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Joolz 
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1377
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 Posted: August 25 2007 at 07:27 |
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John Lees' Barclay James Harvest
The DVD/CD of last year's tour are due to be released on October 1st by Esoteric [formerly known as Eclectic and now a subsidiary of Cherry Red]. They will be called Legacy. The DVD will be a full length presentation of the concert recorded live at the Shepherds Bush Empire last November, together with bonus material shot behind the scenes. The CD will be a single disc distillation of the same live show ie some tracks will be omitted.
PS - no release date yet for Woolly's Caterwauling, but the word is that if you like Grim then you should like it.
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rupert
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 18 2006
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 610
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Posted: September 14 2007 at 13:08 |
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
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...I'm a musician/singer/songwriter, visit me on www.reverbnation.com/rupertlenz and there you can choose from 125 recordings you can listen to ( for free ) if you're not limited to prog-rock !
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kenethlevine
Special Collaborator
Prog-Folk Team
Joined: December 06 2006
Location: New England
Status: Offline
Points: 8952
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Posted: September 15 2007 at 19:08 |
 febus wrote:
Start with the classics first
-EVERYONE IS EVERYBODY ELSE
-TIME HONOURED GHOST  -GONE TO EARTH
add the two live albums ----LIVE and live tapes
and you have a good idea |
I would highly recommend "Once Again" (1971) and Octoberon
(1976). If you want to try something from the 80s, I think the
best is "Ring of Changes (1983). I don't know quite what happened
in the 80s but they lost their touch for any sort of melodic
inventiveness. Ring of Changes was the only one that seemed
to really work, because you had strong tracks by both
contributors. Especially fresh were John's two acoustic numbers,
considering that thru most of the 80s he tried to be hard rock and
failed badly/
Edited by kenethlevine - September 15 2007 at 19:09
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Joolz
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1377
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 07:14 |
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/
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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.
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition
Joined: April 10 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 3928
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 07:46 |
I feel Woolly Wolstenholme was missed from their 80s/90s work, really. Their 80s/90s albums still have some great tracks but I don't really like any of them in their entirety (I quite like 'Face To Face', 'Welcome To The Show' and 'Ring Of Changes', though). It's the novelty-style songs like 'Spud U Like' and 'Panic' that John Lees wrote that I really don't like.
Les Holroyd's songs were a lot more formulaic in the 80s and 90s (way too many ballads, IMHO), but I don't think he plumbed those lows that Lees did, nevertheless.
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Joolz
Special Collaborator
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Joined: March 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1377
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 07:54 |
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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!
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kenethlevine
Special Collaborator
Prog-Folk Team
Joined: December 06 2006
Location: New England
Status: Offline
Points: 8952
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 12:29 |
Joolz wrote:
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/
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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.
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It seemed to me that on Turn of the Tide for instance, almost all his
contributions were failed attempts at hard rock. The album
was saved, such as it was, by Les's more believable ballads
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rupert
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 18 2006
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 610
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 13:14 |
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 !
See, i enjoyed he trios concerts in 1990/92/93 a lot but there are also those who seriously complained about the large number of "Oldies" from the seventies that had been on the set-list... hard to believe for those who went there exactly to hear them !
Edited by rupert - September 16 2007 at 13:15
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...I'm a musician/singer/songwriter, visit me on www.reverbnation.com/rupertlenz and there you can choose from 125 recordings you can listen to ( for free ) if you're not limited to prog-rock !
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Dan_
Forum Newbie
Joined: September 09 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 14
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 19:51 |
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I only have Live Tapes and Gone to Earth, but I love both these albums. I really should check more out I guess... what would people recommend I checked out next?
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febus
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
Joined: January 23 2007
Location: Orlando-Usa
Status: Offline
Points: 4312
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Posted: September 16 2007 at 19:53 |
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! |
Agree with you 120%  John Lees was always the most original writer to me, not mentioning he has also the strongest voice
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Joolz
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1377
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Posted: September 17 2007 at 06:41 |
kenethlevine wrote:
Joolz wrote:
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.
|
It seemed to me that on Turn of the Tide for instance, almost all his
contributions were failed attempts at hard rock. The album
was saved, such as it was, by Les's more believable ballads
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Highway For Fools and Death Of A City are rockers but How Do You Feel Now, Doctor Doctor and In Memory Of The Martyrs can in no way be described as 'hard rock'. In my opinion, the outstanding track on that album is In Memory Of The Martyrs from John. Les's atmospheric Echoes And Shadows is pretty good too but the rest hover between average and mediocre. There's one or two decent lyrics in there, but generally it's one of BJH's poorest albums. Don't know what you mean by "Les's more believable ballads" ....
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Joolz
Special Collaborator
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Joined: March 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1377
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Posted: September 17 2007 at 06:54 |
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.
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Andrea Cortese
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 05 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 4411
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Posted: September 17 2007 at 11:30 |
I've recently bought Woolly's Maestoso and I have to say it's great! Wow!
What a loss for Barclay James Harvest his departure was!
I've already ordered Grim and I hope to receive my copy soon!
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition
Joined: April 10 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 3928
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Posted: September 17 2007 at 13:22 |
'Maestoso' is in a different class to 'Eyes Of The Universe' and 'Turn Of The Tide', IMHO.
'Turn Of The Tide' is a weak effort, IMHO- two stand out tracks ('In Memory Of The Martyrs' and 'Echoes And Shadows'), the rest I don't particularly care about either way.
Les' songs are hit and miss, really. Some of them are first class- 'Kiev', 'Ring Of Changes', 'Welcome To The Show', 'Echoes And Shadows', 'On The Wings Of Love', 'Play To The World'- but then you get the likes of 'I've Got A Feeling', 'Watching You', 'Back To The Wall' and a lot of what he contributed to 'Caught In The Light' which is pretty bland, formulaic stuff, IMHO. I can't say I've ever heard a Les song that's truly horrendous, though, either.
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Andrea Cortese
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Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 05 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 4411
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Posted: September 17 2007 at 17:59 |
Grim has arrived today while I was at work!
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rupert
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 18 2006
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 610
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Posted: September 21 2007 at 09:58 |
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.
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Hmm... may you never get to hear MINE...
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...I'm a musician/singer/songwriter, visit me on www.reverbnation.com/rupertlenz and there you can choose from 125 recordings you can listen to ( for free ) if you're not limited to prog-rock !
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Moogtron III
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
Points: 10616
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Posted: September 21 2007 at 18:15 |
febus wrote:
Great pics, Eric.... doesn't make us any younger, last time i saw them was in Toulouse in 1984!! |
Last (and only) time I saw them was... 1989? Vredenburg, Utrecht? Netherlands. Wonderful show! Just one row standing before the stage, though, I can understand they never got back to Holland. But what great music!
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Fragile
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 27 2004
Location: Scotland
Status: Offline
Points: 1125
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Posted: September 22 2007 at 05:41 |
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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.
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Joolz
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 24 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1377
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Posted: September 22 2007 at 07:26 |
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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 Męstoso - Caterwauling, their new studio album, will be released 2 weeks later on November 19th [UK], also on Esoteric.
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Fragile
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 27 2004
Location: Scotland
Status: Offline
Points: 1125
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Posted: September 22 2007 at 20:15 |
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 Męstoso - Caterwauling, their new studio album, will be released 2 weeks later on November 19th [UK], also on Esoteric.
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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.
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Barclay James Harvest...