This Week I'm Listening To...

Barclay James Harvest : "Everyone Is Everybody Else" (1974) ***** **** (out of 10*). Actually I've been listening to all sorts of BJH albums. From the mid 70's thru the mid-80's. They went thru some significant changes. Mid-70's BJH is good prog rock. Great guitar licks, superb anti-war lyrics, coupled with some very nice instrumental arrangements. EIEE and their live album from the same year are perfect examples of this. In the late 70's they morphed into a "Poor Man's Moody Blues". Less progressive, less rock, but still passably okay. The lyrics-writing remained outstanding. In the early 80's they morphed again, this time to a "Steely Dan" wannabee band. Yuck!! Steely Dan is one of my five most overrated bands of all time. A wannabee SD band is even worse. The downward spiral continues into the mid-80's when albums like Victims Of Circumstance make them sound like a lounge band. Somebody fire their manager, please! BJH is still around today. But like the Strawbs, trying to find any of their recent albums is next to impossible. Stick with their 1970's releases. They're fantastic!