John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest Biog:
John Lees and Stuart Woolly Wolstenholme were founder members of Barclay James Harvest, the melodic rock band with classical leanings which emerged from Oldham in the late sixties. Their relationship endured through nine studio albums and two live doubles, the period of BJH’s history which most fans regard as their most creative and productive. John stayed with BJH after Woolly left in 1979, and it would be nearly twenty years before the guitar and keyboard legends would work together again.
When it was announced in March 1998 that Barclay James Harvest would be taking a sabbatical, it was effectively the end of the original band. Henceforth the members of the band would be pursuing solo projects, albeit using variations of the Barclay James Harvest name. John renewed his musical friendship with Woolly, and they began work together with bassist Craig Fletcher and drummer Kevin Whitehead under the name Barclay James Harvest Through The Eyes Of John Lees. This line-up recorded an album of half new songs, half re-recordings of BJH classics, entitled Nexus, which was released by Eagle Records in February 1999. A tour of Germany and Switzerland followed and was recorded for the Revival - Live 1999 CD which appeared in March 2000, after which there were more concerts in Germany, Greece and England.
Now re-christened John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest, the band completed a very successful UK tour in November 2006, and the London Shepherds Bush Empire concert from that tour has now been released as a live CD and DVD entitled Legacy. Both the DVD and CD can be ordered from the Barclay James Harvest web site secure mail-order page .
Video clips from Legacy DVD:
Mockingbird:
After The Day:
For more information, check out the John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest web site, and for more about the classic line-up of BJH, try the classic Barclay James Harvest web site.
