Customer Reviews

Gone to Earth

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

 

 

Barclay James Harvest, to all you folks who have never heard of them, are a progressive rock band from England. They have been around since the late 1960's, and have been recording albums since 1971. Their style is very "Moody Blues-Procul Harem" like, featuring a lot of Mellotron music. (A Mellotron is a kind of primitive synthasizer, or tape sampling device) They also use conventional instruments, guitars, bass, drums, and some of their earlier work featured a full orchestra. Gone To Earth is one of their finest early albums, featuring the hits Hymn, Poor Man's Moody Blues, and Love is Like a Violin. This is a majestic, soaring, spiritual album which features the band at their very peak of energy and excellence. I highly recomend it to anyone who enjoys progressive rock, particularly Moody Blues fans. Barclay James Harvest has a home page on the WWW, and a fan club based in England that carries a lot of their out of print material. Check them out, you will be glad that you took the time.

A stunningly gorgeous album, Gone To Earth displays mid-period BJH at their absolute peak. The band stumbled on Time Honored Ghosts, regained their footing on the previous Octoberon, and sound downright brilliant on this '77 release. Crank up the headphones and totally immerse yourself in the beauty and lushness of this album: Hymn, the unforgettable, mellotron-drenched leadoff track, Poor Man's Moody Blues (a sly tweak at those who accused the band of mimmicking the Moodies), the haunting Spirit On The Water, or keyboardist Woolie Wolstenholme's epic Sea Of Tranquility. If you're into '70s progressive rock and want to own one album by this long-standing British band, let it be Gone To Earth.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with your rock history, Barclay James Harvest were one of a long line of symphonic rock bands that were swept away in 1976 when the storm broke. Once laughably unhip, it has taken 20 years or more before their name can be mentioned in polite society without being attacked with a pair of rusty scissors. A shame, because they were not half bad. Favouring grandiose orchestral arrangements they were often compared with the Moody Blues, but whereas the Moodies' lyrics often consisted of meaningless twaddle, BJH's beautiful melodies often fronted black social comment and realism. Beneath the lushness, there was a simple, unpretentious approach to songwriting best showcased on their 70s output and before the departure of their keyboard player and one-man symphony orchestra, Woolly Wolstenholme. Gone to Earth is the last of these. OK, the production sounds a tad dated, but the fact still remains that the Barclay James Harvest was a band whose 4 members complemented each other to produce a well-balanced, homogenous sound. The material on Gone to Earth is strong, and the highlights - Hymn, Sea of Tranquillity and Higher and Higher - are beautiful, inspiring and crying out for rediscovery

For 'established' bands, the mid-1970s explosion of punk and new wave must have poised some major challenges. What were you to do ? Change your musical orientation ? Drop dead ? Or as in the case of Barclay James Harvest, basically ignore the whole thing and just keep on doing what you'd always done. While I can certainly admire the band's steadfastness, as much as I'd like to say complementary about 1977's "Gone To Earth", about the nicest things I can say is that the results were harmless, largely anonymous, and occasionally even mildly pleasant. By this point the band had all but abandoned their earlier interest in being an exponent of progressive rock. With the exception of keyboardist Woolly Wolstrenholme's 'Sea of Tranquility', the band seemed content to wallow in what to my ears sounded like a UK version of REO Speedwagon, or perhaps a slightly less commercial version of Supertramp.. Okay, okay, 'Poor Man's Moody Blues' sounded like The Moody Blues ... If you were a fan of mainstream mid-1970s AOR, then this album probably struck a chord with you. Otherwise it was the kind of album you could put on while paying your bills, or cleaning your house. Those criticisms aside, these guys were simply too talented to turn in completely useless album and the ballad 'Hymn', the catchy pop tune 'Hard Hearted Woman', and the wonderful ballad 'Taking Me Higher' were all worth hearing. Song-for-song the results were actually pretty impressive - only 'Love Is Like a Violin' struck me as a total waste of time, but for some reason the album wasn't as good as its parts ....

