it and had no hesitation in recommending it to anyone with an interest in the subject, I felt there was room for improvement.
For another, arguably better biography, we recommend Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head by Rob Chapman. The story of Pink Floyd's American contemporaries is chronicled in Light My Fire by Ray Manzarek, as are the life and work of a more durable music genius in Ray Davies: A Complicated Life by Johnny Rogan, while The Sixties by Jenny Diski offers a concise overview of the period.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe by Julian Palacios at Amazon.com.
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