CAPRICORN / BERLIN

In the late 70's Barclay James Harvest's waining popularity concentrated on continental Europe. Keyboardist Woolly Wolstenholme left the group which carried on as a trio of Lees, Holroyd and Pritchard, plus the session musicians such as Kevin McAlea. Eyes of the Universe (1979) is the first Woollyless album, but it's hardly much worse than its precedessor XII (1978). A more dramatic change in the style occurred with the next, disco-oriented album Turn of the Tide (1981) which sounds almost awful. Several songs from Eyes of the Universe were edited for possible singles. The two materialized singles were Les Holroyd's 'Love on the Line' and the John Lees composition 'Capricorn', the latter coming out in March 1980.

'Capricorn' is a decent song, not too commercial sounding but certainly not among the album highlights either. The chorus becomes a bit too dominant with its sharp guitar riffs. Roughly a minute shorter than the album version, as well it could have been edited with a heavier hand without losing anything crucial.

The B-side song 'Berlin' is taken from the XII album. Written by Holroyd and inspired by the wall dividing the city in two, the song is one of the many emotionally strong BJH ballads of this era. Piano/synth centred arrangement has the lush orchestral feel typical for BJH prior to Wolstenholme's departure.

2½ stars rounded down.