Robert Plant @ Barrowland, Glasgow 23rd October 2002 - Support reviews
For full reviews of Robert Plant and the following in context, go to
http://www.linwood.demon.co.uk/rp231002.html

From Michael Brett - A few words about opener Nick Harper. Rarely have I seen a support act grabbing an audience the way he did. From the off, the audience were enthralled by the sheer exuberance of his playing and they stayed with him throughout. He left to loud cheers.

From George Clarke - I arrived upstairs just in time to catch the end of Nick Harper's set and,to be honest,when I first heard him I thought he was a woman! I didn't see enough of Harper to give a decent appraisal,but I can tell you that he has an extremely high pitched voice and he plays acoustic guitar so aggressively that you'd think he is trying to harm his instrument!

From Steve Mostyn - What a night of history - starting with the guitar string breaking, breathless Nick Harper who has the same resonant vocals as his old man Roy - Led Zeppelin's mentor. Nick went down well with some Zep inspired riffs that fired up an eager crowd - go see him.

From Tim Bennett - And the support, well to be honest I wasn't particularly bothered about catching him, but I'm so glad I did, what a player, Nick Harper stirred the crowds loins, a great performance, will be buying his music too.

From Stephen Pollock - Nick Harper was supporting and his socialist lyrics, Jeff Buckley style vocal gymnastics and punk strumming set the crowed alight. What a guitarist! - that boys' got more chords than "Wranglers."

Live at SemiFinal in Helsinki
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20021029IE18
Culture - Tuesday 29.10.2002
Serendipity Part II: Nick Harper (guitar, vocal) at Semifinal By William Moore
Photo and caption - http://www.helsinki-hs.net/picpage.asp?IsoID=4K9AIhrpG

When I was younger, I would go to rock concerts on a regular weekly basis. Growing up in England in the late 60s and early 70s was something of a luxury for anyone with an interest in what is today known as "classic rock", a vague musical genre which continues to play an important part in the fare put out by the likes of Radio City in Helsinki.
   
On any given Saturday night a teenager could - without too much effort or distance travelled - get to see now-legendary acts like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Cream, Free, Van Morrison, Traffic, or The Who, and even people like the Allman Brothers, Captain Beefheart, and the Grateful Dead showed up every so often for festivals and short tours.
   
Of course, if you set your sights lower, it was possible back then to find people who were not yet household names, but might soon become so: the delights of bemused students seeing a little-known Jimi Hendrix performing in a university dining-hall in February 1967 (alas, I was too young, but I saw the plaque on the wall), of Bob Marley and the Wailers jamming in a club not much bigger than a living-room, of the late lamented Ian Dury down the pub, or the lovably eccentric folk-rocker and guitarist extraordinaire Roy Harper, one of those people whom richer and more famous artists were forever talking about, but for whom "cult status" was the best that life offered. Coming to Finland changed everything, in rather strange ways. On the one hand the supply dried up, with peripheral location and the "semi-island" nature of the country - that sea journey from Sweden lugging all the equipment - limiting the number of touring artists. They got to Stockholm, but at that point they often turned around and went home.
   
Then again, when a few brave souls did come along, they generally played in much more intimate, humane venues than they would have picked in England or the U.S. In a sense it was a step back to the old days, with "name" artists showing up at places like Tavastia, an excellent rough and ready hall with general admission for around 700. The performers often relished the return to something more club-like, with a direct audience contact, and Finnish rock fans welcomed them and even on some occasions actually stopped slurping beer to listen.

As age has crept up, I find I go to concerts relatively seldom, and following two diametrically-opposed lines of approach: on the one hand there is the frantic dialling and redialling of busy phone lines to secure hot tickets months in advance, even for gigs in Stockholm or farther afield, and on the other a sort of whimsical last-minute decision to go out for the hell of it instead of watching the sparkle-box, often without knowing anything about what I am to see and hear.

The idea to go and see Nick Harper at SemiFinal (one of those living-room venues with a capacity of about 100 and a stage on which a four-piece band starts looking uncomfortably cramped) belonged in the latter "serendipitous" category.
   
