If I were to meet them walking through the street, I would never have recognized them. I'm talking about the grey haired, tarnished appearances of John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme both original members of the once famous Barclay James Harvest. By adding three new members, the twosome set out on a tour of Germany and Switzerland as a result of the healthy sales of their last studio album Nexus. I do remember very well that, when being in the army in Germany, Lüdenscheid, I organized a trip to Dortmund to go and see a pop festival. No fewer than six bands were programmed, those being Sniff'n the Tears, Dr. Feelgood, The Police (who did a 15 minute rendition of "Roxanne," as they had just released their first album and had no more material), Whitesnake (with both Ian Paice and Jon Lord helping out), Dire Straits (again boasting an extra long "Sultans of Swing" due to lack of material) and, as top-of-the-bill, Barclay James Harvest. Because some problems occurred during the soundcheck the organisation decided to put the first two bands right at the end of the evening in order to have Barclay James Harvest perform for a full house at a decent time. After all, a lot of the fans were young teenagers whose parents would be waiting to pick them up. Then the band began their set with "Nova Lepidoptera," but on this album they kicked off with the immortal "She Said." On Revival you get the perfect mix between classics and recent material. Almost self-evident is the inclusion of "She Said," "For No One," "Mockingbird," "Poor Man's Moody Blues," "Loving Is Easy" and "Galadriel." For a long time I have regarded the band's very first live double album as their very best live document, yet that was before I listened to Revival. Where atmosphere is concerned the music of BJH can be situated between symphonic rock, folk and classical music maybe with a pinch of Moody Blues? John Lees' voice has gained maturity, his guitar style is still as crisp as in the very beginning whilst Woolly's keyboards mainly remain in the background yet showing their strength and another proof he can get into the history books as "master of the mellotron." The new album also contains a brand new song, so new that it was still being written during the tour itself hence the original title "New Song." As always it's a song with a lot of intonations yet from the start it has that acoustic feel which is given a complete makeover by means of John's electric guitar. You can say this is the real BJH recipe! So yes, Revival is a splendid album, a treat for your ears without one negative element. Brilliant! Reviewed by: John 'Bo Bo' Bollenberg |
