HQ | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 1975 | |||
Recorded | March 1975 | |||
Studio | Abbey Road Studios, London | |||
Genre | Folk rock, progressive folk, folk baroque | |||
Length | 40:41 | |||
Label | Harvest SHSP 4046 Chrysalis CHR 1105 Science Friction HUCD019 | |||
Producer | Peter Jenner | |||
Roy Harper chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | link |
HQ is the eighth studio album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper. It was first released in 1975 by Harvest Records. In the United States the album was released under the title When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, which is also the name of the LP's most popularly known track.
Harper considered HQ to be "...probably the best record that I have made to date" [1] and "...a great album made at one of the best times of my life" [2] Originally the album was to be called Blood From a Stone, but it was changed to avoid unwanted comparisons with Dylan's Blood on the Tracks . [3]
"The Game" features David Gilmour and John Paul Jones, playing lead guitar and bass respectively. [4]
The "scribble lark" referred to in "Forget Me Not" is an old country name for the yellowhammer. [5]
"When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease", one of Harper's best-known songs, features the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, arranged by David Bedford. [6] The song is about cricket and references contemporary players Geoffrey Boycott and John Snow, to whom it is dedicated. [7] [8]
The album's artwork was created by Hipgnosis. Of the artwork Harper stated: [9]
In reply to walking on water I should just like to say that the album sleeve design for HQ was given completely to Hipgnosis. When they presented me with the finished product I laughed and ok'd it on the spot. The picture was taken by Po Powell on the Isle of Skye. I have still not been to the Isle of Skye.
In 1975, HQ was awarded Record of the Year in Portugal, and received a similar award in Finland.
In 2012 the album was digitally remixed and re-released in a 24-page case bound booklet with new pictures, prose, poetry and a new sleeve design.
All tracks credited to Roy Harper.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Game (Parts 1–5)" | 13:42 |
2. | "The Spirit Lives" | 4:14 |
3. | "Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children" | 2:55 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
4. | "Referendum (Legend)" | 3:49 |
5. | "Forget Me Not" | 2:24 |
6. | "Hallucinating Light" | 6:24 |
7. | "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease" | 7:13 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
8. | "The Spirit Lives" (Early Mix, 23 March 1975) | |
9. | "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease" (Live in Exeter, 31 October 1977) | |
10. | "Hallucinating Light" (7" single version) |
David Jon Gilmour is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. Pink Floyd achieved international success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979) and The Final Cut (1983). By the early 1980s, they had become one of the highest-selling and most acclaimed acts in music history; by 2012, they had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, including 75 million in the United States. Following the departure of Roger Waters in 1985, Pink Floyd continued under Gilmour's leadership and released three more studio albums.
Roy Harper is an English folk rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has released 22 studio albums across a career that stretches back to 1966. As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive fingerstyle playing and lengthy, lyrical, complex compositions, reflecting his love of jazz and the poet John Keats. He was also the lead vocalist on Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar.”
Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, Wishbone Ash, UFO, 10cc, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Scorpions, The Nice, Paul McCartney & Wings, the Alan Parsons Project, Yes, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Electric Light Orchestra, Rainbow, Styx and Al Stewart.
About Face is the second solo studio album by English singer and musician David Gilmour, released on 5 March 1984 by Harvest in the UK and Columbia in the United States, a day before Gilmour's 38th birthday. Co-produced by Bob Ezrin and Gilmour, the album was recorded in 1983 at Pathé Marconi Studio, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. The lyrics of two tracks, "All Lovers Are Deranged" and "Love on the Air", were written by Pete Townshend of the Who. Townshend's version of "All Lovers Are Deranged" appears on his solo album Scoop 3.
David Gilmour is the debut solo studio album by Pink Floyd guitarist and co-lead vocalist David Gilmour, released on 26 May 1978. The album reached number 17 in the UK and number 29 on the Billboard US album charts; it was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. The album was produced by Gilmour, and consists mostly of blues and guitar-oriented rock songs, except for the piano-dominated ballad "So Far Away".
"Have a Cigar" is the third track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. It follows "Welcome to the Machine" and on the original LP opened side two. In some markets, the song was issued as a single. English folk-rock singer Roy Harper provided lead vocals on the song. It is one of only three Pink Floyd recordings with a guest singer on lead vocals, the others being "The Great Gig in the Sky" (1973) with Clare Torry and "Hey Hey Rise Up" (2022) with Andriy Khlyvnyuk. The song, written by Waters, is his critique of the rampant greed and cynicism so prevalent in the management of rock groups of that era.
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England. It was formed in 1917, as a leisure activity for the workers at the colliery, by members of the disbanded Cudworth Colliery Band. Along with the Black Dyke Mills Band, the band became the first to perform at the Proms. Grimethorpe Band achieved worldwide fame after appearing in the film Brassed Off.
Storm Elvin Thorgerson was an English graphic designer and music video director. He is best known for closely working with the group Pink Floyd through most of their career, and also created album or other art for Led Zeppelin, Phish, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Scorpions, UFO, Peter Gabriel, the Alan Parsons Project, Genesis, Yes, Kansas, Dream Theater, Muse, Audioslave, the Mars Volta, The Cranberries, Helloween, Ween, Shpongle and Catherine Wheel.
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The Unknown Soldier is the tenth studio album by English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper. It was first released in 1980 by Harvest Records and was his last release on the label. Half of the tracks were co-written with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, who also plays guitar on the album. Kate Bush duets with Harper on one of those tracks.
Unhinged is a 1993 live album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter Roy Harper.
Modern Times is Al Stewart's sixth studio album, released in 1975. The album was re-released in 2007 with bonus tracks. A further remastered edition was released by Esoteric Recordings in 2015.
"When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease" is a track on the Roy Harper album HQ, a prominent example of cricket poetry. Released as a single twice, in 1975 and 1978, it is possibly Harper's best-known song. The song captures the atmosphere of a village cricket match and is an elegy to the game as played during Harper's youth. It features Harper's 12-string acoustic guitar, and is backed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
"Three Hundred Words" is a poem that showcases a number of Roy Harper's literary techniques and characteristics.
Born in Captivity II is a 1992 live album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter Roy Harper.
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