I knew absolutely nothing about him except he was the son of a semi-famous father, but a brief announcement in Helsingin Sanomat's weekend review asserted that as a guitarist he was "better than his Dad". This in itself is uncommon, since few rock scions have been able to fill their parents' shoes, but considering that the elder Harper was himself something of an axe-hero phenomenon, the claim was a bold one. But it was spot-on. I can say that in more than 30 years of attending these things, I have never heard anyone - or anything - like this, with the possible exception of Leo Kottke, who already bears the ponderous mantle of "acoustic guitar virtuoso". It was breathtaking, and left me wondering why on earth there were only around 70 of us there to witness it.
   
Not only was the 36-year-old Mr Harper quite capable of turning his guitar from an innocuous but delightful Segovia-plays-Villa-Lobos instrument to a serious weapon of mass destruction in seconds, he was also charming, more amusing than most stand-up comics, modest as hell, and he seems to have an ability to write and deliver songs that are quite the equal of his acerbic father. In fact in the vocals, often stretched, often echo-supported, there was a stronger family resemblance than in his instrumental work, which was all his own.
   
He slipped adroitly from touching love ditties via The Galaxy Song (of Monty Python fame) into searing political rant as easily as he chatted up the audience and discussed Liverpool's 2-1 win over Tottenham while restringing his battered Lowden acoustic. The poor instrument succumbed three times during an electrifying performance of Building Our Own Temple; apparently this is pretty normal. During several songs he de-tuned or re-tuned the guitar as he played, dropping gorgeous harmonics like autumn leaves and then ripping out juggernaut percussive riffs, and all with this kind of boyish chemistry-set "Let's-see-what-happens-if-I-try... THIS" attitude. At one point, he completely cocked up the echo settings on his vocal mike, but seemed just as delighted with the result, milking it rather than getting irritated by the technological snafu.
   
It was very infectious stuff, and I found myself thinking that this was one man who could really cross that impossible chasm between playing for an old folks' home and at a headbangers' ball. Just when we imagined he'd done most everything our mothers told us never to do with an acoustic guitar, he floored everybody by producing a more than passable impression of Led Zeppelin's (yes, all four of them!) Whole Lotta Love during a riotous work-out on the old Elvis warhorse Guitar Man.
   
Jaws dropped, grown men wept into their beer, and people were grinning from ear to ear at the sheer unaffected joy of the fellow, who was clearly enjoying himself as much as his audience were.
   
For his encore, he plugged in, strummed a chord or two, then said "Awww...shit, no...", and instead wandered out unamplified into the audience, serenading several women and their surprised escorts with something called You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me. Balls of brass.
   
After the closing act's set, while the equipment was being packed away, Harper sat at the drum-kit used by Markus Nordenstreng and the Latebirds (interesting in their own right, though in my view the set was mixed overly loud), and happily bashed out the percussion accompaniment to the music coming off the house P.A., while his array of things to hit was gradually whittled down to a single cymbal. It was that kind of evening. 2.30 am and nobody seemed to want to go home. To be able to experience all this
up close and personal and with no advance hype or preconceptions was so refreshing and so unusual that I felt a need to write about it, even if it has precious little to do with the normal content of this paper.
   
In a world of crass commercialism and no-talent artists who are created by and ultimately often destroyed by the media, the knowledge that there are still unsung musicians out there who could knock them six different ways from Sunday without recourse to MTV is reassuring in the extreme.
   
I was not alone. The rest of the audience, who appeared to be a 50/50 mix of the just-curious and the converted (several had actually made the trip from abroad and English seemed at times to be the dominant language being spoken), were equally gob-smacked by what they heard. Nick Harper may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I'd hate to see him through binoculars performing in a stadium, but the sooner someone picks up the phone and gets him back to Finland to play for a larger crowd - are you listening there at the Helsinki Festival? - the better for the mental health of this country.
   
It would be a crying shame if we had to wait the 25 years since his father last showed up here. Or then again, someone could invite them both, and next time he could actually remember to bring a few promotional CDs with him.

