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FEMALE CORRESPONDENTSSOUGHT by British fan living inSouth Wales. Into BJH (ofcourse!), The Strawbs,Lindisfarne, Thunder, MartynJoseph etc. Enjoys travelling,especially in Germany, going togigs etc. Please write to:-

DAMIAN BLAKEMOREFlat 5The LevensHereford RoadAbergavennyMonmouthshireNP7 5PJUK

POSTER: concert poster fromErith College Rag,Saturday,March20th, 1971. Super rare item!Condition, VG, UK �195.00

Contact:Paul DerryP.O. BOX 2113WALSALLWS1 2XXEngland, U.K.Tel/Fax:+44 01922-632663email:charlton1976@netscapeonline.co.uk

PENFRIENDS WANTED!English BJH fan, age 31, wouldlike to write to BJH fans inmainland Europe, especiallyGermany and Scandinavia.Interests include reading sciencefiction, cinema, theatre andwalking in the countryside. Otherfavourite groups include Genesis,Floyd, Yes, Rush and Marillion.Letters can be written in English,German or Swedish.Contact:

Martin SUTTON76 Fulbeck AvenueMarus BridgeWiganWN3 5QLUK

I AM SEARCHING FOR the LPFall Of Hyperion from Robert JohnGodfrey. To buy or swap.

Mr GILLE Olivier22/2 Bd Galli�ni89000 AUXERREFRANCEe-mail : gilobjhfan@wanadoo.fr

Thank you in advance forcontacting me.

A VERY HAPPY FIRSTBIRTHDAY on 29th January,2002 to their son James, fromStephen and Christine Murphy andfrom all at IBJHFC.

Marketplace

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The Barclay James Harvest Magazine #56, March 2002

ContentsNews 4Album Preview: Revolution Days 12The NL Interview: Les Holroyd 14Feedback 25Marketplace 26

CreditsCover design: Butterfly design by Les Holroyd

Contributors: Mark Powell, Philippe Plazenet and,of course, special thanks to Les

Next issue: Last copy date 20th AprilAvailable end of May

Membership fees: UK: �8.00Europe: �10.00Elsewhere: �12.00

The International BJH Fan ClubHamble Reach, Oslands Lane

Lower SwanwickSouthampton SO31 7EG

01489 572787Fax: 0870 162 9935

e-mail: ibjhfc@bjharvest.co.ukWeb Site: http://www.bjharvest.co.uk

Nova Lepidoptera

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Nova Lepidoptera: End Of An Era

Nova Lepidoptera, the magazine, celebrates its fifteenth birthday this year,something which we could never have predicted when the first photocopiedfanzine version appeared in May 1987. The sixty issues of NL (counting thefour unofficial fanzines which appeared before IBJHFC existed) account forover a thousand pages of BJH news, articles and trivia.

It is therefore with some sadness (mixed with relief!) that we have decidedthat it is time to bring down the curtain on the magazine. The workloadinvolved in running the fan club, web site and magazine, combined with a full-time job, two kids and all the usual domestic commitments, has been buildingup steadily to a point where something had to give, and the reluctantconclusion was that the magazine was the obvious choice. The growinginfluence of the Internet (we estimate that well over half of club members arenow on-line) means that we can reach much of our target audience morequickly and with a good deal less effort via e-mail and the BJH web site.

Nova Lepidoptera will continue as a magazine for the next year, so that wecan phase out club membership fees in a controlled way and not leaveanybody out of pocket. Those members due to renew with this issue will beasked to pay the normal fee for four more magazines, then NL57 renewers willpay for three more and so forth, until NL60, which will be the last ever issue.

This does not mean, however, that BJH fans who are not on-line will beabandoned. We plan to issue printed newsletters whenever there is importantnews such as tour dates or forthcoming releases, and there will be no chargefor these. The way it will work is that we will ask you to send us a stampedaddressed envelope or an International Reply Coupon as soon as you receive anewsletter - we will then use that to send the next one to you. We will alsocontinue to run a mail-order service for the harder-to-find CDs, T-shirts andso on.

We hope you will understand that we cannot continue to spend more andmore of our time on the club, and now have to decide where our priorities lie.We believe that the Internet now represents the best way to publicise themusic of Les, Mel, John and Woolly, and we will now focus more of ourattention there. In the meantime, enjoy the last five issues!

Keith & Monika Domone

News

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Les HolroydFinally, we’d just like to wishyou every success with thealbum - is there anything elseyou’d like to add?

Not really, no. We really want toget out there and do some live worknow, if it’s feasible to do that, wehope it’s feasible. That’s about it,really.

We’ll be there!

What a nice surprise and what joywhen I received NL55 with theChristmas gift. It’s funny because afew days before, I sent an e-mail toKeith with the following question:- Is Eagle Records views to releasea CD with songs which played onRevival 2000 tour and which do notappear on Revival CD like; Child OfThe Universe, In Search Of England,Panic, Medicine Man, Cheap TheBullet?Keith’s reply was:- No plans from Eagle but anythingis possible... I think you will like thenext NL a lot!

When listening to these four songs,I remember the excellent gigs thatthe band offered to the fans and thegreat moments I spent in Germanywith new friends. It’s a pity that wedidn’t have Medicine Man on “aunaturel” CD. For me, the versionthe band played for Revival 2000tour was great and very strong. On

another occasion perhaps …Thank you very much for thismarvellous gift. About NL’s cover, agreat “bravo” to David Saingery.Santa Claus brought me the fanclub tribute CD. Good work, goodinterpretations, especially Jonathan,Yesterday’s Heroes, Poor Man’sMoody Blues, Spirit On The Water,The Streets Of San Francisco andHymn (by Too Late). A good pointto Kev Walker too, the first song isvery, very beautiful. When thesecond album?

