STORMCOCK

Roy the Boy eh? The times I have saved a fortune by secondary inhaling at many a late 70's to early 80's Harper gig....especially that time in London in '81 when he did half an hour solo but there was band stuff behind him and he brings em out one at a time...on drums....clap clap clap...on bass... clap clap clap and on guitar Dave Gilmour ...sound of 500 jaws hitting the floor. Happy days and all that...

But this 'magnum opus' is what we are here to 'discuss'. I now have his full catalogue bar two or three 90's onwards things and back in the day, amongst friends who generously passed albums round for the taping/borrowing, this was one I didn't have and went out and found my own copy of. It isn't often I build a review on others but , even though it was before my time of being in to music, there does seem to be an absence of 'time and place' in those that diss this as '4 simple folk tunes stretched out to fill the grooves'. It was 1971 maaaan. Unless you were pure Bert Jansch (who had been know to extend a song) or even Davey Graham, ten 3.5 min tracks was so passé. Ok, I agree, if no supplements of choice were fogging the studio, if you are going to stretch out at least make it interesting and have some variations...but most of this works and works sublimely well ...especially with the aforementioned supps. of choice. Harper wasn't blessed with anything other than his tremulous voice and no matter how much he throws the polemic into the mix, it will still be a timbre at odds with what might have worked a bit better.... although Tim Buckley managed it. But if you are the singer/guitarist/songwriter what other options do you have? Again he wasn't quite 'the poet' his lyrics aimed at portraying but 'folk' is about story telling and he usually tells a good un'. Me and My Woman, even with slightly over lush Bedford orchestration, is my standout...but maybe because have seen him perform a more compact and solo version more times than you could shake a spliff at....eh Captain Kirk? The other 3 tracks rise and fall as any album you have owned for 45+ years that gets very regular spins will do. They all have their charms and any of the above mentioned 'drawbacks' you wish to include.

Anyhow it is prog/folk, without being Tull or Comus, and I did mention the transatlantic touchstone of Tim Buckley as a more apt comparison, even with this album being cloaked in its quintessential 'Britishness'. Yes am always going to have an affinity with albums/artists I saw/grew up on my musical journey with but a fair few I might struggle to give 3 stars and upwards to these days. This would have been a nailed on 5 for many many years but in all honesty it is 4.5 at best so will have to drop it to four. But those days of yore and this a perfect soundtrack to them will always be there for me. Cheers Roy.