Harvest Festival is a genuinely comprehensive and thorough look at the one British major label venture into psychedelia and progressive rock that actually worked, commercially and artistically; it's a panoramic journey though a major part of British rock as it developed over a period of just under a decade. Over the five CDs and 119 songs, more than two dozen acts are featured, ranging from purely English phenomena like Michael Chapman, Quatermass, and Pete Brown to mega-arena acts like Pink Floyd, and the set comes complete with a built-in 120-page book.
Beginning with the Edgar Broughton Band's Jimi Hendrix meets the Crazy World of Arthur Brown track "Evil," the programming goes a long way to explaining why Harvest worked while other attempts at forming psychedelic and progressive labels in England failed -- in contrast to the slick, commercial psychedelic ventures at rival Deram Records, Harvest always gave its artists the freedom to be louder (or softer) than the norm, and to be bold in their expressions. Moreover, the diversity of form was astonishing, from the acoustic instrumental chamber music rock of the Third Ear Band, to the lively acoustic psychedelia of Syd Barrett and Kevin Ayers, to the high-energy attack of Deep Purple, Quatermass, and Bakerloo -- it all sounds amazingly strong, well crafted, and exciting.
Harvest had room for jugband music, traditional acoustic folk, progressive folk-rock, spoken word, and, full-circle commercially from Harvest's late-'60s origins, psychedelic Beatles-influenced commercial rock by way of ELO. Harvest also grew to embrace sounds that would have been inconceivable for EMI to have signed when they started, including Be-Bop Deluxe (versions 1 and 2), Bill Nelson's Red Noise, the reggae outfit Matumbi, the Shirts with Annie Golden, and the punk band Wire. It's all fascinating stuff, told in great detail in the accompanying book, but ultimately, a set like this stands or falls on the music.
The archivists have dug deeply enough to find material that makes Barrett's output look tame and conventional, specifically Tea & Symphony, whose "Maybe My Mind (With Egg)" is a truly dissonant and strange journey into thought processes bent by the prism of drugs and meditation. Not everything on this set will be to everyone's liking, but anyone inclined to enjoy Pink Floyd or Syd Barrett's solo stuff will be entranced by most of the content. The sound has been treated first-class, with new state-of-the-art 1999 remasterings.
CD 1
01- Edgar Broughton Band- Evil 02:37
02- Michael Chapman- It Didn't Work Out 03:44
03- Deep Purple- Hard Road 05:12
04- Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments- Morning Call 02:50
05- Roy Harper- Tom Tiddler's Ground 06:12
06- Third Ear Band- Stone Circle 03:27
07- Greatest Show on Earth- Real Cool World 04:50
08- Syd Barrett- Octopus 03:46
09- Panama Limited Jug Band- Round and Round 03:18
10- Barclay James Harvest- Mother Dear 03:20
11- Tea & Symphony- Maybe My Mind (with Egg) 03:45
12- Michael Chapman- Postcards of Scarborough 04:07
13- Forest- A Glade Somewhere 03:06
14- Edgar Broughton Band- Out Demon's Out 04:51
15- Pete Brown & Piblokto- Living Life Backwards 02:04
16- Quatermass- Black Sheep of the Family 03:14
17- Bakerloo- Big Bear Ffolly 03:59
18- The Pretty Things- The Good Mr Square 03:03
19- Kevin Ayers- The Lady Rachel 05:19
20- Shirley & Dolly Collins- A Forsaking-Our Captain Cried 02:53
CD 2
01- Deep Purple- Speed King 05:51
