PMM
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Edited Jul 01, 2006, 02:37
You learn something new every day
Jul 01, 2006, 02:07
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Roy Harper sang lead vocals on Pink Floyd's "Have a cigar" from the Wish you were here album.
http://www.royharper.co.uk/shop/display_page.php?page=biog
And...
Mr Julian H Cope isn't the only one to commit his thoughts to a webpage.
Harper has a profound and heartfelt diary online as well.
I'm currently reading an entry from 2003 about the Iraq war, and it's good stuff.
http://www.royharper.co.uk/shop/display_page.php?page=diary/entry15
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Rolling Ronnie
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Re: You learn something new every day
Jul 03, 2006, 07:59
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He also sang them live with the Floyd at their Knebworth show !
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IanB
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Edited Jul 04, 2006, 16:02
Re: You learn something new every day
Jul 03, 2006, 10:18
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Roy is one of those Greatest Living Englishmen who never quite gets his due (Mojo award or no). The two cd comp from last year is a pretty good overview and scoops up all the highlights along with the best tunes from some of the less-than-great 80s / 90s albums. He is one of those fearsomely bright, open minded yet church hating humanists that we know and love and he displays none of the misanthropy / misogyny common to many of his somewhat embittered contemporaries.
I suspect he and Cope would have a lot more in common politically than musically but you never know. I get the impression that Roy finds rock and roll a bit silly these days and that any reference to its shamanistic aspect would be wholly lost on him outside of the strict bounds of 67-74 nostalgia.
If you are digging 70s Roy then there is a lot to be said for the early Michael Chapman records - not least the playing of a pre Spiders Mick Ronson - and also the Kevin Coyne albums on Virgin. Not quite Folk with an umlaut but coming from a place that's a long long way away from Maddy Prior and Planxty.
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Rolling Ronnie
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Re: You learn something new every day
Jul 03, 2006, 10:47
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I'm with you on Michael Chapman. Fully Qualified Surviver is a wonderful album. I always felt he suffered from being in John Martyn's shadow.
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IanB
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Edited Jul 03, 2006, 18:16
Re: You learn something new every day
Jul 03, 2006, 13:33
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Indeed. And a sizable (if slightly pissed up) shadow it is too.
Michael Chapman pretty much paved the way for John Martyn in terms of opening up the more progressive end of the Folk Rock street. Especially when you think that MC's Harvest career was pretty much over before 'Inside Out' had even come out and Chapman ended up on Deram of all places.
I think John Martyn saw a huge benefit in PR terms from being on Island and having the latitude to make records for them without really hitting his stride until the fifth album (if you count the two he made with Beverley).
JM also had a lightness of touch and (up to One World) an airy optimistic air to his work that was much more obviously marketable than Chapman's more dour and gloomy efforts. Martyn wrote mainly about love affairs real and imagined while Chapman was as much an observational writer and he never had a rhythm section as good as Danny Thompson and John Stevens - which counts for a hell of a lot - though Rick Kemp was no slouch.
Martyn was great until he started playing electric with his jacket sleeves rolled up around the elbows. Never a good sign!
The older I get the more the Harvest - Harper / Chapman axis impresses me more than the fabled Island / Joe Boyd stable of singer songwriters.
If Martyn was the DH Lawrence of Folk Rock then Chapman was the Arnold Bennett. If that makes any sense. Not sure if that quite makes Roy Harper the James Joyce of the scene. Possibly more of a Joseph Conrad!
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Arts4every1
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Re: You learn something new every day
Nov 29, 2012, 17:32
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Well, he's coming to funky Bucks in 2 weeks.....
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/190750
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