Bill Shanley
Bill Shanley and Beth Symmons
Bill and Beth
Our greatest Singer-Songwriter hit the stage to a rapturous applause from an adoring audience! The place was packed to the rafters and the atmosphere was magic with numerous calls of ‘We Love You Roy’.
After three horrendous years in the wilderness Roy was back! I’m not sure any of us were totally sure what to expect. He was seventy five years old and had suffered an enforced lay-off for three years! We needn’t have worried. The duck was back in the water. The rapport, humour and tales flowed and the audience lapped them up. More importantly the music was brilliant. Roy’s voice was as good as ever and he provided a superb, controlled run through a lot of the old standards that we all know and love so well – Commune, I’ll See You Again, Another Day, 12 Hours of Sunset, Me and My Woman, Hangman, When An Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease, Don’t You Grieve, Hors D’oeuvres, Hallucinating Light and Time is Temporary.
Roy was controlled and gave full vent to both his vocal range and guitar styles. Both the finger-picking and heavy riffing were both evident and superb. What made it so exceptional was the way this was augmented by Bill Shanley’s brilliant guitar accompaniment (with guitar, slide guitar and banjo) which supplemented without intruding to create something greater, and the tremendous String and Brass Section under the direction of Fiona Brice (taking over from the late David Bedford).
To hear the songs developed into such acoustic gems really brought out the genius of both the lyric and music. Each one was exceptionally honed and a joy to experience.
I sat in the audience thinking back through those fifty years to the Roy of those small clubs in the sixties; a young man full of such spirit, driven by angst and fury and delivering songs of such venom, humour and tenderness. He was so original.
The anger was still evident in Hangman and Hors D’ Oeuvres. The tenderness was evident as well and the humour in the asides. Roy at seventy five has mastered his performances so totally that they have developed into something more. I crave for the passion, madness of those early days but you cannot deny the artistry that has gone into making these songs epic. There wasn’t one that did not work.
Don’t You Grieve, with the addition of Bill’s slide and the excellent slapping Double Bass from Beth Symmons created a great Skiffle sound that brought the song to life.
Hallucinating Light was superb with the horn and strings, with Bill’s slide guitar, adding a dimension that was different to that of Roy’s bands.
12 Hours of Sunset was different to any version I have heard before with Bill’s sustained notes adding a quality.
Time is Temporary, dedicated to Tracy who stood by him through thick and thin, was one of the new songs from Man and Myth that demonstrated Roy’s expertise at finger-picking.
For me it all came together with a version of the epic Me And My Woman that had it all – the perfect arrangement of strings, brass and Bill for Roy to play to. What a song. What scope. Who on Earth writes songs which encompass so much?
By the time Roy came back for an encore of When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease we were sated. The strings and brass came into their own and the performance was exemplary. The whole place rose to its feet and cheered.
We feared we might have lost him for good. But we haven’t. Roy is still there delivering something unique and exceptional. Nobody does it better. Nobody has produced songs of such beauty and magnitude. This man is England’s finest! It is about time he is recognised as our foremost Singer-Songwriter – up there with the likes of Dylan and Cohen.
The passion is undiminished, the skills still extant and the repertoire unparalleled. Roy is unique and still his own man. He does it his way!
Thank you Roy for another magic evening. I’m heading for Edinburgh for a second dose and looking forward to next year and another tour! You promised!
Sorry Opher, apart from the constant news from you about Roy Harper, I don’t know him or his work – but so glad you enjoyed yourself.
He was fabulous! You ought to purchase Stormcock. A superb album.
Trust me Anna, on a good night you’ll have never heard anything like it. I’m so absorbed by his live performances that he’s the only artist that I go to see usually by myself. I far prefer that. However, on his last Glasgow show, in what must have been 2007, I took my gig-buddy along with me as he knew nothing about him. Upon the show’s end he said to me “I think I’ve just seen a Legend”. He was absolutely right, too.
Very good review Opher. You should post it along to the Stormcock forum.
Thanks Andrew – I will do that!
when Jimmy Page came and sat near us at the start I thought he would join Roy for at least one song as he did in 2011. He cheered and yelled aloud with the rest of us and just enjoyed the show.
Yeah. It was great that he came along. It was great. Saw him on the way out.
He’s actually a very personable guy is old Jimmy. I met him once through work in St. Lucia. He was on his (I assume) yacht with his family and friends and they came ashore for some lunch on the beach of the Anse Chastanet Hotel that I was managing at the time. We knew they were coming so secluded off an area for his privacy as there were far too many Americans around whom would perhaps might recognise and the bug the hell out of him. Later that day his party had a private tour of the towns botanical gardens which they’d closed for the afternoon, again to secure his privacy.
The pleasures of stardom, I guess.