02- Pete Brown & Piblokto- Things May Come and Things May Go but the Art School Dance Goes on Forever 05:04
03- Edgar Broughton Band- Apache Dropout (Apache Intro Droupout Boogie) 03:13
04- Climax Chicago Blues Band- Everyday 02:27
05- Kevin Ayers- Butterfly Dance 03:46
06- Barclay James Harvest- Mocking Bird 06:38
07- Michael Chapman- Kodak Ghosts 03:22
08- The Move- The Words of Aaron 05:29
09- Deep Purple- Fireball 03:24
10- Electric Light Orchestra- 10538 Overture 05:33
11- Ron Geesin & Roger Waters- Breathe 02:57
12- Barclay James Harvest- Medicine Man 03:55
13- Kevin Ayers & the Whole World- Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes 03:25
14- Michael Chapman- Fennario 07:06
15- Roy Harper- The Same Old Rock (End Section) 04:48
16- Edgar Broughton Band- Hotel Room 04:08
17- Syd Barrett- Evervescing Elephant 01:53
18- Kevin Ayers- Song from the Bottom of a Well 04:34
CD 3
01- Pink Floyd- Money 06:40
02- Roy Harper- South Africa 04:04
03- International Anthem - Kevin Ayers- Interview 05:27
04- Babe Ruth- The Mexican 05:47
05- The Move- Do Ya 04:06
06- Southern Comfort- Something Said 04:35
07- Be-Bop Deluxe- Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape 03:53
08- Roy Wood- Dear Elaine 04:10
09- Kevin Ayers- Take Me to Tahiti 03:36
10- Edgar Broughton Band- Things on My Mind 03:41
11- Babe Ruth- Hombre De La Guitarre 04:44
12- Roy Harper- Another Day (Live) 03:59
13- Electric Light Orchestra- Roll Over Beethoven 04:35
14- Be-Bop Deluxe- Maid in Heaven 02:28
15- Climax Chicago- You Make Me Sick 03:52
16- Wizzard- Ball Park Incident 03:40
17- Electric Light Orchestra- Showdown 04:10
18- Roy Harper- I'll See You Again 04:58
CD 4
01- The Albion Band- Poor Old Horse 06:17
02- Martin Carthy- Old Hog or None 01:15
03- The Albion Band- Hopping Down in Kent 02:47
04- The Albion Dance Band- Postmans Knock 02:40
05- Gryphon- Spring Song 03:40
06- Unicorn- Have You Ever Seen the Rain 03:11
07- Be-Bop Deluxe- Fair Exchange 04:50
08- Kevin Ayers- Ballad of a Salesman Who Sold Himself 04:48
09- Be-Bop Deluxe- Electrical Language 03:35
10- David Gilmour- Short and Sweet 05:32
11- Roy Harper- When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease 07:13
12- The Saints- Erotic Neurotic 04:08
13- Wire- Reuters 03:03
14- The Saints- (This) Perfect Day 02:10
15- The Shirts- Lonely Android 03:53
16- The Banned- Little Girl 02:22
17- Wire- I Am the Fly 03:08
18- The Saints- Swing for the Crime 03:39
19- Bill Nelson's Red Noise- Revolt into Style 03:25
20- Wire- A Touching Display 06:56
CD 5
01- Deep Purple- Black Night 03:28
02- Pete Brown & Piblokto- Flying Hero Sandwich 03:21
03- The Move- California Man 03:38
04- Greatest Show on Earth- Magic Woman Touch 05:14
05- Kevin Ayers- Caribbean Moon 03:03
06- Trinidad Oil Company- The Calendar Song 02:53
07- Matumbi- Rock (Part 1) 03:40
08- Wire- I Should Have Known Better 03:54
09- Ivor Cutler- Life in a Scotch Sitting Room Vol 2 (Excerpt) 04:02
10- Vivian Stanshall and Kilgarron- The Young Ones 03:16
11- Spontaneous Combustion- Sabre Dance 03:00
12- Be-Bop Deluxe- Ships in the Night 04:10
13- Bombadil- Breathless 03:06
14- Marshall Hain- Dancing in the City 03:50
15- Bill Nelson's Red Noise- Radar in My Heart 01:39
16- Strapps- Child of the City 03:45
17- Deep Purple- Hallelujah 03:44
18- Babe Ruth- Wells Fargo 06:16
19- Professor Longhair- Mess Around 03:56
20- Syd Barrett- Golden Hair 01:58
21- Edgar Broughton Band- Up Yours 03:01
