Barclay James Harvest

 

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST are the featured artist this time around, as we ONCE AGAIN list our favourite songs and delve into the history of BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST & OTHER SHORT STORIES. Who can forget the cute picture of  BABY JAMES HARVEST poking his head out of a plant pot on their fourth album cover. Here at ProgArchives, EVERYONE IS EVERYBODY ELSE in the progosphere, where the classic albums of BJH appear like TIME HONOURED GHOSTS from time to time. The eighth month of the year was OCTOBER ON the ancient Roman calendar, making it the perfect name for the eighth Barclay James Harvest album. The band took a short break, but weren't GONE TO EARTH for long though before returning  with their best-selling album of all time in 1977. In the XII Kingdoms of Prog, Barclay James Harvest reigned supreme and the EYES OF THE UNIVERSE were upon them in 1982 for their CONCERT FOR THE PEOPLE IN BERLIN. This landmark gig for BJH preceded a TURN OF THE TIDE in the Cold War when a RING OF CHANGES were on the way and the old Soviet leaders became VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCE, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The world became a safer place with no more FACE TO FACE Cold War confrontations between East and West with the ever-present threat of nuclear Armageddon hanging over the world. History didn't end in 1991 though, and in the prophetic words of Messrs Emerson, Lake & Palmer, WELCOME TO THE SHOW that never ends, because there were new threats on the way in a new century. CAUGHT IN THE LIGHT of a beautifully clear morning on 11th September 2001, an airliner flew low over New York City..... The RIVER OF DREAMS would soon be shattered forever!

Oh yes you're right.  One PA locale is much like another...but NEARFEST had folded by 2009.  I saw Strawbs at Nearfest in 2004 I believe

Well no, not quite. Nearfest only had the original guys hand it over around that time to the guys who did the NJ proghouse. NF actually went from 1999 to 2010 and then one more year for Nearfest apocalypse(in 2012) to wrap it up. In 2011 they apparently didn't sell enough tickets for them to justify having it. They were in limbo with it for a while until they (the original two guys Rob and Chad) decided to go out with a bang instead of a wimper. I went to about half of them including the first and last. 

while they were superstars in Germany in the late 70s/early 80s, they were never much more than a popular "cult" band in their native UK.  yet somehow "Berlin" managed to be their biggest chart success in the UK at the late date of 1982, 12 years after their debut.  While I prefer the first 2 live albums, that has mostly to do with the non stop tron attack of the first and the better material and cleaner production of the 2nd.  That Berlin is as good as it is given the weaker early 80s material is so impressive that I think I gave it the same 4 star rating I gave the previous 2  

Maybe someone who thinks they are ok will hit the good button.