SYD BARRETT PT. 1: BEFORE THE VOID

From Thaxted to Cambridge and back; Part 1 of my 2016 Syd epic

Teenage love: Jenny Spires & Syd Barrett

This is another project close to my heart. In 2016, I was living with my late partner Helen in a medieval cottage that had once been the public library where local resident Holst wrote some of The Planets suite. Around the corner was the village store once run by Syd Barrett’s dad. This grew into something of an obsession and we dug into the Barrett family’s local story then followed it to Cambridge and found the house where Syd spent his final days. Helen knew several ladies who’d known him, including teenage girlfriend Jenny Spires and Jenny Fabian, and I knew the late Pete Brown so I ended up writing an epic for Shindig and a shorter one for Prog. Too big to get in here so here’s Pt 1. Pt 2 will initially appear for paid subscribers as that small gesture means a lot at the moment.

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