Burning Shed is the publisher Sonicbond’s site.
I have contributed to two series:
On Track – Every Album, Every Song: Roy Harper, Bob Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Neil Young, Phil Ochs (released on the 18th October) and Leonard Cohen (In editing right now – due out later this year)
Classic Albums: Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home and The Beatles White Album
Why not have a look:
Thank you!
Lifemask – 1973
Harvest label 1973
Recorded at Abbey Road Studio
Pete Jenner: producer
John Leckie: sound technician
Roy Harper: vocals, guitars, synthesiser and bass plus all song writing
Jimmy Page: lead guitar
Brian Davison: drums on ‘The Lord’s Prayer’
Tony Carr: bongos
Steve Broughton: bongos
Ray Warley: flute on ‘The Lord’s Prayer’
Brian Hodges: electric bass on ‘Bank of the Dead’ and ‘The Lord’s Prayer’
Laurie Allan: drums on ‘Highway Blues’
For Roy this was a time of frustration, satisfaction, illness, triumph and confusion.
He had just produced the magnificent Stormcock, an achievement of supreme quality on so many levels and he knew it. However the album did not sell brilliantly. EMI had not given Roy enough publicity and the album was not well received by the music press or general public.
Yet Roy was being recognised as a major artist by the rock intelligentsia. Led Zeppelin, the Who, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney were dropping in to recording sessions, showering Roy with plaudits and singing his praises.
EMI were still backing Roy, in a half-hearted way. He was still provided with studio time, a budget and Pete Jenner. Roy needed to create an album to equal the brilliance of Stormcock.
Out of left-field came a film opportunity. Roy auditioned for a lead role in the John Mackenzie film Made co-starring Carol White. Against strong competition from Paul Jones (of Manfred Mann) Roy was given the part. He was to play Mike Preston, a touring rock musician, who formed a transient relationship with Valerie Marshall, played by Carol White. Carol was well known at that time, having starred in two successful films of social realism directed by Ken Loach – Cathy Come Home and Poor Cow. Made was going to be a similar type of film. Initially Roy was energised by the idea of becoming a film star but soon found the process became tedious and constricting.
EMI were probably rubbing their hands with glee. They could see that the prospect of Roy in a major film would lead to a soundtrack and possibly a hit single.
Unfortunately, that was not quite the way Roy saw it. Although he reluctantly worked on writing and adapting a few songs for the film his mind was fixed on a far more adventurous and artistically creative song and album. ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, along with the other songs for Lifemask, was already forming in his head.
An even greater problem then arose. At around this time Roy became ill. He thought it was the effects of some particularly strong grass that he had been smoking which had left him dehydrated. It soon became apparent that this was not the cause. Roy was diagnosed with a condition called polycythemi, which means that he had too many red blood cells. The cause was a blood vessel disorder called haemorrhagic telangiectasia. It was a dangerous condition because blood was being shunted through interconnecting blood vessels instead of flowing through his lungs. It left Roy short of oxygen. His body was trying to compensate by producing more red blood cells than he needed. Roy constantly felt unwell and lacking in energy. He had to have pints of blood removed in order to reduce the red blood corpuscles. Roy eventually had a fairly major operation to close the shunt vessels and redirect the flow of blood through his lungs.
The publicity department at EMI needed to keep Roy in the limelight and dreamt up a cock and bull story about Roy being ill from giving the kiss of life to a sheep on his farm!
In the heads of EMI and film executives Made was giving Roy an opportunity to write a film soundtrack. Punchy two and a half minute songs from the film would be given airplay and propel the film and album to popular acclaim.
In Roy’s head the film score was a burden. The idea of producing pop songs for the film was an anathema. Indeed, he hated the one song he did produce for the film – ‘Social Casualty’, which later, with different lyrics, became ‘Bank Of The Dead’. ‘Social Casualty’ in the film version, with the lyrics about the character Valerie and her baby, was not included on the album and has never been released.
In the midst of trying to deal with his illness and make the film Roy was working on Lifemask in Abbey Road studio with the help of a full supporting cast including Jimmy Page.
Roy’s creativity at the time was focused on the twenty three minute epic that would comprise the whole of side two on the album. His medical condition was giving him premonitions of early death. Roy had been told by the specialist that he was not destined to make old bones and so he was determined to pack everything into one great piece of work.
The gatefold cover (designed by James Edgar), which opens centrally, has a ‘deathmask’ of Roy which is really a lifemask. This is symbolic of Roy cheating death and surviving to make the record – an affirmation of life! Inside the album cover there is a picture of Geronimo that James had coloured red and yellow, and which sparked the idea for the central part of the poem that became ‘The Lord’s Prayer’.
Now on Sale at Burning Shed:
Roy Harper On Track (burningshed.com)
Roy Harper: Every Album, Every Song (On… by Opher Goodwin (amazon.co.uk)
Roy Harper: Every Album, Every Song (On Track) Paperback – 29 July 2021
by Opher Goodwin (Author)
Roy Harper: Every Album, Every Song (On Track): Amazon.co.uk: Opher Goodwin: 9781789521306: Books
Roy Harper must be one of Britain s most undervalued rock musicians and songwriters. For over fifty years he has produced a series of innovative albums of consistently outstanding quality. He puts poetry and social commentary to music in a way that extends the boundaries of rock music. His 22 studio albums 16 live albums, made up of 250 songs, have created a unique body of work. Roy is a musician s musician. He is lauded by the likes of Dave Gilmour, Ian Anderson, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes and Kate Bush. Who else could boast that he has had Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Dave Gilmour, John Paul Jones, Ronnie Lane, Chris Spedding, Bill Bruford and Steve Broughton in his backing band? Notable albums include Stormcock, HQ and Bullinamingvase. Opher Goodwin, Roy s friend and a fan, guides the reader through every album and song, providing insight into the recording of the songs as well the times in which they were recorded. As his loyal and often fanatical fans will attest, Roy has produced a series of epic songs and he remains a raging, uncompromising individual.
A celebration of Roy’s songs, music and poetry.
With thanks to Liz Goodwin and Mark Ruston for their help.
Contents
Introduction
Roy Harper is a unique individual and innovative songwriter who took his first uncharacteristically tentative steps into the London folk scene during the mid-sixties.
Roy was born on the 12th of June 1941 into the middle of World War 2 and sadly his mother died a few days later from mastitis – a common breast infection that is nowadays easily treatable. The loss of his mother has naturally had a lifelong impact on Roy’s personality.
Roy’s father married again. His stepmother was a strict and religious woman and Roy’s life of rebellion began.
Roy’s first memory is of being held in someone’s arms looking towards a red glow on the horizon and being told ‘Manchester’s really copping it tonight’.
Roy was a wayward child and his younger years were marked by him constantly being in trouble at home and school. As a young boy he was found pedalling on his trike towards Liverpool, many miles from home. Roy’s dislike of the religion his stepmother imposed led to him performing pagan ceremonies and burying effigies in his back garden.
The genteel town of Lytham St Annes where Roy lived, was once described by him as a cemetery with a bus stop. The tedium of life in the drowsy town portrayed a conservative ethos he fought against.
As Roy moved into his teenage years, minor incidents progressed into more serious crimes. He and a small group of friends alternated between running free in the countryside and taking part in sprees of shoplifting and vandalism. These ranged from stealing chocolates in Woolworth to breaking into Lytham’s cricket pavilion. They drank the booze they found inside the pavilion and then burnt the building to the ground.
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Roy Harper: Every Album, Every Song (On Track): Amazon.co.uk: Opher Goodwin: 9781789521306: Books