JOHN LEES' BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST WITH THE SLAITHWAITE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA : PHILHARMONIC! THE ORCHESTRAL CONCERT

Disc One (54:22)

1. Festive Overture - Shostakovich
2. Fifties Child
3. Galadriel
4. In My Life
5. Poor Man's Moody Blues
6. North
7. Summer Soldier
8. The Poet
9. After The Day

Disc Two (68:51)

1. Hornpipe Handel's Water Music
2. Moonwater (with Eleanor Sandars)
3. Mocking Bird
4. Loving Is Easy
5. She Said
6. Poor Wages
7. Medicine Man
8. Dark Now My Sky
9. On Leave
10. Hymn

Label : Cherry Red Records

Venue : Huddersfield Town Hall, Huddersfield, UK

Recording Date : September 23, 2023

Release Date : 2024

Review (Now Spinning Magazine) : This stunning release captures a magical concert where the band performed with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, and it’s a truly special experience for any fan of Barclay James Harvest. The Philharmonic set comes in a sleek, glossy clamshell box, a high-quality production from Esoteric and Cherry Red Records. The concert is split of two CDs and can be watched on standard DVD and on BluRay. The package also includes a beautifully booklet, featuring credits and photos from the concert. One of the standout details for me is the inclusion of a full list of every member of the orchestra—a rare but much-appreciated touch. Typically, orchestral concert listings only mention the conductor and perhaps the lead violinist, but here, everyone is acknowledged, which I think is superb. What truly sets Philharmonic apart is the performance itself, especially the Blu-ray recording, which is just stunning for any fan of live music. While the CDs are excellent, the Blu-ray provides an immersive experience that brings you right into the heart of the performance. You can feel the atmosphere of the concert—the camaraderie between the band and the orchestra, and the mutual admiration between the musicians and the audience. The Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, which has a rich history spanning over 100 years, is absolutely fantastic. The live concert exudes warmth, and the collaboration between the orchestra and John Lee’s Barclay James Harvest is seamless. The band’s signature sound melds beautifully with the lush orchestration, adding depth and emotion to every track. Some of the standout moments for me include: “Mockingbird”: This classic Barclay James Harvest track is simply breathtaking with the full orchestral arrangement. John Lee’s guitar playing, with its perfect blend of subtle echo and emotional depth, adds so much to the song. My wife, sitting next to me as we watched, remarked on just how beautiful the song is in this version—and I couldn’t agree more. The orchestra enhances the already emotive nature of the piece, making it an absolute highlight. “Hymn”: Always a spiritual and uplifting song, Hymn serves as the perfect closer. The synergy between the band, the orchestra, and the audience during this performance is palpable. It’s a piece that could have gone on for much longer, and no one would have complained. The depth of feeling in both the vocals and instrumentation makes this rendition truly special. Orchestral Performances: The orchestra also shines in its own right, performing pieces like Handel’s Water Music and Shostakovich’s works. These moments add classical grandeur to the concert, making the entire event feel both timeless and majestic. Other highlights include “Poor Man’s Moody Blues”, “After the Day”, “Medicine Man”, and “Moonwater” (featuring stunning vocals by Elena Sanders). Each of these tracks comes alive in new ways with the orchestral backing. If you’re a fan of Barclay James Harvest, Philharmonic is an essential addition to your collection. The band’s music has always lent itself beautifully to orchestral arrangements, and this concert is no exception. The combination of their classic songs and the grandeur of the orchestra creates an experience that is both nostalgic and refreshing.

