Biography
Roy Harper is an English folk rock singer, songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since 1964. Harper has released 32 albums (including 10 live albums) across his 50-year career. As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive fingerstyle playing and lengthy, lyrical, complex compositions, reflecting his love of jazz and the poet John Keats. His influence upon other musicians has been acknowledged by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Pete Townshend, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, who said Harper was his “…primary influence as an acoustic guitarist and songwriter.” Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph described him as “one of Britain’s most complex and eloquent lyricists and genuinely original songwriters… much admired by his peers”. Across the Atlantic his influence has been acknowledged by Seattle-based acoustic band Fleet Foxes, American musician and producer Jonathan Wilson and Californian harpist Joanna Newsom with whom he has also toured. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Harper
Album & Cover
Taken from his website www.royharper.co.uk describes the album as follows: ‘Valentine’ is a collection of the smaller works that were written during the ‘Stormcock’ – ‘Lifemask’ era. It is a balanced record with contributions from Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Pete Sears and Max Middleton, with orchestral arrangements by David Bedford. The record has a pastoral feel in parts and I am still to be found singing many of the songs in my current live performances. David Bedford turned ‘Twelve Hours of Sunset’ into an instrumental with choir, that he arranged for the ‘Proms’, at the Royal Albert Hall. I never seemed to get the sleeve right. So far, I think that the original is best.
Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Photography – Colin Curwood. Illustration – Joseph Petagno
Label: Harvest SHSP 4027(UK), Chrysalis CHR1163(US)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One Forbidden Fruit Male Chauvinist Pig Blues I’ll See You Again Twelve Hours Of Sunset Acapulco Gold |
Side Two Commune Magic Woman (Liberation Reshuffle) Che North Country Forever |
Credits
Arranged By – David Bedford
Engineer – John Leckie
Producer – Peter Jenner, Roy Harper
Written-By – Roy Harper
