Harpers Bizarre: As Time Goes By (1976) '92 Century Records Japanese CD Issue MEGA RARE

In 1976 the original line up of Harpers Bizarre reunited for one last album, this time without co-lead singer/songwriter Ted Templeman. I'm guessing Templeman was busy with his other projects, as he had become a successful staff producer at Warner Bros. Records in the 70s and was producing acts like the Doobie Brothers, Van Morisson and Van Halen. You'd think with the absence of Templeman and their original producer Lenny Waronker, who was very instrumental in shaping their sound, that this album would be a bit of a dud. But you'd be wrong.

It's as if the Harpers had seemingly picked up where they had left off in 1969 as this album retains that classic retro-pop sound infused with old timey Americana, albeit updated with some 70s production values, that the Harpers were known for. Dick Scoppetone, the other vocalist and songwriter from the original lineup, takes over as the leader of the group here and sings lead and harmonies on every track and does a fine job. As far as I know, the only studio musicians that played on this record were the brass, string and keyboard sections, which is a big change from their 60s period, where studio musicians played most of the instrumental parts (with the exception being the '69 album Harpers Bizarre 4).

The material chosen here is fantastic, and perfectly suited to the Harper's tastes and abilities. The lead off track "Cowboy" is an exceptional song, the best on the album. It's a rollicking ride across the old west, with a big bold trumpet section, flutes and a fantastic vocal performance from Scoppetone. Other highlights are the Ragtime throwbacks "Society Strut" and "Down at Papa Joe's", the Spector-meets-Nilsson tropicalia vibe of "Banana King Louie" and the stunningly mellow and jazzy "Speak Low". The band didn't write any of the material here, mostly choosing songs from old movie soundtracks and lesser known songs from contemporary songwriters, but again, it's stuff that suits this band perfectly.

Another thing that is interesting about this record, is that it's the first time you can definitively make out Dick Scoppetone's voice, as their older material was sung by Templeman and Scoppetone in unison making it hard to distinguish whose voice was whose. Scoppetone's voice, which really remains intact from the early Harper's era of the 60s, even almost a decade later, immediately reminds me of Curt Boettcher's voice, particularly later era Curt. The album also reveals that Harpers Bizarre were much more of a real band than history would have you believe, as the material and arrangements and focus on early Americana are pretty consistent with what they were doing with Lenny Waronker, who was seen as the puppet-master of the band, so to speak.

This album was released on a small label called the Forest Bay Company in '76 and it went pretty much nowhere commercially, although I have heard that it was a minor success in Canada for a short while. It's never been reissued legitimately since, and original vinyl copies are almost impossible to track down leaving this album pretty much forgotten. Fortunately, Century Records, a specialty Japanese label, released what is basically a bootleg copy of the album on CD back in 1992. It features different artwork than the original LP had, hence the naked ladies. It does sound like this CD was probably sourced from a vinyl copy as opposed to master tapes, but the sound is pretty decent throughout, although I'm sure an original vinyl copy would probably sound a little better. This CD is out of print and isn't really able to be found outside of Japan so I'm presenting it here, ripped from the CD by EAC into 320vbr using LAME 3.98, .LOG file included. Enjoy this rare treat!

Get the album HERE

-Casey