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Barclay James  Harvest - A Concert For The People (Berlin) CD (album) cover

A CONCERT FOR THE PEOPLE (BERLIN)

Barclay James Harvest

 

Crossover Prog

3.19 | 76 ratings

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rupert
4 stars I was used to sayin' that this is the weakest BJH-Live-Album with John Lees on board while everybody's thinking of it as the "best", such was the hype about it. But it's a good one still, indeed, though a million miles away* from the brilliance on "Live Tapes"... my favourite track here is "Mocking Bird", making you wish for far more inclusions of elder songs played on that day, not only "Child of the Universe" and "Hymn". It's hard to understand why - on CD - the two "missing" Holroyd-Songs haven't been added, though you can easily understand why there were lots missing - there were huge problems with the technical side of that concert... wish I had the whole show on tape, still, cause there are so many faves left out, "Sperratus" for example, only to mention one... If you really like this you should go and buy "Live Tapes" immediately, it'll blow your ears off !! Rupert

*Addition : I'm finally a happy owner of the remastered anniversary edition ( Esoteric / Cherry Red records ) and I have to say that the sound is far better here than on the 9-track-Polydor-disc. It improved my enjoyment of this album a lot, because it's far livelier. 4 stars for this now... as it manages to outshine "Glasnost" in this guise, not necessarily because of the two extra-tracks that finally have been added but because it gives much more of the "feel" that I love about BJH, making "Nova Lepidoptera" and "In Memory of the Martyrs" as well as "Berlin", "Child of the Universe" shine close to the way they should, and Mel Pritchard's tremendous drumming on "Mockingbird" is coming across perhaps better than on any other version of this song now. My conclusion is: The 9-track-disc has been mixed and mastered far too lousy ! So... get your hands on the remaster. It's still not as good as "BJH Live", "Revival" or "Legacy", and never will it match the brilliance of "Live Tapes", but it's still a pleasure to hear now, so I have to change the rating !

rupert | 4/5 |

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