BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST

Once Again ESOTERIC

Expanded look at the 1971 classic that put Oldham’s finest on the map.

Orchestral prog wasn’t new in 1970. The Moody Blues’ 1967 album Days Of Future Passed had come with strings attached; ditto Deep Purple’s famed 1969 outing Concerto For Group And Orchestra. Barclay James Harvest’s self-titled debut had been billed as the next big classical/rock crossover, but was actually a dry run for its 1971 follow-up. It was Once Again, a sombre orchestra and Mellotron-fuelled work exploring environmental decline and the horrors of war, which saw BJH’s vision settle into the stuff of legend.

Recorded at Abbey Road over six weeks, it was produced by Norman Smith, famed engineer for The Beatles. It was Smith who allowed Harvest’s singer/guitarist John Lees to play John Lennon’s blond Epiphone Casino on Galadriel, a decidedly un-Fabs-like song named after a royal elf in Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings. Like bassist Les Holroyd’s cosmic, Elizabethan recorder-imbued opener She Said, Galadriel suggested Barclay James Harvest were on a whole other trip, mystic musing a speciality.

This three-CD/Blu-ray box brings some thrilling new dimensions to Once Again’s richly-textured atmospherics. As well as a remastered version of the original UK stereo mix, we get new 5.1 surround sound and stereo mixes by Stephen W Tayler, plus two versions of the 1972 Quad mix EMI undertook as an early adventure in Hi-Fi separation. The package also includes a rare live session for John Peel from February 1971, and sees the Tayler mixes restore the striking, cacophonous intro, which was excised from the original release mix of She Said. Other bonus rarities include heavy folk-rocker Too Much On Your Plate, which first saw the light of day on a flexi disc given away with an issue of the BJH fan club magazine in the early 1990s.

Listening afresh, it’s perhaps Stuart ‘Woolly’ Wolstenholme’s near ubiquitous Mellotron that touches deepest; its sad, sepia-tinted sound now chiming with the tragedy of Woolly taking his own life in 2010. There is, however, some levity here thanks to future Pink Floyd engineer and eponymous Project leader Alan Parsons’ gungho jaw harp performance on Lady Loves.

Once again (pun intended) this is Cherry Red’s reissue strategy at its best. Combining evocative period photos with new sleeve notes by Barclay James Harvest biographers Keith and Monika Domone, the handsome accompanying book cements the sense that the band’s legacy is in safe hands.

The whole package also deepens our appreciation and understanding of this unique group’s best album.

IT SEES BJH’S VISION SETTLE INTO THE STUFF OF LEGEND.