I'm not sure how widely this news has spread, but Roy's current tour has been billed as his last one.
The last night of the tour was in Edinburgh, last night, and I've posted a blog review, which includes quotes from Roy on why he's stopping touring, but not ruling out one-off performances
https://momentstransition.wordpress....24-march-2019/
Thanks for that write-up - you were fortunate indeed. I was fortunate enough to see Roy's only US appearances back in the 90's, and to meet him briefly and shake his hand. One of my favorite artists.
I used to have quite a few RH vinyl albums, but never made the switch to update them with CD/Digital versions.
I saw him (from a long way back) at Knebworth 1978 and much closer at UMIST in May 1980.
Maybe it's time for me to re-discover that fine voice.
Good timing. He's been going over his back catalogue with a trusted engineer and remastering them, principally for vinyl, but then for cd/digital download.Originally Posted by jcarr73729
He's been doing them piecemeal, and not rushing it, so it's a labour of love.
So far, on cd you can get: Flat Baroque, Stormcock, Lifemask, HQ. Plus on vinyl: Folkjokeopus, Jugula, Sophisticated Beggar and Gengis Smith
I've ordered stuff via his website and was impressed - his book of lyrics is some size, but it was very well packaged and arrived in the UK from Ireland very quickly.
http://www.royharper.co.uk/shop.html
I'm more interested in the FLAC downloads, and there's about thirty releases available.
'HQ' sounds nice, and I think I'll give the 1978 BBC concert with Andy Roberts and the long version of 'England' a go too.
Thanks for the link.
Last edited by jcarr73729; 03-25-2019 at 11:34 AM.
I didn't know that he was selling downloads - I have pretty much all his releases on CD, but since my collection is scattered in boxes around the house, I might need to buy a few choice downloads. It's especially cool that he bundled Work of Heart and Born in Captivity together, as those are essential, IMO, and Work of Heart is where I started with Roy. But it's really all essential!
Yeah, that was 96 or 97, I believe. I saw that tour too. I've told this story before, but for the first couple songs, after each song, he'd say something to people in the front, saying stuff like "Ya know, I can tell you everything you've been talking about during each song". Then the third or fourth song, it was this quiet ballad type thing, he stops in the middle of the song, and...says, sternly, "Look, either go to the back or stop talking, but I can not perform like this!".
Then, at the end o fthe show, he was doing, I think, Another Rainy Day In England, and he had to stop again because he got a nose bleed. So he's dabbing at it with a napkin or kleenex or whatever, and this lady in the audience jumps up and starts telling him to tilt his head back. Roy says, "I can't do that, it's an open vein, it'll go into my lungs". The lady says she's an RN, she knows what she'st alking about, blah, blah. Roy says, "It's a congenital thing I've been dealing with all my life, my kids have it, I'm fine, thank you", and this lady would not let it go. And I think Roy got more and more annoyed, the more this lady tried to "help".
So finally, he gets the nosebleed stops, he apologizes to us, tells us again that he's been dealing with that all his life, and that he was going to finish the song, "but if it starts up again, that'll be it for the night". As I recall, he picked up where he left off in the song, made his way to a proper ending, and abruptly left the stage.
Good show, though.
About the only albums I have by him are HQ/When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease (which I have on both LP and CD) and Bullinamingvase. I've always intended to get more of his records but never got around to it.
I got into Harper through the Jugula album because of his friendship with Jimmy Page, and I was a big Zep fan at the time.
But it wasn't until I met my wife that I found a wider appreciation of his music because she had loads of his tapes, and Work Of Heart was the one that kept getting played in the car. (He was one of the few artists we agreed on), so hearing Drawn To The Flames at Sunday's gig was a nice personal moment for us.
Once the tapes started snarling from overplay, I went out and bought my wife several of the albums on cd as a surprise birthday present, and gradually filled in the gaps over the coming years.
Favourites for me are probably Stormcock and One Of Those Days In England, but my favorite track has to be Miles Remains - there's something achingly beautiful about the way he draws out those guitar notes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQnPaoc2O5E
I discovered Roy when I was in London around 1984 and scouring a few record shops. I found Work of Heart, saw Gilmour's name on the back and thought I ought to buy it. I'm not sure I bought anything else until Jugula came out and I found it in a Tower Records at home in NYC. It's definitely one of my favorite Harper albums. I then bought several more on vinyl at college, but once Darren Crisp started up Science Friction, I got everything on CD.
I’ve read a few excellent reviews of the farewell tour and I’m rather annoyed that I missed out. I haven’t seen Roy play live in very many years, but I do still revisit the albums I grew up with. I have undoubtedly missed out on many over the years, so it seems an opportune time to fill in a few blanks and toast his live retirement.
I picked up his recent cd reissue of Lifemask, and it sounds terrific. There's a newfound sensitivity and clarity that was missing from the 1995 version.
Same with the 2012 reissue of HQ, which I also bought yesterday - although it's more "rock", it sounded warmer and more detailed, especially on The Game.
The sleeve notes describe the remastering as "sculpting" from the master tapes, and it's an accurate description of how these editions sound.
If only other artists of his generation showed the same care and ear for detail when revisiting their back catalogue, instead of contracting it out of house.
Good review and pretty much mirrors my feelings. First set was a bit ragged but that was most obvious during Time Is Temporary (too bad as it is one of my fave RH songs). Second set was much more focused.
This was only my second time seeing him live (after having seen him in Bristol on the Man & Myth tour) but worth the effort of coming over from the Netherlands.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks