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FOR SALE: Very rare promotional interview

album, produced 1984 for theVictims Of Circumstance tour.Mint condition.

“Panic” German CD single. Mint. Early Morning Onwards original

Starline LP. Fair condition. “Stand Up” limited edition

numbered CD single withbutterfly-shaped case.

Victims Of Circumstance Wembley1984 video, BETAMAX.

Offers invited for the above. Willsell separately, dependent on bestoffer received.

WANTED:Concert for the People (Berlin),Victims Of Circumstance videos -VHS (PAL) format. Any John Lees/ BJH footage on VHS (PAL)except Best Of BJH or Glasnost.Contact:-

D. Nelson, 14 Warwick Avenue,Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside,WA12 8PS.Tel. 01925 223002 or 0796 059

4382

FOR SALE:1975 tour programme,VG, �101978 tour programme,VG, �12Contact:-

Mike Smith, 32 MontacuteWay, Merley, Wimborne,Dorset, BH21 1TZTel. 01202 888278

FOR SALE/SWAPQuad Once Again LP (UK),Weeley festival programme andmany more. Send SAE for long listto:-

Stewart Renwick, 16 SunartGardens, Bishopbriggs, GlasgowG64 1HW, Scotland

CONGRATULATIONS to Teresaand Robert James, whose sonSamuel Robert was born on 11thApril...

... and to Uwe and KathrinBischoff, who had a baby girlcalled Nele on September 18th

Cartoon below from WondrousStories magazine, following aninterview and front cover pictureof John and Woolly in theirFebruary issue.

[thanks to Lorna Price for thecutting]

Marketplace

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The Barclay James Harvest Magazine #53, June 2001

ContentsNews 4A Message From John and Woolly 8UK Tour Reports and Photos 9Song Lyrics: Untitled Demo 17BJH Memorabilia 18Long Live Rawk & Roll 20Marketplace 22

CreditsCover design: Brian Taylor

Contributors: Rob Price, Pete Noons, Bridget Wright,Kostas Papakotas, Sotiris Tsamilis,Stu Berry, Robert Philpott, SpencerTownsend, James Barry, Andy Long,Mark Downer, Ricky Nolan, David Simmons,Peter Brown, Sue Curtis, Lorna Price

Next issue: Last copy date 20th JulyAvailable end of August

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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LES - RECORDING UNDERWAY

The news for which fans have been waiting since the BJH sabbatical wasannounced is that recording began on Les Holroyd’s solo album in April, withsome recording taking place at Les’s home, and some at an as yet unnamedstudio. No record deal has yet been sought, as Les wants to finish the albumbefore music business influences are brought to bear on it. Probable inclusionson the finished album are:-

January Morning (St. Petersburg) - a change of working title here for thesong which Les rates as one of his favourites, and which could possibly be thealbum opener. An orchestral intro has been written but may not appear on therecord due to its length, although could still find a place in live concerts.

Quiero el Sol - translates as “I want the sun”, and is a guitar-orientated up-tempo number featuring Les’s guitar work on Rickenbacker 12-string, acoustic6-string and Fender Stratocaster.

Missing You - the arrangement is virtually complete, although some lyricsmay still be changed.

That Was Then, This Is Now - an up-tempo song which is almost finished.

Of the other titles mentioned in the last NL, the piece described as “Classical GMinor” may now be entitled “Sleepy Sunday”, and has a short classical introleading into the main song which has a Parisian or Italian feel, “It’s My Life”needs a few more lyrics and “End Of The Day” is being reconsidered, but couldend up being amalgamated with another song.

Those who attended the 1997 BJH tour will be delighted to hear that it ispossible that Les will include a new version of “Life Is For Living” based on the“unplugged” rendition from that tour, and a second back catalogue BJH trackis also being considered. Intriguingly, one more new piece, “Marlene”, isdescribed as being part of a Berlin Suite, although it is uncertain as to whetherthat will appear on the album.

It’s too early to say yet exactly when the album will appear, but given thespeed of progress so far and the enthusiasm of those who have heard some ofit, you can look forward to hearing it sooner rather than later!

News

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could be argued that they didn'texactly give it their best shotpromoting Maestoso, givingpreference to his former colleaguesinstead. Disillusioned Woolly quitthe music scene completely, andwith his wife Jill moved down toSouth Wales to run their ownorganic farm.

