The world goes on (Barclay James Harvest) (LP 2008 -2013)

Various  Central Park Music Festival (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1968) *** 

Herman's Hermits  There's A Kind Of A Hush All Over The World (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1967) *** 

Roy Harper  In Between Every Line (Vinyl, EMI Records, 1986) ****

Poco  Poco (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1970) *****

Barclay James Harvest  Octoberon (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1976) ***

XTC  Drums and Wires (Vinyl, Virgin Records, 1976) ****

Genre: In this order - Jazz/ pop/ folk rock/ country rock/ prog rock/ alt-pop

Places I remember: Little Red Bookstore Friday August 10, 2023

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: No Milk Today (Herman's Hermits)

Gear costume: Nobody's Fool/ El Tonto De Nadie Regresa (Poco); Making Plans For Nigel (XTC)

Active compensatory factors: After a full on week at school, last Friday I stopped off on the way home, to the Little Red Bookstore in Hastings.

Steven Wilson says that he now buys records in clusters and I'm the same. In our youth we would obsess for weeks over what album to save up for and then read everything we could get our hands on for background details (was it good? Who was on it? What label? What genre? and so on - all the minutiae that would mean either a purchase or not). These days I can afford to buy a few at a time and take a knowledgeable punt - years are important, producers, band line ups, covers, labels, types of instruments...

Anyway, I came away with these albums. BTW, I put a few back from the $5 bin because of the record quality. I really wanted a John Barry compilation of his themes but it was in a terrible, unplayable state. The first two on the list were also in that $5 bin but are in the very good quality category.

The Central Park Music Festival album is from 1968 - one listen to Lou Rawls' pre song raps will immediately tell you that. Apart from Lou sockin' it to em (dig) we have Maxine Brown ramping the crowd up and asking the musical question who's got soul? with great effect and The Ramsey Lewis Trio take over proceedings on side two. Hurrah. 

The trio's three songs. including a great Hang On Sloopy, steel the show for my money.

Hermit's Hermits were an interesting band - a charismatic singer, good production, excellent singles made for the teen pop market. They weren't noted as an album band though, and I couldn't name any of the band apart from Peter Noone. There's A Kind Of A Hush is a good solid effort however, although even here the hits are the stand out tracks. No Milk Today is peerless!

The Roy Harper is a double album, comprising of live tracks. The first side is made up of one track with Harper accompanying himself: One Of These Days In England. That's a sign of how uncompromising Harper is, and the song becomes an intensely mad outpouring of emotion. It's quite visceral in parts, and beautifully bucolic in others. The rest of the concert is superb also with a band approach also featured. The Harper/Dave Gilmour songs are stunning as well!  

Poco's second album is a classic, with inventive song structures and beautiful playing. They created vastly influential country rock ripples via those early albums. I've highlighted a composite track that takes up the bulk of side two. It's a brilliant non-compromising song suite that heads into almost jazz rock directions. It's as barking mad brilliant as the title suggests.

Barclay James Harvest's Octoberon is a laid back progressive rock addition to their catalogue that doesn't break any new ground and is firmly in their signature style. That's fine, and what I expect from BJH. They are not a band who are going to stretch too much out of their comfort zone. Fans pretty much know that going in!

Finally, XTC. For some stupid reason I think I must have sold off all of my XTC albums many years ago. I can't believe that I did that because I loved their albums. Actually, I've just remembered they were in the albums I lost in a house move!!

Now I am engaged in a retrieval exercise - trying to buy them back. Starting with this classic album. It sounds amazingly in the pocket sonically and very very familiar. I've since writing this found the five star White Music. Now to find the rest without spending a fortune.

Where do they all belong? They have all fitted snuggly into all the relevant genres, with Central Park Music Festival heading into the Festivals section.