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Roy Harper 80 today

"Flat, Baroque & Beserk", "HQ" and "Bullinamingvase" are essential albums to have IMHO.
 
Saw him live at illegal fest (torpedo town) on Wycombe common in 87 I think (lots of festies) rarely seen a man so smashed do a gig, most of it was him on chair giving performance to maybe 30 hippies sat on grass in small crowded tent, mega.
Same night ozrics performed sat round fire, omg so off trolley I thought it was floyd, what a brill weekend.
 
Long may he be with us !

My top albums
Sophisticated Beggar (Legend)
Lifemask
Valentine
Jugula - with Jimmy Page
Death or Glory
 
"Flat, Baroque & Beserk", "HQ" and "Bullinamingvase" are essential albums to have IMHO.

I know only a small number of his albums, so will check these out. Stormcock is the one that stands out for me; I have the impression that he thought the strength of this album would propel him to stardom, and was a little disillusioned when it (rather unfairly) didn't.
 
Saw him live at illegal fest (torpedo town) on Wycombe common in 87 I think (lots of festies) rarely seen a man so smashed do a gig, most of it was him on chair giving performance to maybe 30 hippies sat on grass in small crowded tent, mega.
Same night ozrics performed sat round fire, omg so off trolley I thought it was floyd, what a brill weekend.
I was at that one but didn't see him (at least I don't think I did). Lots off their trollies that weekend-one of the last great pre rave era free festivals.
 
Raised less than a quarter of a mile from me in Rusholme, Manchester, I used to go to every local gig of Roy’s in the late 60s, early 70s.
Many a great evening was had in the lesser Free Trade Hall or the Houldsworth Hall and several student unions.
I Have every album that he released on vinyl and a signed Flat, Baroque and Berserk.
Still cannot understand why he didn’t include his home town on his farewell tour.
Anyway, happy birthday to a fellow City fan, here’s some 1970 footage.


 
Been a long time fan since the early 70s. First saw him live at Knebworth in 1977. He did two sets that day but can't remember why. Another vote for Stormcock. Its the only one of two of his albums I have on CD. The other is Songs of Love and Loss. I have another 10 which are all on vinyl.
 
Possibly the greatest lyric of all time..

"And half the blasted idiots are stuck in Yugoslavia
With hardly a Dinar
And looking no cleaner
Than a Chinese wrestler's jock-strap
Cooked in chip fat
On a greasy day"
 
Done well considering in1971.

His woes were compounded in the wake of Stormcock when he fell ill with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia – a blood vessel disorder – that caused polycythemia. The doctors gave him seven years to live. Then, Harper says, his publicist told the papers he had contracted toxoplasmosis after trying to give a sheep the kiss of life on his Hereford farm. "That same day, it was headline news in Australia and New Zealand. A big story there, given that the sheep outnumber the people about four to one. Then it hits the broadsheets here. The next thing I know, I've been kissing a sheep. Then I'm president of the north-west Lancashire sheep shaggers' association." He laughs mordantly. "It can't get much worse. That kind of stuff … once you've done it, once it's happened to you – and it never even happened to me – you've done it for good."
 
Done well considering in1971.

His woes were compounded in the wake of Stormcock when he fell ill with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia – a blood vessel disorder – that caused polycythemia.

Every cloud and all that - that early brush with mortality gave us this:

 
A happy belated birthday to Roy.

My favourite release is Stormcock (his masterpiece), with Bulinamingvase a close second for me. In fact all of his 70's output is pretty much essential. Most of his 80's output is well worth having to. It was his 90's releases that my interest waned, but along came The Green Man an absolute gem of an album and I think his output since has been pretty much Roy on form.

It surprises me how many Zeppelin fans haven't gotten in to Roy or even heard of him despite the track "Hats off to (Roy) Harper" being on Zep III. That's how I discovered Roy.
 


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