BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST

"Barclay James Harvest" is the debut studio album of Barclay James Harvest that was released in 1970. Barclay James Harvest is an English prog rock band with influences of symphonic rock music. The band was founded in Saddleworth, nearby Oldham, Lancashire, in 1966, by John Lees, Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme, Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard. The band was one of the pioneers of the prog rock movement and became as one of the best and most known prog rock bands in the 70's, having released ten studio works in that decade. They were able to create some of the best melodic prog rock music at the time and they were one of the first bands to use an orchestra on their musical compositions.

Their self-titled debut studio album seemed although to be more in the vein of late 60's psychedelic rock with a few progressive tendencies. The two main song writers of the band were John Lees and Les Holroyd, and they would usually sing on their own songs. The keyboardist Stewart "Wooly" Wolstenholme contributed with lots of grandiose and symphonic keyboard arrangements consisting of Mellotron, organ and synths, giving the prog touch to their music.

The line up on "Barclay James Harvest" is John Lees (vocals, guitars and recorder), Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme (vocals, keyboards, Mellotron, guitar and harmonica), Les Holroyd (vocals, bass guitar, guitar and cello) and Mel Pritchard (drums and percussion).

"Barclay James Harvest" has seven tracks. The first track "Taking Some Time On" written by John Lees is a based guitar rock song very simple and with a very common musical structure so usual in those times. It's a classic song with good musical arrangements, nothing innovative and that sounds to the 60's. However, it's a nice and pleasant song to hear, but far away from their future progressive music. The second track "Mother Dear" written by John Lees is a very pretty song that reminds me the sound of The Beatles. It's another very pleasant and beautiful song to hear that features a nice strings arrangement. This is another song that sounds to the 60's but it doesn't matter because it's incredibly beautiful and we mustn't forget that at this moment we are only in the rising of the progressive rock music. The third track "The Sun Will Never Shine" written by Woolly Wolstenholme is another good song with great harmony vocals made by a beautiful choral work. It's another simple and classic song very well constructed but built always in the same musical line, without running great risks of change, and where we only can feel some timid changes. We only can feel it for very brief instants. The fourth track "When The World Was Woken" written by Les Holroyd represents one of the best musical moments on this album. We can say that this is the first song where we can clearly see some real progressive signs on the album. It's a great track where the orchestra plays the big part on it and we can feel some influences from the music of Procol Harum and The Moody Blues. This track represents one of the best and finest musical moments on this album. The fifth track "Good Love Child" written by John Lees is a psychedelic classic hard rock song, very repetitive and without too little variations and based on a guitar riff. Again, this is a song that reminds me strongly The Beatles and represents a return to the music of the 60's. Despite being a good and nice song to hear, I sincerely think that it represents a low point on the album. The sixth track "The Iron Maiden" written by Woolly Wolstenholme is a song that begins with a Medieval and peaceful pastoral feel. It's a very short, simple and beautiful song, with nice harmony and beautiful chorus. This is, in reality, a quiet and celestial ballad that represents, in my humble opinion, one of the two highlights on this album. The seventh track "Dark Now My Sky" written by John Lees is the lengthiest song on the album. It's a mini-epic, the first composed by them, and represents the only progressive song on the album. This song represents the highlight of the album and delivers a bombastic orchestral work beautiful guitar work, nice vocals, and great piano and church organ. It's really a great song of the band and represents the first great musical moment performed by Barclay James Harvest. This is the best close this debut studio album could have.

Conclusion: Of all studio albums released by Barclay James Harvest in the 70's, their four previous studio albums, the albums released to Harvest Records, were the last to be bought and known by me. In relation to "Barclay James Harvest" I must say that I was very pleased with it. "Barclay James Harvest" is a good debut album, very cohesive and balanced that shows the talent in the composition of this great band and it's also a promise of plenty of more to come. It's true that "Barclay James Harvest" sounds too much to the music of the 60's really, but we can't forget that the progressive music just was born in that time. My version of "Barclay James Harvest" is the re-mastered version and so, it has thirteen bonus tracks. As usual, I don't review bonus tracks. Although, I must say that they're all good and an excellent addition to the album, especially for those who liked the sound of the good music made in the end of the 60's.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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