Philippe Plazenet

Keith: unfortunately, “MedicineMan” wasn’t available to us forthe free CD, as the band’s mini-disc recording ran out at thatpoint in both shows! We’ll haveto think about a second TributeCD, as the first one has provedmuch more popular than weexpected.

Feedback

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The NL Interview:How do you spend your timewhen you’re not recording ortouring?

I do a lot of mountain biking, whichis really dumb at my age – ifanything breaks, it won’t mend atthis age, you’ve got to cut it off! It’sgood actually, becauseChristopher’s really into it, andwe’re out most weekends doing alittle bit here and there. It’s not justlike trails and stuff like that, it’s theserious stuff. We did do ChamonixMont Blanc a couple of years ago,and that was really extreme,frightening stuff, but you need a bitof that now and again to get the oldadrenalin pumping round you – Ihaven’t had it front stage for a longtime, so that’s gonna be the nextone – stage fright!

Do you still get stage fright?

Oh, yeah, definitely – especially thefirst night. If that first night goeswell, then you know you’re doingsomething right. That’s why it’sgood to have a lot of people onstage!

Is Christopher into your kind ofmusic – what does he listen to?

Yeah, he is, actually. He’s into allsorts of things, he even listened tothe Mobb Deep thing, which is notthe nicest thing to listen to!

In general, do you mind yourmusic being sampled and usedin a completely different stylelike that or the Samy Deluxething?

I really don’t mind, actually, and Ihave got to say that the SamyDeluxe one was actually quite good.It was done in a really good way,and the production was quite good.It’s obviously not my type of music,but the lyrical content of that wasquite good, the video was quitearty. It was a nice one to be linkedwith. The thing is that anyone canrecord your material, once you’verecorded it and it’s out in themarket, and there have been somehorrendous covers, such as “Life IsFor Living”, but you can’t doanything about it - you might aswell enjoy it!

You just wonder how rap artistsever get to hear Barclay JamesHarvest music…

Yeah, that was really weird. Not somuch Germany, I can understandthat, well I can’t, but you canunderstand that there’s been a lotof product out there, but theAmerican one I was reallysurprised, because it’s like, 1977.For New York gangsta rappers to belistening to that stuff, it’s like,“What?!!!” Unless it’s one of thefathers or something, it’s odd…

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As you are reading this, Les’s newAlbum Revolution Days should beabout to hit the shops, with aplanned release date of 25thFebruary 2002 on new label “M”, asubsidiary of Musedia plc. It will bedistributed by Koch Records inGermany, Austria and Switzerlandand by Cargo in the UK.

We have heard the album in its fullglory and are pleased to say that ithas been well worth the wait. Youcan find a preview of the album plusan exclusive interview with Leselsewhere in this issue.

The full track listing:

It’s My LifeMissing YouThat Was Then... This Is NowPreludeQuiero El SolTotally CoolLife Is For LivingSleepy SundayRevolution DayMarlene (from the Berlin Suite)

It is likely that this is also thecorrect running order, although atthe time of writing this, minorchanges may still be made.

All titles and preludes were writtenand arranged by Les Holroyd,except “Totally Cool”, written byTim Green and Mike Byron-Hehirbut sung by Les.

Very appropriately, the album wasrecorded, mixed and mastered atRevolution Studios in CheadleHulme (where Welcome To TheShow was also recorded) in thesummer and autumn of 2001.

Produced by:Andy MacPherson and Les Holroyd.Engineered by:Andy MacPherson,Assistant Engineers:Ian Wilson and Justin Richards.Mixed and mastered by:Andy MacPherson and BernhardGoetz.

THE MUSICIANS:Les Holroyd - Vocals, guitars,bass, piano and keyboardsMel Pritchard - Drums andpercussionMike Byron-Hehir - Lead guitarIan Wilson - Backing vocalsSteve Butler - Backing vocalsSteve Pigott - KeyboardsRabbit Bundrick - Keyboards(Totally Cool)Programming - Grant Ainsworth,Steve Pigott, Justin Richards

Les is very positive about his albumand also very keen to tour, but anydefinitive tour plans will depend onthe reception that the album gets.

We are selling the album withimmediate effect! Please see theorder form in the middle of themagazine.

News

REVOLUTION DAYS

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Back Catalogue Bonanza!

STAND BY for the biggest ever review of the Barclay James Harvest canon,with everything that even the most devoted collector could wish for! This yearwill see a thorough trawl through the back catalogue, including a wealth ofrare and previously unheard material:

We are pleased to announce that with immediate effect, we can acceptpre-orders for BJH’s first ever DVD! The running time is approximately 80or 90 minutes, and the DVD comprises the whole of the Caught Live filmwhich we recently tracked down via an Internet auction plus 30 minutesfrom the 1974 Drury Lane concert which was recorded for BarclayJames Harvest Live. The 1974 tracks are: “Crazy City”, “For No One”,“Mocking Bird” and “The Great 1974 Mining Disaster”.

The DVD release is scheduled for March by Classic Pictures Entertainment,who have also released DVDs by Santana, Man, Wishbone Ash, RickWakeman, ELP and Judie Tzuke to name just a few.We can sell the DVD at �16.00 in the UK, �17.00 in Europe and �18.00elsewhere - see the order form to pre-order now!

In May EMI release a CD of the legendary 1972BBC In Concert with the orchestra (at last!), plus...

Also in May, EMI plan to issue single remastered CDs ofBarclay James HarvestOnce AgainBJH and other short storiesBaby James HarvestEach will include extra tracks from the EMI archives, with alternativetakes, rarities such as “Too Much On Your Plate” appearing on CD for thefirst time, plus contemporary BBC sessions ... see details next page...

