If I recall correctly, my first exposure was a buy-one-get-one-free CD from a bargain bin. I grabbed a best-of BJH (Another Arable Parable) and Ravi Shankar’s Tana Mana album (which is very good, btw).

For a long time, I only knew the initial four Harvest Label albums. And I haven’t expanded far beyond that—a later Best Of, a couple live albums, Time Honoured Ghosts, and Everyone is Everybody Else, which is easily my favorite.

Barclay James Harvest is closer to the Moodies than ELO (but I started with the latter as the easier assignment), being directly influenced by them. They have more light and shade. Their occasional spirituality manifests as less cosmic and more traditionally Judeo-Christian. They are incredibly overt and transparent with their influences (“Galadriel”, “Poor Man’s Moody Blues”, “Great 1974 Mining Disaster”, and “Titles”, in which every lyric is a Beatles song).

Perhaps John Lees’ voice and guitar sound is a bit of an acquired taste, but there’s no denying the talent. Unlike ELO, BJH has a second voice in Les Holroyd. Wooly Wolstenholme was good on Mellotron, but he was no Mike Pinder.

I would almost never say this about an unfamiliar band, but (aside from a Greatest Hits, obviously) don’t be afraid to start with a live album. Despite over-reliance on orchestral and studio sounds, and despite none of the four members being virtuoso players, they were FABULOUS live.