To me, one of the most important bands to ever reach my ears and heart.

So I guess that's your favorite album.

Caught in the Light is a top 50 favorite album of mine. My friends and I played it nonstop in college (not long ago in the 2010s funny enough)

BJH - Octoberon

Camel - Mirage

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

oh and

Gentle Giant - Free Hand

BJH is indeed very mellow. I already had some music of Moody Blues on cassette, when I was 10 years old or so. So I guess I was born to be a soft-prog enthousiast. :D

Octoberon to this day still is my favorite album and The World Goes On is some kind of anthem to me. My credo, it helps me pull through....

 

Eventually they had their own sound, and the albums without Wolstenholme are not as good (agreed), but I have some post-Wolstenholme favourites, like Turn of the Tide, but the sympho was gone, and they were sounding a lot more like Bee Gees.

 

I like John Lees as a songwriter. Really underrated. He made several lyrical tributes to Moody Blues, Beatles, David Bowie.

 

Agreed that BJH had a great 3-vocal approach (The Moody Blues and The Beatles did it aswell, to great avail).
Another band symphoband that springs to mind, is Camel. They had three vocalists, but not very good, though.

Mel and Woolly sadly both died, so there's only Les and John left.
Both touring with their own versions of BJH. I like Lees' version the best. It has that particular romantic sound, and John still plays songs like The Poet/After the Day, Medicine Man and Summer Soldier.

Mockingbird was always playing on the stereo in my 6th form common room, and then in my 20s I had a friend who was really into BJH. I quite like them, but all I have is a compilation album. I think my favourite songs of theirs are

Mockingbird

Berlin

Ursula (The Swansea Song)

Hymn

Poor Man's Moody Blues

I think you should try out the following full albums:

 

- Once Again

- Gone to Earth

- XII

No they did not copy anybody, they had their very own sound & style from very beginning. Revisit "Early Morning Onwards" compilation album containing singles etc. material prior they studio albums. Of course they got inspiration from both bands mentioned but who didn´t back in the day ? I hear nothing of those bands in the classic BJH sound really. That´s why their are so great and more prog than Moodies for me.

Yes, they vocal range is wider than any others, in style & sound.

Otherwise agree. Man, you have a great taste and sense for melody & harmony. Respect. 

 

Thanks. :D

 

When I said 'copied', I should have said 'inspired by'.

Of course they were not merely a copy of Beatles or Moodies. BJH quickly went beyond the psychrock of the 60's, creating a somewhat unique sound.

The only thing coming close is some songs of the real early King Crimson.
But, to this day, I haven't heard any progband creating something similar to Medicine Man, Mockingbird, Poet/After the Day, Summer Soldier or Song for the Dying.

 

Just because BJH is soft doesn't mean it can't be good. The band's music is really mellow and something to fully enjoy. Especially when walking through nature or relaxing in the grass (on the headphones, of course).

 

The comparison to Beatles and Moodies is alwasy easy (because of the singing bassplayer and guitarplayer).

But on closer view, the comparison is weaker. BJH were in their prime, when both bands were not recording anymore.

And when BJH released Gone to Earth and XII, The Moodies released the weak Octave.

 

Also worth checking is John Lees solo and Wolstenholme solo (also Maestoso).

"In the year 1994 I asked Justin Hayward, singer of the Moody Blues (Nights in white satin) in the Moody Blues Newsletter what he think about the song "Poor Man´s Moody Blues" of Barclay James Harvest. He answered: 'It was interesting and I was flattered that they gave us credit that we had been an influence on them'."

So John took the chords of Night in White Satin and created a new song (with almost the same subject, feel and structure). Where the Moodies had a flutesolo, John played a guitarsolo in the middlesection

Justin sang: "Cause I love you, Yes I love you, Oh how I love you"

 and John sang: "Cause I need you, Yes I want you, Yes I love you".

 

Well, Justin didn't mind, John didn't mind, the fans didn't mind. And now the world has two wonderful songs, instead of one.

John did this kind of thing (paying hommage) a lot in his songs and lyrics.

In The Great 1974 Mining Disaster he borrowed a songtitle from the Bee Gees, and referred lyrically to David Bowie (Man Who Sold the World and Space Oddity).
In  See Me, See You he sang 'Hey Jude' after each chorus.

 

Titles is comprised of songtitles of Beatles' songs.

In Nova Lepidoptera,  John used the titles of popular SF-novels to create the lyrics.

In The Tale of Two Sixties, he pays hommage to almost all his heroes (David Bowie, Buddy Holly, etc.)

 

John is also the only progrock-lyricist that wrote about sex and sexuality (Polk Street Rag was about the movie Deep Throat, Loving Is Easy is about fellatio or even more explicit...)

