Other Short Stories - BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST***

Medicine Man/Someone There You Know/Harry's Song/Ursula (The Swansea Song)/Little Lapwing/Song With No Meaning/Blue Johns Blues/The Poet/After The Day

Other Short Stories is considered a disappointing release by the progressive band Barclay James Harvest, who would always be dogged by their reputation for uneven albums.

“Other Short Stories is an ambitious effort and it had the potential to be special. But somehow the band managed to make this LP a pretty mediocre totality. The best songs here are the opener Medicine Man and the closer After The Day which is a very good song. The rest of the material is weaker.”

“On this the band's third release the wheels spectacularly fall off as all those old accusations of being a poor mans Moody Blues begin to hit home, and the band lose much of the heaviness and baroque leanings that had made their first two releases worthwhile.”

“Certainly not my favourite by them, this one has a decidedly semi-commercial sound, featuring diverse material ranging from soft ballads to hard rock, none of which I find particularly compelling.”

“The third Barclay James Harvest offering starts of with a classic. The album version of Medicine Man may not have the sheer power of the live version, but it is still a truly thrilling experience. It then dips in quality, giving the listener some beautiful music, but also a feeling that something is missing.”

“Like a lot of BJH albums, this one has its ups and downs. Apart from the big stain in the middle called Blue Johns Blues, there’s nothing really bad about this one, but there are a number of mediocre tunes that rather blunt its impact.”

“Other Short Stories starts off strong with the first two tracks but unfortunately, those much of the rest consists of unmemorable symphonic pop tunes that sound somewhere between Moody Blues and CSN. One of the few bright spots from later is Blue John Blues - the only attempt at an extended piece, but even this gets a bit bogged down in the second half.”

“The shame is that they never really made it into the big leagues of the prog supergroups of the 70s. One of rock's great mysteries, yet perversely, this may have been ultimately to the fan's advantage since there was never the drop off in quality from one album to the next that usually accompanies superstardom.”