| Folkjokeopus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 5 June 1969 | |||
| Recorded | England | |||
| Genre | Folk,progressive folk,folk baroque | |||
| Length | 47:57 | |||
| Label | Liberty LBS 83231 (UK) / World Pacific WPS 21888 (US) Science Friction HUCD009 | |||
| Producer | Shel Talmy | |||
| Roy Harper chronology | ||||
| ||||
Folkjokeopus is the thirdstudio album by the Englishfolk musicianRoy Harper. It was produced byShel Talmy and was first released in 1969 byLiberty Records.
The album is notable for the lengthy track "McGoohan's Blues", which Harper states was "inspired by actorPatrick McGoohan's depiction of the establishment rebel in his TV series,The Prisoner".[1] An extended, Dylanesquestrophic form accompanied only by Harper's guitar ("how the sea she roars with laughter/And howls with the dancing wind/To see my two feet standing here/questioning") suddenly segues, after over ten minutes, first into a brief, new and quieter theme and then into a full-band coda.
The searing falsetto of "She's the One" makes for one of Harper's most intense and moving recordings[citation needed] as manic guitar-strumming accompanies his scornful upbraiding of an acquaintance for his self-pitying insensitivity to a "wonderful wife" whom the singer sees and apparently loves as "a very beautiful young woman". Like "McGoohan's Blues", this track seems to merge two related but distinct songs.
"One for All" was dedicated totenor saxophonistAlbert Ayler, whom Harper had known inCopenhagen.[1] It includes a lengthy acoustic guitar solo. "Exercising Some Control" and "Manana" may be numbered among Harper's light-hearted crowd-pleasing songs, while "In the Time of Water" and theIncredible String Bandish "Composer of Life" are more experimental, the former featuring the sound of water and Harper's sitar. The opening "Sergeant Sunshine" features the voice of Jane Scrivener[2] while other contributing musicians includeNicky Hopkins,Ron Geesin, "Russ" on bass guitar and drummerClem Cattini. The American release swaps in two tracks, "Zaney Janey" and "Ballad of Songwriter",[3] for the original UK album's track, "One for All".[4]
The album title, along with the title of the Skip Spence record, was borrowed to provide the name of aMinneapolis record store,Oar Folkjokeopus.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [5] |
Richie Unterberger reviewing forAllmusic 40 years later noted "influences such asBob Dylan,Bert Jansch,Donovan, and possiblyAl Stewart" and praised Harper's "uniformly excellent" guitar work but criticised Folkjokeopus for being "sprawling and unwieldy".[6]
All songs written by Roy Harper
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sgt. Sunshine" | 3:04 |
| 2. | "She's the One" | 6:55 |
| 3. | "In the Time of Water" | 2:16 |
| 4. | "Composer of Life" | 2:26 |
| 5. | "One for All" | 8:11 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Exercising Some Control" | 2:50 |
| 7. | "McGoohan's Blues" | 17:55 |
| 8. | "Manana" | 4:20 |
The United States pressing on World Pacific replaces One For All with two other songs - Zaney Janey and Ballad of a songwriter.
