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Thread: Barclay james harvest is 50

  1. #1

    Barclay james harvest is 50

    Barclay James harvest began as a sort of procol harum-meets-the-byrds outfit. Later it began to sound a bit like the Bee Gees. Now it is 50. It's always been a going concern, but for quite a few years it's been in two parts, one run by bass player Les Holroyd and one run by guitarist John Lees. Unlikely they'll be a joint birthday party this year.

    But for those who have loved this band it will be a special year. What albums should this interesting band be remembered for?

  2. #2
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    Of the later stuff, I always enjoyed Ring of Changes.

  3. #3
    Always had a weak spot for BJH. Their indisputable high point is Everyone Is Everybody Else, where everything came together - a perfect mix of their earlier, pastoral folk-prog and their more symphonic aspirations. Apart from that the albums I'm particularly fond of are Time Honored Ghosts, Gone to Earth (patchy but with amazing highlights) and of course Live Tapes. Octoberon has its moments but I think they overreached with that one. I'm also quite tolerant of their 80s albums. Ring of Changes is a fantastic prog-pop album and Turn of the Tide has its shining moments and a nice soundscape. With Victims of Circumstance they started losing the plot a bit, while it's still a pleasant album. They got into their Chicago/Toto wannabe phase, which is fine enough but when you don't have that West Coast groove it falls a bit flat. One thing they never lost though, was the knack for knocking out catchy pop melodies - both John and Les are very talented pop writers, and that's basically that BJH always was - a pop group, just padded out with some prog pretensions during the 70s. Kudos to Wolstenholme for blowing those tunes up to symphonic proportions. And speaking of him, while his swansong with the band, XII, was a generally weak album, it did have one of his best contributions to the band in In Search of England.

    Check out his own stuff too. Maestoso were great.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Jacob Holm-Lupo View Post
    Always had a weak spot for BJH. Their indisputable high point is Everyone Is Everybody Else, where everything came together - a perfect mix of their earlier, pastoral folk-prog and their more symphonic aspirations. Apart from that the albums I'm particularly fond of are Time Honored Ghosts, Gone to Earth (patchy but with amazing highlights) and of course Live Tapes. Octoberon has its moments but I think they overreached with that one. I'm also quite tolerant of their 80s albums. Ring of Changes is a fantastic prog-pop album and Turn of the Tide has its shining moments and a nice soundscape. With Victims of Circumstance they started losing the plot a bit, while it's still a pleasant album. They got into their Chicago/Toto wannabe phase, which is fine enough but when you don't have that West Coast groove it falls a bit flat. One thing they never lost though, was the knack for knocking out catchy pop melodies - both John and Les are very talented pop writers, and that's basically that BJH always was - a pop group, just padded out with some prog pretensions during the 70s. Kudos to Wolstenholme for blowing those tunes up to symphonic proportions. And speaking of him, while his swansong with the band, XII, was a generally weak album, it did have one of his best contributions to the band in In Search of England.

    Check out his own stuff too. Maestoso were great.
    Your thoughts are very interesting to me. I buy the idea that Barclay James Harvest was always at heart a pop group. In the spirit of the times, it embraced sprawling pieces on its early albums but if you look at the very first songs that were added to the re-release of its first album, they are two or three minute pop songs. Later on it released Life is for living, which is a perfect pop song I suppose; that's very well known but there were better pop songs from that era, such as Shadows on the sky (now turned into a mass sing-a-long in shows).

    Woolly could also turn out a pop song when he wanted. The Maestoso albums are studded with them, such as It's you, which is very commercial pop. What he brought to the albums of Barclay James Harvest was a sense of majesty.

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    ^I do think that, like Genesis, their innate ability to write strong melodies held them in good stead throughout the 80s. They did very well in Europe throughout the 80s and both versions of the band still pull in crowds there even now.

    Quote Originally Posted by lazland View Post
    Of the later stuff, I always enjoyed Ring of Changes.
    On this, I like the first and last tracks best- those are good enough to have been on their 70s albums. Otherwise it's a 'light' album but pleasant listening.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    ^I do think that, like Genesis, their innate ability to write strong melodies held them in good stead throughout the 80s. They did very well in Europe throughout the 80s and both versions of the band still pull in crowds there even now.



    On this, I like the first and last tracks best- those are good enough to have been on their 70s albums. Otherwise it's a 'light' album but pleasant listening.
    Fifties child, it's OK, but as good as John Lees songs from 70s like In my life or Hymn for children? He still sings it at his shows so must like it.

    John Lees solo album A major fancy is forgotten delight from 70s. Barclay James harvest's reputation does rest on those 70s albums, Other short stories, Time honoured ghosts, xii especially. 80s albums have pleasures of a different sort because Barclay James harvest still showed its great gift for melody. Last album North also has sumptuous chorus on title track.

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    Once Again and Everone Is Everybody Else are stone cold classics. Great band that never got any traction here in the US. They were the ultimate "tweeners" - sort of like Kayak or Supertramp were. Right up my alley in other words!

