What do Deep Purple, The Move, Hawkwind, Fleetwood Mac and The Yardbirds all have in common? Though each of those five bands carved out distinct musical identities, all incorporated elements of psychedelia in their early hard-rock explorations. A new 3-CD box set from Cherry Red’s Grapefruit imprint offers an in-depth chronicle of the music that planted the seeds of progressive rock and metal. I’m a Freak, Baby is, as per its subtitle, A Journey Through the British Heavy Psych and Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-1972. As with the best journeys, it offers…
Esoteric Offers Up Live Barclay James Harvest, Rarities From Tea and Symphony, Third World War
With a trio of recent releases, Cherry Red Group’s Esoteric Recordings imprint continues to dig through the archives to reissue some of the most intriguing offerings from the prog-rock era and beyond. 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 1974 release of…