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Just how much punishment can an ordinary acoustic guitar take? Nick Harper does things to his that would have had Segovia weeping into his Rioja. The top surface is even scuffed by his manically wielded plectrum outside the area protected by the sliver of tortoiseshell below the sound hole.

But from this basic, if electrically customised instrument, Harper extracts the most astonishing range of sounds, from hard rocking that would not have disgraced Led Zeppelin, to a delicate, Villa-Lobos-like prelude of his own called Like Punk Never Happened.

Guitar enthusiasts have been hailing the undiscovered genius of Nick (son of Roy) Harper for the best part of a decade. He remains, however, outside the mainstream for a number of reasons which, if there were any justice, ought to be recommendations rather than limitations.

Part of it is that he is much more interesting live, when he plays alone, than on his several records which have a more conventional backing band. He is about to release a live double CD which may help.

More especially, his own music, which is what he mostly plays, is neither sentimental nor simple.

Harmonically and melodically, it is sophisticated and full of surprises. There are progressions in there which require a lot more than three chords. Lyrically the songs are often clever on a line by line basis and serious overall.

Even the love songs, such as She Rules My World, have an edge to them and there are others, such as Karmageddon, about the planet, about ecology or about geo-politics. One of them is introduced with a macabre fairy tale of breaking into Ariel Sharon's bedroom, extracting part of his brain and injecting it into his songbook. The resulting Song of Madness ends with the madness going away and calm returning. So he is an optimist as well.

You get the impression that he is happiest simply playing his guitar but his voice is distinctive and he stretches and mangles it almost as much as the guitar.

And although mostly he chooses not to, he can play to the gallery. He broke off to pick out Happy Birthday to a member of the audience (ina distant echos of Jimi Hendrix playing The Star-Spangled Banner) and then hammed up a disco number on a solo acoustic guitar - I told you he did extraordinary things with it). Altogether it is an uncompromising sort of performance and it would be perfectly possible to dislike it. But Harper has so much musicianship in him that it just leaks out all over the place. An acquired taste which may be worth acquiring.

Robet Dawson Scott

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As well as being a fantastic album, and I use the word in the literal as well as the descriptive sense, Double Life serves another function. Those who have seen him live can use it as a confirmation that they saw and heard what they thought they did. Those who haven’t should use it as a sharp reminder not to miss him when the opportunity next arises.

Perhaps the easiest way to sum up Nick Harper is to call him a force of nature, the sheer weight of ideas in his music make him irresistible and unstoppable.

There is a trio of songs on disc 2 that for me show the myriad of facets to Harper’s music. Building Our Own Temple is a near 10-minute explosion of guitar, Janet and John is Harper the writer with an unerring ability for the sideways look at life, all rounded off by the wonderfully poignant Crazy Boy, written for his father Roy. In it Harper lays open his feelings.

Lurking just outside this ‘holy trinity’ lies the Guitar Man (Whole Lotta Love Mix) the madcap, irreverent rocker kicking over the monoliths of the past.

Harper is one of those rare musicians that not only embrace music’s big picture but squeeze the last gasp of air out of it. The stunning Kilty Stone, the hilariously manic Galaxy Song from Monty Python, all come effortlessly to him. And the acerbic social conscience Ian’t far away, The Magnificent G7 shows that little or nothing escapes his pen or plectrum.

When all this is couched in a voice packed with honest emotion, and underpinned by a playing talent that at times is awe inspiring, Harper the performer is a fearsome weapon.

And by the way all those effects you can hear, they are all him and all done live. Phenomenal? You bet your life.

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Fans will delight in the habitual phasing of Holst, Public Enemy, Killing Joke, Kool and the Gang et al into his own intelligent, superbly melodic songs; the familiar covers of Monty Python (The Galaxy Song) and Elvis/Led Zeppelin (Guitar Man-Whole Lotta Love); and the inevitable broken guitar string replacements, twice carried out while he continues to sing like a linnet.

New listeners should prepare to be captivated by a colossal talent.