- Kicked along by some strumming acoustic guitars, glistening harmonies (that recalled Kevin Cronin and REO Speedwagon), and a surprisingly touching, very-secular lyric (that may turn some folks off), 'Hymn' was one of those songs that original didn't do much for me, but given a couple of spins the preachy lyric actually grabbed my attention. Perhaps not a major surprise, Polydor tapped it as the leadoff single. rating: **** stars
- Starting out as a silky smooth, but forgettable ballad, 'Love Is Like a Violin' sounded a bit like the band America having discovered synthesizers. There were a couple of segments where the track briefly picked up some speed (go cowbells, go), but when it returned to the main theme, all enthusiasm dissipated. rating: ** stars
- 'Friend of Mine' found the band taking a stab at West Coast-styled country-rock. With a very top-40 friendly melody and some cool banjo and slat-key guitar sound effects (?), this was actually one of the album's hidden treasures. rating: **** stars
- So, 'Poor Man's Moody Blues' stood as an example of truth in advertising given it really did sound like a poor man's version of the Moodies ... Complete with Moodies-styled 'aching' vocals and banks of synthesizers, it almost sounded like a parody of 'Nights In White Satin', though I'm guessing John Lees meant it as more of a tribute than a slap. Lees supposedly noticed the aural resemblance to The Moodies, hence the song title. rating: **** stars
- 'Hard Hearted Woman' opened side two with the album's most overtly commercial track. Built on an insidiously catchy guitar riff and sporting the album's best guitar solo, it's one of those tracks that I find myself mindlessly humming.
- Written and sung by Wooly Wolstenholme, 'Sea of Tranquility ' was the album's most progressively oriented performance and was probably the track long time fans gravitated to. A big, heavily orchestrated mid-tempo number, the song was actually pretty good, reminded me a bit of a Yes throwaway, but Wolstenholme was the band's poorest lead singer and it showed on this one. rating: ** stars
- 'Spirit On the Water' was another pretty, mid-tempo number that you were liable to forget within a couple of minutes. Seemingly inspired by the annual hunt and killing of sea seals, the lyrics were subtle, but effective, though I'd argue The Beach Boys-styled harmonies and Les Holroyd's bass were he best thing here. rating: *** stars
- Opening up with some crashing guitar gave 'Leper's Song' a nice change of pace, but after that brash opening it morphed into what sounded a bit like 10 C.C. trying on a funky reggae rhythm pattern. rating: *** stars
- A stark and beautiful ballad showcasing simply gorgeous harmony vocals, 'Taking Me Higher' has always reminded me a bit of The Beach Boys-meet-Supertramp. I'm sure that sounds totally bizarre, but the results were charming. rating: **** stars

As mentioned above, the album spun off a single in the form of:

UK pressing
- 1977's 'Hymn' b/w 'Our Kids' Kid' (Polydor catalog number 2058 904)
US pressing
- 1977's 'Hymn' b/w 'Our Kids' Kid' (MCA catalog number MCA-40795)

"Gone To Earth" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Hymn John Lees) -
2.) Love Is Like a Violin John Lees) -
3.) Friend of Mine Les Holroyd) -
4.) Poor Man's Moody Blues John Lees) -

(side 2)
1.) Hard Hearted Woman Les Holroyd) -
2.) Sea of Tranquility Woolly Wolstrenholme) -
3.) Spirit On the Water Les Holroyd) -
4.) Leper's Song John Lees) -
5.) Taking Me Higher Les Holroyd) -

This is one of those true gems that commercialized radio swept under the carpet -- choosing instead to play predictable swill, all in 4:4 time. Barclay James Harvest is a great band that has often released 'uneven' albums that haven't helped make their case as a great band. But this album is at the top of the heap when it comes to brilliant material. 'Hymn' and 'Poor Man's Moody Blues' are superb, as is Wooly Wolstenholme's Mellotron-laced 'Sea of Tranquility.' A beautiful album; lush, orchestral and at times very cutting -- this is the band at their very best. Once you play this album, you'll see why many BJH fans have stayed with the band from the late 60's until today. Be different -- don't overlook this orchestral rock masterpiece! Help correct the error made by radio programmers in the late 70's. :)