Barclay James Harvest Albums

kenethlevine wrote: Child of the Universe got a ton of FM airplay in Montreal.  It always struck me as a more emotional, authentic, intelligent and enjoyable take on what Supertramp was trying to do at the time, though I think that is being charitable to Supertramp.  Its success must have surprised the group who didn't even include it on "Live".   Might also be because it clearly has 2 keyboards going at once in a few places (piano and synth).  They rectified this on "Live Tapes" with a stunning version to open the album.  Its outro is beautiful

 1975: Time Honoured Ghosts - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLikNHjJ_cxzCqYQdtqs5SHUPjHz9r-38C

 1977: Gone to Earth - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLikNHjJ_cxzBjfon-Z4m594ZejewSqkLL

^ Me too. I'd be a regular churchgoer if they played rousing Hymns like that in church. 

Ronstein wrote: It raises an interesting thought. I wonder how many people turn away from such music because it's 'religious' and they're not, rather than accepting the subject of the song as just another story. They're undoubtedly OK listening to songs about Lord of the Rings (see Led Zeppelin). Mike Oldfield's Earth Moving is a great example of a good pop album based around Christianity. Personally, I think it's all tosh made up by humans to explain their existence, but it doesn't affect my enjoyment. A good song is a good song whatever the subject!

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - April 27 2021 at 12:07

At the beginning of the 1980s I met a guy who loved punk and new wave and wasn't really a prog fan or religious, but when I mentioned BJH he lit up and gushed about "Hymn"

The roots of the song 'Hymn' go back a bit of a way with John Lees recording a 'proto' solo version possibly as early as 1972 (? it might be 74, cant remember..) but it came together after the bands experiences in San Francisco when recording Time Honoured Ghosts and is actually a song about the perils of drug addiction.. i Think he was trying to say that using drugs to 'see God' or 'get to the other side' was a very dangerous thing and 'you might not come down'. He used references to his own faith and the template of a 'Hymn' to say theres another way, but not in a preachy way. I bought the single around the time it came out (in a 10p bargin bin!) and i loved it (and felt the power of it live when i saw them in 79) but now i dont count it as one of my BJH favourites..

Psychedelic Paul wrote: ^ I think Hymn sounds much better if I don't associate it with drugs, in just the same way as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Eight Miles High and Puff the Magic Dragon all sound perfectly innocent to me.

 1978: XII - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLikNHjJ_cxzAkOzEFcxPo8tby3ySqz6u8

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - April 25 2021 at 05:44