Music Banter - View Single Post - I know what I like: Trollheart's History of Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal

Trollheart · 02-27-2023, 10:09 AM

Album title: Barclay James Harvest and Other Stories
Artist: Barclay James Harvest
Nationality: English
Label: Harvest
Chronology: Fourth
Grade: B
PA Rating: 3.75
Introduction: A good album but certainly not a great album, and it’s no surprise to me that few people remember this, or indeed any BJH output. It’s got a lot of good songs - I don’t think I could say any great ones - but it’s all a little too low-key and sort of folk rock.
Tracklisting: Medicine Man/ Someone There You Know/ Harry’s Song/ Ursula (The Swansea Song)/ Little Lapwing/ Song With No Meaning/ Blue John’s Blues/ The Poet/ After the Day
Comments: Pretty dramatic opening in a sort of maybe Beatles Sgt. Pepper way, quite orchestral and stately as “Medicine Man” gets things going, some good vocal harmonies, again though you can see the - mostly justified - comparisons to the Moody Blues here, possibly Procol Harum too. More relaxed and pastoral for “Someone There You Know”, the piano is used very well here as well as the flute, a slightly heavier, almost dirtier sound on “Harry’s Song”, puts me more in mind of the sort of early hard rock of bands like Vanilla Fudge of Badfinger maybe. First time we hear the guitar cutting sharply through and setting its stall out. And I kind of don’t like it; seems somewhat incongruous compared to the two tracks that went before it.

“Ursula (The Swansea Song)” - clever - is more back to the folky side of things, with flute and acoustic guitar, more low-key, and I would say the vocal of Stuart Wolstenholme suits this far better than the rawer, gruffer one of John Lees which we heard on both the opener and “Harry’s Song”. Again the orchestra comes into its own here, “Little Lapwing” keeping things gentle with another nice vocal, this time from Les Holroyd, who sounds a little Glenn Frey-ish to me, and has only one other vocal contribution on the album. The whole thing sounds a shade on the country side of things, but that’s not a criticism. Nice instrumental section there at the end and we stay with Holroyd for “Song with no Meaning” which has a lovely acoustic guitar line leading it.

Really, no complaints about this so far, but by the same token, nothing terribly memorable. Maybe there’s a good reason why people struggle to name even one BJH track? All a little too pass-you-by and innocuous; nothing that reaches out and grabs you by the throat, forgotten as soon as it’s over. Which is a pity, as there’s some really nice music here. But nice music doesn’t necessarily translate to memorable music. “Blue John Blues” is the longest track at just shy of seven minutes, and is driven on a soft piano melody, Lee taking back over the mike and sounding a little like a bargain basement Dylan if I’m honest. It’s a nice song but sounds a little derivative to me. Okay, kicking up now on a powerful guitar and Hammond combination into a cool little blues (duh) tune with some squeaky guitar, though a staggered guitar riff pushes it sadly a little too close to Beatles territory.

You know, despite my somewhat pithy comments concerning the only real rock track as such so far, “Harry’s Song”, I do have to admit that this album seems to suffer from too many gentle, soft and often acoustic songs. I’m not saying it would send me to sleep, and the orchestra works probably the best I’ve heard yet with any prog band, but it could, to be honest, do with a kick up the arse. “The Poet” is another such example: lovely orchestral backing, yearning kind of vocal, this time from Wolstenholme, who will also take the next, and final track, but it does create a more kind of folky/Beatles feel to the music, and it persists pretty much throughout the album. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it boring, and it’s good music, but perhaps a little weak. Let’s put it this way: you’re not going to rock out to this album. “After the Day” doesn’t get much more punchy either. Nice song, some superb guitar and a kind of sense of Floyd before Floyd in there (i.e., from Dark Side of the Moon on) and a good closer, but the same as their previous album, too light and throwaway to make an impression.

