Flat Baroque and Berserk

It is hard to remember how far ahead of his time Harper was. I remember seeing him just as this album was ready for release and he said that they had had to reduce the gaps between the tracks to fit it on an LP! That was the problem he did not have the appropriate technology to support him then. "Flashes From The Archives of Oblivion" captures some of his live power. When stoned he rambled between songs but (usually)when he sang live, no matter his mental state, his voice and songs were powerful, unnerving and sublimely beautiful. Something that was never really caught in the studio - he worked by his mood/feeling/the gifts he was given/consumed that evening, hence the fact he could also be awful at times. You didn't meet on his ledge you were on it with him!
All his albums are sketch pads for the ideas he would develop live. When I first saw him he did 'Hells Angels' live and alone but no one missed the band (the record wasn't out), he more than made up for them, as Nice as they were on the LP!

After a brilliant start with Sophisticated Beggar, it took a while for Roy Harper to get it right. Ghengis Smith was a messy affair and although things started shifting with Folkjokeopus, it was with Flat Baroque and Berserk that Roy cleared the table and nailed an album that proved the amazing songwriter that he was. For the first time Roy forgot about pop psychedelia or trying to get his songs played on the radio and focused his music within the folk framework where it always worked better. Not only we get more focused (and better) songs but, thanks to the striped to essential arrangements and production, there is more room for Roy's voice and guitar playing to breath. If Roy could be an excellent guitarist with a quite distinctive style, it is his singing that really shines throughout this album.

The album has two obligatory songs in the Roy Harper songbook. The album's centrepiece is "I Hate The White Man" and the title says it all - this is not the average hippy throw at capitalism, society or whatever. The song works on the thematic palette Roy had developed on "McGoogan's Blues" but with more effective results. The intro speech is a must, with a semi-stoned Roy giving a small lecture to his audience and saying how much better it is in the poor countries "with the dogs in the sun and the kids in the dirt". Personally, I find the song a bit boring but "White Man" became one of Roy's most well-known songs and its importance in his body of work is undeniable.

The other classic on the album is "Another Day" which is simply one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. It's also a requiem for an old failed relationship. Roy sings the characters' love, angst, tenderness and resignation with an outstanding, subtle performance. The self-contained emotion in Roy's singing gives the song a false calm that doesn't overshadow its drama and tension. It's a sad song but in the end it leaves you with a peaceful feeling.

Along with "White Man" the album has a number of long semi-epic songs that I find more rewarding than the former, such as "Tom Tiddler's Ground", "Goodbye" and, specially "How Does It Feel" which I would rate as the best song of the album. With lyrics that could cut through the bone of the most cold-blooded yuppie and another dramatic vocal performance, this is the kind of song that leaves you thinking. "How does it feel to be completely unreal?" he asks - "You can feel bona fide if you ride with the tide, but it's not real." Like someone wrote, Dylan was never so brutally honest.

Along the bigger tunes Flat Baroque and Berserk has a handful of lovely little songs like "Francesca" and "East Of The Sun" that balance the album toward perfection.

The only flaw on the album is the final "Hell's Angels". Not that it is a bad song. It just doesn't have anything to do with the rest. After this string of beautiful, intense songs, something I don't need is 7 minutes of psychedelic wah-wah.

In spite of the awkward final, Flat Baroque and Berserk is a masterpiece in its own right, only surpassed in Roy's catalogue by its follower Stormcock.

One last thought: the crazy sleeve photo would make a very nice double gatefold special edition. So I hope Roy finds the money to continue the work he has done with Stormcock and HQ. He certainly deserves it.

Less idiosyncratic than its predecessors, this is a stunning album of mainly acoustic songs (Hell's Angels is the head-banging exception) which propelled Roy into the forefront of the "slightly mad singer-songwriter" genre. It kicks off in robust style with a kind of cowboy lament by Judas Iscariot no less ("Don't You Grieve") then we have one of Roy's famous semi-stoned rambles leading up to his epic cry of outrage "I Hate the White Man", one of the bravest songs ever recorded. After that titanic piece the album wanders around in a relaxed manner through some very pretty, reflective songs ("Another Day" is a total heartbreaker and "Song of the Ages" has some beautiful harp playing) before Roy straps on his Les Paul and joins up with The Nice for the crunching, screaming, demented work-out that is "Hell's Angels". Great stuff; one of Roy's best. "Stormcock" is THE best.