Listening to Barclay James Harvest: Gone To Earth (Part 1)

[@robertwells3867]

Barclay james harvest are so underrated.. You will be a very old man before you even get through half of the great music before you Jim.

[@johnlowe8363]

first heard this on amazon music, fell in love with it, as i am nearly 68 this song just does it for me stunning

[@timballard27]

Their best album :Everyone is everybody else. Best song For no One. Outstanding!

[@jeremyyork3538]

I agree entirely! For no One always 'sends' me every time.

[@mattgeldart519]

I am watching this video on my TV - thoroughly enjoying watching someone's first experience of BJH. For me they are very much the soundtrack to my life. As others have said Time Honoured Ghosts and Everyone is Everybody Else are also great albums - so also is Revival which shows how some of their songs have grown in complexity over the years - especially the song Poor Man's Moody Blues. I hope you go on to discover more of their music.

[@5catmom641]

This brings back memories of my teenage years!

[@campsbay1990]

That brings back so many good teenage memories from the 80's. Fantastic record I must have listened a thousand times.

[@MrKeefdave]

Hi Jim, your friend has impeccable taste. I hope he gave you Octoberon. The last track "Suicide" is fantastic.

[@richardrawles6789]

BJH's "Everyone is Everybody Else" is a great album, especially the finale of Mill Boys and For No One.

[@tensor131]

yes, probably their best album

[@Rosalicious297]

Agree, their best.

[@martinpowell5769]

Most definitely their best album 🙏🇬🇧

[@petemc5070]

I remember the NME review of this album - it was brutal!

[@gabiesiren]

beautiful and relaxing music before going to bed !

[@alangraham10]

Love their Live Tapes album and also XII and Eyes of the Universe

[@TheProgCorner]

How weird!!! I was just listening to this.

[@ivogil4]

Great band. I was already a fan in 1979. I saw them live in Amsterdam. Great concert. Musically great. There not so famous in the music world, but in Germany very famous. Great album live in Berlin. You must look after other great albums they have made. You would enjoy it. Look for Mockingbird, Live is for living, Berlin etc.

[@drumvc8060]

Good morning Jim, thanks for this; a great start to my Sunday. Have never listened to BJH previously, but like yourself; have been aware of them for many years. Absolutely loved this and looking forward to discovering much more! It seems I need to head to eBay!! Thanks 😊

[@rhopsi-q6b]

Gosh, that brings back memories.

[@TheFilwud]

Been a fan of BJH for many years, unfortunately I never got to see them when Woolly was a member. I just love the harmonies in their music from back in the Woolly era. Also each album sounded totally different from every other one, but still recognisably BJH. In the post Woolly era they had 2 or 3 decent albums but the later albums where Les and John had effectively stopped working together were nowhere near as good as the earlier material. I highly recommend checking out their next album; XII the last to feature Woolly (who plays keyboards including mellotron, supplies a lot of the harmony vocals and always had one or two songs on each album). Sadly both Mel (drummer) and Woolly are no longer with us.

[@caryheuchert]

In my opinion, Woolly was the best vocalist in BJH. I prefer the early Harvest albums, when he had a more prominent role in the band.

[@johnbailey2824]

My new girlfriend made me go to see them in concert in 1974 and I fell in love with them both...Still together and listening after 48 years... Thanks, Boys...

[@m0rafic1]

Glad your enjoying BJH , I remember seeing the tour for this album like it was yesterday. I have been a fan since "Everyone is Everybody Else" This is I believe the first review/listen to any BJH I have come across.

[@markfoster2858]

Listen to Hymn live... serious goosebumps

[@GordonHudson]

When they made this album they weren't long back from the USA where they had work permit problems and ended up recording as the backing band for David Soul's first album. You can hear that influence in some of this.

[@IllumeEltanin]

Oh! I just noticed the canvas print in the background. 😃 ❤️‍🔥 🥳

[@laurentmercier419]

Merci Jim, c'est toute mon enfance dans ce disque ! Excellent album !

[@kevingreen3429]

got To see BJM back in the late 70s. Hymn is one of my all time favourite tracks.

