Couldn’t agree more.... Saw them in 1975 in Veendam ! Late sixties, early seventies I use to buy all kinds of albums if only a Mellotron was involved. Still love the sound of it. “She said”..... Wow !
Hi Phil I loved Barclay James Harvest in the 1970's , I owned 3 or 4 albums and thought they were a terrific band , and very popular in Europe , great musicianship so I must check out this box set . Many thanks for the heads up on this.
That box set is a thing of great beauty! I have this album on vinyl and remastered cd but oh this set would look so good on my shelf! Thanks for the review Phil and well done to Esoteric/Cherry Rd for putting together such a great set.
Thank you Phil for another full, well presented and informative review of this set by BJH ... one of my "go to" bands. Been a fan since my school pal made me a mix tape in the '70's with several tracks from the Everyone Is Everybody Else album from the Polydor era. Each of the first 4 studio albums from the preceding Harvest label era (Once Again being one of them), plus the out-take tracks available on compliations like Early Morning Onwards or the Harvest Years, etc , have some genuinely superb and ground-breaking songs on them ... and creating your own "best of" set list from this era leads to a great listening experience with excellent songwriting / composition by John Lees and Les Holroyd with Woolly Wolstenholme also contributing a few classics. Robert John Godfrey (in his pre Enid days) also contributed [greatly] re orchestration ... (check out the legal background re his [potentially legitimate ?] challenge to obtain a share of writing credits) Once Again has some of these great songs on it ... for me these include Galadriel, She Said and, of course, the supreme track Mocking Bird which, hopefully, the John Lees' version of the band will play in Manchester in May (I am coming down from Aberdeen to see this version of the band for, probably, the last time) .... it would be good if Les Holroyd and his band came across from Germany to do their own gigs in the UK sometime but it's been a long time since that happened ... it's a pity that John and Les had differing views re musical direction, etc in the 1990's as a "perfect" BJH show comprises of songs written by both ... and Woolly. .... the last live outout available with both principal song-writers together being the Town and County gig from 1992 or thereby (not available as a complete one off set but, frustratingly, split as 2 extra CDs on 2 separate deluxe studio sets) Re. White Sails ... I have a full set of the studio and live albums on CD (not the super deluxe versions though because, as noted by another comment, these, in the past, have not necessarily always been absolute "must buys")... so I checked and the only versions I have of White Sails which are as an edited version called Intoduction / White Sail lasting just over a minute. Listening to the new 11 min plus 2023 mix version on Qobuz today I thought that, yes, it is a good track - and a great example of the classical / rock cross-over boundaries being explored at the time with BJH being true pioneers - leading the field (BJH took an orchestra in tour ... and lost money ... but made great music) ... From my perspective though, I actaully liked the addition (missing from the new mix) of the evocative, scene setting, sound of waves on the shore ... the sound of these just "worked" ... so, being a nerdy type, I made my own mix today of the, newly available, 11 minute White Sails track exclusive to this set and mixed in the introductory and coda sea sounds to make a new personal mix that has all the benefit of the complete 11 minute work whilst preserving the vibe of the previous version available. [I would presume, given the classical nature of the track, that Robin John Godfrey might have had some involvement in its creation?] ... Once Again (pun intended) thank you for the video and doing such sterling work on your channel ... CMcG, Aberdeen, Scotland
Fantastic review. I don’t own a cd player these days, vinyl or streaming. The extras and the booklet however makes me consider using my Blu-ray player! An underrated band, so good someone is putting out reviews here 👍
How could one possibly resist getting this? It looks amazing and hats off to Cherry Red/Esoteric once again. Hope it doesn't sell out too quickly, like the Lizzy's Live...can't buy it 'til next month. Thanks for the passionate review Phil!
@@NowSpinningMagazine Of all the remastered versions in their various packaging formats (and not bad) this seems by far the most appealing and the one BJH deserve. Jonathan
OK I'm convinced I need it, I have my original vinyl and Remastered CD but this set is so comprehensive and beautifully put together I'm unable to resist, I hope I can get it soon, just need to build up a few quid dammit!
