Audio CD review:
Roy Harper - Flat Baroque and Berserk

Roy Harper - Flat Baroque and Berserk

Band: Roy Harper Title: Flat Baroque and Berserk Rating: Release Date: 1998-12-15 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Don't You Grieve 2: I Hate the White Man 3: Feeling All the Saturday 4: How Does It Feel 5: Goodbye 6: Another Day 7: Davey - Roy Harper, 8: East of the Sun 9: Tom Tiddler's Ground 10: Francesca 11: Song of the Ages 12: Hell's Angels

The first classic It also found him cutting out the somewhat clumsy, group-oriented sounds found on Come out Fighting Ghengis Smith and Folkjokeopus and returning to the folky, acoustic sounds that typified his first album, as well as markedly focusing on the poetic lyrical heights that he was obviously capable of. 1970 found Roy Harper producing his fourth full-length LP, Flat Baroque and Berserk. As a result, Flat Baroque and Berserk is his strongest album since his debut, Sophisticated Beggar, and the first in a long line of mind-blowing classics that spanned the 1970's. The album opens with "Don't You Grieve," a new spin on the Jesus/Judas story, told from Judas' point of view. Right away, it's obvious that Roy hasn't lost his trademark sense of humor, but where his irreverence tended to detract on earlier albums, the irony and cleverness here ties in with songs that have serious meaning--digging at religion. This occasional combination of humor and seriousness is one of Roy's trademarks, and this album is when it really starts working. Plus, "Don't You Grieve" is a pretty rocking song. Between tracks one and two is a snippet of Roy's legendary, rambling between-song banter, an essential part of this album and a glimpse into Roy's inimitable live show. Track two, "I Hate the White Man" might be Roy's most controversial song (and that's saying a lot when you talk about Roy!), a burning mini-epic that lambastes the arrogance of white culture from the inside out. In a lot of ways, "I Hate the White Man" takes up where Folkjokeopus' "McGoohan's Blues" (which saved the album and showed the dizzying heights he could reach) left off--Roy really came alive, showing his gift for breathtaking, incandescent lyrics, his skill at skewering the deluded, and an edgy use of his incomparable voice. When you hear songs like these, you start to wonder why more people don't know about Harper's music. The first two songs are classic tunes, but through the entire rest of the album there isn't a weak track (I'll talk about "Hell's Angels" a bit later). The deceptively light "Feeling All the Saturday" juxtaposes images of Roy's infant son with images of Roy resting his "toes on the horizon"--the song was written after Roy was told by a doctor that he only had a short time to live (he was plagued by a cardiovascular disorder that was only just cured in the early 2000's and repeatedly threatened his life). "How Does it Feel" is another classic, with a soaring vocal and some great verse-to-verse rhymes. Roy's fingerstyle acoustic playing is in good form on songs like "Davey" and "Francesca," showing hints of his inimitable style and his more progressive work to come. "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is another great tune that Roy still plays live, with a mysterious lyric and a great recorder accompaniment. The song also has a classic Roy moment--when the engineer tells him the tape is "Rolling," Roy responds, "A joint? Well you better had be then, hadn't you?" The album closes with one of Roy's classic throwaways--"Hell's Angels. " Until the end, it's an entirely acoustic and subtle album, until the heavy lumbering rock of "Hell's Angels" breaks the spell. It's one of the funniest album closers ever--Roy intentionally spoiling his own vibe--but it's also a potent commentary on the Angels and contains the classic line; "Free speech!! One each!!" Yet another instance of Roy paradoxically creating meaningful throwaways, and displaying an eccentricity and brilliance unmatched by any of his peers. Overall, Flat Baroque and Berserk is one of Roy's first records that really works from start to finish (with the exception of Sophisticated Beggar), and it remains today as glittering as the day it was released. Science Friction's remaster sounds flawless. If you're just approaching Roy's music for the first time, this is a great place to start, since it's accessible, but also shows most of Roy's greatest qualities--lyrics, musicianship, wit, and voice, and hints to the out-there progressive folk territory he would soon map on his magnum opus, Stormcock. . You can see a complete list of all Roy Harper discography, or go back to the Roy Harper tabs