Roy Harper
HQ

THE REVIEW

ROY HARPER - "HQ"

("When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease")

The year 1975 was the year of Roy Harper.

In those 12 months, David Gilmour called him for a vocal part on the Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here": Roy was entrusted with the lead vocals on "Have A Cigar". Shortly after, his eighth album "HQ" was released: almost 41 minutes of pure poetry, spread across 7 folk-rock tracks, which remains to this day his most awarded and, along with "Stormcock," his most famous work. Nevertheless, it never enjoyed great popularity (but musical injustices are endless...).

Side A opens with the more than 13 minutes of "The Game", which boasts the collaboration of artists of the caliber of David Gilmour and John Paul Jones, not exactly rookies of guitar and bass respectively: the result is excellent and very enjoyable. The second track is "The Spirit Lives", which is certainly not the best on the album, but it deserves several listens, as does "Growns Ups Are Just Silly Children".
Notable is the presence of Bill Bruford on percussion, providing a great artist's touch to all the songs except "The Game" where Steve Broughton is present. Thus ends the first part of the album, beautiful, but not exceptional.

Side B is instead a crescendo of emotions. It starts with the not-so-memorable "Referendum", but continues with the excellent love song "Forget me Not", which strongly recalls the inspired Bob Dylan and the golden times of Lennon. Then comes "Hallucinating Lights" which is pure folk, although the duration of 6:24 feels a bit excessive. The album closes with the title track (in the USA the album took this name) "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease". Without a doubt, it is the best song among the seven and is also Harper's most famous: a striking, intimate, poetic, and moving track. There's little more to add to describe it because words would be superfluous: instead, the advice is to listen to it, as it is a must for music lovers.

This is an album that touches the heart, and Roy with his voice gives even more emotions. After all, it's the same voice that allows us to fully enjoy "Have A Cigar", even though it's sad to be remembered only for this. "HQ" had and still has little notoriety, but at least you left your mark on a masterpiece remembered by all Pink Floyd lovers.

Thank you, folk master..