Although relations had beenrestored between Woolly and JohnLees, he had otherwise remaineddetached from the music scene. Itwas 1994 before he was persuadedby the team at Swallowtail tooversee the re-mastering ofMaestoso for release on CD, andlook into the possibility of salvagingthe Black Box tapes, that Woollyonce again entered a recordingstudio. Summer of 1994 finally sawa CD coupling the previouslyunreleased Songs From The BlackBox and Maestoso released onVoiceprint. It is hard to believe thatsuch beautiful pieces as “All GetBurned”, “The Will To Fly”, “SundayBells” and “Open” had beenabandoned and left to gather dust,and although the original idea of aconcept style theme runningthrough out the work had been lost,a treasure had certainly beenunearthed. Within the sleeve notesit was stated that Woolly hadabsolutely no intention of returningto the music business whatsoever,and so the situation remained until1998/99.

It would be pure speculation to giveany reason for his change of heart,but when John Lees was invited by

Eagle records to re-work some oldBJH songs and record a few newsongs for a solo project (John hadbeen quoted as saying ‘Woolly wasthe soul of Barclay James Harvest’),he tempted Woolly out ofretirement, and so for the first timein 20 years the two of them,together, were back in the studio.Assisted by Craig Fletcher (bass)and Kevin Whitehead (drums), theresult was the excellent Nexus, ablend of old and new. Woolly's “TheIron Maiden” resurrected from thevaults and no less than seven Lees/Wolstenholme joint compositions.“Festival”, “Float” and “Sitting UponA Shelf” with more than a hint ofWoolly's influence. Nexus wasreleased in Feb ’99 with theintention to promote it on stagelater that year. When asked how hefelt about going out on the roadagain Woolly's reply was ‘soiledunderpants comes to mind’! Soalong with Jeff Leach (keyboards) inthe summer of ’99 they touredEurope, working under the title ofBarclay James Harvest `Throughthe Eyes of John Lees'. Some of thegigs were recorded, and the resultis a live album Revival, againavailable on Eagle Records. Theyhave already written several newtracks to take into the studio for afollow up album. For many it wasfeared any form of BJH featuringWoolly was lost forever, buttogether with John Lees they havere kindled the ‘spirit of BarclayJames Harvest’ and taken theirwork into the 21st century.

Rob Price

by Rob Price

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20 years after leaving BJH‘to do his own thing’,

Woolly Wolstenholme is back!

He had done the ‘hard bit’: after 12years of writing, recording andendless touring with Barclay JamesHarvest, Woolly Wolstenholme'sfuture looked secure. A string ofsuccessful albums under their belt,and a loyal fan base built, vergingon super stardom, especially inEurope. Woolly could have hungaround to reap the benefits of hislabours, but no, in the quest to beheard in his own right, he quit topursue a solo career.

He had sensed all may not be wellwithin the camp as early as 1972when he was thanked for hisarrangement on “Summer Soldier”.‘I'm in the bloody band and they'rethanking me’ was his reaction. For aband whose initial success had beenheavily influenced by Woolly'swriting and arranging talents hisofferings for later albums werebecoming increasingly overlooked.In 1974 “Maestoso” was recordedfor, but then left off the Everyone IsEverybody Else album. Five‘typically Woolly’ songs found theirway onto the next four studioalbums, but none of his songs wereincluded in the live set of this era,and with the band's heavy workschedule ( especially in Europe )ruling out any chance of a sojournto record a solo album Woollydecided the only option was toleave and go it alone.

As his former colleagues went on toachieve great success in Europe,headlining festivals in Germanysupported by Dire Straits and ThePolice, and performing to over100,000 people on the steps of theReichstag in Berlin Woolly set aboutwriting and recording his debut soloalbum. Joined by Steve Broomheadon guitar and Kim Turner on drums,Maestoso was recorded atStrawberry studios betweenJanuary and April 1980 andreleased by Polydor in October ofthat year. The title track was‘performed majestically’ and joinedby the equally impressive “AProspect of Whitby” and “AmericanExcess” it was a debut album ofquality and depth and remainedtrue to his classical (Gustav Mahlera favourite source of inspiration)yet wistful style. It wasn't untilTerry Grady joined the line up thatthe band Maestoso was formed andsupporting Judie Tzuke theysuccessfully toured the U.K. in thesummer of ’81. A less successfuland financially disastrous tour ofEurope supporting Canadian bandSaga was undertaken in 1982. Uponcompletion Steve Broomhead leftthe band. Also during this periodWoolly collaborated with Davy Rohlto produce a number of scores forT.V. programmes.

