Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith – ROY HARPER***

Freak Street/You Don’t Need Money/Ageing Ravers/In A Beautiful Rambling Mess/All You Need Is/What You Have/Circle/Highgate Cemetery/ Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith

On his follow up album Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith Roy Harper begins the first tentative steps away from his folk beginnings towards the more progressive sound for which he is better remembered.

“The third track on this Roy Harper's second album is called In A Beautiful Rambling Mess and that sums this album up. It was released on CBS in 1967 - when major record companies still took risks.”

“Classic Harper with his acoustic guitar and occasional orchestra. Check out the middle-eastern guitar jamming on Freak Street.”

“This one does not feature any of his hard rock material and is consequently off the pace. Soft acoustic folk and folk rock - that's it.”

“A more distinct style appears, and notably on the superb closer. The album is inconsistent, but on early work this is rather a good sign. And am I crazy for hearing some prog elements?”

“This LP always gets overshadowed by Roy's later albums on Liberty and Harvest, and as such doesn't receive the credit it deserves. This LP is a progression from Sophisticated Beggar, but much gentler and folky than the following LPs which cemented Roy's reputation.”

“On Harper's second album, he strode further into folk-rock as opposed to folk, with sympathetic production from Shel Talmy; there was light electric backing and drums, as well as occasional orchestration. He remained, however, overly verbose, his observational lyrics tending to jam too many thoughts into too little time.”

“It is music that demands a lot of concentration to apprehend, and ultimately doesn't fully reward the effort, the listener's attention tending to drift off amidst Harper's inscrutability. Especially befuddling are the epic length cuts, Circle and the title track, which try to make a grand point, but are only intermittently interesting winding roads, the pseudo-humorous spoken dialogue in Circle falling especially flat. He is best when he is most restrained, as on All You Need Is and What You Have."