XII - Barclay James Harvest

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By the time XII came along the band were clearly at a crossroads. Their search for success meant a move towards recording shorter, punchier songs.

This was the last record featuring keyboard maestro Woolly Wolstenholme.His departure changed the musical outlook of the group, and led to a hybrid of pomp and disco which gave them some success in Germany and other parts of the continent but made their old fans groan with dismay.
...Easy". It's a promising beginning. The organ kicks off at a good pace, the guitar joins in with a decent riff and Lees starts singing… but the song goes nowhere… as you would expect a progressive rockers attempt at putative pop. The lyrics are at best banal at worst in bad taste:

"loving is easy with both eyes closed
Just get a hold and watch how it grows"

Notoriety is the last resort of the ageing ... more

Barclay James Harvest sought success through a mixture of progressive pomp and pastoral melodies. Their investment in tours with a full orchestra and the mystifying lack of success had meant a gradual shift of styles in search of a hit. The band even recorded a single under a pseudonym but anyone who heard the B side would have known whodunit.

By the time XII came along the band were clearly at a crossroads. Their search for success meant a move towards recording shorter, punchier songs.

This was the last record featuring keyboard maestro Woolly Wolstenholme.His departure changed the musical outlook of the group, and led to a hybrid of pomp and disco which gave them some success in Germany and other parts of the continent but made their old fans groan with dismay.

The album kicks off with "Loving Is Easy". It's a promising beginning. The organ kicks off at a good pace, the guitar joins in with a decent riff and Lees starts singing… but the song goes nowhere… as you would expect a progressive rockers attempt at putative pop. The lyrics are at best banal at worst in bad taste:

"loving is easy with both eyes closed
Just get a hold and watch how it grows"

Notoriety is the last resort of the ageing rocker but really lads, this was 1977 and most 13 year olds were on the pill by then!

"Berlin" is a genuine gem. Sang by bass-player Les Holroyd whom I suspect most responsible for the dive into disco this is a gentle, dreamy ballad linking a love story with the then isolated city of Berlin. Glorious backing track and soaring vocals make this one of the best tracks on this album and in the

"A Tale of Two Sixties" is harmless but uninspiring. John Lees is fond of clever lyrics - sometimes clever can droop to cliché. This is basically a name check of artists and songs/albums from the 60's with some linking words to make it a lyric:

e.g "David Bowie was Hunky dory
Aladdin quite insane"

Get it? Vaguely sixties sound with churchy organ. Not for the purists

"Turning In Circles" has the dubious honour of being the first BJH song which could sit happily in a post Night Fever Bee Gees album. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the Bee Gees and am quite fond of some of their ballads; even a few of their disco numbers. But for a band like BJH to descend to this type of sub-disco with inane chorus

"you've got me turning in circles
crazy I know"

was dispiriting to say the least. What a come down from wizards, and love-lorn ballads and the like.

"The Closed Shop" is a John Lees protest song - he tends to have one on most albums. Often you don't really know what's his beef but rock n roll is about rebellion isn't it? Is it? Here you don't know if he's for the closed shop or being ironic, with an incongruous Andean sounding music in the background frankly my dear, I couldn't give a damn.

Ah, Stuart "Woolly" wolstenholme floats onto the album with his first number "In Search of England". Though a bit short and far from his best work it is still a delightfully pompous (in the right sense) number about an old man and a boy swapping experiences. As you would expect a far more orchestral feel to this one, starting slowly with voice, keyboard and piano and gradually joined by the other instruments with a stirring chorus about sacrifices - one of the better tracks.

"Sip Of Wine opens the second side. Disco almost rears its head here but is kept at a reasonable level, not standout but not unpleasant with a good guitar hook and well-paced drumming from the (sadly) late Mel Pritchard. Harmless AOR.

"Harbour" is Woolly's second maritime effort on this. A sort of fireside-glow song, with the chorus:

"Faces in a setting sun
Say again that we soon will be one"

A good singalong for concerts. Warms some cockles but again short and sadly his last BJH song.

Nova Lepidoptera is a lazy, pointless song trying to use the Star Wars and sci-fi fad which was hot at the time.. If it had more integrity it might have been a good song but it screams "Filler!!!" in very second of its sluggish existence. The name incidentally is Latin for New Butterfly - the butterfly being the motif used on countless BJH albums. Perhaps this was an indication of the trend in the band?

"Giving It Up" is another good Les Holroyd track. Slow, reflective love-song with ethereal floating-on-clouds backing track, well sung by Holroyd with the band filling in nicely. Decent celestial meanderings a-la Berlin but with different lyrics.

"The Streets of San Francisco" was a popular US tv series in the seventies and here John Lees decides to give us a song about it. Pointless.

The extras are five alternative versions of songs on the album. Only for completists. Not a terrible album, but very frustrating for their old fans. Four of the tracks are very good and none of the others would necessarily make you switch off but it was the end of the road. John Lees, responsible for some earlier masterpieces, had some really mediocre contributions on this. The next album would kick off with a high-pitched Barry Gibb imitation and that was really the end.

Decent artwork, feauring a butterfly with the faces of our heroes flying away from Earth.
 

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