OFF: Roy Harper query

Z E Itgeist stuart.hamilton at SCOTTISH.PARLIAMENT.UK
Mon Nov 12 05:22:17 EST 2001


Agreed, not one of his best, but Work of Heart, the suite, is still a
marvellous piece.  And "Elizabeth" is an understated classic  Roy sez;

"'Born in Captivity' and 'Work of Heart' used to be two separate albums. I
can remember having cause one time to ask my good minder, Darren Crisp,
which record of mine he would recommend to someone who had never heard me
at all. I was expecting to hear something like 'Stormcock' or 'Valentine',
or half a dozen others, but he came straight back with 'Born in Captivity'.
I was very surprised.

I had the chance of listening to the record again some time later. I
brought some new ears with me into the experience. What I heard was what
I'd last heard. An almost quaint little album made entirely by Roy and
entirely at home. No other musicians involved.

It brought back all the fonder memories of the period. A period when my son
Ben was a little boy playing in the farmyard. Getting snowed in for the
best part of a week one year. Green Woodpeckers in the garden. If you are a
musician you will know the story well: it was the demo for 'Work of Heart'
that eventually everyone liked just as well if not more. It's gentler,
less 'produced' and quite obviously made at home.

So; I was still finding my feet after the EMI years when 'Work of Heart'
was made. Perhaps I don't have the right attitude to the album because of
the trauma of losing the above house to Barclays Bank at the time. But
never mind, I can proudly say that I was one of the first casualties of the
eighties recession! It was a chaotic period and one that I don't care to
remember that often.

I have not until recently paid much attention to video, and I guess had I
done so then my career would have been more visible. In that context it is
worth remarking here that my performance at Glastonbury was video taped in
1982.

Tony Franklin, who played bass with me at the time made a comment to me
recently to the effect that the only visual recording of the most complex
piece of music that I ever wrote was recorded by a sound crew who obviously
couldn't hear a thing! Mike Mansfield has shown it on 'Q the Music'
recently, (again). I think that I managed to find myself a suitable place
to hide and cringe that night. C'est la vie. One day I'll re-dub it. There
is no doubt in my own mind that the early eighties were the nadir of my
life in music."


>>>>
OFF: Roy Harper query

In message <200111112137.QAA23973 at listserv.spc.edu>, Z E Itgeist
<stuart.hamilton at SCOTTISH.PARLIAMENT.UK> writes

>NP Roy Harper - Born In Captivity 2CD

2CD eh? I have the original vinyl LP, but what else is on the CD? Is the
second CD the "Work of Heart" album? (BiC largely being the demos for
that- and personally I much prefer the demos, WoH is easily Harper's worst
album I've always thought) Or is it something else?

thanks in advance
--
Nick Medford



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