Favourite track(s): Everything bar “Harry’s Song”
Least favourite track(s): “Harry’s Song” duh
Personal Rating: 3.0
Legacy Rating: 1.0
Final Rating: 2.0

02-27-2023, 10:09 AM	#282 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Barclay James Harvest and Other Stories Artist: Barclay James Harvest Nationality: English Label: Harvest Chronology: Fourth Grade: B PA Rating: 3.75 Introduction: A good album but certainly not a great album, and it’s no surprise to me that few people remember this, or indeed any BJH output. It’s got a lot of good songs - I don’t think I could say any great ones - but it’s all a little too low-key and sort of folk rock. Tracklisting: Medicine Man/ Someone There You Know/ Harry’s Song/ Ursula (The Swansea Song)/ Little Lapwing/ Song With No Meaning/ Blue John’s Blues/ The Poet/ After the Day Comments: Pretty dramatic opening in a sort of maybe Beatles Sgt. Pepper way, quite orchestral and stately as “Medicine Man” gets things going, some good vocal harmonies, again though you can see the - mostly justified - comparisons to the Moody Blues here, possibly Procol Harum too. More relaxed and pastoral for “Someone There You Know”, the piano is used very well here as well as the flute, a slightly heavier, almost dirtier sound on “Harry’s Song”, puts me more in mind of the sort of early hard rock of bands like Vanilla Fudge of Badfinger maybe. First time we hear the guitar cutting sharply through and setting its stall out. And I kind of don’t like it; seems somewhat incongruous compared to the two tracks that went before it. “Ursula (The Swansea Song)” - clever - is more back to the folky side of things, with flute and acoustic guitar, more low-key, and I would say the vocal of Stuart Wolstenholme suits this far better than the rawer, gruffer one of John Lees which we heard on both the opener and “Harry’s Song”. Again the orchestra comes into its own here, “Little Lapwing” keeping things gentle with another nice vocal, this time from Les Holroyd, who sounds a little Glenn Frey-ish to me, and has only one other vocal contribution on the album. The whole thing sounds a shade on the country side of things, but that’s not a criticism. Nice instrumental section there at the end and we stay with Holroyd for “Song with no Meaning” which has a lovely acoustic guitar line leading it. Really, no complaints about this so far, but by the same token, nothing terribly memorable. Maybe there’s a good reason why people struggle to name even one BJH track? All a little too pass-you-by and innocuous; nothing that reaches out and grabs you by the throat, forgotten as soon as it’s over. Which is a pity, as there’s some really nice music here. But nice music doesn’t necessarily translate to memorable music. “Blue John Blues” is the longest track at just shy of seven minutes, and is driven on a soft piano melody, Lee taking back over the mike and sounding a little like a bargain basement Dylan if I’m honest. It’s a nice song but sounds a little derivative to me. Okay, kicking up now on a powerful guitar and Hammond combination into a cool little blues (duh) tune with some squeaky guitar, though a staggered guitar riff pushes it sadly a little too close to Beatles territory. You know, despite my somewhat pithy comments concerning the only real rock track as such so far, “Harry’s Song”, I do have to admit that this album seems to suffer from too many gentle, soft and often acoustic songs. I’m not saying it would send me to sleep, and the orchestra works probably the best I’ve heard yet with any prog band, but it could, to be honest, do with a kick up the arse. “The Poet” is another such example: lovely orchestral backing, yearning kind of vocal, this time from Wolstenholme, who will also take the next, and final track, but it does create a more kind of folky/Beatles feel to the music, and it persists pretty much throughout the album. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it boring, and it’s good music, but perhaps a little weak. Let’s put it this way: you’re not going to rock out to this album. “After the Day” doesn’t get much more punchy either. Nice song, some superb guitar and a kind of sense of Floyd before Floyd in there (i.e., from Dark Side of the Moon on) and a good closer, but the same as their previous album, too light and throwaway to make an impression. Favourite track(s): Everything bar “Harry’s Song” Least favourite track(s): “Harry’s Song” duh Personal Rating: 3.0 Legacy Rating: 1.0 Final Rating: 2.0 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 02-27-2023 at 10:20 AM.