Barclay James Harvest

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1966 (Saddleworth, Yorkshire – present)

Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, in September 1966 by John Lees, Les Holroyd, Stuart “Woolly” Wolstenholme (1947–2010), and Mel Pritchard (1948–2004). They are best-known for their first four albums released in quick succession from 1970-1972.

The Barclay James Harvest story begins in the early sixties in the Oldham area of North-West England. John Lees and Stuart “Woolly” Wolstenholme met at Oldham Art School, and formed a band called The Sorcerers, which evolved into The Keepers. Meanwhile Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard were playing in another local outfit rejoicing in the name of Heart And Soul And The Wickeds. In 1966 a new band was formed from a fusion of the two and performed live shows on a semi-professional basis as The Blues Keepers. The resulting six-piece gradually dwindled to a stable quartet comprising Holroyd, Pritchard, Lees and Wolstenholme, and in the summer of 1967 they turned professional with a new name selected by putting names into a hat, and Barclay James Harvest was born.

Under the patronage of John Crowther, a local businessman and their first manager, they moved into an 18th Century farmhouse called Preston House to write and rehearse, and their spartan lifestyle was captured in a short documentary film made for Granada TV. A one-off single deal was negotiated with EMI’s Parlophone label, and “Early Morning” appeared in April 1968, attracting acclaim and the opportunity to record radio sessions for John Peel.
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  • Echlackowalex

    And i prefer*....Once again*

    March 2012

  • Nololob

    Everyone Is Everybody Else is a masterpiece.

    March 2012

  • Echlackowalex

    FOR NO ONE!!!

    February 2012

  • Arthur_Lima

    Suicide? is so great, really deserve more scrobbles.

    February 2012

  • Xylvanya

    If you like ambitious and relaxing music, maybe it´s possible you like XYLVANYA: „Anxious“; „Beach II“; Regenbogen; „SA RIERA part I“, "Imperial Crown" „Climbing“ or „Ex-Mannequin“ or „Horizont (III) or "Gewitter-Regen" or "Erinnerungen an meinen Vater" or "Trust (Piano-Version)" or "Norwegen" or "Retrospective view" and many many more.....(all in all 6 hours of music, all songs free download) . Thank you for listening, support or feedback! Peace, Xylvanya

    January 2012

  • shingouz

    Just like Genesis they continued making great music in the 80s, but their style evolved to stay current.

    November 2011

  • Musicboehmy

    Dear Music-Friends - My new group “Band Of The Week“ has opened now and I want to send a very warm welcome to all of you! If you want to click the “Member”-button already, please feel free to do so! Nevertheless, the vote won’t start until December 11th, 2011, when the voting for our “Songwriter”-group has ended and 100 interprets have been admitted to our HALL OF Fame. Please, tell all your Last.Fm-friends of our new group and do some promotionJ. Because the more people join in the votes, the funnier it will be. BAND OF THE WEEK

    November 2011

  • Claudio_00

    Lol \/

    October 2011
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