Barclay James Harvest

 “Early Morning” b/w “Mr. Sunshine” I have eyes in my eyes, and the bees surmise that the blissful dawn of day is breaking on, not a May of my own making, but one of a different shape and size, where a dark sun casts the whitest lies and the millipedes of mellotrons dance as they land…

“Brother Thrush” b/w “Poor Wages” BJH signed with EMI’s new Harvest imprint (coincidence, not nepotism) and released a second single led by the soaring “Brother Thrush.” The A side introduces what would become a familiar theme of Nature over Man, with the realization that life is, in fact, for the birds. To my ears, BJH reaches…

The band’s first full-length record was produced by Norman Smith, engineered by Phil McDonald and recorded in Abbey Road Studios—ideal circumstances for an English quartet, wouldn’t you say? Smith was currently the producer of Pink Floyd and Pretty Things; Harvest labelmates who were known for aggressive psychedelic rock. BJH, heretofore known for a pair of…

Barclay James Harvest would achieve fame as purveyors of pastoral, orchestrated progressive rock featuring fantasy and science fiction themes, a journey they begin in earnest on Once Again. It’s a very different record than their debut, which seemed to try a little of everything (rock, orchestral epics, folk songs) in search of an identity. Here,…

This is an early compilation that collects several of the band’s standalone singles plus select tracks from their first, second and third albums. EMI may have had Pink Floyd’s Relics in mind when they released this, since there wasn’t any external event to suggest that the world was waiting for an early harvest of BJH…

If my affections for BJH are marked by an arid inconstancy, it’s because of albums like this. I thought EIEE was a terrific record, but Time Honoured Ghosts goes right back to the shortcomings of Short Stories. Wooly (and where the ‘ell did the other L go anyway?) delivers a brilliant song in “Beyond The…

As others have pointed out, the album’s title is a clever amalgam of Oberon (the fairy king from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream), octo- (meaning eighth, this being the band’s 8th album) and the month of October (when this album was released). It is a dreamy and melancholy record, reminiscent of Pink Floyd (DSOTM), Alan…

This is opportunism, plain and simple. As BJH began to sell more records, Harvest (the label) decided to get in on the delayed action with a compilation of their first four albums and sundry singles. The Best of Barclay James Harvest is a misleading title; The Best of Barclay James Harvest on Harvest would have…