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5/5   14 August 2001
Reviewer: Benny Placido   Country: UK
I have seen the past, present and future of music and Nick Harper is it's name. Well actually I said that about his dad some years ago, but I live in hope that the world will actually learn to love music that's powerful, emotional, poetic, challenging and other words which make it sound pretentious and dull, which it isn't. Above all Nick is a simply brilliant guitarist, with a sure and powerful technique that towards the end of his last show on sunday ended up with the death of two of his strings on the trusty old Lowden guitar he plays. Yet he played on. What professionalism, what skill, what a cheap set of strings. The only tragedy is that you won't see him again at this festival, Sunday was the last gig, but catch him on his upcoming tour, you won't be sorry. Maybe someone could keep a spare set of strings around for him.
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5/5   Gets my Best of Fringe award 13 August 2001
Reviewer: Paulabear   Country: Scotland
I've been a fan of Nick's for a few years now, but it was great to be able to see him at the Festival for the first time (well, okay, quite a few times!). I know the shows are over now, but it's really worth seeing him whenever you can when he's in your area - he's one of the most gifted, charming, versatile, beguiling as well as laugh-out-loud-funny performers you'll ever see. Anyone with any different adjectives is welcome to add to this description. :)
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5/5   weapon of sound 10 August 2001
Reviewer: douglas charles-ridler   Country: england
wow this harper man can play guitar. i have never seen one man create so much noise to enjoy! a thorough exibition in guitar skills which deserve a bigger stage and a voice that can send shivers down your spine.put this together with a strong set of songs and a far bit of banter and you truely have a gig to remember. a rare talent indeed.
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5/5   I'll be coming back for more!! 9 August 2001
Reviewer: Harry Farmer  
Superb!! a performer that deserves a bigger audience - he had this venue screaming for more!!! book me a front row seat....NOW!!

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0/5   Hats Off To Harper 8 August 2001
Reviewer: Drew McAdam   Country: Scotland

NB: this is a copy of the Edinburgh Evening News review - as written by me
Nick Harper Komedia, Nicolson Street STAR RATING: FIVE

The fact that Nick Harper is one of the country's great-undiscovered talents was borne out by the fact that it was the reviewers who were the most vocal in making their requests known. And it's easy to see why Harper is held in such high regard. Firstly, there is his there is his rich, velvety and amazingly powerful voice. Then there is his breathtaking acoustic guitar work that utilises every technique known, and some that aren’t. His technique of slackening and tightening strings during play, and the necessity for quick re-tuning, often while mid-song, calls for locking banjo pegs on each string. This allows him to create a host of effects from simple bends to complex melodic runs that incorporate open harmonics. The heavy-duty base string of his specially adapted Lowden guitar would not be out of place on a cello, producing a booming percussion effect that could crack open a paving slab.

But what Harper manages to convey more than anything is his outrageous sense of fun. He is a natural comic with a mischievous boy-next-door look that is absolutely charming and captivating. Besides his obvious talents as a singer/songwriter, he loves playing games with the audience. From time to time he will unplug his guitar and take time out to serenade a member of the audience. He is even happy to mess around with a digital sampler, producing wacky sounds as a backdrop for his songs. In one heart stopping moment, he played a bang on version Whole Lotta Love, complete with screaming vocals. And it was done live, before your very eyes. Jaws dropped. Yet he makes it look infuriatingly simple.

Blistering chord runs and a rapid succession of licks demonstrate that he can heckle and harass the very best from his guitar. Yet this is offset with constant banter and an exuberance that is incredibly infectious.

But there was more to Nick’s performance than intricate and elegant guitar work that openly reflects shades of Led Zeppelin, Killing Joke and Steven Stills. From the first pluck of a string until the last dying chord, he played games with the audience. One moment chatting and joking as though with old friends, the next making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up with exquisite material such as Crazy Boy and The Verse That Time Forgot.

Inimitable showman Harper has a gigantic talent and a repertoire of well-crafted songs, some stunningly beautiful and others a fun-filled frolic with notes and lyrics. Added to this are a few surprises - you never know what he's going to do next. It all adds up to a full package of dazzling entertainment. It's a show that crackles with merrymaking, firmly grounded in musical excellence.

