Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years Paperback Archives

Excerpt : Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years Paperback

Posted on January 10, 2025January 10, 2025 by Opher

Nick Down the Years

Excerpt : Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years Paperback

Nick Down the Years

I first met Nick in the summer of 1968. I was a young idealist at college in London living the Sixties idyll. I had just met a mad musician called Roy Harper who invited me back to his flat in Kilburn. I did not quite know what to expect.

I rang the bell and went up the stairs.

Walking into the living room of the flat was like entering wonderland – Indian bedspreads over seats, a live chameleon on the lampshade, a picture of Mao on the chest of drawers. It was the bohemian dream.

I looked around with amazement. It was slightly different to the sparse squalor of the student bedsit I shared with my mate Pete.

Roy welcomed me with a grin and a handshake, and then sat himself on the settee next to Mocy, his wife, who gave me the warmest welcoming smile and instantly made me feel at home. She looked beautiful in an Indian print skirt. There was a relaxed atmosphere in the room.

Before I’d even sat down a small child with long fair hair came bounding across the room, flung himself wildly up into me, threw his arms around my neck and planted a great big kiss right on my lips.

Nick Harper had just introduced himself to me.

‘As for the flat in Kilburn – I left when I was four and a half – so not a lot of memories. I remember sitting in the garden downstairs where Eddy Fisher still lives. He’s been coming down to our house in Wiltshire since 1969 every Christmas and some summers and he still does. Sitting in his garden watching an aeroplane go across the sky leaving a vapour trail – for some reason that’s in my head. That’s either ‘Big Fat Silver Aeroplane’ or ‘Aeroplane’.’

‘I can remember bending down in the front garden. I was obviously very small and as I bent down there was a shard of metal from a rusty pram sticking up and I sliced my knee on it. Ran up the red vinyl stairs to Mum (who took me to hospital) and I had stitches in my leg while I watched a mobile spin above me of a donkey and a carrot. Then the nurse offered me what seemed to be a huge bucket of Dolly Mixtures, from which I was allowed to take one.’

Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years: Amazon.co.uk: Goodwin, Opher: 9781678850661: Books

Excerpt – Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years Paperback/Hardback/Kindle

Posted on January 7, 2025January 7, 2025 by Opher

This book finally came about because Nick decided that it was time to release a compilation. He was excited by the idea of a retrospective of what he had achieved up until now. He told me that he never expected to even produce one CD let alone for it to sell and be followed by others, sustaining his ‘career’ for so long. He was genuinely amazed and felt privileged to be able to live by doing what he loves doing. He saw this book as part of that package.

This is not a memoir of his life. This is not the inside story. Neither is it intended to be complete. Nick could easily have done this himself; he is a master of using words and knows what he wants to say. Yet he did not want to. It was going back to that reluctance for him to admit that he is good at what he does. He wanted to distance himself and let someone else do the job. That’s fine with me. I have no reticence about singing his praises. I’ve known him since he was a child, I’ve watched him grow and mature, I’ve observed the way he has matured into a man. His ideas, his musicianship and song-writing skills have blossomed; and his family have been at the centre of it all. I’ve been incredibly proud of him over the years and have no doubt that he is a true genius and a human being of exceptional qualities, sensibilities and warmth.

This book is a companion to his set of retrospective albums. Like them it is entitled ‘The Wilderness Years’. That title is partly Nick’s self-deprecating way – to downplay his achievements – and partly because he has chosen to remain low key. If he had played the game, had the desire and pulled out the stops he would have undoubtedly reached a far larger audience.

What I am certain of is that talent like Nick’s does not stay out in that wilderness forever; it does eventually get noticed. Maybe this set of albums will provide the springboard to draw attention to the phenomenon that is Nick Harper and the title will prove prophetic…..

Opher Jan 2015

Postscript

Unfortunately it has taken a further five years to publish this book! Opher Jan 2019

Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years: Amazon.co.uk: Goodwin, Opher: 9781678850661: Books

Extract: Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years Paperback

Posted on December 24, 2024December 24, 2024 by Opher

Foreword

I’ve known Nick Harper for most of his life. I was a young student living the bohemian life of the sixties underground and he was the young son of Roy Harper. I’d just been knocked for six by Roy’s take on music, society and the universe at large and he invited me round to glimpse his life. Nick was part of it.

Since then I’ve been a teacher, writer, parent, partner, traveller and avid devotee of rock music.

I love guitar playing. When it comes to guitar playing I have seen all the greats up close playing in small halls – from Jimi Hendrix to Bert Jansch, Jimmy Page to Peter Green, Davy Graham to Eric Clapton; but there is one who stands out for me. His sheer brilliance is beyond anything else I have seen. What Nick Harper can do with a guitar is magical.

To quote Rob Adams from the Glasgow Herald – ‘If you haven’t heard Nick Harper you are missing out on one of the musical phenomenons of our age.’

The strange thing is that the bending of the strings, the tuning and retuning of strings within songs, the creation of new upside down chords and even the surround sound delay is never a gimmick. It isn’t showing off. It actually works to create great music and the tricks are integral parts of the songs that always add to the composition. He is recreating the sounds in his head. Nick expands upon the possibility and generates extensions of improbability.

I have only ever seen one person capable of such a thing and he was Jimi Hendrix. Nick’s limitation, as with Jimi, is merely the extent of his imagination. It goes without saying that Nick’s imagination is of the scope of galaxies. It is phenomenal.

I have been fortunate to observe Nick’s talents develop over decades and I never get tired of the crispness and range that his fingers tease or pound. He can make the guitar thunder or trill with delicate melodies. Nick produces music you can get lost in.

Photo – Jules R Angel

If it were only the guitar playing it would be wonderful. However he is so much more. Nick marries this instrumental genius to a voice that is incredible in range and texture and a song-writing ability that is up there with the best. He now has a catalogue of songs that would challenge any great songwriter of our time. The content is both poetic and meaningful. What more could you possibly ask for?

Nick’s live performances are impressive. He is a showman who deploys wit and cutting humour along with sharp observation. He is a warm, sensitive but forceful man whose sensibilities are complex, always intelligent and forthright. You never get short-changed at a Nick gig. He puts his soul into it.

Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years: Amazon.co.uk: Goodwin, Opher: 9781678850661: Books