ONCE AGAIN

I discovered Barclay James Harvest through a dvd I bought wich contained some progressive songs from several bands such as Yes, ELP and Uriah Heep, and of course BJH. The song included was of course Mockingbird, in a superb live performance. I decided I had to buy that album since I was so touched by the song.

The album starts off with the beautiful ''She said'', where the refrain absolutely tells the story of the song:''And I will always love her, And I will always care''. An emotional love song, with a beautiful flute passage a the middle of it. The rythm section screams emotions through the drummer and melodies with Les Holroyd's bass.

The second song, Happy Old world, is less convincing. The bassist tries to do too much, the drummer accomplish nothing concrete, and the flow of the lyrics is somewhat bad. The refrain is still good, but this song is definitely not a highlight.

Listening to the third song, we can definitely hear the Moody Blues influences, and this is not a bad thing. Nothing Special, but still a decent song.

Galadriel is a beautiful little song, where the orchstra was not necessarily works well at all time,but the vocal part is beautiful, and some of the symphonic side is actually excellent.

What to say about Mockingbird? Well, a beautiful, emotional, well-written and most important well-played. The bass tries to imitate The Moody Blues at some point, but it is really beautiful, and the guitar is beautiful, the orchestra works well, and the whole song is a little gem to cherish.

After the moving Mockingbird, an intelligent choice to come back with an acoustic simple song about a girl named Vanessa Simmons. Quite pleasant little folk song.

Ball and chain is more of a rocker piece wich absolutely works after the folk song.

Lady loves finishes the album, again a love song wich is a bit subpar to the album, but still enjoyable.

Overall, apart from the rythm section wich a time tries to do too much, the musiciaship is quite good.

The album taken as a whole is good, relaxed, and certainly pleasant to listen to, and while the comparison to the Moody Blues have to be made, the band finds its sounds, and delivers a class album worth of attention. 4/5