Harper's first album, 1968's
Dreams and Images, was credited simply to "
Arthur"; for his second, even more obscure album, he used his full name,
Arthur Lee Harper, billing the LP to
Arthur Lee Harper With Second Coming. It's more forceful and slightly more rock-oriented than his debut, which isn't saying much, considering his first LP was about as featherweight a singer/songwriter recording as there was in the late '60s. The same flaws that kept him mired in collectors-only land, however, remained: the high, nervous voice and similar-sounding melancholy folky tunes that sounded sorry for themselves. Although there's some hippie-like straining for a new day in some of the lyrics, often his words seem to be trying to excuse himself from love affairs that are becoming a drag. On "I/Soldier/Time Love," he seems downright scaredy-cat in his cowed assertions that he wouldn't be much good at anything, almost as if his lack of confidence is a badge of honor. The high-pitched distorted fuzz guitar on "Annie Moore" is an anomalous echo of psychedelia in what for the most part is a low-key soft rock effort, the arrangements centered around acoustic guitars and some orchestration. The record was been combined with
Dreams and Images on a 2002 single-CD reissue on Papa's Choice.