Will definitely get this. Cherry Red/Esoteric have done a fantastic job with all the BJH reissues. My only whinge, if you can call it that, is that there is no consistent layout, you've got the book set, triple fold out digipaks and now this box, all wonderful but would love all of them to have been in the book type packaging especially when you see the booklet for this one, imagine that in large format book style like Humble Pie or Be-Bop Deluxe
Hi Ian, I agree the one thing missing in all of these is consistency in design. It does bug me a bit and this could have been produced in the Be Bop Deluxe box format but I guess this was a easier to produce. Even so this is still very impressive and the price is excellent. Phil
My copy turned up yesterday!, Cherry Red have sold out but I got mine from Amazon, as a prime member I think it cost less than ordering from CR plus their p&p...
Thank you, Phil. I own the 40th anniversary cd-edition and I am really happy with it. Now that I have seen your review I am in the market for the vinyl-edition of the cherryRed-Once Again. Will you do a review of the vinyl-edition?
Hi, I have the 40th and obviously this new set but not the vinyl. I did think about getting the vinyl version but felt I had enough and it is the 5.1 Blu Ray disc I am playing the most. Phil
It appears that their albums have been given better treatment with this release in relation to the other albums that were done and I have to admit that having been extremely disappointed with the Expanded Edition of Everyone Is Everybody Else it put me completely off buying any more of their reworked albums and boxsets. Glad to see Craig Fletcher was not behind the new remixes on this one as he has been on several of them and quite frankly I would not give you twopence for his remixes they are dreadful in my opinion. The very fact that because they could not obtain the multitrack tapes of “For No One” they completely left it off the 5.1 mix of the album got my goat right up. The only good disc out of the 3 that came in that package was the 2003 remastered CD which I already had and for me that Expanded Edition was a complete waste of my money. Regarding this boxset, I see they are now using Blu-Ray instead of DVD and the thing to me that looks more promising than anything is that they have included the original Quad mix. However, I am rather puzzled why on earth they would want to put a stereo version of the Quad mix onto a CD. This has to be a gap filler in my opinion and is totally pointless. I have to admit it does look like a very well-presented boxset and it looks like you get your money's worth. However, when I look at the actual music content you are getting here it's like having the same thing 4 times over and that's even without them including a vinyl album.
Hi Lee, you raise some very good points. Quad into stereo only seems worth it if the Quad mix was very different to the original. A good example is Machine Head by Deep Purple where two of the guitar solos were unique to the quad mix. I also think the move to BluRay is the right move as well. The different designs used in these reissues can a pain as well but they have certainly put a lot of thought into this one and it is going down well with fans. Phil
It's not actually a stereo fold-down (as was done for the Black Sabbath “Paranoid” deluxe edition), it's the "SQ" matrix-encoded version used for the original quad LP. Without getting too technical, one of the systems for delivering quad on LP back in the mid-70s was to create a stereo downmix with the rear channel information shifted out-of-phase. Listeners would then have to buy an outboard decoding box to retrieve the rear speaker feeds, but the process was imperfect so you’d hear a little bit of the front in the rear and vice versa. So if you play that cd through a vintage SQ decoder, you’ll get a decent approximation of the discrete 4-channel version on the Blu-Ray. It's kind of a fun bonus for fans with old gear, but it's been released twice over at this point: first on the 1998 Brimstone CD and then again on the 2012 40th CD/DVD set (with the discrete version).
Couldn’t agree more.... Saw them in 1975 in Veendam ! Late sixties, early seventies I use to buy all kinds of albums if only a Mellotron was involved. Still love the sound of it. “She said”..... Wow !
Thank you 🙏
One of my favourite BJH albums - the achingly beautiful recorder section of She Said is one of my favourite musical moments . Great video
Thanks for listening
Hi Phil I loved Barclay James Harvest in the 1970's , I owned 3 or 4 albums and thought they were a terrific band , and very popular in Europe , great musicianship so I must check out this box set . Many thanks for the heads up on this.
You are very welcome 🙏
Thanks Phil, got it, it takes pride of place. Well worth it.
Thank you 🙏
That box set is a thing of great beauty! I have this album on vinyl and remastered cd but oh this set would look so good on my shelf! Thanks for the review Phil and well done to Esoteric/Cherry Rd for putting together such a great set.
