Truth is they are one of the foremost exponents of Prog Rock; having established their credentials on their debut recording for the coincidentally named Harvest label. Like its predecessors, it sold well, but not in enough quantities to trouble the album charts. It was to prove a risk well worth taking when their fifth album, Everyone Is Everybody Else , proved to be an artistic, if not a complete sales success upon its release.

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It clearly paid off because the LP proved to be their best seller especially in Germany where it stayed on the charts for an eye-watering consecutive weeks. The album is best known for "Hymn" and "Poor Man's Moody Blues" but neither of these tracks are my favourites on the album. Having said that it is hard not to ignore the fact that not only is this song appears to be regarded by most BJH fans as their ultimate Classic as evidenced by the way it usually acts as concert closer. Moreover it also seems to have taken on a life of its own with none other than Sarah Brightman not only covering the song in but making it the title track of her album released that year and not only that but taking it straight to No1 on the US Classical Music chart. As for "Poor Man's Moody Blues", I always felt that while it was an interesting exercise to de-construct the famous Moody Blues song -"Nights In White Satin", I found the result a little stilted and mannered and frankly would have preferred it to be a "B" side rather than effectively being at nearly 7 minutes the centerpiece of the album or at least side one which it closes. Then again - what do I know? For me the real standout tracks are Holroyd's "Hard Hearted Woman" with its catchy hook and funky in a Floydian way outro which leads onto my absolute favoiurite track on the album- Wolstenholme's exquisite "Sea Of Tranquility". I particularly admire the way the composer packs so much into 4 minutes - a true mini proc epic.
Crossover Prog • United Kingdom
Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. After signing with EMI's Parlophone label in the UK for one single in early , they moved to the more progressively inclined Harvest label. Having exhausted other possibilities, each of the band members wrote single words on pieces of paper which were drawn out of a hat one by one. All were rejected until only three were left: James, a guy who used to sing with the band, Harvest because they were living in a farmhouse, and Barclay after Barclays bank, because they aspired to make money. These were then rearranged to get the best-sounding name - "Barclay James Harvest". Their self-titled debut album was released in mid to positive reviews, but few sales. Their second album, Once Again , gained even more favourable reviews, and the tour that followed was conducted with a full orchestra under the guidance of Robert John Godfrey. Their third album Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories was an even greater achievement, though Martyn Ford was brought in to supervise the orchestral work after Godfrey departed over writing issues behind "Mocking Bird" — one of the group's most consistently popular tracks. By the release of their fourth album, Baby James Harvest , in , the pressures of touring were beginning to affect the band.
Listeners started requesting the tune and within weeks it was topping the Hot Until December 5, , a song had to be issued as a single to make the Hot Aaliyah's "Try Again" was the first tune to top the chart based on airplay alone, without any sales figures being included. Do you remember the first time you heard "email" in a song?