Work had already begun on hissecond album, a project recorded indemo form with the working title ofSongs From The Black Box whenPolydor, citing disappointing salesof Maestoso, decided not to take upthe option of a second album. It

Long Live Rawk & Roll

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News

JOHN AND WOOLLY:A New Album ...

John and Woolly plan to startrecording an all new studio album inthe next few months. Eagle Rockhave already offered them a dealfor a new album, although nothinghas yet been finalised.

Both John and Woolly have beenbusy writing new material, andhope to release the album later thisyear or early in 2002. The bandline-up will almost certainly be thesame as on the recent Revival tour,and judging from the way the bandspirit has developed on the road,we can expect to see moreprominent contributions from Craig,Kevin and Jeff this time around.

As mentioned in a previous NL,amongst the songs which are likelyto find a place on the album are“New Song (Old Story)”, aspremiered on the 1999 Nexus tour,“Bryan MacLean”, “One Drop In ADry World”, “A Stolen Life” and“Hiraeth”. There probably won’t beany remakes of old BJH songs thistime, but in any case the album willbe primarily consist of new songsrather than a mixture of old andnew as on Nexus. Recording willtake place at John’s Friarmerestudio.

... And MoreConcerts

There are also some exciting plansafoot for more live shows. We’restill waiting on news of more Britishdates after the success of the threeconcerts in March [see reviewselsewhere in this issue], but there isalready talk of live shows not onlyin the autumn but also running intonext year which could take inseveral European countries such asthe UK (including Scotland!), Franceand anywhere else which will havethem! .

Perhaps the best news of all is thatnegotiations are under way for thattour to include a number of showsin Germany complete with anorchestra! Whilst the budget wouldprobably restrict the scope tosomething like a twenty or thirtypiece ensemble, this would be thefirst time that fans have had thechance to hear Barclay JamesHarvest music performed live withan orchestra since 1973 - beforemost members of the fan club(including us!) were old enough togo to live concerts. John and Woollyhave also been asked not only toperform at, but also to write musicfor, a festival in the Austrian Tirol inthe summer of 2002. We’ll keepyou posted...

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Recent CDs

With startling originality, both EMIand Spectrum have releasedcompilation CDs entitled MockingBird! EMI's offering came out onApril 16th and is a "Best Of" theHarvest era from 1968 to 1973.

Mocking Bird - The Best Of BJH[EMI 529 542 2]

Mother DearTaking Some Time On

Early MorningBrother Thrush

Poor WagesMocking Bird

Vanessa SimmonsGaladrielShe Said

Child of ManGood Love Child

Ursula (The Swansea Song)Medicine Man (album version)

The PoetAfter The Day

MoonwaterLittle Lapwing

The Spectrum disc, issued on March19th, is more interesting, offeringtwelve tracks covering the entirePolydor output from 1974 to 1997,although sadly no rarities.

Mockingbird[Spectrum 544 493 2]

Child Of The UniverseSong For You

Suicide?Hymn

Poor Man's Moody BluesMockingbird (live 1974)

Love On The Line (live Glasnost)Life Is For LivingJust A Day Away

BerlinKiev

Back In The Game

Like the rest of the Spectrumrange, including the now-deletedSorcerers And Keepers BJHcollection, the CD is budget-priced,whereas the EMI disc sells at mid-price. Both are now available fromthe club by mail order.

News

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Also highly collectable is this metalbust inspired by the Face To Facealbum cover design, one of whichwas sold at auction recently for asilly amount of money to somecollectors who ought to knowbetter. If you want to see it, justcome and visit us some time...

Polydor spenta good dealof time andmoney on theWelcome ToThe Showalbum andthe singlewhich trailedit, “Cheap The Bullet”. Many fanswill be aware of the video shot topromote the single, or of thepromo-only four-track CD single of

excerpts from the album, but fewerwill have seen the “bullet pen” orbullet-shaped brass keyring whichwere given out to the media in anattempt to get publicity for thesingle.