And that’s not all, folks - Polydor will issue a double CD Anthologycovering the band’s finest work from 1974 to 1997, with a couple ofalternative versions thrown in for good measure, followed by...Single CD remasters of all the Polydor albums, again with extra tracksculled from singles, alternative mixes, demos etc...The Anthology is expected around July, and the first batch of remasteredPolydor albums no earlier than the autumn.

News

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Les Holroyd“I think the old BarclayJames Harvest has run

its course, to behonest.”

bands - you know, “Wouldn’t it begreat to get The Beatles backtogether again”, but it’s never goingto happen. People don’t understandthat there are personalities that areinvolved, people get older, theirways change, their ideals change,circumstances change, the peoplethat they live with etc etc, pull themapart, not intentionally, but ithappened to all of us. It’s been aslow process over the years withthis particular band, butnevertheless that’s what’shappened, and it’s a difficult one.It’s not a film, it’s not like “All right,lads, we’re getting the bandtogether again”, it’s not as easy asthat.

To be honest, it probablywouldn’t be the same, anyway.

I don’t think it would, I really don’tthink it would. I think the oldBarclay James Harvest has run itscourse, to be honest. Whateverhappens in the future happens, butI don’t think we can force the issueby saying we’re going to do that,and I wouldn’t really want to dothat because I think if we did itnow, it would be doing it for all thewrong reasons. It would be doing itfor other people rather thanourselves.

How has the loss of DavidWalker affected you from aprofessional and a personalviewpoint?

Obviously personally it affected us,it affected me, very, very strongly. Iwas speaking to him in theafternoon, and we were actuallyfinalising the album and artworkand stuff like that, and he just left itwith me as “I’ll speak to youtomorrow, I’m at a party at themoment”. It took a good few weeksof thinking, “Has this reallyhappened, or what”. Fortunately forme, I’ve been working more or lesson my own putting this albumtogether for quite a while, so inthose terms it didn’t really affectthe day to day running of gettingthe album finished. It was onlywhen we’d actually finished it that Iactually had to start thinking ofhow we were gonna sort thebusiness side out, It was a goodsituation to be in in one respect,because I could sit back and reallythink things out, which direction Iwanted to go in and which directionI definitely didn’t want to go in, andjust look at things totally logicallyfrom that point onwards. I knew Icouldn’t handle the business side ofit myself – I just haven’t physicallygot the time. I spoke with Alex(Rose, at Handle), and he was morethan ready to do the job, which wasbrilliant, because that took a realload off of me, and it seems to beworking out really well. He more orless took over from the first ofJanuary this year, and he’s lookingafter Mel as well.

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The NL Interview:behind that – there was no big dealabout it, we just thought, it soundsgood, let’s do it!

I understand that the album willappear under the name “BarclayJames Harvest Featuring LesHolroyd”. Do you think theremight be a danger of the publicgetting confused between whatappears to be two differentforms of Barclay JamesHarvest?

I think that’s a real danger, and itreally wasn’t my idea to use thename Barclay James Harvest.Ideally I would not like to haveused the name, but it was David(Walker) that said, well, you reallyare entitled to use the name, allthree of you individually, you’veworked for the name and you’vemade that what it is, or what it was,in Europe, and it would be a shameto go out and not have anyreference to it. So he said that in asimilar way to the way that Johnhas done Barclay James HarvestThrough The Eyes Of John Lees,then you should do a similar thing,your interpretation of what yourBarclay James Harvest is. ObviouslyI couldn’t go ahead and start sayingthings like Through The Eyes Of LesHolroyd, or Barclay James HarvestMark II or whatever, although a lotof people will see it as that. I’ve gotto put the record straight. I thoughtit was a good way of doing twothings – it was a good way of doingmy interpretation of Barclay JamesHarvest, also it was leaving it open

so that it could be added to,certainly in a live situation withposters or whatever saying BarclayJames Harvest Featuring LesHolroyd and Mel Pritchard, with…I’m sure a lot of people willprobably think “Who does he thinkhe is, he’s got Mel there and it’s‘featuring Les Holroyd’, it should be‘featuring Les Holroyd and MelPritchard’” - in an ideal situation itwould do, but because of the waythings were done, it had to be donethis way. I hope people will realisethat it’s just my interpretation,through my songs, of Barclay JamesHarvest.

Do you think that we’ve seenthe last of the old line up ofBJH?

In this business you never saynever, but I think it’s increasinglylooking like it’s not on the cards, tobe honest. If only from the fact thatwe’re not young men any more, andI still think that I have got a lot todo individually, with this projectthat I’m doing now. If this issuccessful then obviously I’d wantto do another one. I don’t really seeany point in going back andregurgitating the old Barclay JamesHarvest as it was – I never saw anymileage in that, to be honest. That’sonly my opinion, but it’s an opinionthat I feel very strongly, and I thinkMel feels the same way. It’s easyfor people to look from the outsideand say, “Wouldn’t it be great forthe band to get back togetheragain”, as they’ve done with many

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EMI CDs planned

Below are the provisional tracklistings for the four EMI reissues, asthey have been planned so far:

Barclay James Harvest

Taking Some Time On; MotherDear; The Sun Will Never Shine;When The World Was Woken; GoodLove Child; The Iron Maiden; DarkNow My Sky

Bonus tracks:

Early MorningMister SunshineReleased April 1968 as ParlophoneR5693

So TomorrowEden UnobtainableBBC Session 20th April 1968Previously unreleased

NightPools of BlueNeed You Oh So BadSmall Time TownDark Now My SkyBBC Session 30th July 1968Previously unreleased

