A new Roy Harper album

[Doug Alan <nessus>]

Here is a copy of an article I just posted to net.music:

["I came alone as me -- just an idea in a long chain of discovery"]

I just received a letter directly from the record company to tell me
about a new Roy Harper album.  I have no idea why or how I got on their
mailing list (did the Kate Bush Club put me on it?), but I won't
complain since I'm a Roy Harper fan!  Here is the contents of the
letter:


			BORN IN CAPTIVITY

	Roy's music comes from the earth.  As a twenty-year old, first
	hearing his work about three years ago, it stands out as a
	different alphabet with respect to *other* modern music.  His
	music is honest and whilst listening to it, it is a warm blanket
	without lies, compared to the flowery wallpaper plastered to the
	radio and television screens.  I consider myself to be an
	incredibly lucky person to have come into contact with such a
	man and feel that so many people could benefit by experiencing
	his music and feeling his spirit.

	His latest album to be released is a re-issue of a limited
	edition which came out about a year ago, "BORN IN CAPTIVITY".
	Demand for it since in the form of paper through the letter box,
	has been strong enough for Roy to have it re-released.  It is,
	as it explains on the back, basically an acoustic version of his
	earlier album, "Work of Heart", recorded at home on an eight
	track Teac.  It is a pure form of music -- no additives,
	perservatives, or artificial colouring.

This sounds really good, because "Work of Heart" is overproduced in
exactly the way that "The Dreaming" is not.

	Roy has the ability to literalise feelings some of us have
	trouble even translating as far as our brains, though I do
	believe that we all have them somewhere in our souls, though Roy
	would always tell you that he speaks only for himself.

	Roy Harper will perhaps never reach the giddy heights of a Top
	Ten chart position with anything he does but then again he would
	probably be extremely out of place there.  The Top Ten pop
	records can be likened to the Top Ten Cabinet Ministers -- suave
	highly 'civilized', slick, deceitful, shallow and easy listening
	for the brain-washed.  In all his years in music, Roy has never
	been easy listening.  The rewards, however, to be gained from a
	genuine critical appraisal of one Harper track exceed that to be
	gained by listening for a whole lifetime to the Top Ten.

While this is all generally SO true, I strenuously object to this last
sentence.  Every now and then, there is a miracle, and something really
great does well in the charts.  (The fact that Kate Bush's "Running Up
That Hill" is now at number 4 on the British charts, in no way biases my
opinion.)

	In the age of Roy Harper, there are two kinds of music -- wet
	drivel, which usually fills the upper reaches of the
	charts/purse, and then, the more adventurous efforts which are
	usually considered as dangerous/undecipherable by the media and
	taste makers who can't be bothered to listen.

Sounds awfully like the British media reaction to "The Dreaming"....

	Roy belongs to the latter.

If anyone wants ordering info, just ask me.  (You'll have to mail away
to England and pay in pounds, though...)

			"The process of my words profane
			 The poems I still breathe"

			 Doug Alan
			  nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)