Folkjokeopus

Folkjokeopus

Folkjokeopus was a poorly recorded album made up of largely first-takes with an unsympathetic producer who Roy did not get on with. The quality of the songs wasn’t the issue; it was the production. But I still love it!

When Liberty signed up Roy they thought they could turn him into a Pop Star. They brought in Shel Talmy, the American producer who had made bands like the Kinks and the Who into international stars. It was a mistake right from the start. There was no understanding or communication between Roy and Liberty. I remember Roy telling me that there was no human touch. He went into a room and talked to a machine equipped with deaf ears. Nobody was interested in what Roy wanted. They had a vision of making him into a Pop Star. But Roy was young, idealistic and had rejected all that. He saw himself as a poet/musician of the Underground. He was totally opposed to the whole money-grabbing business that showbiz was (and still is). It smacked of everything he stood against. The idea of ‘selling out’ for money or fame was contrary to everything Roy stood for. That isn’t to say he didn’t want to make it and get the recognition; it meant that he wanted to do it on his terms; he wanted to be successful because of his songs and musicianship not as some watered down smiley-faced Pop Star. You could say that he was a tad uncompromising.

I wasn’t there for that first meeting with Shel Talmy but I bet it was a bit frosty and antagonistic. Roy could clearly see what Shel was about. He was in the business of producing nice catchy two and a half minute hit singles. Roy was into producing twenty two minute epics packed with vitriol and angst. I think I know what Shel would have thought about that. He must have been apoplectic when confronted with the array of songs that Roy had written for the album. How was he expected to turn any of them into Pop singles? There was the twenty two minute McGoohan’s Blues, an eight minute instrumental, a seven minute song about a relationship break-up, a couple of experimental pieces and a couple of Roy’s humorous crowd pleasers. The only really commercial possibility was a song about smoking dope on the steps of City Hall and that was never going to get played on radio. On top of that he was confronted with a hostile Harper who was suspicious of everything Shel wanted to do with his precious songs and only wanted to be in control of his own material.

A great recipe for a total disaster – and thus it turned out. The studio was a battlefield and even with great musicians such as Nicky Hopkins and Ron Geesin it was going nowhere. Roy and Shel were never going to get along.

Folkjokeopus was hurriedly churned out with a series of first-takes, little rehearsal and the mistakes and glitches left in. Even the cover was a battle. Roy had this idea of making it into a diamond instead of the normal square but Liberty chose to reorientate the cover photo into a standard format. An incandescent Roy went in to Liberty offices to object to what they had done and get it put back to how he wanted it. He told me he was shown into a room and spoke to a monolith. Eventually he had to pay out of his own pocket to get the photo turned how he wanted it and even then they did not do it right and it isn’t quite a diamond as he’d envisaged. I think that summed up the relationship. I think all three parties – Liberty, Shel and Roy – were glad to see the back of each other.

I had been going along to as many Roy gigs as was humanly possible to fit in and by this time had become a personal friend. So I had been transfixed by the likes of McGoohan’s Blues, One for All and She’s the One. I knew what powerful songs they were. I couldn’t wait for the album to finally get released following a number of delays, such as the travesty over the cover. When I finally got my hands on it I was so disappointed. I’d probably been expecting too much. This wasn’t as good as what I had been hearing live. Roy was left angry and frustrated and I was left wondering about what might have been. I kept wishing that Roy had brought the whole thing out as a live album. I think that would really have suited all the songs.