Valentine - ROY HARPER***

Forbidden Fruit/Male Chauvinist Pig Blues/I'll See You Again/Twelve Hours Of Sunset/Acapulco Gold/ Commune/Magic Woman (Liberation Shuffle)/Che/North Country/(Don't You Think We're) Forever

Valentine from folk artist Roy Harper is a collection of songs about the many forms of love. Some of the tracks introduce an element of progressive hard rock. (UK:27)

“Valentine is often overshadowed by Harper's more ambitious 70s recordings, but its charms lie in the subtlety and quality of its somewhat more conventionally-constructed songs. Once you've had a taste of singer/songwriter material that's this varied and deep, it's hard to settle for anything less.”

“It's a collection of outtakes from that era, but it holds together as well as most of his albums, and the songwriting is Harper at his best even though it's rejected material.”

“Finally shedding his proclivity for singer/songwriter style material, this one is a good mix of folk-rock and progressive hard rock, with quality and imaginative song writing.”

“This is a beautiful album which I am very fond of, with intelligent observations on the human condition, wonderful voice, fantastic melodies, uplifting and a joy to listen to.”

“As soon as opener Forbidden Fruit chimed winsomely from my speakers for the first time I knew I was in for a treat. When you think about it, the credentials for this album couldn't be better: Singer/songwiter performs a collection of songs about the many forms of love.”

“A collection of love songs, but there is nothing predictable or sloppy here. These songs have truth, tenderness, anger, frustration, humour, and loads of bittersweet twists and turns to keep you interested. Some of the tracks rock out very nicely with assistance from Roy's heavy friends, but mostly the feel of this album is gentle, acoustic (very fine guitar as always from Roy), which is quite seductive. A favourite of mine for unwinding.”

“This album is an excellent collection of songs, though it's not as cohesive, it's probably more accessible to most listeners, and has more individual songs. Throughout the album are well-crafted melodies, deep, personal lyrics, and varied themes.”