Pools of BlueI Can't Go On Without YouEden UnobtainableRecorded in 1968 – First releasedas part of “The Harvest Years” EN5014 in May 1991

Poor WagesBrother ThrushReleased June 1969 as Harvest HAR5003

Once Again

She Said; Happy Old World; SongFor Dying; Galadriel; Mocking Bird;Vanessa Simmons; Ball And Chain;Lady Loves

Bonus tracks:

White Sails - introduction onlyPreviously unreleased

Too Much On Your PlatePreviously unreleased

Happy Old WorldVanessa SimmonsBall and ChainQuadraphonic Mixes – Originallyfeatured on Harvest QSHVL 788 –July 1973

Mocking BirdGerman Single editOriginally released in 1981 asHarvest 1C-006 07635Also featured on “The Best ofBarclay James Harvest” CTMCD 309- Released February 1997

News

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BJH and Other Short Stories

Medicine Man; Blue John's Blues;Ursula (The Swansea Song); LittleLapwing; Song With No Meaning;Harry's Song; Someone There YouKnow; The Poet; After The Day

Bonus tracks:

Brave New WorldDemo version

She SaidGaladrielUrsula (The Swansea Song)Someone There You KnowBBC Session – 5th July 1971Previously unreleased

Medicine ManBBC Session 15th March 1972Previously unreleased

Baby James Harvest

Crazy (Over You); Delph TownMorn; Summer Soldier; Thank You;One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out;Moonwater

Bonus tracks:

Child of ManI'm Over YouReleased April 1972 as Harvest HAR5051

When the City SleepsBreathlessReleased September 1972 asHarvest HAR 5056 under thepseudonym “BOMBADIL”

Thank Youalternative version; Old GreyWhistle Test soundtrack

Medicine Man - Single versionReleased October 1972 as B-side ofHarvest HAR 5058

Rock and Roll WomanThe JokerReleased May 1973 as Harvest HAR5068

Child of ManBBC Session 15th March 1972Previously unreleased

Moonwater (2002 remix)Previously unreleased

BBC In Concert

Mocking Bird; Medicine Man;Moonwater; Summer Soldier; ThePoet; After The Day; Galadriel;Dark Now My Sky

BJH + Orchestra, conducted byMartyn Ford. Radio 1 In Concert,recorded 16.11.72 at the ParisTheatre, Lower Regent Street,LondonBroadcast 25.11.72,repeated 27.07.86Previously unreleased.

News

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Les Holroydsometimes, because he can playacoustic guitar quite well, and Ithink it would be rather nice torelease him from the drum kit oncein a while, just to show people hehas got legs! Get him up front ofthe stage for a bit – I think he’dreally enjoy it and I think the fansmight enjoy it as well, so that’sanother possibility that we’relooking at. Maybe Steve Butler, itdepends on his commitments aswell, because he’s in very bigdemand. That would be my idealsituation, if I could get all thepeople that worked on the album tocome over, and Colin and Jeff aswell, and have Martin (Lawrence)doing the sound, that would bebrilliant, and that would be myideal, but of course we’d have tohave the right venues to put thattogether.

Is there anything in prospect atthe moment for gigs?

Well, yes, we have beenapproached by someone in France,we’ve also been approached bysomeone in Berlin, and Alex islooking to various other territorieslike Switzerland and, of course,Germany. We’re hoping in an idealsituation to do some festivals at thebeginning of summer, and thenhopefully from that to do somethingin the autumn in terms of a tour. Idon’t really want to go out and startlooking for tours without the albumbeing out there. I think it’s a strongalbum, I’ve got a real lot of belief inwhat we’ve done, in the production

side of it and the song side of it andthe way it’s come out, and I thinkwe’ve got a real chance of openingup something out there again.

“Totally Cool” - a newdeparture, the only song on thealbum not written by yourself —what made you decide to recordthat one?

It’s weird, isn’t it? It’s only thesecond time we’ve done this, andthe first one, “Stand Up”, waswritten for us. This one I think hasactually been around for quite awhile, and the backing track wasdone at Revolution with the usualpeople involved, and RabbitBundrick with his piano work.Various people had tried to sing it,and it just didn’t happen forwhatever reason, or Tim Green andMike weren’t particularly happy withit. When I went down to startrecording, Andy said “Listen to this,what do you think?”, and he playedme the back track, nothing else,just the back track, and I thought,that’s incredible, that’s really good.He said, “Do you want to have a goat it?”. I said, “Well, yeah, I’d liketo”, and he got Tim to put the demovocal on for me and listen to it, andI said, “Well, I can’t sing it like that,it’d have to be the way I sing”. Itwas in a key that I don’t normallysing in. I tried it, and he said “Itsounds great – shall we do it, shallwe put it on the album”, and I said“Yeah, why not?” It seemed to fitwith the other tracks, musically andlyrically, as well, so that’s the story

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The NL Interview:depends who’s actually out there onstage with me, which tracks we doand how much we go into bridgepassages and how long the leadbreaks are. If you’ve got somethinglike, “January Morning”, the Preludeis like another track on its own, andobviously there’s no vocals there.Similarly, if we do the “BerlinSuite”, there would be orchestralparts in that, and hopefullythroughout there would be bridgepassages and things, so I don’treally see that much of a problemat the moment. It depends howmany people go out on stage withus. If we’re fortunate enough to getfestival gigs to start with, then wecan probably see ourselves withseven, maybe eight people onstage, and that wouldn’t just be forthe sake of it, that would bebecause, for example, we couldhave three or four part harmoniesor counter harmonies done properlywithout people having to break offhalf way through to reach thecounter melody. If you’ve got threepeople with strong voices, theytend to carry you through thechoruses anyway, if you do theharmony parts. I don’t mean yousort of ease back off the mike andthink no-one’s listening! It doesactually give you a buzz becauseyou’re not out there on your owngiving it full belt, you are actuallypart of an arrangement, so fromthat point of view it’s not difficult.If you don’t think about thosethings, I think you just do them. Idid an awful lot of singing in thestudio, sometimes five hours a day,which is a lot, with lead vocals and

harmonies and then onto anothertrack sometimes and done thesame with that.