[@MartinCymru]

Mel Pritchard drummer what a talent died young

[@marcellinet8402]

You´re my man! Listening BJHs ´Gone To Earth´ on vinyl, what could be better 😅

[@Bobsy-c6k]

So glad to see you enjoying a great album from one of the greatest bands ever for the first time. I am so jealous of anyone discovering their music for the first time. BJH are an enigma beyond logic. How on earth did the British public miss out on them !? It defies logic. All BJH need is for someone to listen to them, that's all. Once you listen to them you are dumbfounded as to why they are not more widely recognised in the U.K. and the U.S.A... 50 years later and they are still going strong....Respect!

[@richardm6985]

Love the trippy turntable.. bring on the musics

[@stevesnailfish]

I always find them very mellow....played this one a month ago or so.....Great harmony vocals as well.

[@sallerterrer1285]

"Gone to earth" is good, but "Everyone Is Everybody Else" is fantastic!!!!

[@theheepster]

BJH were very popular in Germany. They toured very often here.

[@Bobsy-c6k]

BJH have always been one of the best bands live. Which goes to show what great musicians they were and are. A must listen album of theirs is LIVE TAPES. Recorded in 1977/1978 when the original four were at their best. Its my favourite album of BJH because it has some of their best songs ( up to that era ) recorded live. And their version of the finally song Hymn on it is one of the best. Jim you will love it.

[@arthurmol6875]

Mockingbird is my favorite BJH song.

[@tonygrinney7115]

It's their magnum opus!

[@wicky4473]

Graham is the man! Yes, must listen to MoodyBlues, especially the early stuff. This BJH song is a good homage to them.

[@olemartinsen9733]

I've been a massive BJH fan, and have followed them since the 70's. Their seventies albums are essential in every prog collection in my opinion. Look for the Woolly Woolstenholme tracks, they are the better ones in my opinion. Octoberon, and Time honoured ghost is highly reccomended. Poor man's Moody Blues were written as a response to a journalist describing them as the Poor Mans Moody Blues.

[@1oriss]

I to have Ben into BJH since the 70s. Srab

[@1oriss]

It was meant to say I have been into the Harvest since the 70s but the woolly tunes are the only ones I don't care for much. But a slip of the finger meant I posted half a post.

[@Marknorthway]

the Live double LP was BJH at their peak. I'm with you on the Woolly comment - his songs really took BJH albums in to a different league and were never the same after he left. More successful commercially sure, but lacking weight. And Woolly was never as good without BJH.

[@DunerecordsGent]

Absolutely agree.....keyboard player Woolly , was the most symphonic member of the band ( he played an amazing Mellotron ) and as far as I am concerned ,wrote and sang the best songs.....also the John Lees songs..the ones that bass player Les wrote , became very very very cheesy...I owe about 11 records of them . ..but after Woolly left the band I lost interest in them....their first two live double albums "live " and "live tapes " are brilliant....even better than the already amazing studio release from the time. Saw them in the late seventies in Brussels , with Woolly still in their ranks , for the Gone To Earth tour. amazing concert.

[@stephencarr9860]

Nice one Jim. Interesting you mention Marillion. I grew up with Barclay James Harvest in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Saw them live on each Album release from 1977. Then took in Marillion. The band was great. Try Everyone is everybody Else and their early Harvest label albums. For no one from that Album featured on OGWT.

[@TigerMtnKing]

Wow that was amazing! Adding that to the playlist! I envy you living in the UK Jim. YES is on their 50th Anniversary tour celebrating Close to the Edge in June with 10 stops there. Although Jon, Chris, Rick and Bill won't be there Steve and Alan will so it should still be amazing.

[@malcolmgriffiths4234]

Pure excellence.

[@gerhardschote8000]

Rember Berlin Concert in front of 250000 ! fans

[@stevetrow8989]

That was where I first encountered them on tv back in the early 80s Hymn was the play out song! Awesome! Yeah!

[@ashodgkin]

Hymn is a beautiful introduction to BJH. My favourite album of theirs is Once Again, which came out a few years earlier. If you get the chance to hear that album the stand out track is Mocking Bird, which is equally gorgeous. I saw them live around 1972 and was blown away by their musicianship. They were similar to the Moody Blues in so many ways, not least in the way they often had a full orchestral accompaniment, but they were certainly no poor man’s version.

[@nizararabi7467]

Very top with the moody blues 💫💫👍🤩🤩

[@nizararabi7467]

👍🤩

[@Rowenband]

My favorite from BJH remains Time Honored Ghost. And their first one is excellent too. The Christian and religious side of their music and lyrics may have played against them ?

[@philippesolari6450]

You're probably right ... Because they were Christian ... ✨🙏✨.