Neither the fans nor the band werevery impressed with the amount ofpromotional effort Polydor put intothe subsequent albums, but thisCaught In The Light cardboardspaceship mobile may have caughta few people’s attention in recordshops as it poked them in the eye.

Finally, we would have shown you apicture of the Niederegger marzipancake made for River Of Dreams, butit was just too delicious...

BJH Memorabilia

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According to Wilde, there is onlything in the world worse than beingtalked about, and that is not beingtalked about. The wacky world ofthe music business took that maximto heart many years ago, going toever greater lengths to secure theoxygen of publicity for their artists.Perhaps the ultimate example ofthat to date is Hear’Say from thePopstars TV series – householdnames before they had everreleased a record.

Barclay James Harvest is definitelynot the first name which springs tomind when thinking of greatpublicity stunts, or indeed anypublicity at all, but in fact asurprising amount of effort hasbeen put into “creative” promotionof the band over the years. Here wetake a look at one or two of themore unusual items of memorabiliawhich have been produced topromote the band to the media orthe public, or simply as mementoesfor those associated with the group.

The standard record company

promotional fare consistsof press releases, recordsmarked as not for sale tothe public or specialpromotional pressingssuch as CD singles whichare issued only to themedia. “River Of Dreams”and “Back In The Game”,for instance, were bothpressed as one-track CDsingles and distributed to

radio stations in Germany topromote the River Of Dreamsalbum, but were not available in theshops as singles. The other mostcommon items publicity ploys areposters for use in shops, postcards,badges, stickers and T-shirts.

Occasionally, though, the marketingdepartment applies moreimagination, and comes up withsomething a little different.Everyone Is Everybody Elsebeermats may not be the mostsought after collectors’ items, butby the time of Octoberon the bandwas becoming successful enough towarrant a bigger marketing budget.MCA (the band’s American label atthe time) produced cardboardmobiles of the painting of Oberonfrom the front cover, but PolydorUK came up with something muchbetter – a mirror featuring artworkfrom the album, presented in abeautiful wooden frame. Theseseem to have been given out onlyto the band and those close to themin the business, and so are muchsought after on the rare occasionswhen one comes on the market.

BJH Memorabilia

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Japanese Reissues

Polydor Japan released limitededition CDs of Everyone IsEverybody Else [UICY-9047] andTime Honoured Ghosts [UICY-9048] on March 28th. Each CD isremastered and comes in a cardfacsimile of the original sleeve. Thesound and presentation of thesediscs is superb, although thatquality comes at a price. With anyluck these two discs will mark thebeginning of a whole series ofJapanese CDs, at least of thePolydor years.

Competition Winners

The winner of the framed cross-stitch reproduction of the Gone ToEarth owl design (see photographon p.8 of NL52) was Claire Powell,who correctly said that John andWoolly first met at Oldham ArtSchool and that the name of thefirst band they played in togetherwas The Sorcerers.Runners up, who each received arare original vinyl copy of John’ssolo album, A Major Fancy, werePhil Wood and Robert Philpott.Congratulations to the winners andmany thanks to Kate Russell, AlanColeman and Steve Heap fordonating the prizes.

New Badges

The latest item in the club sales listbrings back that old favourite, thewinged woman logo, this time inthe form of a blue and silver shapedenamel “pin” badge, shownapproximately actual size above.Please see the order form in thecentre pages for ordering details.

... Other Short Stories ...

... Thanks to Ralph Klocke andStefan Lauer, who spotted that aGerman novel, Liegen Lernen byFrank Goosen, features the LP labelof Gone To Earth on its cover...

... any club members can now orderthe Revival bonus disc from us ...

... finally, if anyone wants an A5colour Revival leaflet with band biogand ads for the club and EagleRecords, as given out at the recentEnglish concerts, just send us anSAE or IRC ...

News

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Stunning!

Our first UK concerts for (respectively) nine and twentyyears, and whilst there have been many great gigs abroadin the intervening time, there's nothing quite like a homeaudience.

A little nervous in Bristol (A "next big thing" - Woolly);something of the surreal in Manchester due in part to theexpanded personnel, and a very rock 'n' roll venue inLondon where the show ended and everyone wasunceremoniously thrown out.