So, five hour gigs coming up,then?!

Er, no! No Grateful Dead here!!

Apart from Ian Wilson, whowould be in your ideal band ifyou were given a free hand?

I’m looking at all sorts ofpossibilities. Obviously Ian’s gonnabe in the band, Mike Hehir wants tobe in the band but at the momenthe’s got other commitments, i.e. auniversity degree to contend with.It’s his final year this year, so he’sreally, really busy, but there is apossibility that if the gigs work outright, that could all fall into place,because he’s such a good musiciananyway that I don’t see himneeding three weeks’ rehearsal fora gig, he’s that type of player thatcan just pick it up instantly. ColinBrowne – he wants to be in theband, which is good. Keyboard-wise, we have a couple of peoplethat we may or may not call on.There’s still also the possibility thatwe could call on Jeff (Leach), andwe may expand the percussionsection, only because there’s a lotof stuff on the album for one drumkit to contend with, so that’sanother possibility. Mel and myselfare talking about that at themoment, because I would actuallylike to see Mel coming forward

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Polydor Remasters

Polydor are looking at similar plansto EMI to release fully remasteredversions to all of BJH’s Polydoralbums with bonus tracks. However,as there are rather a lot of them,the idea is to issue them in batches,the first of which has beententatively planned for autumn thisyear. Nothing has been finalisedyet, but we’ll keep you informed.

Grand Sale - Free Badge!

To prepare our shelves for the greatwave of reissues, we have decidedto run a special Grand Sale of someof our stock of original Polydor andEMI CDs. For a limited period only,we will be selling selected titles at adiscounted price (see the orderform in the middle of themagazine), and what’s more, withevery two CDs you buy, we’regiving away one of our exclusivewinged woman badges free!Be warned though, that some of thestandard titles are already sold out,and once the others are gone, wewill no longer be able to stockthem. So, if you need to completeyour collection of original CDs,you’ll have to be quick...

Rap What You Sow

Les has been sampled again!This time, American rap band MobbDeep decided to use a few secondsfrom “Taking Me Higher”, namelythe bass line around the words “abetter way - you”. Ironically, theMobb Deep song is entitled “GetAway”, which means that eitherthey didn’t understand Les’s wordsvery well, or they used thembecause they almost sound like“Get Away”!

The album on which the songappeared is called Infamy and wasreleased on 14th December 2001.

It made #22 on Billboard chart on29th Dec, then #55 the next weekand #1 on R’n’B / Hip Hop chart on29th Dec, then #11 the week after.

The album appeared in twodifferent versions: a “tame” versionwith censored words and one withexplicit lyrics and a remark on thecover: “Parental Advisory: Explicitcontent”!

Anyone who has access to theInternet and is sufficiently curiouscan listen to a short clip of the songon Amazon’s web site underwww.amazon.comvia RealPlayer.

News

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Euro Currency

Good news for our Europeanmembers: we can now accept yourcash! With immediate effect, youcan send in Euro banknotes (we’dprefer not to get coins) as paymentfor your orders or membership, aswell as Pounds Sterling andInternational Money Orders, and ofcourse, you can pay mostconveniently by credit card.

PLEASE NOTE that we are unableto accept Eurocheques, as our bankwill simply not accept them. We willhave to return them to you, whichwill only cost us extra postage...

Silly Bankers!

Still on the subject of banks, if youordered from us by credit card backin March or April 2001, you mayhave noticed that you neveractually got charged. Quitebelatedly, our bank, Lloyds TSB,noticed their mistake and may becontacting you in the near future inan attempt to cut their loss downby asking for a cheque for theamount in question and hoping thatpeople will be honest. If you receivesuch a letter, then it is of courseentirely up to you how you react toit, and you can check thecorrectness of their claim with us,but please be assured that this wasnot our mistake.

Another Exclusive CD

Christmas comes early this year!Les has kindly agreed to let us haveCDs specially produced for the fanclub, featuring three songs from hisnew album. As this CD may also besent out to radio stations forairplay, it features a special radioedit of one of the songs, which willnot be available anywhere else.Many thanks also to Musedia, whohave taken over half of the cost, aswell as the effort of making the CD.

BJH on Top Of The Pops

BJH were included on the "Top OfThe Pops 2" show that wasbroadcast on BBC2 on January 8th,2002, at six p.m. (repeated on the12th at 5.05 p.m.), although theywere not mentioned in all TVlistings. This was the band's oneand only appearance on TOTP in1977, where they mimed to theLive EP version of "Rock 'N' RollStar".

Obviously we could not send outletters at such short notice, butwe were able to warn a lot of youvia the e-mail news and discussiongroups, so here’s another goodreason to join at least the newsbulletin list if you or a friend haveany access to the Internet!

News

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The remake of “Life Is ForLiving” shows the song in quitea new light - did you considerre-recording other old BJHsongs?

Yeah, I did, and I still do. I can letyou into the secret (which is not asecret any more) of the BerlinSuite. That would contain areworking of the “Berlin” trackalong with some orchestral pieces,then it would end with “Marlene”,and this is a possibility for the stageshow. If we do do that, then I think“Berlin” would be looked at in adifferent light – it could possibly bedone with acoustic guitar instead ofpiano. There are other tracks whichI’ve actually looked back on – notradical changes, but tracks like“Wings Of Love” could beinteresting if re-done again, maybe“Halfway To Freedom”. There arelots of possibilities. It’s only nowthat I’ve started to look through theback catalogue with a view toputting a live act together. It’sgonna be very hard. There’s a lot ofobvious tracks that people wouldsay, “Oh, why don’t you do that”,and maybe I will return to a lot ofthe obvious tracks, “Jonathan” andthings like that, there’s a strongpossibility of that.

