| Once | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1990 | |||
| Recorded | Harper's home in Lincolnshire | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 41:38 | |||
| Label | IRS Records, Awareness Records | |||
| Producer | Roy Harper | |||
| Roy Harper chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Once is the 16th studio album by English rock/folk singer-songwriter Roy Harper, released in 1990. [2]
David Gilmour, Kate Bush, Nick Harper and Nigel Mazlyn Jones appear on the album, with both Gilmour and Bush on the title track. [3]
The track "The Black Cloud of Islam" is a despairing castigation of radical Islam. The song provoked some criticism, to which Harper responded, in 2006, when he wrote: "I let my guard slip. I knew that I’d let it slip. I wanted it to slip. I was absolutely sick of being politically correct. I am not politically correct, I never have been..". [4] His stated reason for penning the song was his "feelings of despair" about his "worst dreams coming true" about religion gaining ground. Religion, he stated on his personal blog, was something he regarded with the "deepest possible suspicion" and now, to his horror, he could see it "about to storm the world" and "take over whole swathes of humanity"; a thought that he detested and made him "want to die on the spot". [4] In a later interview with The Daily Telegraph , the matter of this song was raised. Harper asserted that he wrote the song "as a liberal, not as a racist" and was inspired to do so by the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing. [5]
The opening verse of "Berliners" is the 4th stanza of Laurence Binyon's "Ode of Remembrance", and is preceded by a recording of a Remembrance Day ceremony where the same stanza was recited. The song also uses a BBC news broadcast describing the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Harper supported the release of the album by touring the UK. One of the concerts took place at the Dominion Theatre (a West End theatre on Tottenham Court Road in the London Borough of Camden) and was filmed. The concert took place on 22 November 1990, the same night Margaret Thatcher announced her resignation as Prime Minister which Harper referenced closing the concert by stating "...it's been a day to remember on many levels, it can only get better...if you can spoke the wheel of the present authority, then do it as quickly as possible, we need a change...". The concert film was later released as Roy Harper Once – Live.
All tracks composed by Roy Harper
Catherine Bush is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a self-written song. Bush has since released 25 UK Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hits "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", "Babooshka", "Running Up That Hill", "Don't Give Up", and "King of the Mountain". All nine of her studio albums reached the UK Top 10, with all but one reaching the top five, including the UK number one albums Never for Ever (1980), Hounds of Love (1985) and the greatest hits compilation The Whole Story (1986). She was the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist to enter the album chart at number one.
David Jon Gilmour is an English musician, 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.”
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright, which appeared in Pink Floyd's 1975 concept album Wish You Were Here. The song is written about and dedicated to founder member Syd Barrett, who departed from the band in 1968 after dealing with mental problems and substance abuse.
Nigel Mazlyn Jones is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter.
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".
This Woman's Work: Anthology 1978–1990 is a compilation box set by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. Released in 1990 on CD, vinyl and cassette; it comprises her six studio albums to that point together with two additional albums of B-sides, rarities and remixes. The box set was re-released, on CD only, in 1998 in different packaging. It was not released in the US mainly due to The Sensual World being released there by Columbia Records.
"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.
Jon Carin is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. He has collaborated with acts including Pink Floyd, the Who, Eddie Vedder, Kate Bush and Richard Butler.
"One Slip" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
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.
Anthony James Franklin is an English rock musician, best known for his work on the fretless bass guitar with Roy Harper, The Firm, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, John Sykes' Blue Murder, David Gilmour, Kate Bush, Whitesnake, Lou Gramm and most recently with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Counter Culture is a 2005 compilation double album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter Roy Harper featuring 25 classic Roy Harper songs, cherry picked according to his mood in April 2005. This collection spans 35 years of song writing and is intended as an introduction for anyone who's not sure where to start with Harper's music. This compilation features a number of guest musicians, including; Jimmy Page, Bill Bruford, Ronnie Lane, David Gilmour, Kate Bush and Nick Harper.
Hats Off is a 2001 compilation album by Roy Harper featuring 14 of Harper's own songs "...accompanied by some of rock's most legendary performers.".
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.
"Cowgirl in the Sand" is a song written by Neil Young and first released on his 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Young has included live versions of the song on several albums and on the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album 4 Way Street. It has also been covered by The Byrds on their self-titled album. Like three other songs from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, "Cinnamon Girl", "Down by the River" and the title track, Young wrote "Cowgirl in the Sand" while he was suffering from the flu with a high fever at his home in Topanga, California.
Answers to Nothing is the second solo studio album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, released in August 1988 by Chrysalis Records. It was the first release by Ure following the demise of Ultravox.
Flat Baroque and Berserk is the fourth album by English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper, and was first released in 1970 by Harvest Records.
Death or Glory? is the 17th studio album by Roy Harper and was released in 1992 following the end of his nine-year relationship.
