Barclay James Harvest
had streamlined their sound considerably after leaving the
Harvest
label, culminating (so many felt) in the mellifluous music of
Gone to Earth
. Their pretensions to progressive rock all but abandoned,
BJH
here invites comparison to contemporaries like
Supertramp
,
REO Speedwagon
, and
Fleetwood Mac
(some of whom were similarly tagged with the prog rock label early on). Even at their most ornate, songwriters
John Lees
and
Les Holroyd
were simple balladeers at heart, and the decision to unclutter their arrangements allows the material's intrinsic beauty to shine through with clarity. For this reason,
is regarded by many as the band's best album, and judged on a song-by-song basis, it's hard to argue against it.
Lees
' "Hymn" and "Poor Man's Moody Blues" swell from simple beginnings to majestic heights, while
Holroyd
provides a cache of catchy rock songs, incorporating
Beach Boys
' harmonies on "Spirit of the Water" and "Taking Me Higher," soaring with
the Eagles
on "Friend of Mine," and even dabbling in reggae on the popular "Hard Hearted Woman." Again, the album's lone orchestral moment comes from
Woolly Wolstenholme
, the transcendent "Sea of Tranquility." (The keyboardist, whose once-omnipresent Mellotron now played a diminished role in the band's sound, left after the subsequent tour, releasing the first of several solo albums in 1980.) Although the songs are almost uniformly light on their feet, the lyrics reveal some heavy thoughts:
' "Lepers Song" laments "The end of the line's where I'm at/'Cos there's nothing left to be," and "Spirit of the Water" deals with killing seals for coats. Fortunately, it's not the uneasy alliance you might expect. Rarely has the band sounded so comfortable in the studio, and the result is as lovely a record as they've made. [A three-disc Remastered & Expanded Edition of
was released in 2016, featuring the album in its original stereo mix remastered on the first CD, which also included four bonus tracks; a new stereo mix plus a bonus track on the second CD; and a DVD-Audio disc with new 5.1 Surround Sound and high-resolution stereo mixes plus two bonus tracks. The set also included a booklet with restored original album artwork and a new essay, plus a reproduction poster.] ~ Dave Connolly