BABY JAMES HARVEST

I remember sort of skimming through the Barclay James Harvest discography and, for the most part, I was left unimpressed, there were some good moments and good ideas but nothing terribly original or extraordinary. Nevertheless, the band functioned perfectly for background music as it was diverse enough to keep me engaged in whatever task I was doing but wasn't so interesting that the music distracted me.

As a result of my experience I was a little bit confused when I saw how this album was almost unanimously thought of as one of the poorest albums from early BJH. As a result I wanted to see why this album was thought of as poor, or at least poorer, than the bands other releases. To tell the truth, I don't think the songwriting or the performance from the band is any poorer here than on any other releases, the music is perhaps a bit more fragmented and there are songs that could be argued to not be progressive but I'd say that this is not uncommon throughout the bands discography.

On the whole I wouldn't say that this is a strong record 'Crazy (Over You)' and 'Thank You' are simply straight-forward rock songs and although they aren't inherently bad they seem a bit out of place when compared to songs such as 'Summer Soldier' or 'Moonwater'. 'One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out', despite being a song I thoroughly enjoy, owes a large debt to David Bowie and is far from original. 'Summer Soldier' is a well written BJH song for half of its duration with the other half seeming to be an extended tribute to King Crimson. In fact, there are only two songs here than I can wholeheartedly recommend, 'Moonwater' and the absolutely fantastic 'Delph Town Morn'.

'Delph Town Morn' is nothing more than an interesting and well written song with some wonderful brass driving the song along and is a real treat to listen to. 'Moonwater' is a, perhaps sprawling, piece that features intricate orchestration and although the recording doesn't quite match the depth contained in the song it is a wonderfully written piece nonetheless. As a whole though, the album feels erratic and haphazardly pieced together with songs that seem to blatantly copy their influences. As a result this album couldn't hope to achieve a mark higher than 2 stars.

If you enjoy the band you will likely find something to enjoy in this album and the music is certainly palatable but it ultimately falls short in album form.

2/5 stars.