One that a lot of people haveasked about is “The World GoesOn” – I don’t know whether thatwould appeal to yourself?

Again, yes, it could well be done. Inthe past we’ve always thought

about the line-up that we had atthat stage and geared ourselves tothat. This time I’m not thinkingabout that, because as you knowI’m thinking of Ian Wilson - hewanted to be part of the live band,and I thought that’s great becausehe’s a really talented guy and areally nice guy as well, and he’salso a brilliant guitarist and a very,very good acoustic guitarist. That initself opens up opportunities thatweren’t perhaps there before,without chopping and changinginstruments and maybe doing stuffon electric guitar that should havebeen done on acoustic guitar andvice versa, just because of thepracticalities of doing the stage act.There are all sorts of possibilitieslooking back over the backcatalogue, completely re-thinkingtracks, re-arranging them. It’s notgonna be easy!

Would it be difficult for you tosing lead vocals for a ninetyminute show or whatever, orwould you get somebody else into help out?

I certainly wouldn’t get anyone elsein to do lead vocals, I don’t think.Having said that, there are a coupleof tracks on the album with doubledup vocals on certain parts – I’mthinking specifically of the chorusline of, for example, “RevolutionDay”, where Steve Butler sort ofdoubled up a couple of lines, asimilar thing on “It’s My Life” and“Quiero”. We did a harmony whichwas like a second lead vocal. It

Les Holroyd

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January Morning is one of thealbum’s high points, I think -what’s the story behind thatsong?

The original concept came from afriend. They spent New Year’s Evein St. Petersburg a couple of yearsago. They saw these street kids,and they were actually paintingpictures in the snow, with theirfingers and paint, begging formoney. They said that a couple ofdays later when they went back ithad just disappeared because thesun had been out and it had justmelted. I just thought about thegovernment of those sort of placeswhere they get in power, theypromise this and nothing’s actuallychanged. It’s still the people at thetop that get the money and all thecorruption that goes with it. I justthought of the parallel between thatand all these pictures that theypaint, and then when they get inpower they just melt away. Thelyric just drifts in and out of thosetwo sides of the thing. These streetkids, it’s been like that for the lasttwenty or thirty years in Russia,and still nothing’s done about it.They’re still living like that, havingto beg for survival in the worstwinters in the world. It just struckme that they celebrate the NewYear so strongly in places like RedSquare and St. Petersburg and thenthe following day nothing changes.It’s why the Prelude is so important,because I tried to recreate a feelingof New Year’s Eve in Russia, with aRussian feel to the music, and thenit sort of fizzles out and comes

down into the January morning, thedawn if you like. The Prelude is veryimportant in that, to paint thepicture before it starts.

Sleepy Sunday is a particularfavourite in these parts. Howdid that one come about?

That was inspired by just walking inone of my very, very favouriteplaces, and that’s the EnglishGarden in Munich. I do go overthere fairly regularly – we’re intomountain biking, me andChristopher, in a serious way, to mycost! We usually go down to Munichand use that as a centre to go outto Austria and places and we justchill out in the English Garden, anincredible place to be in summer.It’s just a feeling I get when I’mthere, you’re just walking along andsinging to yourself or whatever, nottoo loudly, otherwise you getthrown in the river! I got back tothe hotel one day and just startedputting it on tape, and that’s allthat song is, really, just a feeling ofa sleepy day, nothing to do, justwander about and let it all roll off.

The NL Interview:

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News

The Non-Tour

Despite what you may have seenadvertised elsewhere about BarclayJames Harvest Through The Eyes OfJohn Lees concerts in Germany inApril 2002, nothing was everfinalised with the band, and we nowhave confirmation from the Germanpromoter, Moderne Welt, that thetour is definitely not going ahead.Tickets should no longer be on sale,and any that you have alreadybought should be returned to theplace of purchase for a refund.

Album Advertising

Some of you may also have seenthe Internet mail order companyAmazon (www.amazon.co.uk)advertising the new Barclay JamesHarvest Through The Eyes Of JohnLees album under the title North,with a release date of April 2002.

Whilst this is the album’s workingtitle, the release date now looksrather premature, and we think thatsomebody jumped the gun beforethings were quite certain.

We can only advise everyone not toorder the album at present.

Delay for John andWoolly

After John and Woolly had beenquite enthusiastic and positive for2002, John especially found thatthe death of David Walker had hithim very hard and that he was notreally in a position to go full steamahead.

He and Woolly had spent some timein the studio preparing for thealbum, but John felt that he was notquite ready to begin recording thealbum yet.

Both John and Woolly also felt thatwith Les’s album imminent, it wouldbe rather confusing for the fans tohave two versions of Barclay JamesHarvest in the market at the sametime, so they decided that for themoment, it should be Les’s turn tohave an album and tour.

Coming Soon...

NL57 is due out at the end ofMay, and the last copy datefor contributions or adverts isApril 20th.

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Revolution Days - AnAlbum Preview

We were delighted to receive a copyof Les’s album directly from him forus to preview for you, with thespecial instruction to play it loud!

What can we say; we’re stillstunned...

We can’t comment on the artworkas this wasn’t finished yet, but thestylised butterfly certainly looks likea new trademark for the future.