A great response from crowds at all the gigs which notsurprisingly lifted the band's spirit and performanceconsiderably.

Our thanks go to Mean Fiddler for giving us theopportunity, Keith and Monika forrunning "the shop" and of course all those who came andsaw.

Where next?!

John & Woollypp. Craig, Jeff and Kevin.

A Message from John and Woolly...

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LyricsBy popular demand, here are thelyrics for the previously unheardsong featured on the free CD inNL51, even though John freelyadmits that they’re not his best!

UNTITLED (DEMO)Shadows falling in an empty roomFading memories hold back thegloomWhen I think of the nightDancin’ till morning light.We were kids back when “BlueMoon” was coolTossing and turning and breaking therulesWhen the feeling was rightDancin’ till morning light.

We were lovers from the day we metGetting serious in schoolGoing steady was a joke and wewere the foolsAll those moments as we learnt tokiss,To touch, to hold, so newAnd the day I said “I’m in love, howabout you?”

And you said, “Oh, oh oh oh, la la la,Yeah yeah yeah, sha na naShoobeedoo, I love you”

In the darkness everything remainsBodies touching, learning the gameOf doing it right,Loving all through the night.Hungry love consumed our faithfulhearts

Jealousy drove us apartPlease don’t turn on the lightLeave me my dreams tonight.

We were lovers from the day we metGetting serious in schoolGoing steady was a joke and wewere the foolsAll those moments as we learnt tokiss,To touch, to hold, so newOnly memories now that you aregoneThrough the years apart they lingeronLike the day you said“It’s over, find someone new”

Well darling, Oh, oh oh oh, la la la,Yeah yeah yeah, sha na naShoobeedoo, I love you

Oh, ... I miss you

We were lovers from the day we metGetting serious in schoolGoing steady was a joke and wewere the foolsAll those moments as we learnt tokiss,To touch, to hold, so newFading memories now that you aregoneThrough the years apart they lingeronLike the day you said“It’s over, find someone new”

Oh, ... I love you

Words and music by John Lees

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Tour ReviewsI’d waited an eternity, 3330 days tobe precise, to see BJH live, or atleast a part of it. 200 miles by roadto Berkshire, train to Waterloo thenwalk - no underground. Walked intoa black hole, the London Astoria. At9 o’clock John and Woolly appeared- absolutely magic. From the firstfew bars of “She Said” you couldsense the rapport between them. Aband of the professional quality ofthe Barclays deserve a better venuethan the Astoria, but theysurpassed themselves. Whateverthe line-up they have learned to fillthe venue with sound and hold theaudience. My daughter is tooyoung to have seen Woolly livebefore, only having heard him onCD and vinyl. She thought it wasthe best BJH concert she hadever been to. All too soon theperformance was over. For methe highlights were “For No One”,a superb song, Woolly’sexpressive version of “Loving IsEasy”, “Suicide?” and “River OfDreams” - thoughts back to theoften talked of “unplugged”project. I could go on, but I can’twait another 3330 days, it needsto be sooner - nine years is toolong! My daughter gate-crashedthe stage at Hammersmith in1987 as a teenager who knew nobetter. I doubt if her youngchildren will ever see BJH live,but I hope they hear the musicand realise how much the mostunderrated group of the late 20thcentury have contributed to life’s

enjoyment. Thank you forever.

Peter Brown

I'm beginning to think I should havegone to the trouble of getting apassport and traipsing aroundEurope in the last couple of years -if the European Revival gigs werehalf as good as the Astoria onThursday, I should've have gonelong since. It was awesome. The setlist was perfect. And, guys, pleasecome back soon!!! Keeping myfingers crossed for a repeatperformance soon,

Sue Curtis

Jeff Leach in Manchester[Photo: Pete Noons]

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Manchester, 28/03/2001

[Photos: Pete Noons]

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Tour ReviewsBJH Through the Eyes Of

John Lees, March 2001

15/03 ATHENS Rodon16/03 ATHENS Rodon17/03 THESSALONIKI Ydrogios19/03 LAR�SA Mylos