Run through: Aug 3-5, 8, 10-12 Drew McAdam
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5/5   Let me entertain you 6 August 2001
Reviewer: Doug Henderson   Country: Scotland
Singer-songwriter Nick Harper is a hidden gem at the Komedia venue based at Southside. A packed house on Sunday in the Cabaret Bar were left enthralled and delighted by this fantastic show. There's a difficult balancing act between displaying mastery of any musical instrument and putting on a show for the audience. Harper manages to do both with stunning guitar skills, great self-penned material and a true commitment to giving VFM to the audience. Mixing up an Elvis cover, bit of rap, an Eric Idle song, though mostly his own beautifully crafted songs, he delivers a superb hour and a half. He deserves a bigger venue and a bigger audience but don't just take my word for it, I overheard this from another audience member after the show : "That guy was absolutely brilliant!"

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GIG review * * * *

Son of the legendary Stoner hero Roy, Nick Harper has successfully emerged from beneath that paternal shadow in recent years, gaining widespread recognition as a gifted singer songwriter in his own right, as well as a singularly skilled and inventive guitarist.

Though occasionally a touch too loudly abrasive, his instrumental prowess certainly proves mighty impressive, employing a welter of techniques on his customised acoustic six-string - picking and stopping with both hands, explosive percussive strumming, thunderous basslines, slide style licks bent with tuning pegs, echo, delay and live sequencing effects - to create soundscapes of tremendous scale, density and power. His voice too, is a similarly versatile instrument, ranging from a rippling dreamily melancholic floatiness reminiscent of The Neville Brothers to a Led Zep-esque banshee howl.

Continuing the family tradition of eloquent protest songs, his set features a good sprinkling of politically inclined material, including the scathing The Magnificent G7 and Out Of It - the latter a mischievously titled but ninth less bile-fuelled indictment of consumerism and environmental despoliation. Elsewhere, Harper celebrates the troubadour's life in Guitar Man, mused gently on the dreamstate between waking and sleep in Radio Silence, and plaintively on the songwriting process itself in The Verse Time Forgot, his singing in the last number recalling the fragile melancholy of Thom Yorke.

Harper's easy-going, unassuming stage patter contrasts nicely with the commanding intensity of his music, but despite this touch of diffidence, there is no doubt we are watching a major talent at work.

Sue Wilson

A subdued opening from the artist also known as Harpic. By which you may deduce that he performed his Elvis-meets-Led Zeppelin medley - Guitar Man tumbling into Whole Lotta Love, on which he out-Plants Plant and, sorry, turns over Page - from the stage rather than atop some unsuspecting soul's table.

Not that this betrays any lack of wholeheartedness. Singer-songwriter-guitarists don't get any more committed - or any better - than this. Whether he's ruminating on political ineffectiveness or regretting a hangover, Harper gives his very considerable all. Today this includes Janet and John, whose primary-school-book connotations hide a caustic energetic, and cleverly hilarious rant on vanity surgery, pacifism and jargon and a masterclass with his latest gadget which allows whole choirs of Harpic's swishing sounds to be constructed in situ.

Warning though: anyone considering a "musician hiding behind technology" argument here, forget it. Unplugged, Harper has the goods to spare: a phenomenal guitar artistry and a voice as persuasive as it is agile. Just ask the woman he serenaded on his strolling player finale. I'll bet she hasn't stopped smiling yet.

Rob Adams

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Third album from son of Roy, executively produced by Glenn Tilbrook

If imagination, energy and bags of talent were the only factors in making a successful pop career, few would deny that Squeeze man Glenn Tilbrook has backed a winner in Nick Harper. As it is, perhaps Tilbrook's label is well named but then the sense of Harper (no relation) that exudes from this record is that of a man who thrives on the thrill of the chase and the constant touring of small venues that such entails. His press materials' depiction of a man 'steeped in tradition and yet completely contemporary' feels absolutely right: The Verse That Time Forgot, a beautiful, poignant and mesmerising thing, might be equal parts Lewis Carroll and father Roy's Another Day but it's followed by Happy Man, a barnstorming slice of nouveau-Oasis with added A Levels. Comparisons with Roy are unavoidable, as with Tim and Jeff Buckley, but while Nick exhibits a similarly maverick undercurrent, his writing's elevated, yet never ring-fenced, by a more consistent pop slant. Splendid stuff.

