Track Listing

1. Don't You Grieve
2. I Hate The White Man
3. Feeling All The Saturday
4. How Does It Feel To Feel
5. Goodbye
6. Another Day
7. Davey
8. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
9. Tom Tiddler's Ground
10. Francesca
11. Song Of The Ages
12. Hell's Angels

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18821 in Music
• Released on: 2008-08-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

CD Description
Singer/songwriter Roy Harper came upon the mid-1960s Londonfolk scene alongside the likes of Jackson C. Frank, Sandy Denny, et al., and his 1970 album, FLAT BAROQUE & BERSERK, was the final installment of his initial folkie phase. With his next release, the rapturously received STORMCOCK, he wouldincorporate expansive prog-rock flavoring into his style, but FLAT BAROQUE is a sparse, acoustic-based effort that focuses squarely on Harper's poetic lyrics and (at that point) Dylanesque tunes. He's backed here by Keith Emerson's pre-ELPoutfit, the Nice, offering a slight foreshadowing of thingsto come, but progressive epics were not yet a part of Harper's approach.

From the Artist
'Flat Baroque and Berserk' was the first record of mine to go into the charts. For the first time in my recording career, proper care and attention was paid to the presentation of the song. Peter Jenner was assigned by EMI Records to produce the recording. Peter and I got on really well and he was a better overseer of my work than anyone I have been involved with before or since. I had also had a Studio upgrade. EMI Studios, Abbey Road was at that time the most advanced studio in Europe, and over the next ten years I was to record in near-perfect conditions.

Over those years, the studio buzzed with four separate Beatles, some Stones, The Pink Floyd, Cliff and the Shadows, Gracie Fields, three of four musical knights, Kate Bush, Olivier Newton-John, The Hollies, Yehudi Menuin, Stefan Grapelli, The Plastic Ono Band, Eric Clapton; you name them, they were all there. Jimmy Page and I were in there three or four times together.

It was a creative hotbed where the technical staff, headed by Ken Townsend, were second to none.

The poster for the original release of Flat Baroque and Berserk.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I was very pleased with my first record made in such elevated surroundings. The song that I was best known for in those days, 'I Hate the White Man,' was recorded live for this album, and still stands as a testament to my lifelong devotion to espousing equal rights for all humans. I have long since wondered about the wisdom of stating that you have more than the capacity to hate your own race for it's misdemeanors, but as a polemic it has been both an effective tool and somewhere of a place to stand.

Much of the rect of the record is on a gentler level, although 'Hells Angels,' recorded with 'The Nice,' is just as raw and was very eventful.

'Another Day' is one of the best love songs I ever wrote and the overall balance of the record is very good.

Customer Reviews

amazin amazing amazing
alongside harvest by neil young, and the eponymous tim buckley album, this is one of those albums that gets undr your skin. you put it on to do the washing up and it takes you over. buy it. now.

Roy Harper's Breakthrough Album
Less idiosyncratic than its predecessors, this is a stunning album of mainly acoustic songs (Hell's Angels is the head-banging exception) which propelled Roy into the forefront of the "slightly mad singer-songwriter" genre. It kicks off in robust style with a kind of cowboy lament by Judas Iscariot no less ("Don't You Grieve") then we have one of Roy's famous semi-stoned rambles leading up to his epic cry of outrage "I Hate the White Man", one of the bravest songs ever recorded. After that titanic piece the album wanders around in a relaxed manner through some very pretty, reflective songs ("Another Day" is a total heartbreaker and "Song of the Ages" has some beautiful harp playing) before Roy straps on his Les Paul and joins up with The Nice for the crunching, screaming, demented work-out that is "Hell's Angels". Great stuff; one of Roy's best. "Stormcock" is THE best.

The very best album in the world
My introduction to Roy Harper started with FBB.Having continued to listen to the Master of prose and acoustic skill "Live" and on tapes and vinyl, we have now the chance to purchase the musical talent of both Roy and Nick Harper on CD. FBB is full of the best of Harper. Recorded originally on four track with no other studio instruments used though the creation of tracks such as DontYou Grieve,I Hate The White Man,Another Day and Hells Angels are pure brilliance, he was likened to Dylan but I would not agree .This man is pure genius,Hats off to Roy Harper .To experience The true Harper this album is a must