COME OUT FIGHTING GHENGIS SMITH [AKA: THE EARLY YEARS]

This sophomore album from ROY HARPER does not seem to have the enduring popularity of his debut, but it does take a few bold steps...in some direction. The concept of using spoken word in music already had a long history, but less so in popular music until the 1960s, with Harper being one of those to experiment with a mixture of sung and spoken messages.

On "Come out Fighting..", the two longest cuts evolve in this way, the better of the two being "Circle", which also tosses in music hall references,. KINKs-like narratives and the highly quotable "The worst thing about the system is the system". For the rest, the Gothic "Highgate Cemetery" is brief and hauntingly heavy on the wails, perhaps my favorite piece of his up to that point. Several more "conventional" numbers also excel in melody and meter, particularly "In Beautiful Rambling Mess" and "All You Need is". On one of the weaker songs, "Ageing Raver", Harper resembles AL STEWART for not the first or last time.

Contrary to the opinions of fans, the breadth of this release marks a notable improvement over his debut, though still not eclipsing 3.5 stars. It does confirm that Harper plans to battle for his art even at this embryonic stage.

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