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Barclay James Harvest ?– Barclay James Harvest

Tracklist Hide Credits

Companies, etc.

• Record Company – E.M.I. Records
• Record Company – The Gramophone Co. Ltd.
• Pressed By – The Gramophone Co. Ltd.
• Recorded At – EMI Studios
• Published By – Initial Music Ltd.
• Printed By – Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.

Credits

• Composed By – Barclay James Harvest
• Design – Ian Latimer
• Directed By [Resident Musical Director] – Robert Godfrey* 
• Engineer – Phil McDonald
• Photography By [Photography] – Richard Dunkley
• Producer – Norman Smith

Notes

Barcode and Other Identifiers

• Matrix / Runout (Variant 1, Runout stamp side A): SHVL 770 A-2
• Matrix / Runout (Variant 1, Runout stamp side B): SHVL 770 B-1

Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), keyboardist/vocalist Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme (1947–2010), and drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004).[1]

History[edit]

After signing with EMI's Parlophone label in the UK for one single in early 1968, they moved to the more progressively inclined Harvest label. The name for the band, according to The International Barclay James Harvest Fan Club, signifies nothing specifically. Having exhausted other possibilities, each of the band members wrote single words on pieces of paper which were drawn out of a hat one by one. All were rejected until only three were left: James, a guy who used to sing with the band, Harvest because they were living in a farmhouse, and Barclay after the bank, because they aspired to make money. These were then rearranged to get the best-sounding name - "Barclay James Harvest".[2]

Their self-titled debut album was released in mid-1970 to positive reviews, but few sales. Their second album, Once Again, gained more favourable reviews, and the tour that followed was conducted with a full orchestra under the guidance of Robert John Godfrey. Their third album Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories was an even greater achievement, though Martyn Ford was brought in to supervise the orchestral work after Godfrey departed over writing issues behind "Mocking Bird" – one of the group's most consistently popular tracks.

By the release of their fourth album, Baby James Harvest, in 1972, the pressures of touring were beginning to affect the band.

After this album, they departed from EMI, moved management to Harvey Lisberg,[3] and signed to Polydor, the move immediately resulting in greater sales. The next album, Everyone Is Everybody Else (1974), is viewed by many[by whom?] as their artistic high point. This was shown by the album being played extensively on Radio Caroline,[4] and by its appearance in the station's Top 100 All Time Albums Chart.[5] It also led to the band being invited to a BBC Radio 1 session for John Peel.[6] The double live album, Barclay James Harvest Live, which followed in late 1974, built on their solid fanbase, and was the first to chart in the UK, reaching No. 40.[7] Time Honoured Ghosts (1975), which has the well known "Titles", recorded in the USA, followed, and this too charted in the UK, reaching No. 32.[7]Octoberon followed in 1976 and reached number 19 in the UK.[7] They finally broke into the mainstream European market with their 1977 set Gone to Earth, which contained the song "Poor Man's Moody Blues", a homage to the Moody Blues' song, "Nights in White Satin."

Wolstenholme – whose mellotron playing was a trademark of the band's sound in the 1970s – left in 1979 after the album XII (1978). He pursued a short solo career fronting the band Maestoso, before retiring from the music industry altogether to pursue farming.

The remaining three members continued. In August 1980, they played a free concert in front of the Reichstag in West Berlin, with an estimated attendance of 250,000 people. They were the first Western rock band to perform in an open-air concert in pre-Glasnost East Germany, playing in Treptower Park, East Berlin on 14 July 1987 to a 170,000-plus audience.

The band continued as a trio with regular guest-musicians until 1998. One album, Welcome to the Show, produced in 1990, was released under the abbreviated name BJH. However, because of criticism from fans, the full name was restored, albeit with the inclusion of the BJH moniker.

In 1998, musical differences amongst members of BJH saw the band essentially split into two different groups, each of which retained "Barclay James Harvest" as part of its name. John Lees released an album mixing new songs and classics of the band, entitled Nexus, under the name "Barclay James Harvest Through the Eyes of John Lees". Woolly Wolstenholme played in (and composed for) this band, subsequently resurrecting Maestoso to record and tour with new material, as well as back-catalogue favourites. Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard teamed up to record under the name "Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd". In 2006/7, Lees and Wolstenholme toured under the slightly modified band title "John Lees' Barclay James Harvest".

Mel Pritchard died suddenly of a heart attack in early 2004. Woolly Wolstenholme took his own life in December 2010, having apparently struggled with depression for many years.[8]

The two derivatives of Barclay James Harvest continue to record and tour to this day, and enjoy ongoing popularity, particularly in Germany, France, and Switzerland.