Wikipedia entry:
Henry the Human Fly was the first solo album by British singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson. It was originally released in Britain in April 1972 on the Island label. The album was Thompson’s attempt to create a uniquely English rock ‘n roll hybrid. It was panned by critics on its British release, and when Warner Bros. Records released it in the USA it became, so legend has it, the worst selling album ever on that label. Over the years the album has acquired a reputation as a brave if eccentric debut by a young artist. In 2004 it was finally remastered and released on CD by the Fledg’ling label (Hannibal records in North America).
All Music Guide entry:
Fans and critics alike seemed to have a difficult time getting a handle on Thompson’s new direction, which, for the most part, eschews the electric guitar that had been an integral part of the British folk-rock he had helped forge with his former band Fairport Convention. With the exception of a couple of short instrumental breaks and various electric shadings, Thompson’s Stratocaster defers to accordions, fiddles, whistles, dulcimers, harps, and his own acoustic guitar. The songs, which are more idiosyncratic than his Fairport output, are the primary focus. Cuts such as "The Poor Ditching Boy," "The New St. George," and "The Old Changing Way" have the timelessness of the best traditional material Fairport had been mining in the past, while "Roll Over Vaughn Williams," with its swirling electric guitar, and the accordion and electric guitar interplay of the folk-rocker "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" are prime examples of Thompson’s vision of fusing the old and the new. At the time of its release, Henry the Human Fly, with its fresh, yet eccentric take on folk and rock, along with tales of "poor ditching boys," racehorses, tinkers, "painted ladies," and weddings where "nobody’s wed" was not a fashionable record, but like the bulk of Richard Thompson’s work, it transcends times and trends. Linda Peters (Thompson), Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings, and John Kirkpatrick guest.
by Brett Hartenbach