[Review] Barclay James Harvest: XII (1978)
The last album with Woolly features a handful of good songs, mostly from Les Holroyd.
Kronomyth 10.0: Barclay’s dozen.
XII marks the 12th anniversary of Barclay James Harvest. Sadly, it also marks the end of an era, as Woolly Wolstenholme split from the group after this. It would be nice to tell you that Woolly left on a high note, but XII is honestly a bit of a convoluted mess. John Lees seems to have written half of a concept album around writing genres, which are inexplicably interspersed between pop/rock songs from Les Holroyd and a pair of songs from the dear, departing Wolstenholme. Conceptually, Lees’ (more or less) half of the record doesn’t hold together. His Streets of San Francisco is memorable as a sort of modern-day “Rocky Raccoon,” but the rest of the tracks wouldn’t rank among his better work. In fact, it’s Holroyd this time who emerges as the better songwriter. Berlin, Turning in Circles, Sip of Wine and Giving It Up stand as some his catchiest and most commercial songs from any BJH album. Woollywatchers can point to a final epic fling on In Search of England (not one of my faves from WW, btw) and the surprisingly accessible Harbour, which is the most radio-friendly song Woolly has written since “Ursula.” Like Time Honoured Ghosts before it, XII feels like the band is out of its element. Maybe it was the presence of yet another producer (this time, engineer Martin Lawrence), road exhaustion or the simple fact that every BJH album was effectively a game of darts that required all three writers to be on their game. It’s another good-not-great record best remembered for Holroyd’s radio-friendly songs. I’m sure it has a place in a proper BJH collection somewhere; maybe in the back, propping up the other albums.
Original LP Version
A1. Fantasy: Loving Is Easy (John Lees)
A2. Berlin (Les Holroyd)
A3. Classics: A Tale of Two Sixties (John Lees)
A4. Turning In Circles (Les Holroyd)
A5. Fact: The Closed Shop (John Lees)
A6. In Search of England (Woolly Wolstenholme)
B1. Sip of Wine (Les Holroyd)
B2. Harbour (Woolly Wolstenholme)
B3. Science Fiction: Nova Lepidoptera (John Lees)
B4. Giving It Up (Les Holroyd)
B5. Fiction: The Streets of San Francisco (John Lees)
Expanded CD bonus tracks
12. Berlin (single edit)
13. Loving Is Easy (single version)
14. Turning In Circles (alternate mix)
15. The ClOSed Shop (alternate mix)
16. Nova Lepidoptera (instrumental mix)
The Players
Les Holroyd, John Lees, Mel Pritchard, Wooly Wolstenholme. Produced by Barclay James Harvest and Martin Lawrence; engineered by Martin Lawrence
The Plastic
Released on elpee on September 29, 1978 in the UK (Polydor, POLD 5006) and the US (Polydor, PD-1-6173) with regional poster. Reached #31 on the UK charts.
- Re-issued on expanded compact disc on June 11, 2003 in the UK (Polydor) with 5 bonus tracks.
- Re-issued on expanded, remastered compact disc in 2006 in Japan (Polydor, UICY-93048) with 5 bonus tracks.
