OCTOBERON

"Octoberon" is the seventh studio album of Barclay James Harvest and it was released in 1976. After the success of the release of their previous studio album "Time Honoured Ghosts" that was recorded at the His Master's Wheels studio in San Francisco, Polydor, suggested that the next studio work of the band should also be recorded in the same place and with the same producer, Elliot Mazer. However, it wasn't possible because he was engaged in work on other musical projects, and so Barclay James Harvest recorded "Octoberon" in their own land, at the Strawberry Studios, Stockport.

"Octoberon" has seven tracks. The first track "The World Goes On" written by Les Holroyd provides the album's opening track and is the first song that uses an orchestra on a Barclays James Harvest studio album since "Moonwater" from their fourth studio album "Baby James Harvest". This is a more orthodox Barclay James Harvest song, completed with a full orchestration. It's a beautiful and an introspective ballad that shows perfectly well the taste of Les Holroyd for soft and melodic songs, very simple and melancholic too. On the song, I think that it deserves special highlighting the orchestral arrangements which are totally irreproachable. The second track "May Day" written by John Lees is an anti-extremist song that criticized two sides of the policy, the politically extreme left wing and extreme right wing schools of political thought. It's a great song with some complex, beautiful and perfect choral arrangements, sung by the Capriol Singers, which provides the song a great final climax to this lengthy, grandiose and epic piece of music. This is perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed by John Lees. The third track "Ra" written by Woolly Wolstenholme represents the traditional and only personal contribution of Woolly Wolstenholme to this album. This is a piece of music inspired by the Egyptian God of the Sun, of Ancient Egypt. It's a song also inspired by Gustav Mahler's first symphony and it's perhaps one of his finest musical compositions. It's a completely different piece of music, compared with "Maestoso (A Hymn In The Roof Of The World)", the song recorded to be part of "Everyone Is Everybody Else" but that was never part of it and "Beyond The Grave" of "Time Honoured Ghosts". "Ra" was built from a quiet start to an epic and grandiose ending. The fourth track "Rock & Roll Star" written by Les Holroyd is an obvious reference and a tribute to The Byrds' song "So You Want To Be A Rock'N'Roll Star", included on The Byrds' fourth studio album "Younger Than Yesterday". It's a magnificent rock track with great keyboards and nice guitar work. This is a very beautiful song, not a great song and not the best song on the album, but nice and pleasant enough to be heard as a beautiful piece of music. This is also a song that strongly reminds me of the sound of the Eagles. The fifth track "Polk Street Rag" written by John Lees is a song that takes its name on Polk Street, which is a street in San Francisco, California, where John Lees conceived the song. It takes its inspiration from the most famous porno film of all time "Deep Throat" with the famous celebrity female porno film star, Linda Lovelace. It's another standard rock track without any type of choral or orchestral accompaniment. It's probably a song influenced by American west coast rock, when the band was in San Francisco. It's a good song, but like the previous song, it isn't for sure one of the best moments on the album. The sixth track "Believe In Me" written by Les Holroyd is another song that also seems to have been inspired by the American west coast rock. This is another good song with a beautiful final, a nice light tune and with beautiful backing vocals, despite the voice of Les Holroyd. It's also a song with fine harmonies, good keyboard work and a hand of good rhythm guitar riffs. The seventh and last track "Suicide?" written by John Lees is a song built around a description of someone committing suicide by jumping from a tall building. It's a dark song that relates the suicide of a man, with ironic observations such as the guy who wants to move is car out of the way before the jump. The concept of the song is very original and interesting and sincerely I think this is one of the highest points of this album. The music is sweet, beautiful and melancholic from the beginning to the final act. The track closes with the special effects of the disturbing sound of a body hitting the ground. This is a great closer to the album, really.

Conclusion: I have known "Octoberon" since it was released and I have a vinyl copy of it from that time. "Octoberon" was always my favourite album from Barclay James Harvest and I've always been convinced that "Octoberon" is their best studio album and their most progressive work. However, "Octoberon" isn't a masterpiece. In my humble opinion, despite the fact that I like Barclay James Harvest very much, they never released any studio album as a masterpiece. Still, "Octoberon" was very close to being one. "Octoberon" is an excellent album, very cohesive, very well balanced, and is one of the most progressive and sophisticated albums of Barclay James Harvest. The band would never again be more focused than they were on this album, and it represents the band at their peak in the 70's. It's an amazing album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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