Roy Harper – Bullinamingvase (Harvest 1977)

This is one of Roy Harper’s more rock oriented albums, and one of his very best as well. The album opens with ‘One Of Those Days In England’, a very catchy and uplifting song indeed. Some might say this one is a bit too pop oriented for being a Roy Harper song, but this album also features plenty of his introspective and melancholic songwriting. This is apparent already on the next song, ‘These Last Days’. The melody is simply beautiful, and it’s dressed in this highly atmospheric arrangement. On top of it all, is Mr. Harper’s unique vocals filled with passion and sorrow. It cannot be said often enough what a fantastic vocalist this guy is! ‘Cherishing The Lonesome’ is another fantastic song. It starts off slow and melancholic, with great acoustic guitar playing, but then changes into this Led Zepelin-sounding rocker. This one swings! ‘Naked Flame’ is a more stripped down and light hearted affair, but with a strong melody. Then comes the only bad thing about this album: ‘Watford Gap’. Apparently this song got him into trouble, as it makes fun of the postal service in Watford! Musically speaking, this is pure filler in my opinion. It’s basically a country rocker, and I have never cared for that kind of music. The refrain is also very irritating. Thankfully the song is rather short. It’s all forgiven, however, as soon as we enter the second side of the album, which consists entirely of the epic ‘One Of Those Days In England Parts 2-10’. This is simply Roy Rarper at his very best and most progressive. It starts off with the same melody as the opening song on the album, but played a bit slower. Then, the composition constantly evolves between slow and utterly melancholic folk to driving rock (check out the start-stop-theme midway through – this is heavy!), through highly atmosperic parts before the composition returns to the opening theme. This stuff could easily have become messy is lesser hands, but Rot Harper makes it all flow beautifully. That is no small feat, as the lyrics are as intricate as the music. It is one continuous suite of folkprog of the highest order. ‘One Of Those Days In England Parts 2-10’ is pure genius, and makes a hell of a finale to this album. Hats off to Roy Harper for coming up with an album like this! His 70’s catalogue is simply incredible, and highly recommended to not only folk rock fans, but all who enjoy highly unique and adventurous music that is also very melodic and passionate.