27/03 BRISTOL Anson Rooms28/03 MANCHESTER Debating Hall29/03 LONDON Astoria

LIVE SET:She Said; Festival; For No One;The Iron Maiden; Mockingbird;Child Of The Universe; In SearchOf England; Harbour; River OfDreams; Poor Man's MoodyBlues; Galadriel; Panic (Greece);Suicide? (England); Brave NewWorld; Medicine Man; Loving IsEasy; Cheap the Bullet; Hymn

Greece

The one concert I was in (Salonica,17th of the month) was dreamy...people were rock-elders, me beingaverage at 30. A wonderful sight tosee 45-year olds up on the bars infront of the stage and singing! Infact we were all singing! The soundwas wonderful, the club barmansaying that it was one of the 2 best(the other being a recent Camelconcert). I was particularly pleasedto listen to all the old songs,especially some of my favourites(“She Said”!!!, “For No One”!!,“Suicide”!!, “Galadriel”!!!).Wow!

Kostas Papakotas

I believed that I would never havethe chance to see BJH live inGreece, since my home country didnot seem to be in the band’s plansfor live appearances. The band wasgreat. John at his best guitarplaying, giving less effort in vocals,since Woolly did a great job in thataspect.

I liked the feeling of friendship andcooperation between the membersof the band. The other three guyswere very good, and added energyin the band, although we miss Lesand Mel. Maybe the greatpersonalities of Les, John, Woollyand Mel are difficult to fit on onestage, because they are all leadersand great musicians. Please, guys,try to find a way to be alltogether!!!

The set was great. The best-playedsongs were “She Said” (the first andmaybe the best), “Loving Is Easy”and “Child Of The Universe”. Thankyou guys for the great concert. Beback soon!!!

Sotiris Tsamilis

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Facing page: Esther Lees joinsthe band in Manchesterto sing “Galadriel”

[Photo: Bridget Wright]

This page: John Joseph Lees oncornet for “Mockingbird”

[Photo: Pete Noons]

Tour Photos

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England

I hope that the 3 date UK tour hasfinally laid to rest themisapprehension that no-one in theUK wants to see the band. From thestart at Bristol it was evident thathere was a band fired up and raringto go! Opening with “She Said”, theband then proceeded to roll backthe years with a string of classicsongs, many of which had not beenperformed since the ’70s.

Song selection was mainly as perRevival, being well balancedbetween rockier numbers,interspersed with more reflectiveand wistful tunes such as “The IronMaiden” and “Harbour” which sawWoolly strap on the 12 string andtake centre stage. Surprises camein the form of “Child Of TheUniverse” which went down astorm, and the main set closer, atruly blistering version of “MedicineMan”. Second song in the encorewas a rearranged (by Woolly?)“Cheap the Bullet”, lead vocalscourtesy of Craig with Woollybacking. Undisputed highlight forme though was “In Search ofEngland”. Words simply cannot dojustice to how good this sounded,John’s guitar searing over the top ofWoolly’s keyboards.

If I could level any criticism then itwould be the inclusion of “BraveNew World”. I do like this songfrom Nexus, but feel that live it justdoesn’t cut it, I would far rather

have heard “Float”, “The Devil’sthat I Keep”, or “Star Bright”, all farstronger songs.

What really sealed it though wasthe enthusiasm and humouremanating from Woolly. Having nowseen this band, one can fullyappreciated John’s comments abouthim being “the soul” of BJH. I cansee now what we’ve been missingall these years.

Sound quality at all three gigs wasastounding, with each instrumentclearly defined in the mix. Whoeverwas responsible for the soundshould be congratulated for such asterling job. Despite poorpromotion, which probablyaccounted for a fairly low turn outat Bristol, attendance wasotherwise excellent. Manchester,one of the best gigs I’ve ever heardby ANY band, was a sell out withLondon not far behind. Stagelighting was minimal, slightly betterat the Astoria, but hey, we didn’tcome to see the lights, did we!

All in all, a fantastic experiencemade all the more enjoyable by theopportunity of meeting so manyother club members. Let’s hopethat the success of this short tourallows the band to hit the roadagain in the not too distant future,with a more lengthy tour itineraryto enable everyone the chance tosee a show.

