LIVE AT LES COUSINS

If you ever wondered where the live take of I Hate The White Man that featured on Harper's the Flat, Baroque, and Berserk album originated from,and what happened to the recordings, then wonder no more. Live at Les Cousins (recorded in 1969) was the source of the song and languished in the Abbey Road type vaults until they were discovered in 1995 and handed over to Harper.

This is a clear sounding professionally recorded performance of Harper at his old British folk rock stomping grounds that sees Harper in full flight early in his career as a folk club troubadour.

Standout tracks included a slightly quicker early version of Hors D'oeuvers, that would be slowed down and lengthened for Harper's Stromcock album released a few years later. Other notable tracks are long instrumental intro song Blackpool in which Harper show off the skills that kept him in good company with Burt Jansch and John Renbourn early in his folk club traveling days.

East of the Sun features a more bluesy harmonica accompaniment by Harper than that found on the studio version of this standout song, while McGoohan's Blues and the instrumental Che are the two standout tracks on the CD's second disc.

Despite the occasional good joke from Harper, there are a few songs such as She's The One where Harper is singing beyond his range, as well as some long inane chatter from Harper (his eternal MO) that puts a slight damper on this ultra clean sounding early live offering. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 seems fair, as this live album seems to be for Harper fans and devotees only.

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