BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST

In 1966 John Lees, Woolly Wolstenholme, Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard first came together with two others as The Blues Keepers. A year later the others had left and a new name chosen by pulling names out of a hat. They embraced the sound of the Mellotron, and soon also gained the assistance of one Robert John Godfrey who wanted to bring together a rock group with an orchestra. Although the friendship did later end up in the courts, RJG did pull together musicians then toured with the band as The Barclay James Harvest Symphony Orchestra. The debut self-titled album was released in 1970, and showed a band who, to my ears, were still trying to find their own sound. There are songs that are rooted in the Sixties, while at others it sounds like The Moody Blues trying to sound like BJH!! There are songs that show some of the influence of BJH as he brings in dissonance while John's distinctive guitar sound is already starting to make an appearance. Originally there were seven songs on the album, but this has been expanded to 20, 7 of which are previously unavailable, and they are taken from singles and sessions of the period.

Originally appeared in Feedback #70, Oct 02