Customer Reviews

Breath of Fresh Air

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Over the last 10 years, EMI has released 2 boxed sets of classic tracks from its underground label Harvest's roster. The first was 1999's Harvest Festival, a 5-CD box covering the label's active decade, 1969-79, and a rather exhaustive set to boot--psychedelia (late period), prog rock, experimental, folk-rock, even punk and new wave were covered in that set. At one sitting, this can be a bit much to try and digest--I had some trouble staying focused through the whole 5 discs.

This set, A Breath of Fresh Air, is titled after another Harvest anthology from the '70s--Picnic: A Breath of Fresh Air--and is just 3 discs covering half the time (1969-74). Additionally, while ABOFA and Harvest Festival share a number of tracks, still others that do not appear on Harvest Festival do appear on ABOFA. The reduction to 5 years covered from 10 means some of the artists represented here have less representation (e.g. Be-Bop Deluxe, just 1 track here, as opposed to 4 on Harvest Festival), but the diversity still makes it quite enjoyable--you have Deep Purple, Roy Harper, The Move, Babe Ruth, Be-Bop Deluxe, Michael Chapman, Dolly Collins, the Edgar Broughton Band, Tea & Symphony, the Third Ear Band, and Pink Floyd, to name a few, a nice selection of both famous and obscure.

All in all, worth picking up.

This is one of those label comps that would be great for a young person just getting into 1960s psych underground music. You get a lot of bands who later became huge, Pink Floyd, and those that never did: Edgar Broughton Band.

Buying is an unqualified GO! if you are new to any progressive beyond the obvious, but if you are a seasoned collector, look before you leap. Harvest had a great bench but not as deep as either Deram or, especially, Vertigo.

If your eyes pop at the unknown bands here, take a minute. It might be worth spending your cash to check into those individual albums rather than diving for the comp. You'll deepen your collection, and get more music for your bank.

... do them a favor: Buy them this comp. A near-perfect mix of the huge and the obscure; of blues, prog, and all points in between. Deep Purple? Pink Floyd? The Move? ELO? The Pretty Things? Syd Barrett? Roy Harper? Edgar Broughton? Bakerloo? Excellent liner notes by Mark Powell? When someone strands you on a desert island and says you can only keep one album/collection as company, brother, this -- THIS -- is the one you take.