JOHN LEES' BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: LEGACY - LIVE AT THE SHEPHERD'S BUSH EMPIRE

This live album features the set highlights from John Lees's Barclay James Harvest's November 2006 concert at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. It was a strong set and its slight curtailing lends the album an impressive running order of classic BJH songs from the period 1969 - 1978, some of which such as "Poor Wages" and the full segueing of The Poet/After the Day, just as on the original studio version, have never appeared on a live BJH album before. Others, such as "Mockingbird", "Suicide?", "Medicine Man", "For No One" and "Child of the Universe", have been favourites of the live set for many years but these rousing renditions are well worth another listen.

John Lees's version of BJH, with its predilection for classic and progressive rock will appeal to many fans of this society.

"Legacy" is one of many BJH live albums. Had it not been for the fact that Lees's and Wolstenholme's voices are now showing some huskiness and struggle to sustain some of the original notes then this would be a very strong contender as their best live album. Certainly, musically, it is exceptional. To listen to John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme, the two original founder members in this version of the band, putting in some sterling performances on lead guitar and mellotron on these classic songs is just blissful and will again make all fans of the band's 70s period rue the day that Woolly departed.

I would thoroughly recommend this album to all fans of the band's 70s period. For newcomers who may be interested in sampling the band's live material, 1974's "Live" or 1978's "Live Tapes" may be better starting places, despite Legacy's better set-list, simply because the vocal performances on those recordings are, not surprisingly, better.

A DVD of the same Shepherd's Bush concert, featuring the entire concert plus back-stage footage, is due for release later this month.