Hi Sjhue, it is a great example of how to celebrate an album of this stature! Phil
I first bought this album on the EMI Fame label for £2.99 in Wooolies. I had already heard their later albums, but this one made me a fan for life.
Thank you Phil for another full, well presented and informative review of this set by BJH ... one of my "go to" bands. Been a fan since my school pal made me a mix tape in the '70's with several tracks from the Everyone Is Everybody Else album from the Polydor era. Each of the first 4 studio albums from the preceding Harvest label era (Once Again being one of them), plus the out-take tracks available on compliations like Early Morning Onwards or the Harvest Years, etc , have some genuinely superb and ground-breaking songs on them ... and creating your own "best of" set list from this era leads to a great listening experience with excellent songwriting / composition by John Lees and Les Holroyd with Woolly Wolstenholme also contributing a few classics. Robert John Godfrey (in his pre Enid days) also contributed [greatly] re orchestration ... (check out the legal background re his [potentially legitimate ?] challenge to obtain a share of writing credits)
Once Again has some of these great songs on it ... for me these include Galadriel, She Said and, of course, the supreme track Mocking Bird which, hopefully, the John Lees' version of the band will play in Manchester in May (I am coming down from Aberdeen to see this version of the band for, probably, the last time) .... it would be good if Les Holroyd and his band came across from Germany to do their own gigs in the UK sometime but it's been a long time since that happened ... it's a pity that John and Les had differing views re musical direction, etc in the 1990's as a "perfect" BJH show comprises of songs written by both ... and Woolly. .... the last live outout available with both principal song-writers together being the Town and County gig from 1992 or thereby (not available as a complete one off set but, frustratingly, split as 2 extra CDs on 2 separate deluxe studio sets)
Re. White Sails ... I have a full set of the studio and live albums on CD (not the super deluxe versions though because, as noted by another comment, these, in the past, have not necessarily always been absolute "must buys")... so I checked and the only versions I have of White Sails which are as an edited version called Intoduction / White Sail lasting just over a minute. Listening to the new 11 min plus 2023 mix version on Qobuz today I thought that, yes, it is a good track - and a great example of the classical / rock cross-over boundaries being explored at the time with BJH being true pioneers - leading the field (BJH took an orchestra in tour ... and lost money ... but made great music) ... From my perspective though, I actaully liked the addition (missing from the new mix) of the evocative, scene setting, sound of waves on the shore ... the sound of these just "worked" ... so, being a nerdy type, I made my own mix today of the, newly available, 11 minute White Sails track exclusive to this set and mixed in the introductory and coda sea sounds to make a new personal mix that has all the benefit of the complete 11 minute work whilst preserving the vibe of the previous version available. [I would presume, given the classical nature of the track, that Robin John Godfrey might have had some involvement in its creation?] ... Once Again (pun intended) thank you for the video and doing such sterling work on your channel ... CMcG, Aberdeen, Scotland
Thank you for watching and also for your really informative and interesting comment. So pleased you are enjoying my videos! Phil
Fantastic review. I don’t own a cd player these days, vinyl or streaming. The extras and the booklet however makes me consider using my Blu-ray player! An underrated band, so good someone is putting out reviews here 👍
Hi Kenny, thank you for watching - the BluRay is stunning and the disc I play the most. Phil
Thanks Phil, sounds/looks like Esoteric Cherry Red got it Right Again !!! I'll look into this (unknown to me) group for my collection.
Thank you 🙏
I'm going to go broke watching your channel Phil lol.I just ordered it the price was too good to pass up.Great album I also have the 2 disc set
Hi Thomas, sorry!! I do think you will really enjoy it - Phil :)
Thank you, I just managed to order one.
Brilliant ! Phil :)
How could one possibly resist getting this? It looks amazing and hats off to Cherry Red/Esoteric once again. Hope it doesn't sell out too quickly, like the Lizzy's Live...can't buy it 'til next month. Thanks for the passionate review Phil!
Hi Jonathan, thank you for watching. It is certainly a good example of how to celebrate a classic album. Phil
@@NowSpinningMagazine Of all the remastered versions in their various packaging formats (and not bad) this seems by far the most appealing and the one BJH deserve. Jonathan
OK I'm convinced I need it, I have my original vinyl and Remastered CD but this set is so comprehensive and beautifully put together I'm unable to resist, I hope I can get it soon, just need to build up a few quid dammit!
