Relativity by John Lees' Barclay James Harvest

Relativity by John Lees' Barclay James Harvest, 2025.

Barclay James Harvest are a British progressive rock group formed in 1967. The original lineup consisted of John Lees, Les Holroyd, Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme, and Mel Pritchard. Their sound is a fusion of rock with orchestral arrangements.
The original band split up in 1998, giving rise to two separate projects: John Lees' Barclay James Harvest and Barclay James Harvest with Les Holroyd.
John Lees' Barclay James Harvest have continued to perform and have released new material, including this new album, Relativity, with John Lees (the only member from the original lineup), Craig Fletcher, Jez Smith, and Kevin Whitehead.

Relativity is a concept album focused on human and cosmic relationships, their first studio album in 12 years, produced by the band and mixed by Stephen W. Tayler, who is an English mixing and recording engineer, music producer, musician, composer, and sound designer who has contributed to the making of hundreds of albums for artists including Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega, Peter Gabriel, Underworld, Duncan Sheik, Howard Jones, Stevie Nicks, Milla Jovovich, Rush, Bob Geldof, Rupert Hine, and Tina Turner.

The album was released on October 17, 2025 and is a 78-minute collection that took many years of work, with a sound rooted in the band's musical heritage, with John Lees as the only member historically present since the beginning, carrying on the "tradition" in this record.

The tracks

- Relativity Part 1 (Through the Dust) opens with an imposing “synth horn” that introduces a rock ballad with a steady rhythm and a catchy melody, with a nice keyboard backdrop and a solid voice with good emphasis and interpretation. The chorus is beautiful and very engaging. Great guitars, long and intense sounds, and a great solo. It's a straightforward and pleasant track, a nice classic rock song that closes with big synths.

- The Blood of Abraham opens with a nice sustained rhythm and deep bass, an atmospheric opening with excellent bass and keyboards. It's a beautiful track in the band's style with a very engaging melody. When the drums come in, the track lights up, with very nice backing vocals and a guitar solo.

- Heard it All Before has a sustained rock rhythm and a nice keyboard and bass line, again with a beautiful melody and excellent backing vocals. A simple track with a positive mood, with a remarkable continuous bass and keyboard line and a great keyboard solo that makes the song epic and powerful, with a nice variation on the theme enriched by synths and spoken words, then returning more decisively to the initial theme, very energetic and driving, with a straightforward but high-quality structure. I wouldn't have included the claps in the final part, which are a bit 80s, even though they fit very well.

- Magpie starts with an almost looped synth line and beautiful piano interludes, as well as a deep fretless bass part, then the guitar starts an intense and slow line that traces the melodic theme of the track. The melody is beautiful here too, and after the long instrumental section, the vocals come in. The track is beautiful and moving, with a sound reminiscent of the 70s, with beautiful counter-melodies, sampled winds and strings that are truly evocative. The guitar solo is beautiful, and the emphasis of the track grows with the keyboards becoming more incisive towards a very intense ending.

- Love begins with a beautiful acoustic guitar arpeggio that continues throughout the track, which is in American folk style, melodic acoustic with light percussion and a convincing vocal performance. Another great song.

- Peace Like a River is a lively and cheerful track, excellent rock with nice backing vocals and keyboards that, when they appear, give a hint of prog. A classic track with a straightforward structure.

- Hourglass starts with a nice guitar line, then the track, romantic and soft, begins with beautiful vocals. Another straightforward track with a melancholic and suspended atmosphere. Beautiful song with a great guitar solo, backing vocals, and a section of excellent pop that gives way to keyboards, which are the plus on all the tracks and interact magnificently with the electric guitar.

- Snake Oil immediately starts with a more decisive rock, also in an 80s American folk rock tone, and with beautiful backing vocals reminiscent of America. But then the track becomes more complex with a nice drum pattern with excellent syncopation and a very intense guitar line. It's the most prog track so far, prog folk because the mood is that of a ballad. Towards the end, the track speeds up and a vintage keyboard and guitar solo comes in, really beautiful with slight dissonances and nice breaks in this section, which flows into the initial theme but played with more emphasis and strength. At the end, the instrumental section starts again and there's a beautiful and long keyboard solo that goes right up to the end of the track. One of the TOP tracks on the album.

- The End of Days is a rhythmic track, again in American folk rock mood, with a nice composition and backing vocals and a catchy melody.

- Picture World starts with an unusual 80s electronic tempo, nice guitar and an evocative keyboard backdrop. Soft and romantic sounding track, beautiful song. When it starts, the atmosphere becomes exciting and enveloping. Beautiful piece from a compositional point of view, which also features a much more rock section, more decisive, with incisive drums and great guitar breaks, then returning to a soft mood and a beautiful bass solo followed in unison by the keyboard solo, leading to a dialogue between them in Procol Harum style, then returning to the melodic sung section that fades into a closing of distant keyboards and backing vocals and an almost psychedelic guitar that starts the next, more atmospheric track.

- Relativity Part 2 (The Stars That Shine) closes the album, opening with bell sounds and, over a keyboard backdrop, a long guitar solo. Then the track starts, with a confident rock and a long instrumental section with very intense keyboards until the vocals come in over a straightforward tempo and beautiful keyboards that, together with the refined guitar, create an atmosphere that reminds me of the recent Djabe album with Steve Hackett, Freya, a very sophisticated sound. The backing vocals give emphasis to part of the singing. Great album closure with overlapping electric guitar and rhythm, sumptuous keyboards, very refined and with a fantastic guitar solo at the end, over a rich rhythmic base of guitar, drums, and keyboards and a really precise bass line. The best track on the album.
 

One of those albums you listen to with pleasure. The keyboards always have refined sounds and create atmospheres that we find in the world of prog, but the rhythms are regular and the compositions perfect, without major tempo changes but with great variations in intensity, also thanks to splendid backing vocals.
The sound is Rock, American folk rock, and at times with reminiscences of country rock, with all the tricks that make songs beautiful, for tracks that stick in your head and are all potential hits. An album that keeps the level of compositions high throughout, with a voice that is always on point and makes you want to listen and listen again.
All the tracks are highly emotional and the mood is generally high and exciting.

The artwork is very beautiful.

Beautiful album, but this band has the experience and excellent skills to create tracks of great structure and above all great credibility, I expected it, and even if this is not an album that can be defined as prog, the keyboards and guitar have the ability to give a prog feeling in almost every track, with sounds, atmospheres, breaks, and references. There is a lot of melody and harmony and great backing vocals that make every piece one you want to listen to.

An album for all lovers of good music. 

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page

Tracklist

1. Relativity Part 1 (Through the Dust)
2. The Blood of Abraham
3. Heard it All Before
4. Magpie
5. Love
6. Peace Like a River
7. Hourglass
8. Snake Oil
9. The End of Days
10. Picture World
11. Relativity Part 2 (The Stars That Shine)

LineUp

- John Lees - electric and acoustic guitar, vocals
- Jez Smith - keyboards, vocals
- Craig Fletcher - bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Kevin Whitehead - drums, percussion, vocals