Review (Velvet Thunder) : This album made me ask myself the question: would Barclay James Harvest be remembered at all if they’d never recorded a live album? Their early studio releases displayed flashes of prog brilliance but were patchy in quality, while by the mid-late 70s they had settled into a consistent groove of good soft prog rock albums that were eminently likeable but probably didn’t have many punters voting for them as Best Album of the Year. I suspect they would now be a forgotten footnote in the history of rock based if it hadn’t been for their live recordings, and especially the trio released between 1974 and 1982: Live, which captured them at their most progressive and adventurous; Live Tapes (that’s right, they weren’t very creative with live album titles!) which brilliantly brought to life their more commercial mid-‘70s sound; and Berlin (A Concert For The People), a recording of a free concert (yes, you guessed it, in Berlin) in front of a massive audience – estimated at anything up to a quarter of a million. Further live albums have followed since but with diminishing impact as the band’s fortunes faded and they split into two groups, confusingly without shedding their original name, resulting in a John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest and a Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd. And now, John Lees’ version of the band have released this live set (double audio CD, plus Blu-ray and DVD) which begs the question: do we need another Barclay James Harvest live album? Well, despite approaching this album with a good dose of scepticism, I think the answer is definitely ‘yes’. This isn’t some tired run through by a heritage band. Instead, along with his regular bandmates, for this concert recording John Lees recruited a full orchestra (the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra), allowing him to recapture the original ambition of Barclay James Harvest to fuse rock and classical music. Interestingly, this means that many of the early masterpieces from the 1970-73 period are captured live with a full orchestra for the first time, sometimes with rewritten orchestral parts, and the later classics are adorned by new orchestral parts. All this makes it a veritable feast for Barclay James Harvest fans! The sense of a live event is also enhanced by the fact that the recording comes from a single concert which took place on Saturday 23rd September 2023 at Huddersfield Town Hall with the recording also respects the actual concert running order. The lengthy evening was split into two sets (each set occupying one CD), and each part opens with a purely classical piece of music. The stirring initial fanfare of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture is an excellent call to arms for the first set, and the sprightly and cheerful main section clearly got the orchestra warmed up and the audience in the mood (judging by the huge round of applause at the conclusion of the piece). Three short songs follow which show different uses of the orchestra. Fifties Child, from the excellent 1983 Ring Of Changes album, is not the most famous John Lees song, but works well. The studio version has just an orchestral introduction but here the song benefits from the richer texture that the orchestra adds throughout the track. The orchestra is then centre stage for Galadriel, basically an orchestral interlude with vocals, and then it takes more of a back seat for the run through of In My Life where the upbeat and slightly jazzy electric piano stands out. Next is the classic Poor Man’s Moody Blues and it’s a version which might divide opinions. The first part of the song is delightful with delicate piano work adding a new angle, and the orchestration is superb, but for my taste the song lacks the forward momentum of the outstanding Live Tapes version. Lees’ vocals are inevitably less powerful too, even if his timbre remains unmistakeable, and this contributes to the song feeling a bit flat. After a dip into the 21st century to hear the excellent title track from North, the classic Summer Soldier is next, and it’s enjoyable to hear it live with a full orchestra (especially for the big guitar part) but again this is one that suffers compared to the legendary performance on Live. The first set closes in style with a thrilling version of After The Day. The powerful orchestral arrangement is the star of the show here, even if Lees’ inspired guitar theme is delivered in all its glory too. It might be the best version of this song that I’ve heard. The second set gets underway with the orchestra playing first Handel’s Water Music, and then Woolly Wolstenholme’s classical-inspired piece, Moonwater. This is sung beautifully by Eleanor Sandars and proved to be an unexpected highlight. The relaxed orchestral sound continues with the instantly recognisable introduction to Mocking Bird, the band’s signature song. This was the rerecorded version (from 1999’s Nexus) including the one-minute orchestral prelude Hors D’oeuvre (not actually listed on the running order). The orchestral writing of Mocking Bird appears much more sophisticated than the original (or maybe the recording quality is simply better) and there seems to be a better balance between orchestra and band, especially in the faster section. Also listen out for the brilliant effect of the solo trumpet just before the last verse. It’s always been a hard track to perform live but they pull it off in style here. The mood changes with the infectiously upbeat Loving is Easy before the remainder of the set focuses on early classics. She Said is impressive but Medicine Man, despite an interesting orchestration, lacks the relentlessly driving rhythm of the inspired version on Live. Prior to the encores, there’s a twelve-minute version of their earliest epic piece, Dark Now My Sky. They were still honing their skills at that time, and it comes across now as outrageously bombastic and slightly pretentious, albeit enjoyable all the same. The first encore is perhaps surprisingly, a second track from North called On Leave. It’s also surprisingly good, even if its main theme seems uncomfortably close to Bill Wither’s Ain’t No Sunshine. Normal service is resumed for the second and final encore, the classic Hymn, which closes the concert in jubilant fashion. There are song introductions between the songs, mostly edited out of the audio CDs but included in the Blu-Ray and DVD discs. There is no exciting light show to get excited about and yet the visuals are always impressive, aided by the architecture of the hall which seems as high as it is wide with the band perched high up above the orchestra. You also get the sense that this is a real band rather than John Lees plus friends. Song introductions are given more by bassist Craig Fletcher and keyboard player Jez Smith than by Lees himself, and Fletcher takes the lead vocals too on the more upbeat tracks. The evening ended in the only way it could – a heartfelt standing ovation from the audience. More than anything, Philharmonic! The Orchestral Concert is a reminder of what a pioneering rock group Barclay James Harvest were in the early 1970s. They weren’t the only ones fusing rock and classical music in the burgeoning progressive rock scene, but without a doubt they were amongst the most successful.