Folkjokeopus – ROY HARPER***

Sgt Sunshine/She’s The One/In The Time Of Water/Composer Of Life/One For All/Exercising Some Control/ McGoohan’s Blues/Manana

Folkjokeopus was the third album from British folk rock singer Roy Harper. The extended track McGoohan’s Blues was a tribute to the actor Patrick McGoohan, star of the inscrutable TV series The Prisoner.

“Roy's third, and while nowhere near being his best album, it remains a personal favourite particularly for McGoohan's Blues inspired by The Prisoner. A couple of tracks here are a bit weak but that doesn't matter.”

“A bit of an improvement over its predecessor, this is still folk driven rock, but with some prog flavour and strongly reminiscent of early Bowie.”

“This is one of my favourite Roy albums. I love Sgt Sunshine and the sprawling McGoohan's Blues the best. It flows well from beginning to end. It's still a transitional album, but the experimental tracks (Composer Of Life/In The Time Of Water) wear their influences on their sleeves (Incredible String Band predominantly) and thus seem the weakest songs here in hindsight. But all in all a very fine effort, and a very listenable one.”

“A good album from Roy, strictly division one, but none the less still better than most of his peers. Not capable of making a dull album, full of quirky songs and bitter words with real venom on his political outings.”

“This is the album that established a personality for Harper. Despite the usual standout tracks, this album lacks a lot of steam and flow of some of Roy's other releases. It hasn't stood the test of time terribly well, nor is it a very chic relic from the past. Sgt. Sunshine and Exercising Some Control are my picks on this one, though a lot of Harper fans point to McGoohan's Blues.”

“Roy Harper's third album, Folkjokeopus, is everything its three-part title makes it out to be, mostly folk music, sometimes with a bit of folk rock, it contains a song that can only be described as an 'opus', and it's full of jokes. In many ways, this formula isn't very different from most Roy Harper classics, but this time around the joke material is spotty and, while the opus is classic, Folkjokeopus is wanting for more strong songs than it actually has.”