Within the first few seconds of the opening track, "Deceivers All", one can instantly tell the trademark mellotron sound from the glory years of Barclay James Harvest is at hand. Wooly Wolstenholme for those not familiar with the name or the band was responsible for using his arsenal of keyboards to give that undeniably impressive wall of sound to some of the more anthemic and majestic sounding songs that would grace many of the better Barclay James Harvest albums. Classic albums such as Octoberon, Gone To Earth Time Honoured Ghosts and the earlier 70's albums were all given lashings of gorgeously played mellotron which infused each album with a fresh and inviting sound that would stay with them for years
Many of the tracks presented on Black Box Recovered harkens back to what would have been his second solo album had his recording label elected to support him after the failure of his previous album, "Maestoso".
While there is no denying the huge impact Wooly Wolstenholme made in enhancing the overall sound of Barclay James Harvest, I feel upon listening to this collection of songs, he better served that band as a musician rather than as an outright songwriter. Granted, most of the credit for the song writing on BJH albums was shared between John Lees and Les Holroyd, Wooly's name only appeared on a few tracks.
With his departure from the band in 1979, one would have imagined his solo output to have included more of a symphonic and progressive feel to the songs and in general, that is pretty much what is presented here. With the band following a more rock oriented approach to some of their albums, Wooly still maintained a sure fire sound with his battery of keyboards at his disposal. The music offered here is pretty light, very pastoral, particularly the track, "Open" and warm. While not breaking any new ground and not as compellingly memorable as those earlier classic songs from the band, this represents a worthy addition for the fan who wants to cover all bases.
Track Details:
1. Deceivers All
2. Has To Be A reason
3. Down The Line
4. All Get Burned
5. Too Much, Too Loud, Too Late
6. Even The Night
7. The Will To Fly
8. The Sunday Bells
9. Open
Bonus Tracks
10. Why Remain
11. Sail Away – Demo
12. A Prospect Of Whitby – Demo
13. Patriots – Demo
14. Quiet Islands – Demo
15. American Excess – Live in Vienna 1981
16. Lives On The Line – Live in Vienna 1981
17. Deceivers All - Live in Vienna 1981
18. Bootham Park Elegy – Demo 2003
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