Hi Chris, I think you will love it 😍 my copy of the Little Feat live box set arrived today! Phil :)
@Now Spinning Magazine with Phil Aston you'll like that...a lot!!
Will definitely get this. Cherry Red/Esoteric have done a fantastic job with all the BJH reissues. My only whinge, if you can call it that, is that there is no consistent layout, you've got the book set, triple fold out digipaks and now this box, all wonderful but would love all of them to have been in the book type packaging especially when you see the booklet for this one, imagine that in large format book style like Humble Pie or Be-Bop Deluxe
Hi Ian, I agree the one thing missing in all of these is consistency in design. It does bug me a bit and this could have been produced in the Be Bop Deluxe box format but I guess this was a easier to produce. Even so this is still very impressive and the price is excellent. Phil
My copy turned up yesterday!, Cherry Red have sold out but I got mine from Amazon, as a prime member I think it cost less than ordering from CR plus their p&p...
"Once Again" es su gran álbum, y en Septiembre se viene la nueva edición de su cuarto álbum: "Baby James Harvest"
Thank you, Phil. I own the 40th anniversary cd-edition and I am really happy with it. Now that I have seen your review I am in the market for the vinyl-edition of the cherryRed-Once Again. Will you do a review of the vinyl-edition?
Hi, I have the 40th and obviously this new set but not the vinyl. I did think about getting the vinyl version but felt I had enough and it is the 5.1 Blu Ray disc I am playing the most. Phil
Maybe time that European manufacturers also includes inner sleeves for the discs too protect them
Totally agree, thank you for watching - Phil
It appears that their albums have been given better treatment with this release in relation to the other albums that were done and I have to admit that having been extremely disappointed with the Expanded Edition of Everyone Is Everybody Else it put me completely off buying any more of their reworked albums and boxsets. Glad to see Craig Fletcher was not behind the new remixes on this one as he has been on several of them and quite frankly I would not give you twopence for his remixes they are dreadful in my opinion. The very fact that because they could not obtain the multitrack tapes of “For No One” they completely left it off the 5.1 mix of the album got my goat right up. The only good disc out of the 3 that came in that package was the 2003 remastered CD which I already had and for me that Expanded Edition was a complete waste of my money.
Regarding this boxset, I see they are now using Blu-Ray instead of DVD and the thing to me that looks more promising than anything is that they have included the original Quad mix. However, I am rather puzzled why on earth they would want to put a stereo version of the Quad mix onto a CD. This has to be a gap filler in my opinion and is totally pointless. I have to admit it does look like a very well-presented boxset and it looks like you get your money's worth. However, when I look at the actual music content you are getting here it's like having the same thing 4 times over and that's even without them including a vinyl album.
Hi Lee, you raise some very good points. Quad into stereo only seems worth it if the Quad mix was very different to the original. A good example is Machine Head by Deep Purple where two of the guitar solos were unique to the quad mix. I also think the move to BluRay is the right move as well. The different designs used in these reissues can a pain as well but they have certainly put a lot of thought into this one and it is going down well with fans. Phil
It's not actually a stereo fold-down (as was done for the Black Sabbath “Paranoid” deluxe edition), it's the "SQ" matrix-encoded version used for the original quad LP.
Without getting too technical, one of the systems for delivering quad on LP back in the mid-70s was to create a stereo downmix with the rear channel information shifted out-of-phase. Listeners would then have to buy an outboard decoding box to retrieve the rear speaker feeds, but the process was imperfect so you’d hear a little bit of the front in the rear and vice versa.
So if you play that cd through a vintage SQ decoder, you’ll get a decent approximation of the discrete 4-channel version on the Blu-Ray. It's kind of a fun bonus for fans with old gear, but it's been released twice over at this point: first on the 1998 Brimstone CD and then again on the 2012 40th CD/DVD set (with the discrete version).
Thank you for watching and adding the extra info. This is really interesting and useful - Phil
Pink Floyd please note: this is the way, and price point, in which to celebrate an album.
Very true, thank you for watching - Phil
when is release
It is out now - Phil