Music Review: Roy Harper & Jimmy Page - Jugula

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Roy Harper and Jimmy Page unite for the second time on Jugula, a futuristic science fiction project with Harper at the helm. Page turns in some fine guitar mastery but don’t expect anything as hard rocking as his Zeppelin work. Harper runs the gamut on this album from rock to folk while displaying his lyrical and vocal talents; he even gives his son Nick a shot at showing off his guitar skills, making it a family outing. It’s a ride that I took with little knowledge of what to expect, only knowing of Harper as the guy who’s in the title of Zeppelin’s “Hats Off To (Roy) Harper” but I’m glad I took the disc off of El Bicho’s desk.

The whole album has an Orwellian tinge of warning and despair, which I dig in general. I enjoy these kinds of outings packed with interesting lyrics and driven by guitars, acoustic or electric, and both are covered here with great detail and ease by two of rock’s best. Track one is an Orwell-inspired tune, “Nineteen Forty-Eightish.” Yeah, it’s a bit in reverse but you get the idea. Harper bends his voice around the words he sings and Page’s guitar madness, adding to the whole sound and feel of the tune. Harper at times hits an odd high-pitched tone and sometime warbles but on the other hand he can be very smooth and almost operatic, lending depth to his tale of a dark future as he pours out lines such as “Welcome to my nightmare/ I’m the Father, Son, and Whole Polluted System.” Not only a look to the “future” but a sideways glance at the current world and times, then (1985, when the album was originally released) and now.

“Bad Speech” is Harper doing a quick spoken-word piece putting forth a bit of his philosophy in his own poetic way. “Hope” is a drumbeat-laden track with more good guitar work and Harper’s vocal magic and deep haunting lyrics, such as “When you look at me/ from your own century/ I may seem to be strange archeology” and “When I caught you there in tomorrow’s mirror.” All the while the guitar hits strange licks, space-odyssey keyboard trip, and other percussive instruments soar and swirl in the background, heightening the hopeful sense of flight and falling.

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