Dream Society
By informal count, this is the 30th Roy Harper album to come out between the late '60s and the late '90s. His best work dates from the '70s, so it's more than a pleasure, and admittedly a little surprising, to listen toThe Dream Society. It is an older and wiser record, but no less absorbing; the songs are simply more disciplined and better crafted. The tender charm of "I Want to Be in Love" and "Broken Wing" show a vulnerability that is a welcome counterpoint to the cocksure cleverness of much of Harper's poetry. But he hasn't gone soft on us. "Drugs for Everybody," a song open to wide interpretation, suggests that the mischievous wit and the socialprovocateuris still alive in the onetime psychedelic troubadour. "Come the Revolution" is an eloquent, ironic look into the future, invoking Harper's eternal conflict between Utopian dream and Orwellian nightmare. "These Fifty Years," the cornerstone song of the album, is a lengthy, demanding, and exhilarating anthem of self-examination. For the first time in a long time, Harper seems sure of himself. After health, business, and personal setbacks, he is looking inward now as much as looking out.--John Sutton-Smith