Henry the Human Fly is the debut solo album by Richard Thompson, his first release following his leaving former group Fairport Convention.[8][9] It was released on the Island label in the U.K. and the Reprise label in the U.S.A. in April 1972. The album was reissued by Rykodisc in 1991.[6]
Thompson has stated that at one point this was the worst-selling album in the Warner Bros. catalog.[10][8]
The Spin Alternative Record Guide called the songs "tinged with perversity and populated by oddballs," writing that it "reveals Thompson as the one Fairporter most fiercely determined to redefine folk rock at every turn."[7]
Mojo counted Henry the Human Fly as one of the hundred greatest guitar albums ever produced.[12]