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The Unknown Soldier is a 1980 album by Roy Harper and was his last on EMI's Harvest Records label. [1].
The album was originally released on EMI's Harvest Records label (SHVL820) in 1980 (also Harvest ST6474 (CAN) and Electrola 1C06407259 (FRG)). In 1998 the album was reissued on Harpers Science Friction label (HUCD031).
Whilst duets are not commonplace on Roy Harper albums, Kate Bush accompanies Harper on the song "You" to great effect. The song "Short and Sweet" features David Gilmour on guitar and is also found on Gilmour's first solo album, David Gilmour. In fact, Gilmour plays guitar on most of the songs and co-wrote five of the album's ten songs, Harper providing the lyrics and Gilmour the music. [2].
Originally, the songs "I'm In Love With You", "Ten Years Ago" and "The Flycatcher", were to be released on an earlier (1977) Harper album, Commercial Breaks. However, a dispute between Harper and EMI meant Commercial Breaks was not released until 1994. These three songs were re-recorded for The Unknown Soldier, and vary slightly from their original composition.
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Perhaps the most remarkable moment in...the making of this record was the trip... to the battlefield at Verdun in France to take the pictures for the sleeve...disembarking at Boulogne in an undrivable hired Rover with an arse-end three miles in the air and a steering wheel on the wrong side. We hurtled down France for half a day...at the end of which we walked, stoned and soaked, into a Pension and I asked for a room for the night in my schoolboy French. "Avez vous une chambre ce soir.... etc." And a lizard woman looked us up and down... What we saw the following day brought me to tears... A sea of graves, surmounted by a monument the like of which I'd never seen anywhere. In style, it is pure Art Deco, in deference it is Egyptian, and in effect it is devastating. And it is full of the bones of hundreds of thousands of men; visible through the windows of the basement around the building. We took the pictures, even though it seemed like a sacrilege. And isn't that the nature of our beast..? I can't remember the journey home, except for its silence. Roy Harper.[3] |
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[edit] Track listing
- "Playing Games" (Harper/Gilmour) – 3:12
- "I'm In Love With You" – 3:45
- "The Flycatcher" – 4:10
- "You" (The Game Part II) (Harper/Gilmour) – 4:37
- "Old Faces" (Harper/Gilmour) – 4:09
- "Short and Sweet" (Harper/Gilmour) – 6:28
- "First Thing in the Morning" – 3:40
- "The Unknown Soldier" – 3:33
- "Ten Years Ago" – 3:35
- "True Story" (Harper/Gilmour) – 3:50
[edit] Personnel
[edit] References
- ^ Roy Harper official site
- ^ Interview
- ^ Roy Harper official site
[edit] External links
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Roy Harper |
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Live albums
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Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion · In Between Every Line · Born in Captivity II · Unhinged · Live At Les Cousins · The BBC Tapes - Volume I (1969 - 1973) · The BBC Tapes - Volume II (In Concert 1974) · The BBC Tapes - Volume III (BBC Sessions 1974) · The BBC Tapes - Volume IV (In Concert 1975) · The BBC Tapes - Volume V (BBC Sessions 1975 - 1978) · The BBC Tapes - Volume VI (In Concert 1978 with Andy Roberts) · Royal Festival Hall Live - June 10th 2001
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Compilations, remixes, etc
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Collaborations
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Singles / 12" Singles / EPs
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Videography
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Stonehenge 84 · Live in your Living Room · Once · Beyond the Door
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Filmography
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