''Descendants of Smith'' is the fourteenth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Roy Harper, released in 1988. In 1994 it was re-issued under the title, ''Garden of Uranium'' with an identical track list but new cover artwork.

History

As a

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...

on the music media, whom Harper thought did not give him or his music fair or considered reviews, Harper sent out 3

promo Promo or promos may refer to: Promotions and advertising *Promo (media), a form of commercial advertising used to promote television or radio programs *Promo (professional wrestling), a televised interview in which a wrestler's on-screen personali ...

versions of his

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Laughing Inside" using

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

s of his own name; 'Per Yarroh' a Norwegian classical avant garde composer, 'Rory Phare' a

lounge lizard A lounge lizard is a man who frequents social establishments with the intention of seducing a woman with his flattery and deceptive charm. The term is reported to have arisen around 1915 in New York. A 1931 book described them as men " nthe habit o ...

and trendy art designer and 'Harry Rope' a

Hells Angel The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporati ...

. Music magazines were sent the 7" single, along with an accompanying fake

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

describing the artist they were being introduced to. An employee from

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

interviewed Per Yarroh and apparently fell for the publicity stunt "hook, line and sinker". When interviewed, Harper elaborated; "as she wrote up the interview in the office, an old timer heard the record and asked what she was doing on Roy Harper? She'd loved the record originally, but then turned right around and wrote the most vindictive piece about me. I also had loads of radio lined up, but as soon as they found out it was me they all cancelled. Being called Roy Harper is the biggest artistic drawback in my career."

Track listing

''All tracks credited to Roy Harper, except'' Laughing Inside ''- Roy Harper/

Nick Harper Nick Harper (born 22 June 1965) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the son of English folk musician Roy Harper. Early life Harper was born in London, England, to the folk singer-songwriter Roy Harper. Nick tells of how he ...

Side one

#"Laughing Inside" – 4:15 #"Garden of Uranium" – 4:03 #"Still Life" – 4:47 #"Pinches of Salt" – 3:07 #"Desert Island" – 4:20

Side two

#"Government Surplus" – 2:21 #"Surplus Liquorice" – 0:39 #"Liquorice Alltime" – 3:43 #"

Maile ''Alyxia stellata'', known as ''maile'' in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, ''Apocynaceae'', that is native to Hawaii. It grows as either a twining liana, scandent shrub, or small erect shrub, and is one of the f ...

Lei" – 4:34 #"Same Shoes" – 4:15 #"Descendants of Smith" – 3:49

CD bonus track

#"Laughing Inside (Rough and Ready version)" – 4:10

Personnel

* Roy Harper –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Jacqui Turner –

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

* Stuart Elliot * Tony Franklin * Nik Green *

Kevin McAlea Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

Mark Ramsden Mark Ramsden (born 13 July 1956, Liverpool, England) is a British writer, composer, producer and musician. He studied at Leeds Music College before becoming a professional saxophonist and flautist. Since finishing his education he has been activ ...

References

External links

Roy Harper official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Descendants Of Smith Roy Harper (singer) albums 1988 albums EMI Records albums