Even Vanessa Simmons was about a prostitute, but it was less eplicit.

1) Octoberon

2) Everyone is Everybody Else

3) Once Again

4) XII

5) Time Honoured Ghosts/Gone to Earth/Short Stories

The Harvest material was harder hitting but less consistent.  When they lost Woolly they went downhill, but that may have also just been a sign of the times.  Of the post Woolly albums, only "Ring of Changes" seems above average to me, although most have at least a couple of strong tracks.  A few of their early singles are definitely worth seeking out, especially "Early Morning" and "Poor Wages", both available on a lot of compilations.  The most recent album by the John Lees version is probably the best thing since "Ring of Changes", and features several long tracks which are the best, particularly "On Leave" as a tribute to Wolstenholms.

Only saw them live once, in about 2009 at Nearfest.  Great show.  Wolstenholme was more or less the MC, and quite funny.  In retrospect he made a very poignant and prescient remark, referencing a common reaction to a fan telling a friend that they are going to see Barclay James Harvest, something like "Barclay James Harvest?  Aren't they dead".  Woolly said something like "we're working on it.  Or give it time"  

Great post, very informative. Vanessa Simmons, funny kind of name. I didn´t know she was a hooker... I´m glad John wrote it for her. She must have been a lovely girl. There are many songs about lovely girls in Barclay James Harvest mythology, I´m delighted that they tell stories about women in a positive sense. That´s an important part, makes their music so nice.

My first guess is, you should stick with their "harvest'-years. They were the most symphonic in those years.

There are four Harvest-albums (the first four). On top of that, their first Polydor album was a double sided live album (simply called Live), that is comprised of songs from their first four albums. The songs have a more expanded and rock-feel to it.

 

Maybe the period 1974-1978 can be interesting. The music is more a kind of soft classic rock with pseudo-symphonic elements. Quite atmospheric and romantic. Their most progressive album of that period is Octoberon, wich has almost anything a prog-enthousiast will enjoy.

 

When you're not into Barclay James Harvest that much, you should avoid anything after 1978. After that is mostly soft-pop, middle-of-the-road AOR. Still likeable to me, though.

 

For the symphonic-enthousiast I can really recommend the latest John Lees' Barclay James Harvest album North.

nice summation 

Note that the Live album from 1974 includes material from albums 2-5, album 5 being the first Polydor release "Everyone is Everybody's Else".  As such it's an excellent option for someone who has only gotten into "Once Again".

I agree with your opinion of North.  Some really strong stuff there

But that even adds to the beauty, because that's a stellar album, with the magnificent Child of the Universe and For No One.

 

North is indeed surprisingly good. BTW, does any of you know what the list of alphabets (abbreviations or whatever they are) in the song 'In Wonderland' means?

(My promo copy doesn't contain lyrics, nor did I find the lyrics in the net, otherwise I'd write the alphabets here.)

 

I will play the record later today and will pay close attention. Maybe I can answer your question.

Unfortunately Child of the Universe is not on "Live".  There is an excellent version on "Live Tapes", the next live album.  I'm guessing that, at the time of "Live", Child had not yet attained classic status

I find it interesting that John Lees never was satisfied with the end result of the song. As such, there are dozens of versions of the song. There is the album version, the John Lees soloversion, 3 or 4 radio versions and the different live versions. The liveversions are always different to the original albumversion.

 

I like the John Lees soloversion the best. With extended pianosolo and orchestra.

I'm still going with the original.  The combination of piano and synth showed that the band was thinking outside the box, and it sounds great.  The guitar solo at the end, like so many on EIEE, is dripping with emotion.  But I do like the Live Tapes version alot, especially for the outtro again, with Wolstenholme playing a new melody on keys before Lees chimes in

I had the John Lees' solo album but it was just too funky for me.  Sadly I sold it and I only kept one song, "Untitled Number 3", which sounds the most like BJH.

edit:  whoa, I just found John Lees' "A Major Fancy" on spotify, including bonus tracks, one of which is Eagles "Best of My love".  We had already seen the BJH love for the Eagles on "poor Boy Blues" and "Mill Boys" as well as the lead solo on "Rock n Roll Star"

 

I like that on Everyone is Everybody Else, the songs Poor Boy Blues and Mill Boys are strung together and share the same melodies. In that sight, it's almost one song written together. And that's rare, for Les and John to write together.

