OCTOBERON

BJH reverted to their more powerful and indeed progressive style with this album, with side one (of the LP) consisting of just 3 longer tracks.

"May day" includes a complex choral pastiche of various traditional British anthems, while "The world goes on" is more orthodox BJH, complete with full orchestration. Woolly Wolstenholme's "Ra" is a not unlike his "Beyond the grave" from "Time Honoured Ghosts" but builds from a quiet start to a thunderous ending.

The second side of album includes the highly commercial "Rock'n'roll" star, although interestingly the single release of this track was taken from the "Live tapes" album. The live version is indeed superior, but the album track is nonetheless an excellent piece of up tempo pop rock.

The final standout track is "Suicide", a chillingly real description of someone committing the act by jumping from a tall building. The track is complete with ironic observations such as the guy who wants to move his car out of the way, and the club charging a life subscription for the brief use of their premises. The music has a suitably maudlin sound, building menacingly to the final act. The track closes with the whole event played out in real time through sound effects. This must have seemed like a good idea at the time!

All in all, an excellent album, diverse but coherent.

Share this BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Easy Livin
• Report this review (#22643)
• Buy BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST music online with PA partners
• Show all BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST MP3/Stream
• Go to BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Octoberon page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST related discussions