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Top 7 Barclay James Harvest Songs
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Cosmiclawnmower View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 22 2021 at 15:03
Originally posted by Kingsnake Kingsnake wrote:

1. The Poet / After the Day
2. Summer Soldier
3. Ra
4. She Said
5. For No One
6. Medicine Man
7. The World Goes On

For me one of the best symphonic progrockbands out there.

Good to see you! A great list of BJH tracks- i'd be very very happy with that list as a playlist!Clap

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1. The Poet / After the Day
2. Summer Soldier
3. Ra
4. She Said
5. For No One
6. Medicine Man
7. The World Goes On

For me one of the best symphonic progrockbands out there.
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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The only BJH album I have on your list is Everyone is Everybody Else. I also have:- Barclay James Harvest & Other Stories; Time Honoured Ghosts; Octoberon; XII; and also a compilation titled "Mocking Bird".
 
I'd trade ALL of Genesis' post-1970's albums for just one more Barclay James Harvest album. Smile

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - July 15 2020 at 16:18
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Agree about the "very uneven". At one time I owned a majority of their albums, but have since whittled my collection down to a "core 7":

1. Everyone is Everybody Else (1974)
2. Gone to Earth (1977)
3. Eyes of the Universe (1979)
4. Turn of the Tide (1981) - my personal favorite
5. Ring of Changes (1983)
6. Welcome to the Show (1990)
7. Caught in the Light (1993).
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Cosmiclawnmower View Drop Down
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In Memory of the Martyrs is a great song; possibly the last real BJH 'Classic'? In all honesty I stopped listening to their output after the 'Turn of the Tide' lp (saw them on that tour, supposedly Twelfth Night were supposed to be the support as they (briefly) had the same management but it never happened). The 'Turn..' lp brought a slight renaissance in the UK for the band (instrumental part of one of the tracks (Death of a city I think..) was used on the satirical TV show 'Not the Nine o clock news'.. but all in all was only marginally better than 'Eyes of the Universe'... without Woolly in the mix it was just sliding off into the soft rock zone. The next time I saw them was 2002 as 'BJH through the eyes of John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme'..

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There seems to be a marked preference for the Harvest years, though several tracks from  Octoberon seem to be favourites.  Not surprising since that is probably the proggiest of the Polydor years.  I actually think that the Harvest period was very uneven apart from "Once Again", but it did have a number of monster tracks that became live staples and got expanded out in concert
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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7. In Memory of the Martyrs (12 points)
 
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Top 7 update, with Steve Wyzard's votes added:-
 
1. Medicine Man (24 points)
1. Mocking Bird (24 points)
3. Galadriel (20 points)
4. She Said (17 points) 
5. Dark Now, My Sky (16 points)
6. Ra (13 points)
7. Suicide (12 points)
7. Mayday (12 points)
7. Song for Dying (12 points)
7. In Memory of the Martyrs (12 points)
 
 
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Couldn't limit myself to just 7, even though they've released VAST swaths of material (i.e. early stuff) that leaves me ice cold.
1) "In Memory of the Martyrs" (by far the best thing they've ever done)
2) "The Great Unknown"
3) "Ballad of Denshaw Mill"
4) "I'm Like a Train"
5) "Paraiso dos Cavalos"
6) "Ring of Changes"
7) "The Song (They Love to Sing)"
8) "Sea of Tranquility"
9) "Spirit on the Water"
10) "A Matter of Time"
 
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The videos for the three joint runner-up songs.....
 
10. Poor Man's Moody Blues (8 points)
 
 
10. Hymn (8 points)
 
 
10. Child of the Universe (8 points)
 
 
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The current nine winning songs in the Top 7.....
 
 
1. Medicine Man (24 points)
 
 
1. Mocking Bird (24 points)
 
 
3. Galadriel (20 points)
 
 
4. She Said (17 points)
 
 
5. Dark Now, My Sky (16 points)
 
 
6. Ra (13 points)
 
 
7. Suicide (12 points)
 
 
7. Mayday (12 points)
 
 
7. Song for Dying (12 points)
 
 


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - July 12 2020 at 06:39
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Originally posted by iluvmarillion iluvmarillion wrote:

Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

They could all write a killer song, no doubt.
Judging by Live ‘74, they SHOULD be up there with the best. They are certainly more typically ‘Prog’ than the Moody’s. Perhaps BJH picked up where the most progressive of Moodys left off ? Very overlooked band. Even I’ve overlooked them (I do have several LP’s of theirs that had gathered dust until this poll !)


Just recently returned to play Time Honoured Ghosts again after a long interval. Highly underrated record. Better than I remember it. Very Beatles-esque without being too imitative.
Sadly, I parted with this LP 20-odd years ago. Oh, regrets......
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Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

They could all write a killer song, no doubt.
Judging by Live ‘74, they SHOULD be up there with the best. They are certainly more typically ‘Prog’ than the Moody’s. Perhaps BJH picked up where the most progressive of Moodys left off ? Very overlooked band. Even I’ve overlooked them (I do have several LP’s of theirs that had gathered dust until this poll !)