The democracy in early BJH slowly faded.  On the first couple of albums, most songs were credited to the whole group, and most vocals were handled by Woolly, regardless of who wrote the song.  Mockingbird is a good example, which Lees has claimed as his but which seemed like a group effort.  Increasingly after, the albums became duels between the pop oriented Holroyd and the folkier, more lyrically deep Lees.  I thought that sometimes this split worked well, but especially in the 1980s and 1990s, it highlighted the weakening of the material offered by both.  In some ways Holroyd became the more interesting, especially on albums like "Turn of the Tide", where Lees seemed to want to go hard rock and Holroyd embraced the synth pop.

I have always enjoyed the trio of Poor Boy Blues, Mill Boys and For No one.  The first two cleverly blend melodies and the third is just what's needed at that moment.

BJH don't get a lot of respect around here especially among those seeking more "challenging" prog.  Some have even expressed surprise that they are here, even though they have always been associated with the prog movement.  What irks me is when bands like Supertramp, who are arguably more light and pop oriented than BJH, seem to be so idolized here  

Long ago, when the term progressive rock didn't exist, we learned that symphonic rock was 'pop' or 'rock' music infusing elements of classical music. BJH fits perfectly into symphonic rock, as are Moody Blues, Sky, The Nice, Ekseption etc.

Maybe BJH never explored polyrhythms or disonants but they perfectly knew how to mix classical music, poetry and rockmusic.
When the seventies were over and BJH hit it big, with middle of the road-pop, they were less of a symphonic rockband, but neither were The Moodies, etc,

BJH is very underrated in that matter, and maybe dismissed too soon. 

In The Netherlands we had the Oor Pop encyclopedia. There they had the genre Symphonic Rock (with Queen, BJH, Saga, Rush, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Eloy, Camel, Pink Floyd) all thrown in together.
That's how I discovered a lot of bands.

I started out with Queen, Saga, Camel and BJH, by the way. 4 totally different but excellent prog-acts.

 

Where should I go from here?

I think maybe the album just called "Live" from 1974.  This has quite a few songs originally on the album you have as well as a few of the classics from Harvest.  If you like those, try "Once Again".  If you like the Everyone is Everybody Else tracks especially, go with Octoberon.

 

- Turn of the Tide

- Ring of Changes

- Victims of Cirumstance

- Face to Face

 

I think the albums have their moments, especially the John Lees-songs. But it's mostly 2 or 3 songs per album that are nice. The ballads are mostly terrible. At least that's what I think.

With Ring of Changes I have the felling they tried to copy Long Distance Voyager by the Moody Blues (same producer).

 

Time Honoured Ghosts, Octoberon, Gone to Earth and XII are all great mid-70's albums with that folky feeling.

You can;t go wrong with these albums. Less mellotronthan their Harvest-albums, but still very high standard soft-prog.

Try Cressida. They mad two fairly nice albums. A bit jazzy, a bit folky, but pastoral.

For harder edged mellotron bands, try the newer bands like Anekdoten and My Brother the Wind.

My last favorite album is Turn of the Tide.

you could try Strawbs, particularly "Grave New World".  Very mellotron heavy but with more edge than BJH yet paradoxially more folkie

Ive seen John Lees BJH a dozen or so times in the last few years and really enjoyed all of 'em. It just feels weird that the last time I saw them before was in 1981/82 on the 'turn of the tide' tour which was so big and slick and before that, one of my first ever gigs was on the XII tour in 1979 in Bristol (the last tour with Woolly on keyboards).

the 1974 Live is a great introduction to the band, particularly if you are looking for the 'heavier' side of the band. If you are looking for a 'truly blistering' version of Medicine man then the version which was on the 1978 live 'Rock n roll star' ep (which was then on 1978's Live Tapes) but the version of medicine man recorded on that tour was used to back this 33rpm 7inch.. I don't know if its been released as an extra on a recent re-issue or available on YouTube but if you can find it, its well worth the listen!!

It's on the remastered version of Live Tapes, and it's a bonustrack on the remastered version of Gone to Earth.

And although these have been re-released a million times, and a three-cd version of the same album is a bit much, I must say that the new stereo-remixes are all worth a listen.

I am now (with headphones) listening to Octoberon, and the stereo-remix reveals so much, I haven't heard before. The choir-section of May-Day is so much more beautiful and brings chills down my spine.

Edit: Ra is even more impressive and warm. wow!

I have XII and Octoberon, so I will get a hold of Everyone is Everybody Else and Gone to Earth next.

I wonder why they didn;t re-release Time Honoured Ghosts.
Anyway, I wonder what your thoughts are on the re-releases.

More info:
http://www.esotericrecordings.com/discography-shop-b.html

hmm, those are probably my favorite BJH studio albums along with "Once Again".  But I rarely buy CDs anymore, unless it's a crowdfunding effort.