Unhinged (album)
Encyclopedia
Unhinged is a 1993 live album
by English
folk
/rock
singer-songwriter
Roy Harper
.
The album features 12 of the 14 tracks originally released on 1992s limited edition (2,000) cassette
release Born in Captivity II
. The tracks 'running order' has been altered from the original cassette
version too.
Harper's son Nick Harper
, makes guest appearances playing guitar
on a number of songs, and English
cricketer
Graeme Fowler
makes an appearance playing drums
on the song "Hope".
The CD was reissued with a different cover
in 1995 on Harper's label, Science Friction
(HUCD020). Again, two tracks (one song, "Short and Sweet" and one poem, "Yet") were omitted from the CD reissue. The album has remained popular with Harper fans due to its sound quality, song selection and the standard of performance recorded. It is very true to the 'live experience' .
The albums title Unhinged, was a play on the title of the popular MTV series, "Unplugged"
.
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
by English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
/rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Roy Harper
Roy Harper
Roy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
.
History
Initially the album, recorded at various concerts in the UK between 1989 and 1991, was intended as an introductory album for the Canadian market, at a time when Harper appeared to be contemplating a move to the North American continent.The album features 12 of the 14 tracks originally released on 1992s limited edition (2,000) cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
release Born in Captivity II
Born in Captivity II
Born in Captivity II is a 1992 live album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter Roy Harper.- History :The album was released as a limited edition cassette available by mail order. Though the album is out of print, it has remained popular with Harper fans due to its sound quality, song selection...
. The tracks 'running order' has been altered from the original cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
version too.
Harper's son Nick Harper
Nick Harper
Nick Harper is an English singer-songwriter/guitarist. He is the son of English folk musician Roy Harper.-Early life:Nick Harper was born in London in 1965 to the famous folk singer-songwriter Roy Harper...
, makes guest appearances playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
on a number of songs, and English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
Graeme Fowler
Graeme Fowler
Graeme "Foxy" Fowler is a former English professional cricketer, who played for Lancashire, England, and later for Durham...
makes an appearance playing drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
on the song "Hope".
The CD was reissued with a different cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
in 1995 on Harper's label, Science Friction
Science Friction
Science Friction is an English record label established by English singer-songwriter Roy Harper in 1993 in order to release his back catalogue of recorded music. Generally, all CD releases are prefixed by the coding "HUCD0..."-Albums by catalogue number:...
(HUCD020). Again, two tracks (one song, "Short and Sweet" and one poem, "Yet") were omitted from the CD reissue. The album has remained popular with Harper fans due to its sound quality, song selection and the standard of performance recorded. It is very true to the 'live experience' .
The albums title Unhinged, was a play on the title of the popular MTV series, "Unplugged"
MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
.
Track listing
- "Descendants Of Smith" - 5:13 (Wulfrun Hall, WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
- November 29, 1991) - "Legend" - 3:05 (Bloomsbury Theatre, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- May 31, 1990) - "North Country" - 6:07 (Wulfrun Hall, WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
- November 29, 1991) - "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The CreaseWhen An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease"When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease" is a track on the Roy Harper album HQ. Released as a single twice, in 1975 and 1978, it is possibly Roy's best-known song. The song captures the atmosphere of a village cricket match and is an elegy to a previous age...
" - 6:31 (Wulfrun Hall, WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
- November 29, 1991) - "Three Hundred WordsThree Hundred Words"Three Hundred Words" for some, is probably a minor, insubstantial piece of poetry, but it showcases a number of Roy Harper's literary techniques and characteristics, and is worthy of further consideration....
" - 2:52, 5b. "Hope" - 5:34 (Forum Theatre, WythenshaweWythenshaweWythenshawe is a district in the south of the city of Manchester, England.Formerly part of the administrative county of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner...
, ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
- November 17, 1991) - "Naked Flame" - 5:33 (Bloomsbury Theatre, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- June 1, 1990) - "Commune" - 4:53 (Bloomsbury Theatre, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- June 1, 1990) - "South Africa" - 5:39 (Bloomsbury Theatre, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- May 31, 1990) - "Back To The Stones" - 5:25 (The Queens Hall, EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
- November 11, 1989) - "Frozen Moment" - 8:12 (Civic Theatre, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
- November 10, 1989) - "Highway Blues" - 5:41 (Wulfrun Hall, WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
- November 29, 1991) - "The Same Old Rock" - 10:36 (Forum Theatre, WythenshaweWythenshaweWythenshawe is a district in the south of the city of Manchester, England.Formerly part of the administrative county of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner...
, ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
- November 17, 1991)
Personnel
- Roy HarperRoy HarperRoy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
- GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Nick HarperNick HarperNick Harper is an English singer-songwriter/guitarist. He is the son of English folk musician Roy Harper.-Early life:Nick Harper was born in London in 1965 to the famous folk singer-songwriter Roy Harper...
- GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Graeme FowlerGraeme FowlerGraeme "Foxy" Fowler is a former English professional cricketer, who played for Lancashire, England, and later for Durham...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....