Just published (last Thursday, February 18th) in Europe by Omnibus Books, is The Lyrics of Syd Barrett. In North America, you'll have to wait a little bit as it comes out over there on May 6th.

Featuring 52 songs and a foreword by Pink Floyd's first manager, Peter Jenner, and an introduction by Rob Chapman (author of Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head), this beautifully illustrated and official 96-page book compiles Syd's extraordinary lyrics together for the very first time. David Gilmour has been a key person behind this book, working his way through Syd lyrics checking them for accuracy before the book went to the printers.

As the publisher's rightly note, "legendary Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett's songwriting was unique, memorable and utterly brilliant." This book is sure to be a popular choice for many; Syd's lyrics were captivating, sometimes playful, sometimes dark and painful, but always unforgettable. Alongside the lyrics are a number of photos and artwork.

Having just got our hands on this, we've been very impressed with it. It's very nicely produced (and slightly larger format than we were expecting) and finally we have what must be considered the definitive version of Syd's song lyrics - with David Gilmour listening to the isolated vocal track on the original tapes at times to nail exactly what Syd was singing at various points, specifically for this book, that should settle any arguments over the lyrics for these songs.

We'd love to know what you think about the book, particularly if you have your copy already. Did anything come as a surprise to you? Do let us know at the normal email address!

For those who would like to add this to their Floydian bookshelves, you can order it through the following direct links. Ordering through our links also helps with BD's ongoing running costs, and we really appreciate it: Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Spain and Amazon Italy. Alternatively, London based TheFloodGallery.com are also selling the book, and they were doing a book and print bundle, although these now seem to be sold out.