FACE TO FACE

With 'Face to Face' Barclay James Harvest completed the transition to a completely AOR and with few remaining characteristics that would even distinguish them as being Barclay James Harvest. As pop-rock I would rate this as a pretty decent album given the very slick, professional production and excellent quality of the musicianship, particularly the keyboards and highly polished, multi-tracked vocals.

Granted, just about every prog dinosaur still roaming the earth was producing similar music at this point of the eighties. All of them retained at least some semblance of their original and unique sounds though, even when it was cleverly woven in subdued fashion into the fabric of a broader glossy adult contemporary tapestry. Songs like the surprisingly religious-themed "He Said Love" and the cheesy love song "Following Me" fit the same mold as Kansas ("Perfect Lover", "All I Wanted"), Yes ("Love Will Find a Way", "Rhythm of Love") and Genesis (everything after 'Lamb').

But with the exception of Genesis all these bands still had some redeeming tracks on every album. I can't find any here. The closest are probably the anti-apartheid "African" that takes a page from Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Toto and Paul Simon circa the same era; and "Kiev" which is polished to an almost sterile sheen but has an interesting tempo that sits somewhere between epic and ballad as well as woodwind-sounding keyboards that give it a flavor that transcends the decade in which is was recorded. Nothing else on the album fits that description, and subsequently most of these songs and the album as a whole have become a time capsule for a musical era that was already coming to an end by the time they were recorded. Not a good place to be from a progressive music standpoint.

Like pretty much all the rest of the band's eighties albums this one is decent at best, forgettable and disappointing at worst. So probably somewhere in between. I'm going to stick with two stars which is what I've rated most of the rest of their eighties output, and recommend only "African" as a track worth seeking out for at least one spin. The rest can be safely passed on without risking the loss of a complete Barclay James Harvest experience if you happen to be contemplating which of their discography to invest in.

peace