Just recently returned to play Time Honoured Ghosts again after a long interval. Highly underrated record. Better than I remember it. Very Beatles-esque without being too imitative.
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They could all write a killer song, no doubt.
Judging by Live ‘74, they SHOULD be up there with the best. They are certainly more typically ‘Prog’ than the Moody’s. Perhaps BJH picked up where the most progressive of Moodys left off ? Very overlooked band. Even I’ve overlooked them (I do have several LP’s of theirs that had gathered dust until this poll !)
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Originally posted by Cosmiclawnmower Cosmiclawnmower wrote:

[QUOTE=kenethlevine]It's interesting how, on the first couple of albums, it seems like Woolly was the lead vocalist on most songs, and most songs were credited to the whole group.  By Short Stories there was more participation from Lees and Holroyd on lead vocal but Woolly still sang quite a bit of lead.   By Baby James it was pretty much, you write it, you sing it.  Woolly's vocals were limited to 0,1, or 2 songs per album until he left.  They were also on very Woolly type songs, bombastic, keyboard oriented epics or mini epics.  Once big exception is one of my very favourite BJH songs, "Harbour" from XII.  It is such a wonderful throwback to the Harvest years IMO.  Yeah it lost out in the poll to the fantastic "Nova Lepidoptera", a great Lees tune[/QUOTE

Woolly did a lot of lead vocals and also played (acoustic) guitar (which he did sporadically, particularly live, right up till he left). Ive just been playing 'Someone there you know' from 'Other short stories' which is a very typical, rather melancholic, Woolly song, sang by himself but credited to the whole band. And of course the gorgeous 'The Poet' from the same lp. Because "Baby James' had been conceived as a double lp, Woolly was off in London working on 'Moonwater' whilst the other three recorded the rest at Strawberry in Manchester.. I think the band and Woolly in particular felt very distant from each other at that point as the funding (and interest) from Harvest evaporated and 'Baby James' was hurriedly mixed and released as a single lp. 

very interesting background.  Perhaps that's why they didn't even include "Maestoso" on the first Polygram album.  So it was really 2 straight albums with Woolly not singing on any group tracks.  Moonwater is just him on voice and keys and an orchestra.  It's actually not bad, but certainly not as lyrical and impactful as "The Poet/After the Day"
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[QUOTE=kenethlevine]It's interesting how, on the first couple of albums, it seems like Woolly was the lead vocalist on most songs, and most songs were credited to the whole group.  By Short Stories there was more participation from Lees and Holroyd on lead vocal but Woolly still sang quite a bit of lead.   By Baby James it was pretty much, you write it, you sing it.  Woolly's vocals were limited to 0,1, or 2 songs per album until he left.  They were also on very Woolly type songs, bombastic, keyboard oriented epics or mini epics.  Once big exception is one of my very favourite BJH songs, "Harbour" from XII.  It is such a wonderful throwback to the Harvest years IMO.  Yeah it lost out in the poll to the fantastic "Nova Lepidoptera", a great Lees tune[/QUOTE

Woolly did a lot of lead vocals and also played (acoustic) guitar (which he did sporadically, particularly live, right up till he left). Ive just been playing 'Someone there you know' from 'Other short stories' which is a very typical, rather melancholic, Woolly song, sang by himself but credited to the whole band. And of course the gorgeous 'The Poet' from the same lp. Because "Baby James' had been conceived as a double lp, Woolly was off in London working on 'Moonwater' whilst the other three recorded the rest at Strawberry in Manchester.. I think the band and Woolly in particular felt very distant from each other at that point as the funding (and interest) from Harvest evaporated and 'Baby James' was hurriedly mixed and released as a single lp. 


Edited by Cosmiclawnmower - July 09 2020 at 13:51

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Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:


Ok so here's my list, all from the same album -
 
1) Song for Dying
2) Galadriel
3) She Said
4) Mocking Bird
5) Happy Old World
6) Lady Loves
7) Ball and Chain
Once Again eh ? Can’t believe you place Lady Loves above Ball and Chain ? Anyway, She Said is one of their greatest tracks ever.
To be honest I had very little to choose between either of them, it could have been a tie.
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Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Ok so here's my list, all from the same album -
 
1) Song for Dying
2) Galadriel
3) She Said
4) Mocking Bird
5) Happy Old World
6) Lady Loves
7) Ball and Chain

No complaint there. Great album.
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It's interesting how, on the first couple of albums, it seems like Woolly was the lead vocalist on most songs, and most songs were credited to the whole group.  By Short Stories there was more participation from Lees and Holroyd on lead vocal but Woolly still sang quite a bit of lead.   By Baby James it was pretty much, you write it, you sing it.  Woolly's vocals were limited to 0,1, or 2 songs per album until he left.  They were also on very Woolly type songs, bombastic, keyboard oriented epics or mini epics.  Once big exception is one of my very favourite BJH songs, "Harbour" from XII.  It is such a wonderful throwback to the Harvest years IMO.  Yeah it lost out in the poll to the fantastic "Nova Lepidoptera", a great Lees tune
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Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:


Ok so here's my list, all from the same album -
 
1) Song for Dying
2) Galadriel
3) She Said
4) Mocking Bird
5) Happy Old World
6) Lady Loves
7) Ball and Chain
Once Again eh ? Can’t believe you place Lady Loves above Ball and Chain ? Anyway, She Said is one of their greatest tracks ever.
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