BBC IN CONCERT 1972

Barclay James Harvest live and with orchestra (conducted by Martyn Ford) in the BBC studios sometime in 1972.........and what better track to begin with than: "Mocking bird" a grandiose...nay.. sublime track ..which at the time elevated them to their well earned status.....a high profile light prog outfit (repeat that sentence after a few pints..ha..ha) ive always thought that Moody´s and Barclay J H...were kind of sugar and honey pop- prog.....but time eventually caught up with me....well at least concerning BJH. As the Moody´s NEVER said anything to me...sorry guys (and fans of the Moody´s) This is a wonderful document of a time forever gone!! I do not recall anything i was doing back then in 1972...but i was probably roaming through 2´hand record stores...trying to find prog/psych records that looked interesting...or better yet.....sitting in my small room trying to figure out.. the fine art of tuning your guitar !! Back to reality...this record is a document..and a beautiful one it is, at that!! Barclay James Harvest always had that boy- ísh sound....and id have to admit that its a wonderful record...for what its worth... its beautiful pop/prog ...well written songs...dare i say..well constructed songs....and here with symphony orchestra.....you cant beat that!! As i said... wonderful music...beautifully executed.......not essential (BJH fans excluded)...but still a sweet...beautiful....soft... prog/pop record.....for when your girl (or boy)friend needs comforting. BJH were never a "watch out for this solo" band....but hey they worked together... and thats a real quality in itself...dont you think !!??

Being a fan from 1974 on getting my hand on this concert was always a dream for me. Both the band and the great initiator of the fan club Keith Domone often mentioned the possibility that the concert would once be released on cd. And suddenly, there it was, as a precessor of the re-releases of all their classic albums. And what an album this is!! It sounds like the seventies in every respect and that is most certainly meant as a compliment. Just imagine, a young and ambitious band that plays live with its own orchestra, with members recruited from music schools. A great idea at that time, how disastrous it turned out economically, and a great idea it still is. The songs were once described by keyborad-player Woolly Woolstenholme as organised chaos. The songs are indeed far from perfect but that is one of the bonusses of this album. It was the seventies, folks!! There is enthusiasm, ther eis musicianship, there is creativeness in every vein. The arrangements of the songs are good, the production is not perfect but more than acceptable for such a complicated live concert, the vocals are great (always been one of the strongholds of BJH) and the set is marvellous. Just listen to Medicine man with orchestra, the only live rendition of Dark now my sky, The poet sung live by Woolly, it gave me the chills. And that the package even contained both the original mono tape and the remastered stereo edition for a more than reasonable price makes it an even better buy. Just go tot the store and buy this early example of pop and orchestral music. BJH in concert is simply great.

How long did we have to wait ??? Being a fan of BJH, knowing that somewhere there were live-recordings of the original-line up with ORCHESTRA and you can't get 'em... so first of all big thanks to everyone involved in this release, we got rewarded in 2002 finally, and it was worth the wait !

Well, at least for those who like the "beautiful chaos" ( Woolly Wolstenholme ) delivered with these recordings, 8 of BJH's most important songs ( "She said" is missing ) performed well... they've been mixed directly onto 2-track and, like with "Barclay james Harvest Live", you have to get used to their sound ( though no Roger Bain was around ).

I think that "Dark now my Sky" is best here, "The Poet/After the Day" and "Moonwater" can quite live up to the studio- recordings, "Mocking Bird", "Galadriel" and "Summer Soldier" are close to doing the same and, though considerably weaker than on Album, "Medicine Man" sounds quite interesting, too... Beautiful Chaos indeed.

Rupert

This is vintage BJH, the only known recording of the band playing live with their own orchestra. What a fascinating document it is too. Recorded before a small audience in BBC's radio theatre in November 1972, it was intended for broadcast as part of their 'In Concert' series of influential one-hour shows. The cramped circumstance of the setting caused many problems with sound balancing, exacerbated by the BBC's decision to record direct to 2-track rather than a multi-track. Thus, mixing decisions taken on the day are what we remain stuck with today.

Quality is amazingly good for something that languished in the vaults for years. There is little hint of the tape's age: it is virtually noise and hiss free so thumbs up for Peter Mew at Abbey Road who performed the re-mastering. My only criticisms would be levelled at the source material which has good-ish dynamic range but is rather weak at the bass end, and it does get somewhat out of control when everybody plays full tilt. The mix is mostly adequate, though the unnamed engineer had most difficulty balancing individual vocalists against the varying output of orchestra and band.

