This Shel Talmy-produced album is as sprawling and unwieldy as its title. Always a determined eclectic, Harper tries to cover a lot of ground here, and while his effort is impressive, the result is unnervingly inconsistent. The influences of Bob Dylan, Bert Jansch, Donovan, and maybe even early Al Stewart hover over most of this folk-rock. Harper tries to cram too many musical and (especially) lyrical ideas together here, and several of his heart-on-the-sleeve narrative folktales ramble   [ read more ]

CD $27.07

Roy Harper achieved some acclaim with releases like his debut, Sophisticated Beggar, and Flat Baroque and Berserk, but 1971's Stormcock was his first effort that was a fully realized success. Even though all four long songs on the record were arguably superior in subsequent live versions, this is one of only a handful of Harper's albums that has no weak cuts. "Hors d'Oeuvres" had been previewed two years earlier in a faster incarnation, but this version is pleasingly lethargic in a way muc   [ read more ]

CD $28.48

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page backs Harper up on this album and earns co-billing for his trouble. The guitar interplay turns out to be the highlight of the album. Harper displays a nihilistic attitude toward everything in general, and quite a few things in particular. He sings of things dire and hopeless in his thin tenor, while standard-issue folk and rock play behind him. Not that he doesn't have a sense of humor about it -- a sleeve note introduces the final song by saying, "The bes   [ read more ]

CD $34.67

Roy Harper was spurred into making one of his best albums only after his wife abruptly left him in 1992, thrusting him into a deep despair. The rawness of Death or Glory?, and the fact that it was conceived after the bitter dissolution of a decade-long relationship, makes it the emotional, if not artistic, heir of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album shuns Harper's penchant for over-production in lieu of his more traditional acoustic sound. "The Tallest Tree" is a winning tribute to {%Chic   [ read more ]

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CD $35.62

Recorded under primitive circumstances and not distributed well on initial release, Harper's debut proves that the definitive cult folk-rock singer's idiosyncratic weirdness was firmly in place from the start. Mostly but not wholly acoustic, there are lingering similarities to Donovan and Bert Jansch, as well as a light similarity to Al Stewart on occasion. But Harper's scrambled lyricism is already his own, as is his peculiar melismatic phrasing. Those two traits combine to give the impressi   [ read more ]

CD $41.79

Released in 1997, Return of the Sophisticated Beggar augments Roy Harper's 1966 debut album, Sophisticated Beggar, with one previously unreleased track. [The 2007 Beat Goes On reissue had a slightly different track order.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $22.78