Rating: 9/10

Track Amount: 12

Running Time: 54 minutes and 36 seconds

Genre: Folk Baroque/Progressive Rock

Personnel: Roy Harper (vocals and guitars), David Bedford (arrangements), Skaila Kanga (harp), Tony Visconti (recorder), Keith Emerson (keyboards), Lee Jackson (bass guitar), Brian Davidson (drums)

Producer: Peter Jenner

Recording Location: Les Cousins & Abbey Road Studios, London, UK

Record Label: Harvest Records

Art Direction: Lon Goddard

Best Tracks: I Hate The White Man, Song Of The Ages, Hell’s Angels

Quick Verdict: An intelligent and artistic album worth its weight in gold

If there were any musician who seemingly was underrated from the outset, it would be none other than Roy Harper. Aside from being namechecked on Led Zeppelin III (1970) on the song Hats Off To (Roy) Harper and having a guest appearance on the Pink Floyd song Have A Cigar on their monumental Wish You Were Here (1975) album, it very much seems that Roy Harper has avoided the spotlight over the many decades of his lifetime. That changes here, with this review of his fourth studio album. Notably, it has an unusual song that is ironic, given Roy Harper’s cultural background: I Hate The White Man, which is still relevant in some parts of the world today, where racism still takes hold of some people. Nonetheless, for those of you new to Roy Harper’s music, this is likely the best starting point. Let’s dive in and take a listen to this album from 1970, and hopefully, it will be a genuinely good listen.

1. Don’t You Grieve begins with some studio talk, and quickly launches into a neat, sweet and melodic piece of music with some simple Country styled Folk Music vocals and acoustic guitar playing along. A seriously refreshing and awesome listen at hand, which sounds sublime and superb. Roy Harper also sounds special and unique, in the best sense of description at hand. All in all, a sweet and enjoyable tune that sounds surprisingly sweet and fresh. A really solid listen that sounds extremely cool and listenable. This is the story of a moral tale about providing love and support to a lady at hand. This is far better and more interesting than what most Folk Music is like. It ends near the midsection, with some studio talk interrupting the piece at hand, with Roy Harper discussing the meaning of the song here. He discusses some of the political beliefs that he has regarding equality internationally, which are different. This is extremely interesting, slightly stoned-sounding music talk, which is typical of the Hippie era and mentality that was present in the counterculture of the time. A really bizarre thing to hear. The whole studio cracks up at the conversation here, which is interesting. Different.

2. I Hate The White Man continues on from the studio talk earlier, and leads into a neat and melodic piece of music that instantly sounds wonderful and pretty in its own way, straight up. Roy Harper plays and articulates a wonderful piece of Folk Music that sounds supremely cool. This is an eight-minute-long song that has some pretty, memorable yet simple music at hand, which is really cool. This is a song about institutionalised racism and crimes that aren’t acceptable overall. This is a very left-wing sort of music piece that many on the right will likely roll their eyes at, but the most critical listener will ignore the politics and just enjoy the music. All in all, this music is super sweet and enjoyable enough for its acoustic guitar strumming and clear, clean and fine singing. This is very much a classic song, in its own way, that articulates the nature of exploitation and injustice that people can suffer, simply because of the colour of their own skin. Nonetheless, this is an absolutely top song that deserves to be heard by more. The music is simple, beautiful and fluid throughout. Of course, one can clearly hear the influence of Bob Dylan throughout Roy Harper’s music as such. Even so, this is a beautiful and original song that definitely sounds energetic, eclectic and passionate. A seriously awesome and listenable tune that has a moral statement about it all. The acoustic guitar playing and sounds are all extremely good on this piece of music, with some very graphic lyrics at hand to match it all. A very emotional and powerful song that is totally underrated to this very day. Magical and wonderful listening throughout. This music is really awesome and sweet to hear, just sounding incredibly upbeat and very much on the side of justice here. A seriously awesome song at hand. Some sampled applause ends this song, and deservedly so.

