Work of Heart is the 11th studio album by English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper and was first released in 1982.

History

The original album was released on Harper's own label, Public Records, formed with Mark Thompson, (son of historian and nuclear campaigner E.P. Thompson). Additionally, the album was chosen by Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times as "Album of the Year" in 1982. The demo version of this album was later released (in 1984) on a limited edition (830 copies) vinyl release, titled Born in Captivity. The sound of Born in Captivity being more typical of previous Harper recordings; featuring him and guitar only. Whilst Harper describes this period as his musical career nadir, it came at a time of the zenith for the United Kingdom hi-fi industry. Harper released a very limited number of so-called "Real-Time Mastered" compact audio cassette copies of the Work of Heart album. Unlike mass-market cassettes which at the time were produced at high speed from a multi-generational copy of the master, these issues were transcribed in real time from the original two track studio master tape. To eke maximum sound quality from this technique, the tape stock used was high quality Maxell Type I ferric oxide stock in conjunction with Dolby B Noise Reduction. Work of Heart together with Born in Captivity form the double CD version of this album currently available.

Track listing

All tracks credited to Roy Harper

Side one

Side two

1994 double CD reissue

Disc one – Born in Captivity

Disc two – Work of Heart

(* The songs "Jack of Hearts" and "No Woman is safe" are basically the same, containing identical lyrics.)

Personnel