VELVET THUNDER

Back in the Seventies, Barclay James Harvest were, quite simply, huge! Then along came punk and New Wave, and things were ever quite the same….lots of “proggy-type” bands simply folded and fell off the pages of history, never to be heard of again. BJH were always definitely Prog-based, given the swirling mellotron that was their trademark sound. But they loved their art, and persevered, helped perhaps by their unwavering, devoted fan-base in Europe, notably both East and West Germany. Through a series of classic albums and memorable concert performances, including a free concert in 1980 on the steps of the Reichstag, in the heart of the then divided city of Berlin before an estimated crowd of 250,000 people. Another open-air concert in Berlin’s Treptower Park in July 1987 attracted over 170,000 fans, the first time that a western rock band had performed an open-air concert in what was then East Germany.

The band continued to attract a loyal and dedicated global following over the next five decades, despite the original line-up disbanding. The “reborn” John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest picked up the baton, being honoured in March 2008 with a Lifetime Achievement award at the German equivalent of the UK BAFTA awards and playing at the 2009 Berlin Wall anniversary festival at the Brandenburg Gate, Bad Homburg in Germany with JLBJH’s biggest attendance of 17,500 people. John received the Visionary award at the 2018 Prog Awards in London. The band continued to tour Europe until 2023, when that year’s “Philharmonic!” tour also featured an 80-piece orchestra, and produced a live album and concert film. At the conclusion of that tour, at the tender age of 76, John Lees announced he was hanging up his touring boots.

This new album Relativity, out on 17th October, features their first new material since 2013’s North. Several years in the making, Relativity is a collection of eleven songs loosely based upon the concept of human and cosmic interaction and relationships. Produced by the band and mixed by acclaimed engineer Stephen W Tayler (known for his work with Kate Bush, Rush, Howard Jones, Rupert Hine, Tina Turner and many more), Relativity is a true group effort by long-time collaborators John Lees (guitar), Craig Fletcher (bass), Jez Smith (keyboards) and Kevin Whitehead (drums) – and draws upon the fine musical heritage of Barclay James Harvest.

The new material is introduced by Relativity Part 1 (Through The Dust). It illustrates the band’s trademark vocal harmonies, a smooth combination of electric and acoustic guitars, and that famous mellotron swirl. Their voices still hold pretty strong, and their musicality is undiminished, it’s clear to see they simply love performing together! John’s lead guitar work stands out for the sweetness of tone, this is a strong opener. Next up is The Blood of Abraham, which is a good example of BJH songs which sound overtly religious, and have a spiritual sense to the lyrics, but aren’t in fact “Christian” even though they can sound very “hymn -like” (their classic song Hymn for example is often seen as Christian or Christmas song but is in fact a tale of the dangers of drugs). Anyway, this particular song is a pretty dark reflection on the dangers of bitterness, hatred and ensuing misery. So perhaps less of a preacher or prophet, more a Romantic poet?

Heard it All Before is a more upbeat, mid-tempo rock arrangement, the classic tale of boy meets girl, love blossoms but grows stale and they grow apart….lush synths abound at the halfway mark, together with rich acoustic guitar work. It’s very 80’s AOR, very smoothly accomplished. Magpie is a gentle, piano-led number, again quite laid-back pleasant AOR. This one gently builds, smooth guitar lines gradually introducing the singer’s storyline, a tale of taking things as they come and appreciating what’s really important to you?

Love is precisely that, another gentle paean to the joy of love and being in love, being loved. Some will find a deeper spiritual meaning in this one, and that’s fine. The song is a relatively simple ballad, as is the next one, Peace Like a River, another track that is overtly spiritual in its message and certainly lends itself to being sung at churches and religious gatherings – the official video certainly seems to promulgate that vibe! Very smooth, it’s like those early Eagles songs like Peaceful Easy Feeling that got used as such…

Hour Glass continues the classic BJH vibe, a lush arrangement, pastoral, laid-back, beautiful harmonies, all very pleasant… and that’s the problem – whether it’s BJH or JLBJH, the bands; trademark sound is so very prescriptive, it’s what their fans want and have enjoyed for 50 years, this band isn’t going to change its DNA now, and why should they? – you either love it, or not.

Snake Oil returns to a fuller, rock sound, a tale that starts with the medicine man of old Westerns yore, and comes up to date with modern day charlatans and scammers. There’s some nice fat guitar work here within an energetic West Coast / Eagles sound, to me the strongest track so far. The End of Days follows on, a sort of pastoral tale of the apocalypse, for a band that aren’t supposed to be Christian this one is stuffed with references to Judgement Day, the Promised Land, praying and singing Hallelujah – so I don’t know, sounds to me the sort of thing you’d sing at a convocation, but you make your own mind up! Musically, it very much reminds me of Chris de Burgh, nicely put together but I suspect the band can come up these arrangements in their sleep.

Picture World is another West Coast vibe, a paean to old friends, reflecting on an earlier life. The middle section with Spanish sing-along made me think of David Essex in his pomp! The show comes an end with Relativity Part 2 (The Stars That Shine), swooping in with John’s trademark sweet guitar licks – I take my hat off to his continued excellence on the frets in what will now be his youthful 78th year! After the extended intro, the rest of the band enter with a stately, slow tempo, synth-led number. Lovely, Big World lyrics, the AOR mix swirls effortlessly around you in a pleasant melting pot of rhythm while John’s solo continues to sooth – music to watch the sun go down to. These guys know what they’re good at and stay safely within those boundaries. You get very close to the “full CD capacity” of 80 minutes worth of new material here – it’s certainly in the traditional vein of JLBJH / BJH and if you’re a fan you’ll lap it up. For me it gets a bit samey but hey, you give your fans what they want?

On that note, the album is available in a variety of editions – a standard CD edition; a limited 3 disc boxed set edition (which includes a region free Blu-ray audio disc of Stephen W Tayler’s 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the album; and an additional CD of highlights of a previously unreleased concert recorded at RosFest, Pennsylvania, USA in May 2009 featuring Woolly Wolstenholme); and a limited 2LP gatefold vinyl edition.

The live concert features a host of the bands’ most well-known hits and songs, the set opening with Valhalla followed by For No One; The Great 1974 Mining Disaster; Poor Wages; The Iron Maiden; Child of the Universe; Poor Man’s Moody Blues; Harbour; Suicide; Medicine Man; In Search of England; Mocking Bird; and signing off with The Poet / After the Day……fans will absolutely adore this set!

And on that note, here’s a (fan’s) video of one of the last ever John Lees’ BJH concerts, it’s from Germany in 2023.