3. Feeling All The Saturday begins with some bright and moody acoustic guitar fingerpicking, and enters into a sweet and melodic song that sounds just right throughout. Roy Harper sings a short yet passionate song about his travels and life throughout. All in all, a seriously wonderful and melodic piece of music that sounds just right for Folk Music. It also has a touch of humour throughout, which is very different. Nonetheless, a fantastic listen.

4. How Does It Feel? is one of the staples of this album, with some extremely sweet acoustic guitar playing at the start of it all. This features a lyric line later borrowed by Noel Gallagher for his input on The Chemical Brothers song Let Forever Be. This magical music and playing takes one to a better place throughout the imagination of the mind. Nonetheless, this simple yet impressive music sounds absolutely mint throughout. All in all, this album is much better and more impressive than most albums out there. Roy Harper sounds like an absolute professional at hand, and he comes up with pretty, unique and intellectually satisfying music that is difficult to easily dismiss. This, along with The Incredible String Band’s timeless music, is a great alternative to the typical music of Bob Dylan in the world of Folk Music at hand. Roy Harper sounds very much like a total professional on this song, and indeed, the entire album at hand. The second half of this song has some neat acoustic guitar playing, singing and an overall musical ambience that is absolutely magical to hear. A really sweet, emotional and passionate song with some extra acoustic guitar overdubs towards the end of it all. Seriously cool and great music that is worth having in your collection and to hear on repeat. A really awesome and fine-sounding piece of music that is descriptive, imaginative and fantastic to listen to from start to finish. A fantastic song that never loses its appeal at all from start to finish. Simply wonderful overall. A great, great song to hear. Nice work.

5. Goodbye begins with some bittersweet acoustic guitar playing, and enters into a simple and beautiful song that sounds clean, pretty and pristine throughout. This is a lovely song about tragedy at hand, detailing a murder by gunshot. A sweet, melodic and sad song that is very nicely detailed and passionate throughout. The music is absolutely magical and melancholy throughout, and is a winner overall. Hats Off To Roy Harper, indeed. Roy Harper himself details the tragedies of death and their sad loss as such throughout anyone’s life. He sounds absolutely brilliant on this song, and this is definitely a super underrated classic tune that is very detailed and picturesque throughout. A pleasant and loveable song that has some wisdom and life experience about it all. A seriously solid gold tune that is very lovely, beautiful and wonderful in an upbeat sense. Roy Harper deserves a large slice of credit for this magically melodic music throughout. Singing about a lovely lady to conclude with, this song and music are seriously refreshing and solidly awesome to hear. This is the best song to listen to if you need to say goodbye to someone special in your life. Nonetheless, this has some great guitar work and melodic singing that works incredibly well. A fantastic song with gloriously blissful harmonies at the end. Very nice music.

6. Another Day begins with some soft acoustic guitar playing and launches into a gentle and sweet tune at hand. This music is about a lover at hand who wants some action and confesses her love to a man. This is a sweet story at hand that sounds really lovely and magical overall, that is sweet and sensationally good, just like a good cup of tea first thing in the morning. Roy Harper sounds really excellent on this song, incredibly and singing with a pure, romantic passion throughout. This is some of the best acoustic guitar-based song-styled romanticism that you will ever hear, complete with a string section to match it all. A really awesome song at hand. Powerful and moving.

7. Davey begins with a “Hmm!” being said and launches straight into action with some pretty and perfect-sounding minor-key acoustic guitar melodies at hand. This is sweet, moving and pretty music that just sounds lovely. It is a real shame that music is not made like this anymore. This sounds extremely powerful, pretty and beautiful. It has no layers of electronic production, and is a short, sweet and simple statement. Great music throughout.

8. East Of The Sun is a very psychedelic name for a Folk Music tune at hand. It has strummed acoustic guitar and harmonica to begin with, launching into a sweet and enjoyable song at hand. Roy Harper sounds very relaxed and naturally so in his own music, just delivering exactly what a Folk Music fan should hear and enjoy. A cool and amazing song about making love in the dark, with some fairly explicit lyrics about a lady’s private areas (which is very arguably sexist), followed by a sweet harmonica solo to match the strummed acoustic guitar playing. A very nice song indeed, Hats Off (once again) to Roy Harper. This ends with some great sounds and sweet acoustic guitar playing. Neat. Even if the lyrics are unsavoury, the music is not.