[@consterus]

19:48 This solo must be one of the most beautiful solos in the world. I have tears on my eyes when I hear it and goosebombs. But unfortunately it's not so popular, as the band itself : (

[@merlinscat]

Great band seen them live many times. They are Still around in some form. The early stuff is the best in my opinion. But I have all their albums you should check out Everyone is everybody else, and once again and Time honoured ghosts. I met the lead guitarist last time I saw them, and could only burble a few words at him, such was my fan girl state.

[@ChrisEchoes]

BJH is literally a band of two halves. Musically the veer back and forth between prog and pop rock which meant that they always fell a bit between everything. Too soft for the prog crowd, too proggy at times for the popcrowd. But it was eventually the pop songs that made them huge in the 80s in Germany and Austria. They are also songwriting wise a band of two halves. Almost all songwriting was evenly divided between John Lees (guitarplayer) and Les Holroyd (bassplayer) and on every album maybe two songs for keyboard player Woolly Wolstenholme (upto the XII albums after which he left). And also stylistically there is a divide with John Lees writing the more proggy or harder rocking songs and Holroyd the poppy, softer songs. On the later albums the songs were even exactly divided. By that time all was not well among them and one some songs neither of the writers was even playing on the other ones songs. Nowadays we have two bands called BJH although only the John Lees version (IMHO the better one) is still active, even having recorded new material. At one point even keyboard player Wolstenholme was part of that band which made it even better but sadly he passed away a few years ago (did get to see them with him live).

[@martinreed5964]

another rabbit hole to jump down...great band.they did it all, rock, brass , orchestra...another suggestion to you is an album called "it'll all work out in boomland" by prog rock band T2....a band very few have heard of, and very under rated

[@threestringsomg]

They remind me of Fleet Foxes sometimes....sounds likely Barclay JH may have been on their radar at some point.... Spot on with the ELO reference too Jim. I'd add Beach Boys and Fleetwood Mac to the mix as well...

[@relayer27]

Hey Jim glad you enjoyed side one. If you give The Moody Blues Nights in White Satin a listen then you'll better appreciate Poor Man's Moody Blues.

[@threestringsomg]

I've been listening to this album for a few weeks now since you unpacked it (I scanned through it whilst watching and loved it 😁)....it's fantastic...the booklet in the edition I got explains their story really well. Love the artwork too. The complete package.👍 Poor Man's Moody Blues is a middle finger to the their critics...

[@JimNewstead]

It's alright isn't it!

[@Yes_Jorge_Yes]

Jim you table is perfectly fine, I have the same turn table and it has a quarts clock that is supe accurate! To ensure is perfectly right you can click down the quarts button, that disables the slider to slow it down or accelerate it

[@paulvalletta]

Wow this brings back some vibe memories, i would class these as folk-rock?? but thats not to say some of their music is not prog, awesome Jim..love it, cant remember what album has John Lennons guitar on?

[@volkeride6352]

The song 'Galadriel' is featured on their second album 'Once Again'. J.Lees played J.L.'s blonde Epiphone on that track.

[@MartinCymru]

watch John Lees, aged 60 talking with his band mates, requests from fans, very down to earth

[@333wheeler]

Trying to Imagine Justin Hayward singing "A poor mans Moody Blues" Just missing the mellotron .

[@threestringsomg]

Did you just say British Sea Power? Saw them years ago in London. Love em....

[@JimNewstead]

I did! I saw them at Latitude back in 2008 or 9

[@threestringsomg]

@@JimNewstead oh cool. Yeah I saw them just after the excellent Decline was released...so bit earlier.

[@tensor131]

Robert John Godfrey had a strong early influence on the band (see wiki for the sordid history!), but is often overlooked as he wouldn't have figured at all in touring sets. You can clearly hear the links if you listen to the Enid (some stunning music to sample there). Saw BJH live about 75 I think it was - superb. Love the mellotron. Don't rate this is one their best albums however.

[@garethallen4191]

Look for Time Honoured Ghosts and Octoberon, this album's predecessors. Superb!