Colin Harper

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Rock 'n' Reel Magazine NICK HARPER - HARPERSPACE (Quixotic)
The latest album release from Nick is still a distinct studio production,while not suffering from the occasional excesses of 'Smithereens'. It starts deceptively, though, with the dreamy acoustic tones of 'The Verse TimeForgot', before the rather powerful indie-pop style onslaught of 'Happy Days
', 'Aeroplane' and 'Karmageddon' rips your senses away. Nick wears his"son-of-Roy" mantle lightly and unassumingly, and he's always been a strikingly original talent in his own right ('Harperspace' being an entirely appropriate label for his unique sound-world). His own singing style is strongly individual, while his playing is both superbly virtuosic and inventive (not just on acoustic guitar), and his songwriting displays real attitude that's sharp, well observed and highly relevant, not in the least offputting. And he's got a great way with words. Much as I appreciated Nick's skill at arranging more complex instrumental textures, I found the less texturally busy and more reflective moments even more enthralling, such as 'Roomspin' (which also features Lawrence Davies' horn playing), 'There Is
Magic In This World', and the sweetly bleak yet attractive 'Watching The Stars'. A very fine album indeed, no mistake. (Available from PO Box 12695, London SE10 9ZJ, or www.harperspace.com)

David Kidman

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Eclipsed By The Son

There are moments on the disc when - and the young Mr Harper will, very probably, not thank me for mentioning this - he sounds just like his old man. Mind you, when the old man's one of the most exciting, baffling, frustrating and just plain ornery artists of the past 30-odd years, that's no bad thing. A son - or daughter, for that matter - stepping from the shadows of a famous/successful parent is always a bold and a brave move.

Arguably the most successful son of a famous father was Jeff Buckley but sadly, like his dad Tim, he met a premature death. Others to shine not quite so bright as their dazzling dads have included Sean Lennon; Rufus Wainwright, son of Loudon; Richard Thompson's boy, Teddy; and Jason Bonham, son of Bonzo, Led Zeppelin's larger-than-life drummer. On the evidence of Harperspace, Roy could be on the way to being eclipsed by the son.

The Verse Time Forgot kicks off the album in a quiet, acoustic guitar and voice kind of a way in which a low-key Harper sings of a beautiful girl he'll visit "in place that is no place, in an age that has no clock, where the years wont touch her face" - a mythical land to which we'd all like to escape on occasion.

Track two's Happy Man comes as a bit of a jolt after the gentle introduction of the opening song. Kicking in with a screaming keyboard motif, a staccato acoustic guitar riff builds beneath the vocal until bass and drums flesh out the sound. Harking back to the John Bonham reference, Roy Harper always had a link with Led Zep Inc and Happy Man has a definite feel of Bonham, Page, Jones and Plant about it. It's one of my favourite tracks on the album - but then I am looking forward to seeing Robert Plant with his new lineup next month.

Aeroplane is a bright, joyous, uptempo, good-time work-out; musically, at least. Lyrically it's a little darker. Harper sings "Remembering my dad, grabbing hold of my feet, swinging me round' before delving into personal retrospection. The track boasts the skills of south London lad Glenn Tilbrook, half of the Squeeze songwriting team, on bass and keyboards; and, keeping the south London link alive, the mixing and post-production work were carried out at a Blackheath studio.

Nothing But Love is a slower affair and nicely shows off Harper's guitar skills, adroitly picking out the melody in a nice jazzy way. In fact, virtually the whole album is confirmation of his instrumental prowess as, aside from the occasional bass , drums, keys and French horn, he makes, as it says on the back of the booklet, "all other noises".

Two songs - Kettledrum Heart and Song Of Madness - perhaps go some way to outlining the darker side to Harper's character. On Kettledrum Heart he sings "How I've tried to sway from wrong but to err is in my genes; I'm not a set of songs, I'm the man in between."

