In the 70s, Barclay James Harvest almost bankrupted themselves by performing with an orchestra – but several decades on, they’re celebrating 2023’s performance with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic, as captured on live album Philharmonic! John Lees reminisces over the band’s ambitious early years, while bassist Craig Fletcher discusses their upcoming “progtastic” double album.
“I wasn’t so much of a classical music fan at the start, more folk rock,” says guitarist and vocalist John Lees, looking back at the early days of Barclay James Harvest. “Woolly Wolstenholme would play tenor horn as well as keyboards, I’d play recorder and Les Holroyd had the cello as well as bass. It set us apart – gave us something a little bit different than other people who were setting off in that progressive music scene.”
But as the 60s moved into the 70s, the group’s classical leanings developed and their ambition quickly outgrew their tentative beginnings. Their self-titled 1970 debut album featured the grandly-named Barclay James Harvest Symphony Orchestra, and they became the first rock band to tour with a full orchestra – an exercise that made their name but almost bankrupted them. “The songs had a quality of melody that lent themselves to being orchestrated, and I think that’s been an ongoing thing,” says Lees.
In September 2023, under the banner John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest, the group played their first full orchestral concert in the UK for 50 years at Huddersfield Town Hall with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic, conducted by Benjamin Ellin. The extremely well-received show has yielded the recently released CD and DVD set, Philharmonic! The Orchestral Concert. “It was a lovely idea, because it’s a local orchestra to us,” Lees says. “They’re amateur musicians – but they’re retired professionals as well, so they’re no slouches.”
The idea was prompted by “pressure from friends” after the band played two sold-out nights in 2018 at the Herodeon Theatre, Athens, in the shadow of the Acropolis – perhaps the ultimate prog concert setting – along with the Athens State Orchestra, augmented by musicians from the Prague Philharmonic. “The view from the stage was a floodlit Acropolis. How often do you get the chance to play there?” Lees says. “We look back at the photographs and it’s just ridiculous.”
Bass player and vocalist Craig Fletcher – who still refers to himself as the “new boy, the apprentice” – joined the band in 1998 when Lees and original Holroyd parted ways to run two different versions of BJH. He says of the night in Athens: “I usually speak to the audience while John settles in. I said, ‘Good evening, everybody. I’m sure you know who we are. For those that don’t, we come from a small fishing village in England called Manchester. It’s very similar to this, except our weather is a lot better.’ They all went, ‘Waaaggh!’ It was the most gorgeous setting with the Moon just beginning to come up, a balmy 20°C evening. One of the best things I’ve ever done.”
Back in the 1970s, rock bands playing with an orchestra was a rarity and could be an uneasy alliance. Classical musicians didn’t always take the new musical hybrid seriously. During rehearsals for the 1969 première of Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group and Orchestra, where Deep Purple combined with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the cellists flounced out of rehearsals, likening it to “a second-rate Beatles.”
The orchestra wouldn’t play the big rock outro – so we played our version of the whole thing and it was every bit as powerful. It was their loss!
John Lees
Andy Latimer has recalled that, when Camel played The Snow Goose at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975 with the London Symphony Orchestra, two French horn players got bored, started chatting to each other and played out of tune. Rick Wakeman experienced problems in timing – a rock band will usually play on the beat while an orchestra tends to play just behind it – when rehearsing Journey To The Centre Of The Earth with the LSO in 1973.
Although BJH produced one of the most successful amalgams of rock and classical, they initially experienced their own timing issues with the Barclay James Harvest Symphony Orchestra, who were music students. “I think the musicians, and the conductors, are more attuned to it now,” says Lees. “Ben Ellin was directing and conducting the 2023 Huddersfield concert, and there were no timing issues; it sat very well.
“We were watching him; but in the early concerts with the Barclays, it was us and them. The conductor was for them and you didn’t take that much notice. We got away with it mostly, but in certain songs we didn’t, like Dark Now My Sky. If you listen to some of the original EMI recordings, you can hear there’s a bit of a wobble in timing.”
Fletcher says: “There weren’t so much issues, but occasional bits of uncertainty, which Ben and Kev Whitehead, the drummer, worked out. Kevin said, ‘I’ll do a four hi-hat count there,’ and Ben had that in his cans and the orchestra came in perfectly.”
The band also had to rearrange their own parts in some songs after they’d encountered a bit of a problem during the Athens shows. “There was a dispute between the members of the orchestra on The Poet and After The Day, which we had orchestration for,” Lees recalls. “They were arguing with the conductor in rehearsal, saying, ‘You didn’t tell us about this bit.’ They were expecting it to stop after The Poet and wouldn’t play the big rock outro – so we played our version of the whole thing and it was every bit as powerful. It was their loss!”
It almost became a concept album… There are some big, banging things, 12 minutes long with mad key changes
Craig Fletcher
The first person to orchestrate BJH’s music was Robert John Godfrey, later of The Enid. Martyn Ford made subsequent orchestrations, and most recently Ellin had an input with some suggestions from the band. Each orchestrator has left their personal stamp on the arrangements. “We were lucky to have the original scores,” says Lees. “But the main thing was some of the original parts were quite testing, right on the limits. I think Ben made those a bit kinder for the orchestra. Plus he did some of the newer tunes that didn’t have orchestration.”
Moonwater from Baby James Harvest (1972) was essentially a solo piece written and orchestrated by the late Wolstenholme, who sang much of it in falsetto. But on Philharmonic! his parts are sung by guest singer and soprano Eleanor Sandars. “Woolly went to London to do the recording,” Lees recalls. “And bless him, it must have been in the wrong key, because when he came to try and sing it, it was too high for him,” says Lees.
Fletcher adds: “When it came to doing it live, I thought, ‘I’m not going up there!’ So Eleanor came in, and she did it justice.”
As well as Philharmonic!, JLBJH have been working on a new double album since 2019, which was disrupted by the pandemic, but is now close to completion. Lees and Fletcher have a working title, but after some deliberation, they decided not to reveal it. Still, they’re clearly enthusiastic about this record, with Lees reckoning that sonically it’s like an extension of 2013’s North. “But in quite a quirky way. It’s quite unusual.”
“There’s a theme running through some of it, although not intentionally,” says Fletcher. “Me and John had about three songs that were kind of connected. We thought, ‘Why don’t we write a piece that tags on the end of that?’ So it almost became a concept album. We’ve gone quite progtastic on a few tunes. There are some big, banging things, 12 minutes long with mad key changes. It’s pushing the boat out.”
You can hear the Mellotron tapes slipping and it’s noisy, grinding away, but it’s really beautiful
Craig Fletcher
Lee adds: “One of the things it does have, because of the orchestral gig... we brought the old Mellotron out of retirement, which makes a big difference to using samples.”
“You can hear the tapes slipping and it’s noisy, grinding away, but it’s really beautiful,” says Fletcher. “Jez Smith has got an old 70s Wurlitzer piano and I got my old Rickenbacker bass out, and I’ve gone proper progtastic with that too.”
“And there’s my £129 Fender guitar as well,” says Lees. “Squier Stratocasters – amazing guitars, fantastic sound.” The Squiers are Fender’s budget range, but how close are they to a Strat in sound? “Absolutely bang on,” says Lees. “I think they’ve got their own sound, but they’re lighter and they’re shorter scale, so they’re easy to get along with for someone of my age!”
He presents a gorgeous-looking Fender Stratocaster, explaining: “This was made from a redwood railway bridge in California. They can’t source exotic woods any more – it’s not allowed. So Fender bought the bridge and turned parts of it into Stratocasters, Telecasters and basses, and did them as limited editions. This piece of wood could be 1,000 years old. It cost me £1,500, I don’t know how many years ago. But £129 gets you a better guitar!”
He announced in December 2022 that 2023 would be the last full year of touring for John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest, but that they might be playing selected dates or festivals in the future. He offers an update: “From my point of view, it’s a big commitment to be taking shows on, because the older you get, the more anxious you get about being able to fulfil those kinds of commitments. I wanted – and I still do want – some clear time away from it. But that doesn’t rule it out.”
If the album is sufficiently good, people will want to see a performance, and that will hopefully inspire the promoters to pay enough
John Lees
Another factor is the far-reaching negative effect of Brexit on every working musician who want to connect with mainland Europe. Historically, Barclay James Harvest had a huge fanbase in Germany; and Holroyd, who lives there, will be playing German dates with his own version of the group in autumn 2025. But Lees lists the problems facing a British band – including taxes, bureaucracy and sourcing merchandise – if they want to play mainland Europe.
“One of the suggestions was that we don’t use our UK crew anymore, that we use a German crew,” he says. “Do I fire all my crew? I mean, where does it stop? And on top of that, you’ve got the fact that we as artists make absolutely sod-all cash now. I’m really glad I’m not starting out.”
Although no live dates are currently planned, he’s hoping that the Huddersfield Town Hall concert that produced Philharmonic! won’t be their last hurrah. “You can’t work for nothing. Well, I can’t; I’m not prepared to. But if the album that we produce is sufficiently good, then people will want to see a performance, and that will hopefully inspire the promoters to pay us enough for us to be able to work. It’s still possible.”
