Henry the Human Fly (Reis) [Import, Original recording remastered]

Richard Thompson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 12, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 1972
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Fledg'ling UK
• ASIN: B0002F16JC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,095 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Roll Over Vaughan Williams

2. Nobody's Wedding

3. The Poor Ditching Boy

4. Shaky Nancy

5. The Angels Took My Racehorse Away

6. Wheely Down

7. The New St. George

8. Painted Ladies

9. Cold Feet

10. Mary & Joseph

11. The Old Changing Way

12. Twisted

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As lead guitarist for Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson had helped steer a band that initially emulated American rockers like Jefferson Airplane into an authentic British folk rock institution, swiftly evolving as a powerful songwriter ready to dip back into his own heritage for models. Thompson's first solo album finds him ranging through ballads, jigs, and reels as comfortably as he once had tackled Dylan and Joni Mitchell, tapping British brass bands and reviving old ballad forms and pre-industrial imagery to make his point. From "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" to the jubilant surfer-at-the-track spree of "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away," he gives ample evidence of the musicianship and intelligence that have since made him a cornerstone of folk rock regardless of nationality. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

UK reissue of the folk-rock singer/songwriter's 1972 album. Fledgling. 2004.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful odessey!, October 2, 2004

By 

T. A. Shepherd "tas50l" (Lancaster, Ca. 93536) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henry the Human Fly (Reis) (Audio CD)

Despite the fact that this recording has the indelible reputation of being the worst selling album in the Warner Brothers catalog, it stands up with any of its classic contemporary recordings, and here's why. Thompson had just departed the greatest folk rock band of all time, Fairport Convention, just one year after Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings. The band just could not contain his enormous talented knack for writing original material based on traditional Scottish themes. Take Liege and Lief's Crazy Man Michael (1969), for instance. There's a story that continues all the way to Rumor and Sigh's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (1991). Henry kicks off like gangbusters with Roll Over Vaughn Williams and one never knows if it nods to Williams or Chuck Berry or both! The listener is bombared with electric notes at a mile a minute--I wouldn't doubt he used every note on that strat of his. Shakey Nancy brings up some of the best Celtic music in the genre, and features Sandy Denny playing some pretty piano. The Angels Took My Racehorse Away is a hilarious take on the death of a thoroughbred with an unlikely pairing of country rock-a-billy guitar licks with John Kirkpatric's accordian working a cajun twist. Backing vocals ably supplied by Sandy and Linda, this is one of the album's standout tracks. The Old Changing Way is a timely piece about sharing in time of need, while The Poor Ditching Boy is a lament on an untrue lover. Vocals are twisted with rage and sadness in his ballads and deadpanned in the lighter tracks such as Twisted. Humor abounds here with Cold Feet and Nobody's Wedding with the traditional Maire's Wedding jig tagged on. Shady characters such as Alice the Butcher and the wild boy chopping up the floor add all the intrigue of a Hitchcock mystery. A woman's shape is likened to the topography of a country side village in Wheely Down. Although this is Richard's first album proper, he handles this song cycle like a seasoned pro. Here is an album that, to the uninitiated, is strange at first hearing, but the returning listener is rewarded with a beautiful odessey. (Richard is a veteran of over 40 albums from 1968 to present under his own name, Fairport and two under French, Frith, Kaiser & Thompson. He has contributed on probably hundreds of albums in addition. One of the most under-appreciated guitar players, he has been compared to everyone from Eric Clapton to Django Reinhardt. He comes highly recommended by the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Elvis Costello.)

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Squashed Bug, November 1, 2002

By 

K. H. Orton (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starring Henry the Human Fly (Audio CD)

Richard Thompson's first solo album has a lot to recommend it. Not only was it the worst selling album in Warner Bros. history, it was pretty much panned across the board. To top it all off, it's nearly out of print at the moment. I'm sure the Halloween get up on the cover didn't help either. All the more reason to seek this out. No self respecting Richard Thompson fan is complete without it.

It's no surpise that he doesn't quite shake off his Fairport trappings. Most of the band can be found in the credits. Yet, Thompson still manages to find his own voice while keeping Fairport's Medievil contrivences at bay. Mordant, playful and arcanely witty, HENRY is a perfect introduction to "rock's best kept secret". Here, Thompson's able to flesh out what was hinted at in his last outing with Fairport. "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" was certainly a highlight off of FULL HOUSE and it would have been right at home on HENRY.

While "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" does nothing for Thompson's Doom & Gloom reputation, it's a memorable start. Imagine the reel & jig of Fairport's signature sound cut with early, more acoustic Black Sabbath. If Thompson was concerned with mainstream success, why kick off your first album with a refrain like "live in fear! live in fear!"

"Nobody's Wedding" might come off as a little too cute for it's own good but haunting lines like "why is the wild boy chopping up the floor" come to the rescue. "The Poor Ditching Boy" ranks as one of Thompson's most underrated ballads. Thompson's skill really comes to fore on this one, preceeding later gems like "Beeswing" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" by 20 years.

"The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" may have escaped WATCHING THE DARK's retrospective notice but is nevertheless a Thompson classic. Still a staple in his live shows, his solo here will drop your jaw while his words rip out what's left of your heartstings. A near impossible feat in this day & age. Another neglected standout is "Wheely Down". With lyrics that sound swiped from some prophetic Book of Doom, he hints at a personal, almost inconsolable loss. "Mary & Joseph"'s demetented Salvation Army stylings give Tom Waits a run for his money long before SWORDFISH TROMBONES. By the album's end, you're left "sitting in a bar, face down in a jar". The last line you hear is, "something tells me, I'm twisted".

Not only does Thompson surpass his work with Fairport Convention here, he manages to establish a unique voice for himself. A voice precociously ahead of it's time. From his more recent collaborations with Mitchell Froom on down to classics like BRIGHT & SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS, Thompson travels in a world that is part Dickens, part Poe, and a little Monty Python. And yet, for all of HENRY's tinkers, whores and doomsaying, he still manages to be far more topical than the thousand or so Glam Rock bands of the time. A buried treasure.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all-time favorite albums, December 17, 2005

By 

B. Margolis (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Henry the Human Fly (Reis) (Audio CD)

In 1972, I found a promo copy of this album on Reprise. I knew him from Fairport Convention, and even though I was only luke-warm on many of his albums with his then-wife Linda, this album has stayed in my collection and I consider it one of the most perfect albums of the 1970's.

Everything just jells; cleverly written, rather strange songs, amazingly crisp, simple arrangements, and oh, that guitar work.

My favorite track is probably "Painted Ladies", which contains a wonderfully gloomy piano accompaniment by none other than the late Sandy Denny!

I have continually owned this album since 1972 and this Fledgling reissue is top notch. The sound is perfect and the packaging is terrific....and unlike the previous CD issue (on Hannibal), this one reinstates the wonderful liner notes about Gabriel and God....one of the most clever short-story notes ever found on the back of a record album!

Run out and snap up a copy for yourself.