Performances are generally good, though the older songs are more assured. This recording took place just 5 days after the release of Baby James Harvest: while Woolly's solo-with-orchestra Moonwater is very dramatic and quite possibly better than the studio original, Summer Soldier sounds half-formed and a little primitive in some of its instrumental sections. Mocking Bird and Galadriel are reasonably faithful renditions of the studio recordings, though John's vocals begin a little tentatively on the latter. Les also seems to suffer a little stage-fright during the otherwise excellent polished version of Dark Now My Sky but he soon settles into it. Medicine Man is a hybrid successfully combining the studio orchestration with the rockier translation as epitomised by the band-only version on Live (1974). The Poet/After The Day begins in fine fashion with Woolly singing over the orchestra, but loses its edge in a messy bridge section where orchestra and band seem to vie for supremacy. The orchestra contribute significantly to After The Day too, but again it almost comes unstuck in the extended coda.

Inevitably, this is something of a mixed bag. I love live recordings and find this fascinating as an alternative to more familiar renditions, particularly tracing the development of Medicine Man from understated orchestral origins to its ultimate riff-based form with extensive soloing. In other cases, perhaps the constraints of working with an orchestra caused some of the arrangements to stay closer to familiar studio versions.

The album was initially issued as a limited edition 2CD set with two different mixes, one mono the other stereo, subsequently being re-issued as a single CD of the mono version only. Only the latter is still available. Overall, this album represents BJH at their most progressive, providing a compelling insight into this aspect of the band's career for those already familiar with these songs in other formats.

I am an absolute lover of "Live 1974". IMO, it is one of the greatest prog live album. Most of the songs featured on this great records, were written during their Harvest years (1970 - 1972).

During those years, BJH were playing on stage with a full blown orchestra which will cause them enormous financial problems and accelerate the decision of their record company to put a hold on their contract.

Towards the end of 1972, BJH recorded a concert for the BBC, featuring the orchestra. So, even if I was moderately enthusiast about their first four releases except for "Once Again" of course (you can read more about each of them in my appropriate reviews if you are interested).

Since six great songs (out of eight) of that era are featured, I was quite interested in hearing this record. And I must say that the result is ... charming. At times of course, the orchestra is somewhat invading, like in "Medicine Man" for instance.

At other moments, it will support the band rather discreetly ("Mocking Bird" or "Summer Soldier").

Two studio songs were very much orchestra-oriented. "Moonwater" from "Baby..." and "Dark Now My Sky" from their debut album. Logically, "Moonwater" sounds as classical as its studio counterpart. I am glad to hear a live version for "Dark Now My Sky", the only one of this type, as far as I know. This version is harder, more dramatic, more electric : better.

"The Poet", written by Woolly is the only average song of this release. Too melancholic (but so were most of their studio songs in the early seventies). It is immediately followed by "After the Day". The orchestra is a bit pompous at start, but as soon as the band enters the stage, things improved drammatically. The typical guitar sound available on "Live '74" is already present and so emotional... My favourite song from this album.

The sound is very good throughout the album and the audience is really cheerful. I just wonder why the fans needed to wait for about thirty years to be able to get these historical pieces of music onto CD. A great document. Essential for early BJH fans. A great and different way to re-disvover these jewels.

Seven out of ten would be my verdict. But I have been rather harsh with BJH in my reviews of their eighties and nineties work so I will sentimentally upgrade this live album to four star.

On November 16th 1972, a concert was recorded at the BBC Paris Theatre for a BBC Radio One In Concert programme. The band were joined by the BJH Orchestra which caused problems for the BBC as the sound was recorded straight onto ¼ inch tape as opposed to multi tracked, and balanced live. The show was recorded in mono for domestic broadcast but at the same time the BBC Transcription Service took a separate feed and recorded the show in stereo for license throughout the world, particularly the USA. This had a different balance and was later edited to feed onto both sides of an album and the running order was also changed. These are the only recordings of the band with an orchestra, and it is only now that they have been made commercially available. Released in a slip sleeve this double CD contains both the mono and stereo versions of the show, so the former contains all of the introductions and is unedited and is in the correct running order while the latter has had some changes made.

It shows just how powerful a correct balance of rock band and orchestra can be, and I love all of the songs on here from the powerful "Mockingbird" to the closing "Dark Now My Sky" and in many ways this is the album to get if you already have the later albums.

Originally appeared in Feedback #70, Oct 02