GONE TO EARTH

After the slightly over-ambitious "Octoberon", BJH played to their strengths as singer- songwriters on "Gone To Earth". It clearly paid off because the LP proved to be their best seller especially in Germany where it stayed on the charts for an eye-watering 181 consecutive weeks. The album is best known for "Hymn" and "Poor Man's Moody Blues" but neither of these tracks are my favourites on the album. "Hymn" is an effective opening track and I do like the way the music builds with keyboards and drums being added as it progresses but at just over five minutes is a tad long for such a simple song. Having said that it is hard not to ignore the fact that not only is this song appears to be regarded by most BJH fans as their ultimate Classic as evidenced by the way it usually acts as concert closer.Moreover it also seems to have taken on a life of its own with none other than Sarah Brightman not only covering the song in 2018 but making it the title track of her album released that year and not only that but taking it straight to No1 on the US Classical Music chart. As for "Poor Man's Moody Blues", I always felt that while it was an interesting exercise to de-construct the famous Moody Blues song -"Nights In White Satin", I found the result a little stilted and mannered and frankly would have preferred it to be a "B" side rather than effectively being at nearly 7 minutes the centerpiece of the album or at least side one which it closes.Then again - what do I know?- like "Hymn " it is one of those transcendent songs that has taken on its own life even being used at Greek weddings for the first dance.

For me the real standout tracks are Holroyd's "Hard Hearted Woman" with its catchy hook and funky in a Floydian way outro which leads onto my absolute favoiurite track on the album- Wolstenholme's exquisite "Sea Of Tranquility".I particularly admire the way the composer packs so much into 4 minutes - a true mini proc epic.Also the arrangement is just superb Lees provides a great soaring lead guitar over the top of Wolstenholme's swelling keyboards.

As for the other tracks they are are all fairly good although bordering on straight forward soft rockers. I do particularly like Leper's Song with it phased out and soaring guitar lines. I am not sure if any other reviews have mentioned this but I think this album is superbly well produced, easily their best sounding album and really, in my opinion in the same league as Pink Floyd and Steely Dan in their mid seventies prime.

Overall, while not as ambitious in Progressive terms, this is an immensily enjoyable album

A solid 4 stars

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