Stuart Berry

Tour Reviews

- 12 -

Tour ReviewsWhat an opener: “She Said”, thestart of a great evening, especiallyas this was the first time I had seenWoolly on stage. Throughout theevening I was impressed by thecamaraderie of the guys on stage,and I felt this feeling wastransferred to the audience. Most ofthe songs you would want to hearlive were played - “For No One”,“Child Of the Universe”,“Mockingbird”, as well as newerones like “Brave New World” and“River Of dreams”. To hear “InSearch Of England” and “Harbour”was a great treat for me, finishedoff by a cracking “Medicine Man”. Iwould not have missed this nightfor anything.

Robert Philpott

I wasn’t sure what to expect withthe absence of Les and Mel, but Ineedn’t have worried. Probably thebest I’ve ever seen from BJH live.John seemed to enjoy himself a lotmore than in the past. Not abrilliant turn out for the gig, buthopefully those of us there madeenough noise to make it worth it forthem.

Spencer Townsend

What can I say.... AWESOME !!!Despite the best efforts of theBritish weather to dampen thespirits, nothing was going to get inthe way of seeing "the boys" backin dear old Blighty for the first timein 9 years, and Woolly's first time in21 years. This is a band that issupremely comfortable with each

other,and all excellent musicians.The band were tight and togetherthroughout. My overall memory ofthe gig was how dynamic the bandsounded...far better than on theRevival CD, where my ears find theproduction a bit flat and lackingsparkle. This gig wasn't sparkling itwas on fire!

James "Old Tom" Barry

The first time I've seen the lads foraround ten years proved to be nodisappointment, despite the 'newboys' in the line-up. The bandplayed a very safe set, taking in alot of the classic tracks from theearly years, loosely sprinkled withone or two newer numbers from theNexus album and other more recentplatters. Boys, you lose a point forthe new arrangement of'Mockingbird' which I still don't like,but apart from that, what a top gig.9/10

Andy Long

Once there was a four piece band,then they became three, then fiveand now it's a seven piece.Manchester was somethingphenomenal. Playing back on hometurf to a packed hall of devoted (ifsomewhat greying) fans was boundto be special. But with two specialguest appearances it took on anentirely new dimension, JohnJoseph Lees playing cornet in"Mockingbird" and Esther Leessinging "Galadriel"! It was a nightto be long remembered

Pete Noons

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Tour ReviewsWhat a great night!! I was in 7thheaven when the band started with“She Said”, soon followed by “ForNo One”. To then also have“Mockingbird” and “Child of theUniverse”, all within the first halfhour or so, exceeded all myexpectations. Many of my all timefavourites were played to the limit.It really was a treat to hear thoseclassic BJH songs again, Mellotronand all. I would have preferred Johnto have sung on “Cheap the Bullet”and “Galadriel”, but other than thatI could not fault the performance(except for the usual 'Pity they can'tplay all night' wish I always have asthe encores end. Start at 7 and playtill 11 is my motto!!!! A bit like acup match with extra time andpenalties and a lap of honour).I was (pleasantly) surprised therewere so many there to be honest -surely justification for a longer UKtour later this year? The support forthe guys was tremendous.

Mark Downer

What can I say. I thought it wentbeyond wildest expectations. Ihadn't seen the guys since the XIItour and the playing was superb.It's so damn easy to forget why youreally liked them in the first place.Highlights (as if there were lowpoints):

actually doing “Suicide “ “Medicine Man”. New way of doing “Hymn”. Songs that I only thought were

okay on the studio versions

such as “Cheap The Bullet” and“Festival” were given a newlease of life.

Taking a friend who liked thema 'wee bit' and leaving with aconvert!

Ricky Nolan

It is 1am. My throat is hoarse andsore. But, strangely, I am not tired.In truth, I am elated. I have justreturned home after witnessing oneof the best concerts I have everattended. To see John and Woollyon stage together in London, for thefirst time since 1978, was somomentous. For me, the highlightof the gig was when they playedPoor Man's Moody Blues, followedby Galadriel, followed by Suicide?.At one point in PMMB I had tears inmy eyes (and I have never cried ata concert before). The reception theband received from their loyal fanswas fantastic.

David Simmons

P.S. Dear John and Woolly - whenyou tour in the Autumn, pleasecould you include “Early Morning” inthe set list?

Coming Soon...NL54 is due out at the end ofAugust, and the last copy datefor contributions or adverts isJuly 20th.