Description
Barclay James HarvestĀ are an English progressive rock band.
5.0 out of 5 stars
For me XII represents the highest point for Barclay James Harvest. The space butterfly introduces the listener to a space/folk/simpho/prog that is unique! Woltenholme’s contributions now are two: In Search Of England describes the contrast between youth and experience, a sort of father and son thing. Harbour is an interesting piece in some intelligent acoustic guitars. Holroyd’s songs are beautiful: I’m thinking about Berlin, a live classic with an excellent and tormenting piano. It’s about the division between the democratic and communist halfs of that city. Turning In Circle and Sip Of Wine have good electric guitar riffs and catchy melodies. Lees’ compositions are of a supreme beauty: Nova Lepidoptera (space rock), Loving Is Easy and The Streets Of San Francisco are in a highest standard of quality.
Barclay James Harvest XII: one of England’s best kept secret!!!!!!!!
Highly recommended!!!
5.0 out of 5 stars A good BJH album – and the last of the original line-up.,
“XII” is the last studio album produced by the original line-up of Barclay James Harvest, keyboards player Woolly Wolstenholme leaving prior to the recording of the follow-up due to musical differences with the other two song-writers, John Lees and Les Holroyd.
Some of those musical differences are in evidence on XII: “Turning in Circles” being the kind of pop-pap that would have made Woollys blood run cold.
For all that, it is a strong album and a fitting one for Woolly to end his career with BJH. Other than the aforementioned song, all of the others fit neatly together and XII has a good, album-balance feel to it. The songs are a mix of the more traditional BJH melodic, progressive-rock influenced numbers and those having a bit more of a commercial flavour, aimed no doubt at the European market where they had found huge fame with their previous album, “Gone to Earth”.
So it is that “Nova Lepidoptera”, “The Streets of San Francisco” and Woollys “In Search of England” (a stunning song, the highlight of the album) sit alongside more radio-friendly numbers such as “Loving is Easy”, “Berlin” and “Sip of Wine”. The mix works well on XII – the sole exception, “Turning in Circles”, being insufficient to spoil the feel – and it remains one of the best albums of the bands more commercially-oriented era (or less-progressive might be a better way of putting it) which began with “Gone to Earth” and, arguably, which would last until they broke up after “River of Dreams” in the late 1990s.
This LP has excellent sound quality and an embossed sleeve [embroidered, embossed, raised].
1. Fantasy: Loving Is Easy (4:00)
2. Berlin (4:47)
3. Classics: A Tale Of Two Sixties (3:34)
4. Turning In Circles (3:30)
5. Fact: The Closed Shop (3:46)
6. In Search Of England (4:12)
7. Sip Of Wine (4:22)
8. Harbour (3:42)
9. Science Fiction: Nova Lepidoptera (5:45)
10. Giving It Up (4:35)
11. Fiction: The Streets Of San Francisco (5:41)
Total Time: 47:54
Line-up / Musicians
– John Lees / acoustic (6- & 12-string) & electric guitars, bass, lead (1,3,5,9,11) & backing vocals
– Stuart “Woolly” Wolstenholme / piano, Mellotrons, Dolina String, Hammond, synths (Yamaha, ARP Solist & Odyssey), 12-string acoustic & electric guitars, lead vocals (6,8)
– Les Holroyd / bass, double bass, electric & acoustic guitars, banjo, piano, lead (2,4,7,10) & backing vocals
– Mel Pritchard / drums, orchestral snares, congas, vibes, tubular bells, glockenspiel, temple block, cabasa, tambourines, shaker, timpani
+ Mike Timony / accordion (Cordovox)
Artwork: Chris Clover with Maldwyn Reece Tootill (design)
LP Polydor ā- POLD 5006 (1978, UK)
Tracklist:
A1 Fantasy: Loving Is Easy
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā John Lees
4:00
A2 Berlin
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā Les Holroyd
4:47
A3 Classics: A Tale Of Two Sixties
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā John Lees
3:34
A4 Turning In Circles
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā Les Holroyd
3:30
A5 Fact: The Closed Shop
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā John Lees
3:46
A6 In Search Of England
Vocals ā Stuart J. Wolstenholme*
Words By, Music By ā Stuart John Wolstenholme*
4:12
B1 Sip Of Wine
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā Les Holroyd
4:22
B2 Harbour
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*, Woolly*
Vocals ā Stuart J. Wolstenholme*
Words By, Music By ā Stuart John Wolstenholme*
3:42
B3 Science Fiction: Nova Lepidoptera
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā John Lees
5:45
B4 Giving It Up
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā Les Holroyd
4:35
B5 Fiction: The Streets Of San Francisco
Backing Vocals ā John*, Les*
Words By, Music By, Vocals ā John Lees
5:41
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