9. Tom Tiddler’s Ground is a longer piece, nearly seven minutes long. It begins with a bit of studio chatter, with some false starts before a humourous drug reference is thrown in. This eventually enters into a sweet, unique and memorable piece of acoustic guitar strumming at hand. Roy Harper sings very nicely and well on this song, sounding absolutely pleasant and magical throughout. This music is seriously divine and captivating throughout. It sounds sweet, pretty, lively and wonderful throughout. A really upbeat, artistic and pleasant song that sounds absolutely lovely and articulate. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s was some genuinely authentic and lively music that sounds really cool and excellent, and this album is yet another example of that. This continues on with some sweet and melodic organ that is really excellent and cool to hear. Seriously refreshing throughout. This is very much musical poetry that works a treat. This music is seriously cool and good to listen to. Roy Harper certainly has an ability to intelligently and pleasantly make some fine songs for people to hear. This music continues on very nicely with some interesting acoustic guitar strumming, flute and singing that is sweet and something to cherish. This is a seriously wonderful and upbeat song that has an articulate and varied music structure about it all. A seriously golden song that is magical. This is some of the best and most underrated Folk Music with some traditional instrumentation that you will ever hear. An absolutely gorgeous tune.

10. Francesca is the hit of the album. It begins with some acoustic guitar fingerpicking at hand and has some soft and sweet vocals throughout. This is a really blissful and sweet tune at hand, just sounding seriously blissful. A simple, pretty and melodic song that works extremely well for most listeners out there, which concludes with a sustained vocal. Top.

11. Song Of The Ages has some fingerpicked acoustic guitar harmonics and harp synchronised together that literally sounds amazing. Roy Harper sings pleasantly and beautifully on this song, and leaves a great impression on the listener at hand. This music is simply enjoyable and pleasant throughout. It has a multitude of absolutely pretty and divine sounds that are simply fantastic to listen to. This music is certainly a winner to hear. An absolutely sweet and gorgeous tune about imaginative fantasies, with a Middle Eastern-sounding melody pattern in the chorus. This music sure sounds dramatic and dynamic throughout, which is cool to hear regardless. The music is extremely magical throughout and very powerful, without amplification and loud guitar chords. The outro is absolutely amazing. Well done.

12. Hell’s Angels is the finale of the album, with a reference to the Biblical mention of the demonic group and the Biker gang rolled into one. It is completely different from the rest of the album, and just sounds sweet and rocking. It has electric guitars, organ, drums, bass guitar and a backing band that sounds excellently melodic. This is a good take on the Progressive Rock trend that was becoming popular at the time musically, with some far-out sounds and interesting lyrics throughout that sound quirky and humourous simultaneously. The guitars, in particular, sound very good indeed to listen to. The music and sounds are very iconic and wonderful to listen to. The guitar solo section, complete with some neat violining and other interesting sound effects sound absolutely brilliant to listen to. This jam continues on very confidently and nicely throughout. The music and sounds are seriously solid gold and present a wonderful glimpse back into the world of music at hand in 1970. This is a tasty and memorable Progressive Rock styled jam that is a real winner to listen to. The stereo panned guitar solo, matched with a loud organ section, thumping basslines, and intricate drums, that sound great. There are some sustained vocal harmonies, before just having a unique and fantastic guitar solo at hand, for the most part, by itself. This builds up incredibly nicely into a section of music that is extraordinarily good. This song eventually moves into sweet action and eventually concludes rather randomly. It is followed by silence, and the album ends here.

This is definitely an overlooked and underrated album from way back in 1970. Roy Harper proves himself to be a great musician and lyricist. More importantly, this album continued to bend the rules of Folk Music in general and mixed up some Progressive Rock elements, particularly on the last track. A fantastic album that should be heard more often. Should you listen to this album? If you like Folk Music and/or Progressive Rock influenced music, this is an obvious pick for you. However, if you prefer music that is Punk based, this will not be up your alley, so to speak.

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