LIVE IN CONCERT AT METROPOLIS STUDIOS, LONDON

Continuing his elder statesman's role in both performance and recorded output, that started with the fantastic Green Man studio album and the superlative Songs Of Love And Loss 2 CD compilation, Roy Harper performs one of his most mature and accomplished solo outings on this live CD and DVD set.

Harper started off this intimate 12 song concert with a somewhat subdued performance of his prog epic "One Man Rock And Roll Band" , from the vaulted Stormcock album, before relaxing and finding his voice with an emotional reading of "Twelve Hours Of Sunset" from the Lifemask album. Following quickly is an enthusiastic performance of "Don't You Grieve" before Roy clicks off an even more emotional and tender performance of the elegant and moving torch song "Another Day", both from his 1970 masterwork Flat, Baroque And Berserk. Even without David Bedford's strings found on the studio version, Roy's emotional delivery and heartfelt lyrics brought one bloke in the audience to tears. It is one of Harper's finest live moments ever recorded. Harper wisely breaks up his love songs with with an rousing version of "Highway Blues" before going back to singing with his heart firmly on his sleeves with the ever greens "Commune" "Hallucinating Light", "Frozen Moment" and a lush take on "The Green Man". The last song demonstrating Harper's mesmerizing fret work.

While his singing is excellent through out, with Roy hitting all of the prerequisite high notes. However, Harper's only flaw seems to be holding back on his renown vocal hijinks on most of the following songs, which is a bit puzzling until the album's penultimate cut "Me And My Women" from the Stormcock album. Harper ramps up both his guitar intensity and vocals to perform one of the best versions I've ever heard of this celebrated prog folk epic. If that wasn't enough, a majestic and heartfelt performance "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease", from the HQ album as an encore, is the icing on a very marvelous cake. So, Harper was obviously saving his voice for the final blast off.

Roy stayed away from his angry protest songs like "I Hate The White Man", "Hangman" and "The Same Old Rock", but the mature and mellower Roy Harper works just fine without them. The video quality of the DVD is excellent as is the sound quality for both the DVD and CD. 4 stars.