BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST LIVE

A marvellous live album from a greatly underrated band, spoiled a little by a slightly muddy sound quality. Good musicians if not perhaps not the greatest individual virtuosos, they stuck to what they were capable of, wrote great songs and the result was far greater than the sum of the individual parts. The two long tracks on side 1 (I have the vinyl double LP) segue into each other and are excellent, with some great keyboards from Woolly Wolstenholme and fine guitar solos from John Lees. Crazy City is a very srong song, as is After the Day. Galadriel is exquisite; a gentle, beautifully composed song and the album keeps a high standard until their magnum opus Mockingbird, which explodes with great vocals, mellotron and guitar to finish things off. Two good singers, a good guitarist, a strong, tight rhythm section and a master of the mellotron mean that BJH are worth a high place on the podium of prog. As with Renaissance, this first live album is possibly their best release of all, showcasing their best work. The sheer quality of the music compensates for any slight deficiency in the sound quality and definitely makes this a "must have"; buy and enjoy!