Synopsis
Syd Barrett was an art school student when he founded Pink Floyd. Famous before his 20th birthday, Barrett led the charge of psychedelia onstage at London s famed UFO club, and his acid-inspired lyrics became a hallmark of London s 1967 Summer of Love. By turns improvisatory and whimsical, Zen-like and hard-living, Barrett pushed the boundaries of music into new realms of artistic expression while fighting the demons of drug abuse and mental illness. This probing study, ten years in the writing, features a wealth of first-hand interviews with Syd's family, friends, and members of the band, giving us an unvarnished look at Barrett's life and work. Author Julian Palacios traces Barrett s swift evolution from precocious youth to internationally acclaimed psychedelic rock star, examining both his wide-ranging inspirations and his influence on generations of musicians. A never-to-be forgotten casualty of the excesses, innovations, and idealism of the 1960s, Syd Barrett is one of the most heavily mythologized men in rock, and this book offers a rare portrayal of this unique spirit in freefall.", Syd Barrett was an English composer and purveyor of some of the most intriguing music ever written. Famous before his twentieth birthday, Barrett led the charge of psychedelia onstage at London s famed UFO club. With a Fender Telecaster and a primitive Binson echo unit, Barrett liberated the guitar from being, in critic Simon Reynolds words, a riff machine, and turned it into a texture and timbre generator. His inspired celestial flights of improvisation, and his more structured and whimsical short songs indicated a mind of unusual inventiveness. Chief in Barrett s mind was a Zen-like insistence on spontaneity; each performance had to be unique, and Barrett strived to push his music farther and farther out into the zone of complete abstraction. This in-depth analysis of Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett s life and work is the product of years of extensive research. Lost in the Woods traces Syd s swift evolution from precocious young art student to acid-fuelled psychedelic, Syd Barrett was an art school student when he founded Pink Floyd. Famous before his 20th birthday, Barrett led the charge of psychedelia onstage at London's famed UFO club, and his acid-inspired lyrics became a hallmark of London's 1967 Summer of Love. By turns improvisatory and whimsical, Zen-like and hard-living, Barrett pushed the boundaries of music into new realms of artistic expression while fighting the demons of drug abuse and mental illness. This probing study, ten years in the writing, features a wealth of first-hand interviews with Syd's family, friends, and members of the band, giving us an unvarnished look at Barrett's life and work. Author Julian Palacios traces Barrett's swift evolution from precocious youth to internationally acclaimed psychedelic rock star, examining both his wide-ranging inspirations and his influence on generations of musicians. A never-to-be forgotten casualty of the excesses, innovations, and idealism of the 1960s, Syd Barrett is one of the most heavily mythologized men in rock, and this book offers a rare portrayal of this unique spirit in freefall.