Top 7 Barclay James Harvest Songs

I don't know if anyone has heard the single BJH made in 1972 under the pseudonym of 'Bombadil'? the A side was called 'Breathless' which is a poppy instrumental in a sort of.. er.. Glitter band (yes as in Gary Glitter) multi-tracked hand clap foot stomp beat sort of thing. Listen to the guitar, its very obvious who it is! its credited to 'Terry Bull' (John Lees). The B side is a beautiful little Woolly Wolstenholme song called 'When the city sleeps'.. its a real proper early BJH classic.. credited to 'Lester Forest' (Woolly W). I think they were persuaded to do it thinking it might make the charts as a novelty and earn them back a bit of cash after disastrous tours with an orchestra left them near bankruptcy. It didn't work, the single sank without trace...

I'm rubbish at trying to put links to youtube on here but it is out there and also on various BJH Harvest era compilations.

 

1) Song for Dying

2) Galadriel

3) She Said

4) Mocking Bird

5) Happy Old World

6) Lady Loves

7) Ball and Chain

OK,

1) Galadriel

2) Mocking Bird

3) Medicine Man

4) For No one

5) The World Goes On

6) She Said

7) Song For You

8) Child Of the Universe

9) Hymn

10) Ancient Waves

The song "On Leave" from "North" is dedicated to him and is truly beautiful, with a haunting middle section.

I also think XII better than "Gone to Earth".  The first side of GTE is incredible - even Holroyd's Eagles ish tune somehow works.  But they seem to run out of steam on side 2.   XII has a couple of weak numbers - "Tale of Two Sixties" and "Turning in Circles" - but programming them out still leaves a great full length LP

Yes Holroyd liked the rock and roll style more than Lees but sometimes he would really hit the spot, particularly when combining that style with tron, as in "Rock n Roll Star", "Giving it Up", or "Believe in Me".  Interestingly, there was a DJ on the Carleton University station in Ottawa in 1978/79 who began every show with "Song for me" (which now that I think of it is right up there as a favourite from BJH).  When they did a feature on XII at the time of release, they commented on how, even then, BJH seemed to be the subject of undue hatred by critics and indifference by the North American audience.  At this point one of them piped up and said something to the effect that he always loves to listen to and talk about BJH because they are a great progressive rock band.   Prog rock does not have to be complex, dissonant, unstructured, and edgy to be great.

I also remember in college in the early 1980s, meeting a guy who was a British new wave fan through and through, and he knew and loved "Hymn".  I suppose if he had spent any time in Germany in the late 70s he would have known it.

kenethlevine wrote: The only time I've seen them live (I believe they never made it to North America until the 2000s) was as headliner for a prog festival in PA, USA some years ago.   It was not that long before Wolstenholme took his own life.  While Lees' was sick as a dog at the show, he was a class act all the way, and they did their name proud.  I'm sure they had more hp in the 1970s but so did most of us!  Woolly was the main MC and was VERY funny.  One of his sadly prescient remarks concerned the average reaction that people get to saying that they are going to see BJH, that being "Barclay James Harvest?  Aren't they dead? "  Woolly said something to the effect of "Give it Time.  We're working on it"

 

Woolly was a VERY funny man when he was on form, very dry, lots of stories and anecdotes; with his clogs, 'Woolly-back' (Lancashire, particularly around Saddleworth area where the band originated from) accent and warm intelligence, he was someone I think endeared himself to many.. yet he suffered from severe depressions throughout his life in a quiet and dignified manner until he couldn't take it any more. Its very sad and still makes me very upset to think he's gone. His Maestoso albums are excellent, the Uneasy listening compilation is a good place to start.

they were definitely an album band.  Look at the choices people are making re their top 7.  Some commonality but also a lot of outliers.   And some of their best songs are better because of how they fit on their albums.  Yes most albums even from the 1970s had a duff track or two, but a few of them were pretty close to perfect - Once Again, Everyone is Everybody Else, and Octoberon come to mind in particular.  And the others all have great songs.  I'm really fond of XII where Lees had a certain idea in mind for the theme and Holroyd wasn't playing along.  But it somehow worked quite well.

I suspect you may be playing the part of the Mocking Bird in mocking Barclay James Harvest.