UPDATE: Harpers Bizarre: As Time Goes By (1976) SOURCED FROM ORIGINAL VINYL @ 320VBR HQ SOUND W/ SCANS

Remember that bootleg CD of that Harpers Bizarre album I uploaded a few days ago? Remember how I said original vinyl copies are almost impossible to find? Well, apparently I was wrong. I nearly had a seizure trying to contain my excitement as I stumbled upon a promotional copy in excellent condition at my local record store for an absurdly cheap price. Needless to say, I got home and immediately slapped it on my turn table and ripped it to .mp3. And as I expected, the sound quality on this original LP is vastly superior to that of the bootleg issued by Century Records in Japan, much less hiss and artificial volume boosting, this rip is just pure warm analog sound. This is a big find and is now the definitive way to enjoy this album, outside of owning your own an original vinyl pressing, and I'm really proud to be able to share it with everyone. I'm going to copy and paste my old review below in quotes. You can download the brand new rip here, ripped by EAC's .WAV editor and converted into high quality .mp3 @ 320vbr using dbpoweramp and lame 3.97. As always with my vinyl uploads, no EQing, no pop removal, just a flat transfer. I advise everyone who has enjoyed my previous upload of this record to re-download this as the sound quality here is just so much more pure (although there is a bit of surface noise at the very beginning of the intro, but it quickly ends before "Cowboy" begins): http://www.mediafire.com/?c5g69gq3007g90a

Original review:

"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."

By the way, I learned a little bit more about the Forest Bay Record company from inspecting the liner notes. It was a local Santa Cruz label (the Harpers hometown) and was run by James Scoppetone, who I can only assume was either the father, cousin or brother of the Harpers lead singer Dick Scoppetone. Don't know if they released an other material or if it was just used this once as a way for the band to have more control over their music and money. Interesting stuff nonetheless. Enjoy.

-Casey