Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Barclay James Harvest
Label: Polydor Records
Release: 1976
Rating: 4.5/5
“Octoberon” represents one of the most magnificent moments in the story of the legendary British progressive rockers Barclay James Harvest. The album’s title is the product of a witty play on words, combining the name Oberon (the fairy king from Shakespeare’s literary classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream, who is vividly depicted on the album’s cover) with the month of October (when the album came out). At the same time, it symbolically points to the fact that this was their eighth album (counting the live album “Live”). On “Octoberon” the band truly reached one of the peaks of weaving their own distinctive BJH magic, which in their golden days came mainly from the interplay of inventive riffs, acoustic-leaning pastoral motifs, grand symphonic arrangements and melodic, versatile vocal harmonies. The use of a choir also added its own bit to the album’s dynamics.
Even though keyboard wizard Woolly Wolstenholme contributed only one composition of his own to it (the excellent “Ra”), this is one of those BJH albums where the orchestral arrangements stand out especially strongly and easily win over most fans of quality symphonic progressive rock, which the band, with its unique musical voice, was usually closest to. It may even be their most symphonically oriented album, despite featuring no orchestra, unlike in the band’s early years. Woolly, the band’s central prog-rock engine, reached a new level here through his use of majestic curtains of Mellotron that create the dramatic effect of an orchestra. Meanwhile, bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd and guitarist/vocalist John Lees left some of their best work on this album, going beyond the usual boundaries of folk-rock ballads or energetic hard rockers.
The album opens with the BJH classic “The World Goes On”, one of those pastoral, optimistically inclined Lees semi-ballads that always leave a deep mark on the listener with their uplifting nature. A simple melody on acoustic guitar is accompanied by grand orchestral swells of Mellotron and Les’s “angelic” falsetto vocals. In the second half, some melancholic electric guitar passages from John come in too. The song mixes melancholy and optimism, expressed in the lyrics through Les’s favorite theme of flying as a way of escaping hardship. Next comes the contrast-laden “May Day”, which contains yet another of John’s many socio-political critiques (this time aimed mainly at oppressive regimes; the USSR always staged pompous military parades on May 1). This song, too, has very good pastoral arrangements and plenty of symphonic finesse on Mellotron and Hammond organ, as well as lots of razor-sharp guitar passages. The central pastoral motif, built from simple chords on acoustic guitar, works almost hypnotically. The choir at the end of the piece adds the most to the pomp, singing various snippets of traditional English patriotic works over a backdrop of grand orchestral Mellotron arrangements.
The magnificent symphonic epic “Ra”, which refers to the ancient Egyptian sun god, is Woolly’s only composition on this album, but it is without a doubt the best piece on it, if not one of the finest creations in the band’s history. It is one of those rare cases where BJH came fully up to the idea of classic symphonic prog rock and beautifully wove some elements of classical music into it. The composition teems with melancholic-dramatic symphonic arrangements the whole way through, skillfully created by the swell of the Mellotron. Energetic passages on the Hammond and Woolly’s melancholic vocals add their share to the uplifting, almost Celtic atmosphere. On top of that, John beautifully showcases his guitar chops here with some excellent “weeping” slide passages. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” is another BJH classic and perhaps even Les’s most beloved BJH creation, which he still performs today with his own version of the band. Going by the title and the lyrics, which deal with the unvarnished truth about the life of a rock star, it more than obviously nods to The Byrds classic “So You Wanna Be a Rock ‘N’ Roll Star”, though it has no musical connection to it. After a mysterious symphonic keyboard intro, a mighty riff kicks in along with a bouncing rhythm on Mel’s drums. The melodic chorus, with an excellent vocal performance from Les backed by extra vocal harmonies, contributes most to the dramatic touch. The central motif, where the sounds of both guitars and the swells of the keyboards intertwine, is almost anthemic, while the grand symphonic arrangements significantly deepen this excellent composition, which would otherwise have sounded like an energetic but simple rocker.
In a similar vein is “Polk Street Rag”, one of those fun John heavy rockers that is almost an anomaly when it comes to the lyrical content of the band’s songs, since it refers to the controversial film “Deep Throat”. That was reportedly a softcore skin flick about a woman who supposedly had her sexual organs in her throat (!), and it stirred up the media scene of the time quite a bit. A rather unusual topic for BJH, one that could easily have come off as vulgar, if not outright tasteless, but the band managed to turn it into a cheeky, unobtrusive piece with a bouncy rhythm, energetic guitar passages and good vocal harmonies. Les’s pastoral love-song acoustic ballad “Believe In Me”, which has quite a bit of Beatles-style pathos, couldn’t offer a bigger contrast. Despite its seeming simplicity at the start, it’s an extremely varied piece with plenty of excellent symphonic arrangements and vivid instrumental motifs. The transitions between acoustic guitar, bass and keyboards are finger-licking good, while the vocal harmonies create an extremely ethereal mood (between the individual transitions they sound very Yes-like, which is down to Les’s vocal kinship with Jon Anderson).
The album is closed out by the superb symphonic epic “Suicide?”, with which BJH once again hit one of their symphonic prog peaks. With its title and lyrics, this splendid track caused quite a bit of controversy when it came out, since it revolves around suicide, or murder, by way of a jump from a skyscraper. Its critics often forget the question mark in the title, which points to the mystery of whether he jumped himself or someone else pushed him over the edge. Its main directors were Woolly, who created an exceptionally ethereal mood with his dramatic keyboard arrangements (mainly Mellotron), and John, who accompanied him with excellent passages on acoustic and electric guitar, and also delivered one of the best solos of his career. Dreamy choral vocal harmonies blend wonderfully with the orchestral swells and the central acoustic guitar melody, slowly building extraordinary drama, spiced up with numerous obscure sound effects. Among them is the closing march of the main character, who first fights his way through traffic, then goes through a bar and an elevator and finally, from the top of the skyscraper, dramatically cuts his own life thread (or has it cut by someone else) with the words “just in time”. It would be hard to come up with a more dramatic ending.
Crowned with grand orchestral arrangements, “Octoberon” (once again) brought the band close to the elite of symphonic progressive rock for a short while, even though they never truly belonged there, since the specific school of art rock, embodied in the compositional and stylistic differences between the individual band members, had always been closer to them. The album is marked throughout by that characteristic BJH pastoral mysticism, which creates an esoteric, mostly autumnal atmosphere, along with the midsummer night when ancient Celtic legends come to life. In the following years BJH would make a few more splendid and commercially more successful albums that would bring them tremendous success in Germany and Central Europe, but “Octoberon” is their last masterpiece, one of those albums that belongs on the music shelf of every music gourmet.
Line-up
John Lees – vocals, guitar
Les Holroyd – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar
Mel Pritchard – drums, percussion
Woolly Wolstenholme – keyboards, vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
The Capriol Singers – choir arrangements
Ritchie Close – orchestral arrangements
Production
David Rohl
Track list
1. The World Goes On (6:27)
2. May Day (7:57)
3. Ra (7:18)
4. Rock’N’Roll Star (5:17)
5. Polk Street Rag (5:37)
6. Believe In Me (4:21)
7. Suicide? (7:56)
Running time: 44:53
Bonus tracks on the reissue (2003):
8. Rock ‘N’ Roll Star (alternative mix)
9. Polk Street Rag (alternative mix)
10. Ra (first Mix)
11. Rock ‘N’ Roll Star (Top Of The Pops recording)
12. Suicide? (alternative mix)
