Roy Harper - Flat Baroque and Berserk (1970) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

Roy Harper's fourth album found him in an acoustic folkie mode more often than not, though as usual (for circa late-'60s Harper) there were detours into pretty rocky items on occasion. It's not much of either a progression or a slide from the lyrically convoluted, somewhat but not incredibly melodic path he had established with his prior work. "I Hate the White Man," however, is certainly one of his most notable (and notorious) compositions, a spew of lilting verbiage that's hard to peg. It could be irony, it could be ironic self-hatred, it could be muddled reflections on the chaos that is the modern world, or it could be a combination of all of them. There are gentler items, sometimes with subdued harmony vocals and orchestration, that sound rather like Harper's most acerbic side sanded off with edges of Al Stewart, Donovan, or Tim Hardin; "Another Day" is the prettiest of those. The atypical "Hell's Angels," on the other hand, has a twisted, chunky rock feel rather like the solo work of another of producer Peter Jenner's clients, Syd Barrett. Richie Unterberger AMG

Track listing:

A1. Don’t You Grieve
A2. I Hate The White Man
A3. Feeling All The Saturday
A4. How Does It Feel
A5. Goodbye

B1. Another Day
B2. Davey
B3. East Of The Sun
B4. Tom Tiddler’s Ground
B5. Francesca
B6. Song Of The Ages
B7. Hell’s Angels

Personnel:

Roy Harper: Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Vocals
David Bedford: Arrangement on ‘Another Day’
Tony Visconti: Recorder on ‘Tom Tiddler’s Ground’
The Nice, (Keith Emerson: Organ, Lee Jackson: Bass,
Brian Davison: Drums) backing on ‘Hell’s Angels’
Produced by Peter Jenner.
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, September 1969.