Child of the Universe: Esoteric Reissues Two From Barclay James Harvest

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Esoteric Recordings has recently turned its attention to the Polydor discography of prog giants Barclay James Harvest for a pair of 2-CD/1-DVD reissues. John Lees founded Barclay James Harvest in 1966 with Les Holroyd, Mel Pritchard and Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme. After one single for EMI's Parlophone imprint in 1968, the progressive four-piece was moved over to the Harvest imprint. Barclay James Harvest remained on Harvest for four LPs, but didn't score their commercial breakthrough until a move to Polydor. The band's 1974 Polydor debut, Everyone is Everybody Else, has been released in a Deluxe Edition along with 1977's Gone to Earth.

The four-piece line-up was joined by producer Rodger Bain (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest) for Everyone is Everybody Else. Bain was charged with stripping down BJH's lavish orchestral sound, and so Everyone reflected a shift to taut, muscular arrangements touching on prog, folk, and even country and pop. Today, it's considered one of the group's strongest achievements, in no small part due to the inspired songwriting and clean, accessible production. John Lees contributed five tracks including the lament "Child of the Universe," the Bee Gees-turned-upside-down agit-pop of "The Great 1974 Mining Disaster," and the anti-war closer, "For No One." Les Holroyd penned the remaining four songs (two co-written with Mel Pritchard) such as the country-tinged "Poor Boy Blues" and the edgy, CSNY-inspired, harmony-rich "Crazy City."

A favorite of renowned DJ John Peel, Everyone is Everybody Else is featured in three mixes. Disc One has a remastered version of the original stereo mix, while Disc 2 has a remix by Craig Fletcher with reissue producer Mark Powell. Disc 3, an all-region DVD, presents the new stereo mix in high-resolution 96/24 as well as a new 5.1 surround mix in Dolby Surround and DTS. (Though the disc is marked "DVD-Audio," this presentation is not in that format.) The surround mix is missing "For No One" due to the absence of multi-tracks from which to create a 5.1 mix, but the U.S. single of "Child of the Universe" has been included as a bonus track.

In addition, the album has been expanded by Esoteric with four bonus tracks: the single version of "Child of the Universe," the original mix of "Negative Earth," and the lone songwriting contribution by Wooly Wolstenholme, the outtake "Maestoso (A Hymn in the Roof of the World)." (A 2003 Polydor reissue also added an original mix of "Mining Disaster" which is not reprised here.)

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Everyone is Everybody Else has been joined by the quartet's 1977 Gone to Earth. A No. 30 hit in the United Kingdom, the album (BJH's fifth for Polydor, overall, including a live set) was wildly popular in Germany, where it peaked at No. 10 and remained in the charts for an astonishing 197 weeks. David Rohl co-produced with the band, this time emphasizing shorter songs.

One of those songs, John Lees' "Hymn," became one of the group's most enduring compositions. The dynamic track was written by Lees as an anti-drug song and overtly addressed Jesus Christ (so much, in fact, that the BBC deemed the song "too Christmas-y") as it built from gentility to grandiosity. An unforgettable opening track, it also became a turntable hit in Germany.

Lees penned four songs in total, such as the romantically-inclined rocker "Love is Like a Violin" and the Moody Blues-inspired "Poor Man's Moody Blues." Much as he had drawn on The Bee Gees' "New York Mining Disaster 1941" on Everyone, he based the lush "Poor Man's Moody Blues" (an insult hurled at the band by an unkind journalist) on chords similar to "Nights in White Satin." It, too, became a favorite in Germany - particularly at wedding receptions. Les Holroyd wrote four songs on Gone to Earth, once again drawing on country influences for the uptempo "Friend of Mine" (and even playing banjo!) and addressing environmental themes on "Spirit on the Water." Wooly Wolstenholme only contributed one song, but the epic "Sea of Tranquility" was a choice one.

Disc One has the original stereo mix of Gone to Earth plus four bonus cuts: the outtake "Lied" (first issued in 2003), the B-side "Our Kid's Kid," and the single versions of "Hymn" and "Friend of Mine." Disc Two has a new 2016 stereo mix as well as the 1977 recording "Loving is Easy" and a new mix of "Our Kid's Kid." The DVD has both the original and new stereo mixes in high-resolution, and the new 5.1 mix in DTS/Dolby, plus the two bonus tracks from Disc Two. (Again, the disc is labelled as "DVD-Audio" but is a standard DVD.)

Both releases have been remastered from the original master tapes by Paschal Byrne. They are housed in digipaks and feature colorful booklets with full annotation and credits. In addition, each set has a poster with lyrics on one side. These two time-honored, accessible albums showcase some of the best and most enduring music created by the original Barclay James Harvest. Later this month, a similar edition of 1978's XII will follow from Esoteric. You can order Everyone is Everybody Else and Gone to Earth at the links below!

Barclay James Harvest, Everyone is Everybody Else (Polydor 2383 286, 1974 - reissued Esoteric ECLEC 32540, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1 (Original Mix)