A CONCERT FOR THE PEOPLE (BERLIN)

Recorded on August 30th, 1980 at a free concert on the steps of the Reichstag, near the Berlin Wall.. This concert was probably the single most important gig that Barclay James Harvest have ever done, so it was natural to produce a live album. Unfortunately, while the concert itself was a triumph, just about everything that could go wrong with the recording, did - they told that John's main guitar was damaged during the afternoon and was almost inaudible in the mix. The band reluctantly decided to record a lot of new overdubs at Strawberry, which is one reason that the LP didn't appear until 1982. The album was first released in Germany in February 1982 as a limited edition 11-track version on the Polystar label, with "Love On The Line" and "Rock 'N' Roll Lady" as the extra tracks, and went straight to No.1, for many weeks. Subsequent releases have only the nine tracks listed in progarchives. One interesting anomaly is that whilst in Germany and most other countries the album was titled Berlin - A Concert For The People, the English version reverses the order, presumably to make it sound less Germanic!! Anyway, n. 15 in the UK charts.

The most important live track here (in my opinion) is Hymn, of which you can hear the best live version. A great "shouted" version from John and from all the people of (West) Berlin!!!

By the way, not my favourite live album, not at the level of Live Tapes (BJH live-1974 is the only album missing in my complete BJH's collection).