It’s My Life

A very powerful and different startto the song and album, there is amysterious sequenced synthesiserline, before it develops into a more“Les” style. Punchy and with strongguitars, interesting harmoniestowards the end.

Missing You

A slow, almost elegiac ballad. Verysoft vocals, tasteful picked guitarand brilliant lead guitar withsynthesiser strings washing in andout.

That Was Then ... This Is Now

A heavier version of “YesterdaysHeroes”! The guitar cuts in like a

knife, the persistent bass line holdsit all together, and the guitar solotops it off at the end. You get thefeeling this is how “YesterdaysHeroes” might have sounded if ithad been on Welcome To TheShow.

Prelude

The instrumental scene setter to“January Morning”, and a dramaticevocation of Russian New Yearcelebrations. Synth sequenced linein 7/4 with rather wild outbreaks ofthe guitar and a majestic transitioninto quieter waters, leading into -

January Morning

Acoustic guitar, slowly building intoa magnificent piece of music.Acoustic parts and bigness alternateto give the song width and variety,with incredible lead guitar and somenice harmonies in the middle.

Quiero El Sol

The Rickenbacker guitar and twinguitar solos as well as theharmonies give this a distinctfeeling of Eagles and Seventies.Something between “Back In TheGame” and “Take It Easy”, but withvery interesting lyrics commentingon hypocrisy in the music business.The middle eight is quite differentfrom the rest, again providingvariety for the song.

Revolution Days

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What about the other maininstruments on the album? OnWelcome To the Show there wasa lot of Fairlight – was Andy Macusing that?

No, we didn’t use Fairlight at all, infact most of the keyboard work wasmy Alesis keyboard. Steve Pigottbrought some stuff in – verytechnical, lots of boxes and things –I was completely in the dark with allthat! Most of the stuff was myAlesis, you get some pretty goodsounds off there.

Some of your lyrics on thealbum are particularlyintriguing. Do they reflect yourfeelings regarding the group’ssituation?

It depends which ones you’retalking about – there was nothingthere that was specifically writtenlike, right, I’m going to telleverybody now what it was allabout, there was none of that. Ithink you’re probably referring to“Quiero”? Yes, well I’m only sayingthat because someone else askedme the same question about that. Itreally just started off as a title. Theoriginal thing I wanted was “whereis the sun?”, so I translated it intoSpanish, and it sounded awful! So Ithought, OK, we’ll live with “Quieroel Sol”, which comes out as “I wantthe sun” - which is very close, forrock and roll! The rest of the lyric,is not about me, it’s not aboutanybody. It’s just generally about alot of people in the business. I getannoyed, you see, with people who

go, “We’re in it for the art - we’renot interested in the money”. Theplain fact is that of course everyonelikes the art side of it, that’s whatdrives you forward, but you have tohave a commercial side to it, interms of going out there andperforming and selling records. Ofcourse you do it for the money,because otherwise you wouldn’t bedoing it! It’s just a reflection onpeople that say that, no-one inparticular, just a rock and roll thing,really.

That particular song sounds alittle like The Eagles in places -is that the Rickenbacker sound?

Yeah, there’s a lot of Rickenbackeron there, there’s also a lot ofharmonic guitars on there, pickingthe harmonics out on the chords,and it was intentional to make thevocals sound very West CoastAmerican. Some of the harmonicstructures on the vocals aredefinitely the sort of things that TheEagles would do. I think that thesong and arrangement of the songlends itself to that treatmentanyway – it would sound prettystupid with a really English vocalwhen you’re wailing away in thebackground with a Rickenbacker!

Les Holroyd

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It’s a very varied album - somemight have expected an albumof ballads. Was that somethingthat you consciously tried toavoid?

Not really, no. I think after all thistime you do it without noticing,you’re probably editing away in theback of your mind without reallythinking about it. I am consciouswhen I’m writing of the variouskeys: for example, if you listen tothree tracks on the run, they mightbe great tracks, but if they’re all inthe same key, it’s incredibly boring.It’s always been something that I’vebeen aware of, writing in keys andwriting in relevant keys for me, youcome out of something like a C intoan A minor track, which is a reallynice change. The same thinghappened with the ballad and themid-tempo and the up-tempothings. I think you naturally fall intoa way of arranging how you wouldlike to listen to an album. If youlisten to all the best albums,someone’s really sat down andthought about the tempos, the typeof tracks. I’m thinking about theToto IVs and the good Chicagoalbums and Jon and Vangelis andthings like that. The songs reallyseem to flow nicely. I think I wasaware of that, but as you probablyknow I had a load of tracks…

A nice position to be in…

It is and it isn’t, because sometimesyou’re making it really difficult foryourself. Something’s got to go,and then you have to start selecting- I can’t have those three together,or I can’t have those two together,so maybe I’ll put one of those in tolift it up a bit. I think I’ve got itfairly close, at least I hope so!

What guitars and basses haveyou played on the album?

Bass-wise, I played two: I playedthe Alembic, and I played theWashburn stick-bass. I did a coupleof keyboard basses as well, acouple of pedal mounts where thebass guitar doesn’t go down thatfar. Guitar-wise, I played myLariv�e acoustic, which youprobably saw on the last tour,which is a great guitar. It’s made inVancouver by Jean Lariv�e. They’rebeautiful guitars – expensive, butnice! What else did I do?Rickenbacker 12-string (Mike usedthat, as well) and my Fender Strat.

What was Mike Hehir playing,apart from your 12-string?

He had his Les Paul, but he mostlyplaced his Ibanez. He’s got a lovelyold Ibanez which he wears like aglove by now. He did play acousticon one, as well.

The NL Interview:

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Totally Cool

The only song not written by Les. Abit in the direction of Phil Collins toour ears, this song is indeed totallyrelaxed. A slow, atmospheric song,and Les’s soft voice fits the all overfeeling very well.

