The group's first album for Polydor is several steps above their EMI work. Most of the psychedelic-era influences are softened here and broadened, and transmuted into something heavier and more serious, even as the Beatlesque harmonies remain intact. The guitars sound real heavy, almost larger than life here, while the swelling Mellotron and synthesizer sounds give the music the feel of an orchestra. By this time, the group had also mastered the Pink Floyd technique of playing pretty tunes really slowly, which made them sound incredibly profound (it's actually a technique that goes back, in different forms, to Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner). John Lees gives superb, virtuoso performances on lead guitar on "Paper Wings" and "For No One."

Barclay James Harvest had streamlined their sound considerably after leaving the Harvest label, culminating (so many felt) in the mellifluous music of Gone to Earth. Their pretensions to progressive rock all but abandoned, BJH here invites comparison to contemporaries like Supertramp, REO Speedwagon, and Fleetwood Mac (some of whom were similarly tagged with the prog rock label early on). Even at their most ornate, songwriters John Lees and Les Holroyd were simple balladeers at heart, and the decision to unclutter their arrangements allows the material's intrinsic beauty to shine through with clarity. For this reason, Gone to Earth is regarded by many as the band's best album, and judged on a song-by-song basis, it's hard to argue against it…

Time Honoured Ghosts continued Barclay James Harvest's development away from the orchestral sweep of the earlier albums, although there's a little more filler than usual here. "In My Life" emphasizes BJH's penchant for ghostly descending vocal choruses and features an angular lead guitar part that would be recycled several years later in "Loving Is Easy." "Titles" remains memorably catchy in spite of its faintly irritating musical parlor trick of lyrics created entirely from Beatles song titles. "Moongirl" in particular demonstrates how Stewart Wooly Wolstenholme's approach to keyboards differs from most prog rock bands (with the exception, perhaps, of Pink Floyd); by subtly combining a variety of background textures (Mellotron, harpsichord, organ, piano), he acts as a foil to set off the more obvious roles played by the vocals and lead guitar.

The band's follow-up still finds it working very much in the vein of orchestral rock, largely driven by Stewart Wooly Wolstenholme's keyboards and the presence of the London Symphony Orchestra. The reach of the music exceeds the grasp of the lyrics, though - they lack the cold oracularity of Peter Sinfield or the allusive cleverness of Peter Gabriel. Still, there's some fine compositions here. "She Said" turns upon a keening opening Mellotron riff to develop into a slow-four dirge. "Song for Dying" shows off the band's fine ability at vocal harmonies, while the later concert standard, "Mocking Bird," shows a dramatic evolution from pensive acoustic guitar to a full-blown orchestral attack.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a re-mastered and expanded deluxe two-disc edition of the classic 1993 album by Barclay James Harvest, "Caught In The Light". The album was the band’s last album to be issued by Polydor Records in the UK and was a highlight of their later work.
Featuring excellent material such as ‘Who Do We Think We Are?’, ‘A Matter of Time’, ‘Knoydart’, ‘Back to Earth’ and ‘Ballad of Denshaw Mill’, this re-mastered edition also includes the full version of ‘Forever Yesterday’ (only released on the cassette edition of the album) and a bonus track of the rare German promotional edit of ‘Who Do We Think We Are?’.
Significantly, this expanded Deluxe edition features a bonus CD of unreleased live material recorded at the band’s 25th Anniversary concert at the Town & Country Club, London on 16th February 1992…

This is compilation of BJH starting from when they left EMI's Harvest label in the mid 1970's. It therefore covers the period from their first Polydor album, "Everyone is everybody else". Unlike most stories, this one begins somewhere in the middle with a single edit of the title track from the "Ring of changes" album. The Harvest years are represented only by a later live version of the perennial "Mocking bird" taken from their famous Berlin concert. The overriding concern here is that the compilation purports to tell the "Story" of BJH.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of an expanded 2CD re-mastered edition of the classic 1977 album A Major Fancy by Barclay James Harvest guitarist and vocalist John Lees. Although originally released in 1977 by EMI’s Harvest label, the album was recorded between December 1972 and January 1973 at Abbey Road studios and Strawberry Studios in Stockport. Produced by Wally Allen of the Pretty Things, the album sessions featured a host of notable guest musicians including Eric Stewart and Kevin Godley (of 10cc), Skip Allen (Pretty Things), Gordon Edwards (Pretty Things) and Rod Argent (Zombies & Argent)…

With Wolstenholme's keyboards pushed back in the mix, and strangely missing the harmonies that enriched their earlier work, Octoberon is something of a departure for the band. While Wolstenholme's stately "Ra" shows a dabbling in mysticism and the soaring sound of their previous work, most of the album is a strangely glum affair. John Lees adopts a pub rock sound in his compositions, although "May Day" manages to veer unexpectedly into a glorious choral and organ arrangement. "Polk Street Rag," despite its name, is a slick rocker about a sordid X-rated movie house in San Francisco. There's a black humor throughout, as in this brutally funny line from "Suicide?": "Heard a voice shouting 'Don't jump, please for God's sake let me move my car."

BBC in Concert is one of those miraculous archival finds that one just can't anticipate and dares not hope for. Apart from Yes (always the exception to a lot of rules), very few progressive rock bands managed to get themselves recorded live under optimum conditions, much less so early in their careers…

One Way reissued Barclay James Harvest's third and fourth albums, Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories, and Baby James Harvest, on a single disc in 1994…

If you are a fan of Barclay James Harvest, or are an uninitiated soul looking for a good introduction to one of the worlds most underrated bands, then look no further than "Caught In the Light"! This is a brilliant album from start to finish…

Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians – John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums – with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues…

Face to Face is the fourteenth studio album by British rock band Barclay James Harvest, released in 1987. The working title for the album whilst recording was in progress was Elements, but there was a last-minute change to Face to Face…