''The Unknown Soldier'' is the tenth studio album by English

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

/ rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper. It was first released in 1980 by

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

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 Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) 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 ...

duets with Harper on one of those tracks.

History

The album was originally released on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

label (SHVL820) in 1980 (also Harvest ST6474 (CAN) and

Electrola Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano. History On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Compan ...

1C06407259 (FRG)). In 1998 the album was reissued on Harper's Science Friction label (HUCD031). Whilst duets are not commonplace on Roy Harper albums,

accompanies Harper on the song "You". The song "Short and Sweet" features David Gilmour on guitar and is also found on Gilmour's first solo album, '' David Gilmour'', released two years earlier. Harper also sang the song as a guest at one of Gilmour's 1984 concerts in London. In fact, Gilmour plays guitar on most of the album's ten songs and co-wrote five of them. Harper providing the lyrics and Gilmour the music. Originally, the songs "I'm in Love with You", "Ten Years Ago" and "The Flycatcher", were to be released on the proposed earlier (1978–79) Harper album, '' Commercial Breaks''. However, a dispute between Harper and

meant ''Commercial Breaks'' was not released until 1994. These three songs were re-recorded for ''The Unknown Soldier'', and vary slightly from their original demo composition.

Track listing

''All tracks credited to Roy Harper except where indicated''

Side one

#"Playing Games" (Harper, David Gilmour) – 3:12 #"I'm In Love With You" – 3:45 #"The Flycatcher" – 4:10 #"You" (The Game Part II) (Harper, Gilmour) – 4:37 #"Old Faces" (Harper, Gilmour) – 4:09

Side two

#"Short and Sweet" (Harper, Gilmour) – 6:28 #"First Thing in the Morning" – 3:40 #"The Unknown Soldier" – 3:33 #"Ten Years Ago" – 3:35 #"True Story" (Harper, Gilmour) – 4:50

Personnel

* Roy Harper – vocals Additional performers *

– vocals * David Gilmour – guitar * Andy Roberts – guitar * Steve Broughton – guitar *Hugh Burns – guitar *Sal DiTroia – guitar * B. J. Cole – steel guitar *

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1 ...

(misspelled Toni Levin) – bass *

Jimmy Bain James Stewart Bain (19 December 1947 – 23 January 2016) was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo ...

– bass *Will Lee – bass *David Lawson – keyboards *

Pete Wingfield William Peter Wingfield (born 7 May 1948) is an English record producer, keyboard player, songwriter, singer and music journalist. Career Whilst at Sussex University Wingfield and three other students formed the group Jellybread. In 1969, he ...

– keyboards *

Don Grolnick Don Grolnick (September 23, 1947 – June 1, 1996) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and record producer. He was a member of the groups Steps Ahead and Dreams, both with Michael Brecker, and played often with the Brecker Brothers. As a sess ...

– keyboards *

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

: orchestrations *

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– percussion * Andy Newmark – percussion *George Constantino *Jim Cuomo *Timmy Donald *

Neil Jason Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...

*Joe Partridge *Sara Pozzo *Dave Scance Technical personnel *

Peter Jenner Peter Julian Jenner (born 3 March 1943) is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises. Early career Peter Jenner is the son of Willia ...

– executive producer, producer *Chris Briggs – assistant executive producer *Roy Harper – producer,

sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

design and photography * Haydn Bendall –

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, reproductio ...

, assistant producer *

John Tropea John Tropea (pronounced 'tro-pay'; born January 7, 1946) is an American guitarist. Career Tropea began guitar studies at the age of 12. His musical education continued at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz guitar, harmo ...

– assistant producer * Stephen Galfas – assistant producer *Cliff Hodson – sound engineer *Danny Dawson – sound engineer *John Barrett – sound engineer *Phil Ault – sound engineer *Adrian Boot – sleeve design and photography *Peter Shepherd – additional sleeve design (German and Canadian release) *

Gered Mankowitz Gered Mankowitz (born 3 August 1946) is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from The Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry, i ...

– additional photography (German and Canadian release)

References

External links

Roy Harper Official SiteVerdun Memorial Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unknown Soldier, The Roy Harper (singer) albums 1980 albums Harvest Records albums Albums produced by Peter Jenner Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios