Barclay James Harvest...

Joolz wrote: I first saw them during the 1974 tour that spawned that Live album ... I sat in second row just right of centre, with a full view of ... MELLOTRON! Brilliant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New album release dates ..... John Lees' Barclay James Harvest  - Legacy will be released on Esoteric on DVD and CD on November 5th [UK] which is the anniversary of its recording live in London. Woolly Wolstenholme's Mæstoso - Caterwauling, their new studio album, will be released 2 weeks later on November 19th [UK], also on Esoteric.

Jootz  They were a a very important band during my musical exploration but they faded off my radar.Too tedious, but I still hold them in great respect.

I loved them for a short period. Their early 70's live album is still as good today as it was then.I saw them in Glasgow at the World Famous ' Greens Playhouse'  and it was one of the shortest concerts I have ever been to in my life.Considering that most bands played at least an hour and a half to two hours, theirs was barely over an hour.Most disappointing.

Joolz wrote: rupert wrote: ....  what`s so wrong with Les` ballad-thing ? When it works ( Silver Wings f.e. ) it works fine with me...  In general, I don't like lush ballads, especially slow ones, about hypothetical or imaginary relationships etc - I find them boring, whoever wrote them.

'Maestoso' is in a different class to 'Eyes Of The Universe' and 'Turn Of The Tide', IMHO.

rupert wrote: ....  what`s so wrong with Les` ballad-thing ? When it works ( Silver Wings f.e. ) it works fine with me...

Yes, Les has written some excellent songs and I could quite happily put together a personal best-of-Les compilation that would struggle to fit on a single CD. But he has written a lot of songs over the years and in my opinion many are bland and formulaic and have little that I find interesting. In general, I don't like lush ballads, especially slow ones, about hypothetical or imaginary relationships etc - I find them boring, whoever wrote them.

Joolz wrote: I agree .... John has certainly written a few turkeys, but he is hardly ever boring [the exception being The Ballad Of Denshaw Mill which I do get bored with]. But Les has developed a style of bland slow ballad and pop nonsense songs that make a lot of his output inessential!

Ooohh.. i have to agree that John contributed the "lowest" points in the 80`s ( Doctor Doctor , Just a day away, Panic ) and 90`s ( Knoydart, Ballad of Denshaw Mill, Spud-u-like... ) but what`s so wrong with Les` ballad-thing ? When it works ( Silver Wings f.e. ) it works fine with me... i think Les had a far better idea of what his songs should sound like than John had when Woolly was gone... name it "unessential" if you compare it to those glory days but it`s a bit unfair when you see how succesful "Life is for living" was and know about the pressures you get from the record-companies in order to build on that success... well, it was POP then and "prog" it was no more but that´s due to Woolly`s incomparable qualities as an arranger, too !

Edited by rupert - September 16 2007 at 13:15

I agree .... John has certainly written a few turkeys, but he is hardly ever boring [the exception being The Ballad Of Denshaw Mill which I do get bored with]. But Les has developed a style of bland slow ballad and pop nonsense songs that make a lot of his output inessential!

kenethlevine wrote: Especially fresh were John's two acoustic numbers, considering that thru most of the 80s he tried to be hard rock and failed badly/

Oh, come now, I hardly think one rockist track per album maximum warrants such a statement! Even back in the 70s he often added one rockier track to an album by way of contrast to the pervading atmosphere of melodic soft-rock.

Just wanted to say hello ( after a loooong sabattical indeed )... does anyone have and like Les` "Symphonic Barclay" Double-Disc ? I`ve seen them on TV performing "Life is for living" and i wasn`t at all happy with the orchestral part... and Les`singing again... where`s his voice ? Desperately waiting for "legacy", expecting the best...

cheers

Rupi