Every month, we get inside the minds of some of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Barclay James Harvest co-founder John Lees. The vocalist-guitarist helped form the band back in the mid-60s and continues their legacy in the present day with John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest. From almost meeting Elvis to becoming the first Western act to play an open-air concert in East Germany, BLH were a little band from Greater Manchester who became a very big deal. Here Lees looks back over their career, that fall-out and reveals whether he really thought they were just a Poor Man’s Moody Blues.

Words: Malcolm Dome

John Lees is one of the cornerstones of 1970s progressive music. And yet he’s consistently underrated.

A quiet, unassuming person, the guitarist/vocalist seemed to be rather embarrassed when given the Visionary award at the 2018 Progressive Music Awards. But despite that, his impact is undeniable.

Barclay James Harvest And Other Short Stories: reissued in 2020.

KEVIN NIXON/FUTURE OWNS

He co-founded Barclay James Harvest in 1966, alongside Woolly Wolstenholme (keyboards, vocals), Les Holroyd (bass, vocals) and Mel Pritchard (drums). They created some of the most enduring music of the 70s with a succession of highly rated albums. In the process, the band became huge stars across Europe, especially Germany.

In the 80s, following Wolstenholme’s departure, they streamlined their sound to fit in with the new decade’s demands, and carried on successfully recording and touring until they broke up in 1998.

Since then, Lees has put together his own version of the band, initially under the name Barclay James Harvest Through The Eyes Of John Lees and, more recently, as the less cumbersome John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest. He’s also worked on the academic staff in a school. Now at the age of 73, he’s still very much an active musician.

“We had that [party] side to us. We always enjoyed a laugh. Our sense of humour was, and still is, a bond that keeps us together.”

What larks: BJH come clean in a 1968 photo session.

BJH PROMO

Did you have aspirations when you were a kid to eventually become a rock star?

Not a rock star, but definitely a musician. I pestered my parents until they bought me a guitar, and played a lot of popular music at the time. I did do graphic design at art school and even worked at an advertising agency for a while. But by the time I was 19 there was only one job for me: a professional musician. Heaven help me!

Who would you say were your musical heroes in those very early days?

My sister had a boyfriend who was in the RAF and based in Germany. He brought back an Eddie Cochran record that I ended up playing to death. Through him, I also discovered the American blues vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon. And I also loved the Paul Anka rendition of Diana.