[@MisterWondrous]

Where e'er I light I would find organs of progress leaking such fuels, and 'tis that I would lap, with greedy audition. And oft' was the time, The Poor Man's Moody Blues would season the salad. Big tanks for those other three glisteners. To think the rich man's Moody Blues is still in your future...what a thing to believe, but it's all around if we could but perceive. Beauty to find in so many ways. They say there was a secret chord to please the Davids. They gave it a word, and the word is "Aum". Forgive me for stealing their words. :) In my mind, I tend to associate this band with Hatfield and the North, Renaissance, Clannad, Pentangle as well as the Moodies. Back in those days, the cost was so prohibitive that folks had to be fairly sure of the value of the product, before production even began. Nowadays, hobbyists like me will crap out song after song, all on a first take basis, so maybe one in a hundred is worth surviving. The Moodies found a groove and stuck with it. It was a pleasant groove. It was symphonic and the words were poetry that healed the soul and broadened the imagination and spirit. Following the bass line will distract you from the big picture, which is the point of nearly all their music. I often refer to them as Beatles for adults, as their themes are often adult themes. They were a go-to along with Yes when plagued by a bad trip, during experimental years. And they always brought you back around. Like you.

[@wicky4473]

Wonderful synopsis.

[@MisterWondrous]

@@wicky4473 Thank you, kindly. :)

[@MartinCymru]

BJH live album 1970 Colwyn Bay 1st time listen WoW

[@palantir135]

Hi Jim, I have listened to this but it’s so long ago, about 45 years ago, that I can’t remember the music. I didn’t buy any record by them back then; I didn’t like them enough I think. I was more into Deep Purple, Rainbow, Camel, Yes, Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Genesis then. The religious theme of the first song immediately puts me off. Musically it’s good though. Third song, the singer reminds me of Lyndsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. It sounds very American. Next song sounds a lot like (a copy of) the Moody Blues song Nights in white satin. Musically it’s (very) good but it doesn’t give me goosebumps like Genesis did and does with their earlier albums with Peter Gabriel. It’s very tame music with some heavier moments. These moments I like the most but I like/want/need more of them. Renaissance I like a lot more. Nektar too. Big Big train.

[@JimNewstead]

Apparently that first song is about drug addiction...!

[@petedavies74]

Time Honoured Ghosts is their best studio album IMHO

[@MarcVanLaere-zr5im]

Still a great album ❤👍

[@monsieurlehigh4912]

Jim, when you did "Tales from Topographic Oceans" by Yes, I noticed that Parts II-IV were playing too fast. Side 1 was correct. Maybe it was a pressing issue?! Just saying.... ;-) Best regards!

[@JimNewstead]

When I was first doing these side long videos, I was uploading them sloppily, and something changed the speed of the video, therefore the music. Hopefully for the last 6 months or so it's been ok!

[@kenl2091]

Well, I'm surprised you didn't pick up the last track as an 'homage' to Nights in White Satin (you must have heard that before), hence the self-deprecating title. Hymn and PMMB are indeed excellent but Friend of Mine is definitely country and not very good country. My own take on BJH is that they could be at the very pinnacle on some songs (and the well-known 'Mocking Bird' might be their best) but there were too many weaker others that left them amongst the also-rans in the Grand National of Prog. You could put together at least a triple CD of stuff of the highest quality though and I think most of them would have been written by John Lees.

[@kld2493]

I have loads of bands that I like but they don't have an edge to them. It's like Mozart v Mahler. If you like music that doesn't disturb you you listen to BJH but if you want to be unsettled you listen to Yes

[@synkraut9633]

I’m an atheist but I still like this song much like I like compositions by Bach praising his lord

[@alexandreandrade9273]

Hi Jim, can you add subtitles in your videos please my friend. Thank you very much.

[@tensor131]

Your reaction to the final track is amusing! have you not heard Nights in White Satin? .. even my 30something daughter knows that one well enough. Just saying .. your reaction is pretty much how I reacted the first time I hears NIWS. You may be the only person on the planet to react to Poor Man's Moody Blues BEFORE hearing NIWS 😄😄

[@IllumeEltanin]

Just started the video, but you have my attention with Poor Man's Moody Blues. ...I think I harped enough about the Moodies Magnificent Seven albums, but I'll be happy to list them in chronological order again if you want. Just ask. 😉

[@atlanteanlost]

The album is pastoral rock genius

[@jean-pierredevent970]

Not overly complex melodies but then a absolute boundless creativity in arranging the material. I always liked them and yet today, I feel a bit uncomfortable when it gets a bit overloaded, near bombastic. Nobody seems to have noticed that, back then. Perhaps they have things in common with Muse in this aspect? However the resemblance with the Moody Blues is now for me less clear. They have their own atmosphere which seems more down to earth, less aloof.

