"Baby" is all right, I guess, as out of all the early period BJH records this one's the most seriously flawed. Said to be rushed over the course of four weeks, it also featured the band members working separately (Wolstenholme was in London recording the orchestra part while the rest of the band were recording everything else in the States), and this probably was a major factor adding to the album's lifelessness. Of course, maybe they had just temporarily run out of their minor hooks and tiny ideas. Like, totally. Overall, the sound is pretty depressed and tired, and this is obvious from the very first track, 'Crazy (Over You)', with its tired riffs (as usual, monotonous ones but also pretty devoid of energy, tired solos, tired vocals and tired lyrics. It just doesn't seem to particularly go anywhere except for pointing out the fact that the band was tired. Well - I gotcha. Next time, try some Prozak. The bulk of the album is completely eaten up by two 'epics' this time around, a bad sign even before actually hearing the numbers, as their best album of that period didn't include even a single ultra-lengthy epic. Lees' Summer Soldier' is a stately bore that could have been moderately nice for two minutes; for some reason, it goes on for more than ten. I appreciate the boys writing a harsh anti-war epic, with soldiers marching and shouting 'kill!' and all, but I don't feel the melody. Maybe it's just a subjective feeling of my own, but there's no hook I'm aware of. Just a lot of mid-tempo acoustic rhythms, a strained wah-wah lead tone and prophetic lyrics with not a single interesting twist of the vocals. I hate that kind of crap when it's done by a band like Kansas, but turns out Kansas weren't the first to invent the "completely wasted time epic" genre. (Of course, there was also Van Der Graaf Generator, but at least you could actually ponder over Pawn Hearts trying to guess its mysterious message; here, the message is as clear as water). Even worse is 'Moonwater', though. If that's the kind of stuff for which Wolstenholme travelled to London, I wish somebody'd hijacked his plane on the way. Seven and a half minutes of a pure orchestral composition with a few vocal lines thrown in for good measure. And ALL of that composition sounds like the prelude to a Hollywood musical, something like that. Where's the sense of measure that so far has not eluded these guys? Down the drain it goes. I don't want to even talk about that shit, it's so painful to realize that the very thing that had once been the saving grace of these guys - amazingly economic and up-to-the-point use of their orchestration - has now turned against them due to just one silly member's 'ambitions'. Aaaarggh. So the day is only saved by the remaining fifteen minutes of music, without which the album would have been an absolute disaster. 'Delph Town Mom' is one more try at an upbeat uplifting folksy hymn, and a successful one. It reminds me of Elton John a lot, maybe because the vocals sound Elton Johnish and the piano is very prominent, but it sounds like good Elton John. There's also 'Thank You', a somewhat corny, but effective pop-rocker, introduced by a distorted riff not unlike the one used in CCR's 'Up Around The Bend' and all drenched in that unbeatable Britpop essence that somehow adds taste and dignity to even the weakest songs when applied with knowledge of the subject. But, of course, the absolute winner, and one of the absolutely best Barclay James Harvest songs ever, hell, maybe THE best pop song of 1972, is the ballad 'One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out'. Has it got an undeniable BJH identity? Heh. It's about 50% McCartney, 25% The Move, and 25% Elton John with extra points going to the Bee Gees. That probably means it GOT an undeniable BJH identity. But forget about abstract generalizations, the bare fact is - this is a gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking ballad, devoted to the perennial subject of space travel (you may be pretty sure the boys spent a long time studying Honky Chateau what with all the subtle Elton John influences on here). See, even the subject is not original. Nothing is. Just the actual hook, although I believe the line where Lees sings 'can you hear me down below?' is borrowed directly out of some Roy Wood number, just can't remember which one exactly. Whatever, the vocals do their job so beautifully I just love the song, and urge everybody to hear it. The good news is that since Baby James Harvest is usually available packaged together with its predecessor, you actually get it for free when you purchase the band's best early album! Ha! Then just be sure to program out the two hideous 'epic' perversions and enjoy a solid fifty minutes of vintage Harvest, spraying it down with some first-class Barclay. And the James? Don't forget the James!http://starling.rinet.ru/music/barclay.htm
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου