Gone to Earth

Description

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 materials intrinsic beauty to shine through with clarity. For this reason, Gone to Earth is regarded by many as the bands best album, and judged on a song-by-song basis, its hard to argue against it. Lees Hymn and Poor Mans 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 albums lone orchestral moment comes from Wolstenholme, the transcendent Sea of Tranquility. (The keyboardist, whose once-omnipresent Mellotron now played a diminished role in the bands 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: Lees Lepers Song laments The end of the lines where Im at/Cos theres nothing left to be, and Spirit of the Water deals with killing seals for coats. Fortunately, its 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 theyve made. ~ Dave Connolly