THE COMPACT STORY OF BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST

Actually this is the Compact (disc) story of BJH starting from when they left EMI's Harvest label in the mid 1970's. It therefore covers the period from their first Polydor album, "Everyone is everybody else". Unlike most stories, this one begins somewhere in the middle with a single edit of the title track from the "Ring of changes" album, the tracks being sequenced in a rather haphazard, and certainly not chronological order.

The Harvest years are represented only by a later live version of the perennial "Mocking bird" taken from their famous Berlin concert. (if there any BJH compilation which does not included a version of this track, I have yet to see it).

While there are undoubtedly some fine songs here, the collection is neither a good representation of the band's history, nor an essential compilation of their best tracks. Even their Polydor albums are poorly represented, with live versions of the two best tracks from "Gone to earth" instead of the originals, and far too little from "Everyone is everybody else", "Octoberon" etc. Elsewhere, for no obvious reason, single edits of the title tracks from "Ring of changes" and "Victims of circumstance" are used.

The overriding concern here is that the compilation purports to tell the "Story" of BJH. Anyone unfamiliar with their work would be somewhat misled if they took it at face value, and assumed it represented either their best tracks, or a reasonable cross section of their work. A pleasant enough compilation, but far from essential for either existing fans or inquisitive newbies.

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