SOPHISTICATED BEGGAR

Unfortunately I just lost my entire review of SB! How frustrating. Needless to say this album is Harper doing his debut and what is noticeable is how good he sounds from the offset. From the quirky ' Goldfish', the trendy ' China Girl'. The selfless ( joke) self titled 'Sophisticated Beggar' to the uneasy ' Committed'. Delusions of grandeur? I think not! Harper manages to sound as fresh 42 years ago as he does even in 1998's Dream Society. What stands out here is that this is a strong beginning for Harper and yet there was such an abundance of great collaborative work ahead with the likes of Peter Jenner, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Ian Anderson just to name a few. A solid three stars for Roy Harper's first studio release.

Have a cigar

This is where it all started for Roy in terms of his recording career. Having given up a residency at Les Cousins folk club in Soho, London, Harper teamed up with Peter Richards' Strike Records and with engineer Pierre Tubbs. Tubbs and Harper recorded the album in what Harper describes as an outhouse in Tubbs' garden where Tubbs has a primitive recording studio. Recorded in 1966, the album was actually first released in early '67, but Harper would have to wait for a re-release in 1994 before he actually started to receive royalties.

Having been asked to leave the army on grounds of "insanity", Harper turned his attention to his musical and poetic talents. This initial set is very much about the poetry side, with Harper setting his words to acoustic guitar accompaniment. The way Harper (and Tubbs) recorded the acoustic guitar was pioneering for the time, the sound being captured and electronically processed through a reverb machine.

Bert Jansch and John Renbourn of Pentangle both contribute supporting guitars to selected tracks, but this is very much a solo effort by Harper. The overall sound is not complex by any means, indeed a superficial listen misleadingly gives the impression of a simple folk album. Listen more closely to the guitar arrangements though, and the disguised beauty of the detailed attention given to the recordings starts to come through.

At times, such as on tracks like "Goldfish", Harper plays it straight, while on others such as the title track he drifts towards Dylan territories. The oddly named "Blackpool" offers the best example of Harper's guitar dexterity, there must be fair chance the great Al Stewart drew influences from pieces such as this.

Overall, an album which is more significant for its place in Harper's development than it is in the development of (folk) prog. The songs here are generally straightforward, essentially being poems set to acoustic accompaniment. The results are pleasing and enjoyable, but the true nature of the sophisticated beggar's talents have yet to be revealed.

Incidentally, some more recent releases are titled "The return of the sophisticated beggar". Do not be misled though, they are simply remasters of the same album, with even the bonus track "Legend" having appeared on some earlier versions of the album.