Symphly The Best

In the 70s, Barclay James Harvest almost bankrupted themselves by performing with an orchestra, but, several decades on, they’re celebrating last year’s performance with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic, captured on their latest live record, Philharmonic! The Orchestral Concert. John Lees reminisces over the band’s ambitious early years and bassist Craig Fletcher fills Prog in on JLBJH’s upcoming “progtastic” double album.

- Mike Barnes

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 with Prog via a video-call from his music room.

“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 aside, 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 these 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, as 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 explains. “They’re amateur musicians, but they’re retired professionals as well, so they’re no slouches.”

The idea of the concert was prompted by “pressure from friends” after the band played two sold-out nights in 2018 at the Herodeon Theatre, Athens, an amphitheatre 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.