EVERYONE IS EVERYBODY ELSE

Review #16 Barclay James Harvest were formed in Manchester, in September 1966 as a quartet. Their first contract was with 'Parlophone' for just one single in 1968, and right after that they moved to Harvest. Their debut album 'Barclay James Harvest' was released in 1970, received positive reviews, but failed to reach a wider audience . Their second album 'Once Again' received again very good reviews, and the tour that followed was conducted with a full orchestra under the guidance of Robert John Godfrey. (Who later on formed 'The Enid'). Despite all that, the album's sales were very low once more. After 'Once Again', the band released another very good album in the same year (1971), named 'Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories', which was the band's greatest achievement so far. In the meantime, Robert John Godfrey had been replaced by Martyn Ford. The pressure and the tiredness of the long tours started to have an impact on the band, and that became clear with the release of their fourth album 'Baby James Harvest', which was their weakest moment, and also was the last album they released for 'Harvest'.

In 1973 they signed a contract with 'Polydor', and one year later they released the brilliant 'Everyone is Everybody Else' (1974). This album is considered by many, as their artistic high point, and it was produced by Rodger Bain, who had previously worked with Black Sabbath in producing their first three albums. At the same time, he was also the producer of Judas Priest and Budgie. The album was including one of the band's most famous songs, 'Child of the Universe', which together with 'For no One' received a massive 'air play' by many Radio stations, and made Barclay James Harvest famous to a wider audience.

The album includes 9 songs, and has a total running time of almost 40 minutes. (In the original version). Almost all the songs are great compositions, filled with the characteristic melodic and melancholic sound of Barclay James Harvest. Surely 'Child of the Universe' capture the listener's attention from the first listen, but all the songs are almost equally good in my opinion. If I had to find the album's 'weakest' moment, I would say the song 'Mill Boys' which is a sweet ballad, but nothing more. All the other 8 songs are beautiful to say the least.

I bought this album almost 27 years ago on vinyl, (later on I also bought the extended cd version), and during these years I have listened to it hundreds of times. As you can understand I know all the songs by heart, and I can't say that I'm bored of them. It's quite the opposite actually! I still love every minute of it!

'Everyone is Everybody else' is without any doubt a wonderful album, which I strongly recommend.

As for my rating, I would give 4.50 out of 5.00 stars.