As I stood on the beach chatting to Jimmy, with a Pimms in hand – as you do on such occasions, I asked him what he thought about all the Led Zeppelin bootlegs out there and made mention of this new Led Zeppelin-only shop that had just opened up in Tokyo. My then girlfriend, latterly ex-wife, worked for Japan Airlines and regularly visited Tokyo. She was under my strict instruction to scour the city for Beatles, Dylan, Stones & Zeppelin bootlegs. She did a pretty good job of it too, having found both the Beatles-only and Led Zep stores. Anyway, Jimmy’s ears pricked up on this bit of info and said something like “I must look into that”.
Sometime later I read in the fantastic Led Zep fanzine – it’s more a luxury quality slimline magazine actually – titled “Tight But Loose” and edited/run by Dave Lewis – you’ll see his latest sleevenotes for this Friday’s release of the BBC Sessions) that Jimmy subsequently walked into this Tokyo store himself, armed with a large holdall bag and proceeded to relieve the shop’s shelves of a copy of every single Led Zep boot on display, saying “these are mine and I’m taking them!”. Apparently he was met with no objections.
So with a guilty heart I’d like to belatedly apologise to all these Japanese fans that didn’t manage to buy something.
Yes he’s a really nice guy. Met him a number of times in connection with Roy and he was always friendly with none of that superstar edge. He must get pestered all the time. What a pain. I saw him record on Lifemask and he was incredible on the Lord’s Prayer. In the studio he’d pick up a guitar and straight away he’d be in gear. The power and charisma of the guy.
We transfer has transferred. Let me know if it has worked.
Lovely to meet you at the gig, Opher. Looking forward to reading the book. All the very best, Paul.
Cheers Paul. It was good to meet at such a great gig! Book will be out soon!
did you record it? I got a few video’s.
I did get a few snippets of video from the soundcheck. Which songs did you manage to video?
Commune, Hangman, Don’t you Grieve, North country, Me and my woman.
Wow!! Now that is a lot. Did they come out well? I thought there were some exceptional versions. I loved the strings and Bill Shanley’s guitar – the Double Bass wasn’t half bad either. Well done.
Are you putting them up on YouTube? If so I’d love to have the link.
There will more than likely be a large number of film clips posted onto youtube, from angles all over the theatre. Basically, a lot of people will have filmed this.
Be interesting to see. Sounds good.
I have them on Facebook. Roy Harper Apprectiation Society page.
I’ll check ’em out Pete. Cheers
Lively and affectionate review … if I was going to own one Harper CD, which would you recommend? Or would you go for a Best Of?
The 2007 remaster of ‘Stormcock’. This is most impressive.
Cheers Andrew! Is there a Best Of?
Not exactly. He’s not the kind of artist that does Best Of’s or Greatest Hits type records. However, he has released a few bespoke compilations over the years. I don’t think they will all now be available direct from his own website, http://www.royharper.com, but you’ll get them through Amazon or Discogs websites. The titles available are – in chronological order of release:
1. An Introduction To Roy Harper – released 1994, 13 tracks spanning 1966-1992. This is a mid-price compilation and offers a fair representation of songs, but none of his longer epics. You’d have to go via Amazon or Discogs for this one. However, there are better sounding remastered versions of the same tracks available on later releases, as follows:
2. Hats Off – released 2001, 14 tracks spanning 1970-1998, featuring quite a few of his collaboration songs with people such as Jimmy Page, Ian Anderson, David Gilmour and Kate Bush. There are some repeats with the title above, but a half-decent selection all the same.
3. East Of The Sun – released 2001, 15 tracks spanning 1966-2000, all of which are his ‘love songs’. Some lovely songs on it, but nothing too heavy either. I don’t mean ‘heavy metal heavy’ but let’s say, cerebral, the stuff to get you thinking!
4. Counter Culture – released 2005. 2CDs and a very good compilation of songs from 1966-2000.
5. From Occident To Orient – released 2007, 12 tracks spanning 1966-2000. A repeat of what’s already on nos 1-4 and released just to have something for the Japanese market when he was playing a few shows there. I’m only mentioning it in case you see it listed. But I wouldn’t recommend it.
6. Songs Of Love And Loss – released 2011, 2CDs of love songs spanning 1966-1992. Some of which are slightly different from their original state as he remixed them. It’s a very good selection of this side of his work and the remastering upgrade makes for an excellent listen.
There you have it. So if I were you, I’d opt for ‘Counter Culture’ as this offers the broadest spectrum of his works. Or if you just prefer the mellow stuff, go for the last one, ‘Songs Of Love And Loss’.
Hope this is of some help to you.
I’d second that. A brilliant album.
I thoroughly agree with Andrew. Instead of a ‘best of’ I’d do Stormcock and Lifemask – or if you like something rockier HQ – or Bullinamingvase. The epic tracks are the most amazing (The Lord’s Prayer, One Of those Days In England, The Game).