Like Roy before him, while being perfectly at ease with just his guitar for accompaniment, Harper is neither inclined nor prepared to be shackled to the solo performer format and seems just as happy (man) with a big, fat band sound behind him. Harperspace is a mature and confident record that's not afraid to open up and it bodes well for the future of "son of Roy".

Fred Hall

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NICK HARPER - LIVE AT THE GROVE, LEEDS - 4TH NOVEMBER 1999

An unbelievably packed house for Nick, who had just returned from 5 weeks in the gool old US of A. Jetlagged he may have been, but both instrumentally and vocally he seemed totally unimpaired, playing a blinder of a set lasting close on 2 hours with no break. Nick wears his "son of Roy" mantle unassumingly; sure, there are similarities in vocal style and delivery, and just occasionally in lyric treatment, but the often meandering ramblings of father are here inhabited by a different energy, channelled into a positive, forthright and focussed thrust.

Nick's controlled rant is coupled with a strong instrumental presence (not for nothing has he been dubbed "the Hendrix of the acoustic guitar"). As well as performing songs from the whole range of his recorded output, Nick premired a few new songs to great acclaim, also Frank Zappa's 'Titties And Beer' (complete with astonishing vocal characterisations) and even the Monty Python 'Galaxy Song' (on which the audience participation even drowned Nick himself out!). Not only is Nick a brilliant and resourceful player, a natural virtuoso, with a punk sensibility in the modal thrash and tricky runs, but he's a brilliant vocalist too, with amazing range and control (holding on impossibly tocadences on the wonderfully desperate 'Radio Silence').

Against all the odds, he writes some fine love songs too. And the gig presented a chance to hear some of those amazing songs from 'Smithereens' shorn of the extra instrumentation, allowing their true power full rein. With a totally attentive crowd, it was an absolutely stunning gig - and only one string broken (during the encore at that!!!). Nick's CDs are impressive enough, but he's really at his best live. Go see!

NICK HARPER - INSTRUMENTAL (Sangraal)

After the production excesses of Nick's last full-length CD 'Smithereens', the latest from "son-of" is an antidote, a 7-track 24-minute effort which showcases Nick's considerable talents as acoustic guitarist on a set of self-composed pieces. This time round, these are in the main fairly gentle, though certainly not instantly forgettable, and display a great deal of delicacy and inventiveness, particularly in the use of harmonics. The revisit of 'Riverside' (from 'Light At The End Of The Kennel') features Nick's trusty 11-string with some robust playing that defines his stylish approach. Just to confuse matters, and with a typically Harperesque perversity, the CD's final track, though titled 'Instrumental', features a vocal (it's a "snipe at apathy" - familiar description or what?!). Harper's bizarre maybe, not exactly weird, but certainly wonderful.

David Kidman

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Sunday was Eric Bibb day. The day of Eric Bibb.

I found myself not wanting to do anything but sit and wait at the very front of the Main Stage until 7:30pm, just passing time listening to the likes of Arnie Cottrel and Tim Payne doing ballady Dylan covers and absorbing the Bap Kennedy Band's country guitar antics - I probably would have done had it not been for the lovely Nick Harper.

I just had one of those feelings as soon as I walked into the Big Top that Nick Harper was going to be something a little bit different. The floor was carpeted with sitting humans and it was a struggle to find a space. It seems Nick Harper always generates this kind of interest, for his line of performance treads on the dangerous boundaries that stand between the comedian's comical song, and the serious musician's ballad. His dad is Roy Harper, the famous side-kick to many a great band.

There is nothing "normal" about Nick Harper, and at times the audience had no idea whether they should be laughing or admiring his ferocious guitar thrashing, de-tuning abilities. And in doing absurd impressions of Led Zeppelin there was laughter and then, amazement - Wow! How did he do that? We just don't know, no idea, remarkable! - He's endearing, finger pickin', and writes songs about "mid-wake, mid-sleep, life and the universe and everything ..."