[@xlerb_again_to_music7908]

BJH a decent band, but have not felt a need to play them for many years. Perhaps I was exposed to too much Mantovani's 101 Strings (a fav of my dad...) easy listening when a youth. But. Moody Blues. Now we are talking. Asking someone in 1970 "What is the greatest album of modern times?" MB's "Days of Future Passed" would have been nose to nose with Sg. Pepper. However early '70's stuff (Close to the Edge, Dark Side of the Moon) followed, changing styles beyond recognition - and again a few years later with punk. "Days of Future Past" is unquestionably a top album at this level, although very different - it could have been made in 1960 (...1950? 1940 even?). Perhaps, with MB, an idea to start with their early stuff and work forward, rather than jumping in to "Days"; think that was their 2nd or 3rd album. All the best, Jim! :)

[@JimNewstead]

Thanks Xlerb - looking forward to getting into some Moody Blues!

[@stealthracer]

I suppose by now, having since listened to the Moodies, that Poor Man's Moody blues is a sort of spoof on Nights In White Satin. (They're not the only people to do that - kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6LHqWiri55kqqM).

[@stevetrow8989]

Apparently Rush were big BJH fans

[@JimNewstead]

Really?

[@stevetrow8989]

@@JimNewstead yes sure I read it in an article in Kerrang back in the mid 80s that made me check BJH out

[@JimNewstead]

@@stevetrow8989 that’s cool. It’s strange, yet another band that I’ve always heard of but never actually heard before this.

[@briancox8518]

So underated such beautiful melodies on this album as much as I like genesis this band were better

[@stevetrow8989]

Here’s the Berlin Concert version : kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5Kzn3mKe9eaa80

[@kld2493]

Another band I saw at Hammersmith Odeon in the 1970s I remember the drummer being incredibly good. They had just got on Top of the Pops with a track from the Octoberon album. The lead singer had very bad hair. Only ever got one album of theirs Beyond the Grave. Too pastoral for my licking.

[@ericvuillemey2135]

Gone To Earth has a couple of great songs but for me it is a rather weak album overall. I still have all of their LPs from the 70s and 80s and enjoyed seeing them live a few times. The first 4 albums (+ Octoberon) are great Symphonic Prog, with Once Again, Baby James Harvest and Octoberon 3 underrated Prog masterpieces. Then they have a dozen of nice pop albums, with Everyone, XII, Turn of the Tide and especially Eyes of the Universe the best 4. Then in the 90s they made 1 really good album : Caught in the Light. Their Live albums are usually very good too. If I had to keep 4 albums, it would be Once Again, Baby James Harvest, Octoberon and Eyes of the Universe. Peace 😊

[@Yes_Jorge_Yes]

Please please react to Barclays James Harvest album called “Once Again “ to me their best album

[@petedavies74]

Once Again you mean? Not Once More?

[@Yes_Jorge_Yes]

@@petedavies74 yes

[@michaelcapewell4811]

I was in Berlin in 1980 (in the army 🙄) and saw BJH live on the steps of the Reichstag. Baking hot day and a quarter of a million Germans going apeshit as they roasted. Must admit by that stage BJH had got a bit bland for me. I liked Woolly Woolstenhume’s stuff the best, so when he left my interest waned. Their early 70s albums are my faves. I guess i don’t like the glossy sheen too much and Mel Pritchard sounds neutered 🤔 Gawd i’m moaning again 🙄👍

[@MartinCymru]

you came late to the prog rock party

[@IllumeEltanin]

Yep, yep, yep. I'm with the others. Poor Man's Moody Blues is a blatant, uh... Tribute. Yeah, tribute to the full album version of Nights In White Satin, recorded and released a full decade earlier. Definitely start with the album Nights In White Satin is from, Days of Future Passed and go in chronological order from there.

[@Marknorthway]

The story is that a critic described BJH as a Poor Man's Moody Blues. That upset John Lees so much that he took NIWS and wrote most of PMMB in one night. It wasn't meant to be a rip-off as such, just a riposte to the person who wrote the BJH concert review in the NME. The book (On track...Barclay James Harvest" goes on to say that Justin Hayward wasn't happy about it, but then again neither was Les Holroyd.

[@martinpowell5769]

Okay jim, hymn is a good song but don’t go over the top mate - it’s not a patch on for no one or mockingbird and far from their best song

[@MartinCymru]

genre that's tricky