    I sure wish Holroyd and Lees would just kiss and make up (here's looking at you Steve Howe and Jon Anderson...)
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    ^There's far more chance of Anderson/Howe reconnecting than Lees/Holroyd. The latter two clashed throughout the 80s and they simply couldn't work together anymore by 1997/8. If you've heard the later albums, most of them are like two solo albums, with Lees/Holroyd making minimal contributions to the other one's songs. They've had minimal contact since, as far as I'm aware.

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    I've been a listener since 1974/75. Still adore them!
    Sleeping at home is killing the hotel business!

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    ^There's far more chance of Anderson/Howe reconnecting than Lees/Holroyd. The latter two clashed throughout the 80s and they simply couldn't work together anymore by 1997/8. If you've heard the later albums, most of them are like two solo albums, with Lees/Holroyd making minimal contributions to the other one's songs. They've had minimal contact since, as far as I'm aware.
    But when they did work together it worked very well I think. I was listening to River of dreams album last night and there is a song on there called 3 weeks to despair. It is a John Lees song but Les Holroyds voice is on it and he sings very beautifully.

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    But do they still exist as a band? If not, they did not live to see their 50th.

  12. #12
    John Lees has not let the 50th anniversary of Barclay James Harvest go unmarked. He celebrated with a memorable gig at the RNCM in Manchester last night. The set list was outstanding, one classic BJH song after another. But there were also surprises. He began with Mr Sunshine, the flip side to their first single Early Morning. Can't have done that since the sixties. Also there was Delph Town Morn, another song from the early times of the band. Not done that one at all before. Les Holroyd fronts another band but he was acknowledged when they did Crazy City. The departed Woolly and Mel were remembered too. A remarkable show leaving the fans thrilled.

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    Last days I played all BJH albums I own and I like all of them. Hard to pick a favorite. Some favorite songs:
    Hymn
    Berlin
    Child of the universe
    Galadriel

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    XII is my favourite album of theirs.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by everyday View Post
    XII is my favourite album of theirs.
    Nothing last night from that album. Not John Lees' strongest outing. Best songs, very good ones, on that are from Woolly Wolstenholme. They did his Iron Maiden and The Poet last night.

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    I love their live album and wish Berlin a concert for the people would have been longer.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Iris View Post
    Barclay James harvest began as a sort of procol harum-meets-the-byrds outfit. Later it began to sound a bit like the Bee Gees.
    I always thought of them as a kind of Poor Man's Moody Blues. That would probably be a pretty good idea for a song as a matter of fact......

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    Quote Originally Posted by Iris View Post
    John Lees has not let the 50th anniversary of Barclay James Harvest go unmarked.
    Les Holroyd also toured for the band's 50th (and his version of BJH still tours consistently):


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    as a cold-war kid in germany (born in 1969) i'd involuntarily say “berlin – a concert for the people”. they were all but inescapable back in the day – and, judging by a zeitgeistian shift during the 1980s – moving from the environmentalist-pacifist protest culture of the so-called “68s" to the hedonism of their offsprings (“generation golf”, for those in the know), uncannily paired with some post-punk nihilism – they were later somewhat frowned upon in popular culture although they have always retained a large fan base here. i don't always disagree with the above but i look back fondly on some of their songs. always liked this one. happy 50th BjH, both of you!


  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roth View Post
    Les Holroyd also toured for the band's 50th (and his version of BJH still tours consistently):

    Les Holroyd doesn't take his shows outside Germany/Switzerland these days, certainly not to the U.K. I would love to see his band live but almost certainly never will. That is a great clip, very melodic, Les Holroyd singing well and the guitarist excellent.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by iguana View Post
    as a cold-war kid in germany (born in 1969) i'd involuntarily say “berlin – a concert for the people”. they were all but inescapable back in the day – and, judging by a zeitgeistian shift during the 1980s – moving from the environmentalist-pacifist protest culture of the so-called “68s" to the hedonism of their offsprings (“generation golf”, for those in the know), uncannily paired with some post-punk nihilism – they were later somewhat frowned upon in popular culture although they have always retained a large fan base here. i don't always disagree with the above but i look back fondly on some of their songs. always liked this one. happy 50th BjH, both of you!

    Berlin is the only album I have on vinyl. Wish it would have been longer, but perhaps it was just a short concert.

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by DocProgger View Post
    I always thought of them as a kind of Poor Man's Moody Blues. That would probably be a pretty good idea for a song as a matter of fact......
    And make it a beautiful one ��

    Great songbook with Progressive / Symphonic invasions? Suits me!

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    My favorite album of theirs is actually Caught in the Light. It's got to be one of my top played albums ever by anyone.

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Le Master View Post
    My favorite album of theirs is actually Caught in the Light. It's got to be one of my top played albums ever by anyone.

    Lovely album!

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by the ferret View Post
    Lovely album!
    Seconded!

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