Customer Reviews

Time Honoured Ghosts

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

 

 

This 1975 Album by British mellotron masters Barclay James Harvest is unique in a couple of respects. It was their first (and only) album recorded in the USA, at "His Masters Wheels" studio in San Francisco. It also featured the song "Titles" which had lyrics comprised of the titles of Beetles songs. The album sleeve was designed by Bill Dare, and was based upon a Maxwell Parrish lithograph from the 1930's. The song "Jonathan" was based on the novel Jonathon Livingston Seagull, and was to have been the title song for the film of the same name. Difficulties arose between the author of the book and the band, and it was not used. This is a well thought out and produced album, and has some of the band's more enjoyable early works. "Hymn for the Children" is one of John Lees' more moving songs, and is still as topical today as it was back in 1975. If you are a Barclay James Harvest fan, this album would be a welcome addition to your collection. If you are not familiar with the band, this album is not a bad introduction to their music. With the amazing numbers of marginal albums available out there, it's nice to know that there are still bands making quality, technically excellent music, and that Amazon.com is carrying groups like Barclay James Harvest, allowing an entire generation of new fans to discover this magical music for themselves. Buy this album, you won't regret it!

In 1975, BJH seemed to be the next 'big thing' in the area of progrock. Their previous albums had caught some attention and their style seemed to fit in well with the Genesis / King Crimson / PFM mood of the day. But it was short-lived. Their live double album had showed them at their best, featuring slow, romantic songs served on a carpet of mellotron and stretched out to infinity. Time Honoured Ghosts by contrast is a fairly normal studio album with relatively short songs on it. And they're not bad either. 'Titles' even became a real hit. The other memorable tune is 'Beyond the grave' with a more than a little touch of Procol Harum. BJH carried on to become big in certain countries, especially Germany, but Time Honoured Ghosts just wasn't strong enough to push them to the fore. In conclusion I would say: nice album if you are into getting a complete picture of the progrock scene of the seventies. Not much more.

I really like this album. "In My Life" has some early Wishbone Ash sounding guitar playing, and a verse melody that sounds like the Steve Miller Band's "Serenade". "Moongirl" is absolutely beautiful and dreamy to the *extreme*. Dreamy without sounding cheesy, thanks to the guitar playing. "Jonathan" reminds me of many Seals & Crofts songs, just the way it's very pleasant and contains memorable vocal hooks to make it a highly enjoyable song.

These guys remind me of Alan Parsons Project quite a lot thanks mainly to the lead singer, and this is one heck of a solid album you should check out soon. Solid songwriting arrangements are quite important, and these guys deliver huge. It's the kind of music you can listen to at night and just let your mind be free.

I've always had a soft spot for Barclay James Harvest and their refreshingly simple, endearingly corny and anti-intellectual take on prog rock. But truth be told, Time Honoured Ghosts, despite having the best cover, is not one of their better albums, and marks a dip in an otherwise pristine succession of classic albums beginning with Everyone Is Everybody Else (1974), Octoberon (1976), Gone to Earth (1977) and culminating in Live Tapes (1978).
The first problem is the choice of producer and recording location. Sending Lancashire's finest purveyors of pastoral prog to California to record with rock producer Elliot Mazer (whose credit include Janis Joplin, David Soul) is akin to getting, say, Happy Mondays to record in Barbados with Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz (doh!). Square peg, round hole situation.
Sweet Jesus (a not-particularly-memorable song to begin with) is rendered unlistenable by the meaty rock production treatment, when what the song really needed was a grander, symphonic sound. Album's opener, In My Life, is similarly stripped of any dignity by the dry beefy production. I read somewhere that Woolly Wolstenholme was disenchanted with the recording environment. I can well believe it as his trademark layered keyboards have been rudely elbowed out of the sound picture.
Songwriting is at an all-time low. Titles, which has lyrics made entirely out of Beatles song titles, may have seemed like a good idea at the time but doesn't really work. The song has a nice long and winding Mccartneyesque melody but ends up sounding like an America outtake. Jonathan is the only song that sticks its head up from an otherwise uninspired collection of tunes and is the only song from the album to be represented on Live Tapes.
If you are interested in BJH, I strongly recommend Live Tapes and also the first live album (Live) which showcases the band's strongest material from the early 70s Harvest era.

Time honoured Ghosts is one of the finest albumsss put out by BJH a great progressive rock band.This album is one of their best and his highly recommended.