As they continue to rightly reap the plaudits and rival live appearance rewards from their seventies output of prog friendly songs, as a going concern Barclay James Harvest have progressed in the business direction of many of their contemporaries. The schism between the two original surviving members, John Lees and Les Holroyd, has resulted in two variants of which John Lees’ BJH has been the most active. Certainly with new material. Although, it has been twelve years since previous album North was released. Not prolific, then. But if it means that the quality control of ready to release songs remains high, unlike most of this original band’s eighties output, then it should hopefully be worth the wait. Thankfully, Relativity hits the musical mark if not quite always the bullseye.
This second JLBJH studio album is bookended by the cosmic ruminations of opener Relativity Part 1 (Through The Dust) and closing track Part 2 (The Stars That Shine), that warmly invite BJH fans into a familiar sonic landscape. The surprising elements of this album is the nuanced Northern soul tropes melded with serene prog movements to a deeply satisfying effect. Second song, The Blood Of Abraham, is a standout example of this soulful prog approach that supplies the big beating heart of this profound album. And there’s one of which that would have once been on decent single rotation at the likes of Radio 2 as She’s Heard It All Before cuts a dash into commercial northern soul territory.
Into his eighth decade, the distinguished countenance of Lees’ snowy white hair and tufty eyebrows lends him a professorial aura that he interprets with poetic lyrical wisdoms such as on the majestic Magpie, ‘all alone when all the birds have flown . The magpie sits and waits till dawn. Life’s not always black and white ‘cos gentle is the night.’ It swoops in with its near two and a half minute epic dreamy intro and deceptively easy on the ear layered arrangement. Further proof is also evident on the jaunty Peace Like A River that serenely lilts a simile with its harmonious lyrics, ‘you can see it your way, I can see it my way. Meet me in the middle and we can work it out’, and joins the enchanting meditations on the universal themes of peace, love and understanding. Then there’s the introspective Hour Glass that sagely reflects upon life’s landmarks and the passage of time heralded by ethereal vocals.
However, to prove that you can’t keep fully committed rockers down, the bluesy Snake Oil gets deep in the groove with fuzz guitars, smouldering bass, keyboard flourishes and percussive precision on a topical and cautionary tale of cold hearted deception that can be expanded beyond the dubious practices of psychic mediums: ‘its a cold hard truth that the dead don’t talk, it’s the living that lie’.
There are more tracks, which I recommend you investing in this release to discover, that add extra quality texture to the soulful and spiritual Progressive leaning music which the band began recording during COVID and has finally come to life. It’s clear that this period in humanity’s timeline has informed this recording’s deep core content.
More grander than North, Relativity is an impressive late career recorded statement by John, Craig, Kev and Jez. It is musical medicine sans frontiers via compositions that soothe, heal and raise the spirit level and, who knows, its impressive everyman cosmic content and, harking back to Peace Like A River’s message, might help to finally bring John and Les a bit closer together relatively speaking.
Review by Paul Davies