Life Is For Living

Some of you have heard theacoustic version that Les performedon the BJH tour in 1997, almost allof you have heard the traditionallive version. Now imagine a mixtureof both... The song starts with theacoustic version, until just before“Taking up time...” it bursts into itstraditional live glory! The best ofboth worlds.

Sleepy Sunday

A very slow ballad depicting aSunday afternoon where you havenothing to do and can just lazearound. A whiff of “Moongirl”, atouch of “Play To The World”, andaltogether a haunting song with anamazing guitar solo. You just neverwant it to stop.

Revolution Day

A very interesting recurring guitarline, some muted guitar � la “EveryBreath You Take”, distinct backingvocals and a great tune make thisinto a song you can’t miss.

Marlene (from the Berlin Suite)

In time for the 100th anniversary tothe day Marlene Dietrich was born,this is a brilliant homage to a greatcabaret star. A bit in the line of“Halfway To Freedom”, Lescelebrates this legend in his ownway. It makes us wonder what thefull Berlin Suite might sound like,and we can’t wait to hear it...

Overall, an excellent, fresh-sounding album which was wellworth waiting for. We were veryimpressed by the production of thisalbum and the professionalism of it.A worthy successor to what weheard of Les on albums likeWelcome To The Show, Caught InThe Light and River Of Dreams.

Monika and Keith Domone

[If all goes according to plan, youwill have found that, for clubmembers at least, Christmas hascome early this year! With any luck,we will have been able to include ataster of the album with thismagazine, so you can hear it foryourselves. If so, let us know whatyou think!]

Album Preview

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The NL Interview:NL proudly presents an exclusive

interview with Les Holroyd, our firstfor more than three years. The

interview was conducted in January,shortly before the release of his new

album, Revolution Days...

Revolution Days will be with usvery soon - after 35 years in thebusiness, do you regard this asyour first solo album?

I guess it is, really. Having said that,as I’m sure a lot of the fans areaware, for the last few years BarclayJames Harvest has been two separateentities really. I think even earlierthan that, actually, perhaps whenWoolly left. Even though it all cameunder the umbrella of Barclay JamesHarvest, there were still two definitestyles there.

What’s been most different aboutmaking this album from BJHalbums of the past?

I think probably having to be totallyin the driving seat. That doesn’tmean playing everything myself,obviously. If I didn’t have anything todo, I had to have my wits about meall the time, because I was producingit, or co-producing it with Andy. I’ddone all the writing and I’d done allthe arranging, although I like peopleto come in with their own ideas, but Istill like to maintain the original

concept of the song. I’ve beenworking all the time, and I have tosay it’s been really enjoyable, beingin the driving seat. I wouldn’t like todo all of the business side of it aswell, though, I couldn’t cope withthat! I found out recently that certainaspects of the business are definitelynot for me, definitely not for artistsor musicians to be involved in.

Generally artists get advancesfrom record companies to financethe recording of an album, butyou’ve chosen to record first,then sign a deal - why that wayround?

Well, when we decided to do this,Andy contacted me from Revolution,asking what I was doing with thealbum and how it was going, writing-wise, and then he said “Why don’t wedo it at Revolution?”. With that inmind we set about getting finance.We financed some of it ourselves,and we got finance from MusediaRecords, or M Records, as they’recalled, but it wasn’t the usual sort ofmassive advance from a recordcompany. It was a better option forus, because it meant that we weren’ttied up to a big company andbecause the record would only comeout when it was ready to come out.Of course that’s one of the reasonswhy it’s been delayed so long really,although in terms of the original datewhen we said we were taking asabbatical, I don’t think it’s been thatlong after that event. It just meantthat we were in more control of theend product.

- 15 -

Did you enjoy working withAndy Mac again and people likeMike Hehir and Ian Wilson fromSad Caf�?

Yes, it was brilliant. I always got onvery well with Andy. We struck it offfrom the word go when we wereworking on Welcome To The Show.Ian Wilson is a very accomplishedsinger and musician and so is Mike,but apart from that they are verygenuine people, and I think theygenuinely enjoyed the album andliked the songs and they likedsinging on the album. It was a goodvibe all round, actually, we had alot of fun doing it.

What part did Mel play in thealbum?

He played almost all of the drumsand percussion on there. Therewere obviously a few things thatwere programmed, as with anyrecord today - if you’re using anysort of, for example, orchestralsounds, then they will have to beeither sampled or regurgitated fromsomewhere, so obviously he didn’tstand in the studio with a pair oftimpani, banging away! All the kitstuff, that was Mel.

Does the title Revolution Dayshave a particular significancefor you?

That actually came half waythrough the album, one of thereasons being that I already hadthe track in my mind. “RevolutionDay” was one of the last ones that Ifinished, in terms of writing. I hadmost of them finished before I wentinto the studio, except for tweakingthe odd lyric here and there.

“it’s a very “up” album -that in its own way is

revolutionary for aBarclay album!”

It just seemed that there werecertain tracks on the album thatwere not so much revolutionary asradical in the way that we’d goneaway from the previous albums.One thing which is pretty obviousfor people when they listen to it isthat it’s a very “up” album, eventhough there’s some big ballads onthere. I think that in its own way isrevolutionary for a Barclay album!The content of some of the lyrics,for example “Marlene”, who was arevolutionary figure in her own way,and “It’s My Life” and various tracksled to that title, apart from theobvious thing of being recorded atRevolution Studios. At first it wasgoing to be taken from that trackcalled “Revolution Day”, but then Ithought it sounded better to be acollection of those sort of things – abit enigmatic, as usual. The wholething just seemed to tie in.

Les Holroyd