If this was a science lesson Nick Harper would be a liquid or a gas, for he bears no shape, no set style and no set pattern, and he most definitely proved to be one of the most purely entertaining performers of the festival.

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Nick Harper, 'Smithereens' Quixotic Records * * * * *

Nick has bought in Glenn Tilbrook (SQUEEZE) to produce this album resulting in something new and exiting but still full of the haunting beauty you'd expect from this guitar genius and wizard of a songsmith. A must.

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Nick Harper, 'Smithereens' Ratings 4 1/2 out of 5 or somewhere between a sunny Sunday and a scorching hot Saturday.

It's hard to believe that this is only Nick's second full-length album. It would take many singer-songwriters years to make a stylistic leap of the magnitude shown here. Okay, he's had the help of Glenn Tilbrook at the production helm, but even so the inclusion of indie-rock backing bands and jungle style samples is a long way from the meaningful meanderings of 1995's 'Seed'. But Nick's skill as a songwriter still shines through, from the sociopolitical cynicism of 'Magnificent G-Seven' to the laid-back relationship angst of 'Two Way Thing'. Guitar-wise, it's nice to hear his electric playing coming to the fore too. The Jerry Jones baritone guitar is not normally associated with big rock lead sounds, but Nick pulls it off. I've always said that every acoustic guitarist should get into Nick Harper, and now electric players have got no excuse either.

Joe Bennett

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NICK HARPER - 'Smithereens' Nick was last featured in TG way back in issue 11. Now he's back with a new album, a UK tour and a set of .015 gauge strings. JOE BENNETT braves the bends to talk to him.

Nick Harper has been busy. In the past two years he has recorded a new album, done two national tours and managed to cram in 18 months on the road with Squeeze. Mainman Glenn Tilbrook was so impressed by Nick's songs that he offered to produce his album.

"It was great having Glenn produce; it was a chance for me to put my ego to bed and listen to someone else. For example, on track 'Smithereens' he got me playing a really raucous lead guitar through a Fender Twin with a band, and then we ended up with this big kind of indie sound."

For anyone unfamiliar with Nick's previous albums, this is strange talk. Not only does he play predominantly fingerstyle, but he also drops his guitar tunings down, often as low as a perfect fifth. "I drop the whole guitar down to A. It comes from being on the road with my dad (legendary singer-songwriter Roy Harper)É as the years went on his voice got lower and lower and we just kept dropping the tunings. I actually tune lower than he does now - I just got to love the sound."

The other unusual thing about his technique is the tuning pegs - he uses locking banjo pegs on each string to create everything from simple bends to complex melodic runs with open harmonics.

Nick is just coming to the end of a 30-date acoustic UK tour to see how his new material is received; "I love gigging and meeting people, so I'm prepared for it. I want to keep doing this for as long as I can, I don't want to be a flash in the pan - so, as long as the songs don't dry up and I don't get arthritis, I'll be around for a while yet."

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NICK HARPER - 'Smithereens' (Quixotic)

Were success earned purely on singing, songwriting and guitar playing talent, Harper would be a megastar. Produced by Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook, this tightly-focused, band-based third album courts mainstream radio plays without compromising lyrical intelligence on everything from parenthood to politics, straddling electropop to torch song while the acoustic title track gives a flavour of Harper's devastating solo concerts.

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NICK HARPER - 'Smithereens' (Quixotic)

It seems a shame that talented musicians such as Nick Harper are largely unheard of. Smithereens is full of quality tracks such as 'The Tyger', 'Out of It' and 'The Magnificent G-Seven' with clever lyrics and intricate guitar work.

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NICK HARPER - Finn & Firkin, Birmingham 7 May 1998

His voice often spookily reminiscent of father Roy (especially on 'Ghost of Her Touch'), he also shares his distinctive Englishness, guitar wizardry and knack for off kilter songs. New album 'Smithereens' (Quixotic) branches out musically, exploring jazz trippy beats ('In Our Times'), crunching rock pop textures ('My Baby'), choppy Lennonesque blues ('Twisted'), and even d'n'b (the decidedly 'Out of It') as well as familiar introspective acoustic.

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