* * * * ½
A terrific retrospective of the band's early Polydor days as captured in live and session recordings for the BBC. The album is sub-titled "The Radio Recordings 1974 - 1976". This is a double disc set but it retails for the price of a standard full-price CD.
Barclay James Harvest were the first band I ever saw live. This was just after their UK peak with the "Everyone Is Everybody Else" and "Live" albums. The first disc of this double CD comes from the time of the "Live" album and the setlist and performances are very similar. The downside of this is that you get spoken intros to the songs by Bob Harris. However, a free program such as Audacity would let you edit these out as they don't warrant repeated listening. The second disc is Peel, Harris and OGWT session tracks plus four numbers from a later Liverpool concert. Highlights for me are the angry take of "Crazy City" from the Peel session, and Woolly introducing "The Great Mining Disaster of 1974" on Disc 1. The album loses half a star for the dreadful dirge "Sweet Jesus" (kind of sub-Cliff Richard). This reminds me why I drifted away from the band towards edgier material, for a while at least.
The presentation of the album is nothing short of superb. The artwork is based on the "Time Honoured Ghosts" album, which in turn was inspired by American painter Maxfield Parrish. The fascinating essay is by Mark Powell, now top man at Esoteric Recordings (home of the re-issued "Live" album). He was also the mastermind behind the album's compilation and release.
We lost our man at the Mellotron, Woolly Wolstenholme, on Monday 13th December 2010. We will never see his like again. Drummer Mel Pritchard also left us a few years back. Rest in peace you guys, you will never be forgotten.
Further BJH product is reviewed here. Currently there are two versions of Barclay James Harvest: one fronted by John Lees and the other by Les Holroyd. More information at John's site:http://www.bjharvest.co.uk/
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