A Breath Of Fresh Air: A Harvest Records Anthology 1969-1974 [Box set]

 

 

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Long long ago, Harvest Records issued a double vinyl set `Picnic: A Breath Of Fresh Air', (see below). And now 36 or so years later, Harvest Records/EMI present 'Breath Of Fresh Air' - the picnic being long devoured - a full three CD set and with only 3 common tracks(marked: *).

I've thought hard, stared into by my now ageing vinyl collection and I can't think that any Harvest signings from the first 5 years of the label's existence have been omitted. Therefore we are presented with a variety of musical styles which happily fell under the joint headings of underground/progressive music, circa 1970. Hence some excellent folk from the Collins sisters, Michael Chapman and Roy Harper. Proto-gothic/agiprop pops up several times from Edgar Broughton, but I'm not sure of the choice of Broughton's 'Evil' to open the whole; there are better tunes on 'Wasa Wasa'. The avant blues rock of Pete Brown (Jack Bruce's lyricist), comes up several times. Good examples of the then blossoming heavy rock of Deep Purple and Quatermass. The beautiful weirdness of The Third Ear Band, Ron Geesin, Kevin Ayers, (a personal hurray for the inclusion of 'Song From The Bottom Of A Well'). Syd Barrett on the edge of complete mental collapse. We are happily given the full danceable, whack of Babe Ruth's Tamla inspired 'Wells Fargo', with the faux Junior Wells sax break. There is Roy Wood's ELO, before they became Mr Lynn's -and to remind of where ELO came from, the Move is represented. And I'm thinking: is that Jan Akkermann track with former Yes-man Pete Banks? And then you'll find a few bands the bands time almost forgot -e.g. Forest, Spontaneous Combustion, Bombadil (hey, I have this track on a single record!). The choice of Floyd is good - for me. And there is Marc Almond!?

`Breath Of Fresh Air' is as good but no better than any one of the excellent 5 compilations from the same period issued by Decca (`Legend Of A Mind'), Island (`Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal') , Castle (`Ars Longa Vita Brevis'), Vertigo (`Time Machine'), Liberty-UA/EMI, (`All Good Clean Fun'), in the last 5 years. However, this particular Harvest set is released quite some time after their old competitors in the provision of underground music/progressive music/emerging heavy rock have done so. Similar to the other five, 3 CD sets all issued in the last 5 years, 'Breath' covers music recorded and released by Harvest in the late 60's to early 70's, and too has with copious and colourful liner notes. (Okay, they did issue the larger 95 track, 5 CD box set `Harvest Festival', taking musical examples from a broader period, and with a large book almost a decade ago, but it came/comes with a somewhat deterrent price).

As a footnote: Dare I suggest that it is worth buying all 6 sets, (i.e. 18 CDs in total, especially with duplication across the sets being almost zero), covering a very, very good cross section of familiar and unfamiliar British rock music in its development and blossoming, (plus a few offshore examples), and get a real bargain for about 100 quid?


LP 1:
1. Into The Fire - Deep Purple
2. Mother Dear - BJH
3. Embryo - Pink Floyd*
4. Twisted Track - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
5. Glenlogie - Shirley & Dolly Collins
6. The Good Mr Square - Pretty Things
7. Song Of The Ages - Roy Harper
8. This Worried Feeling - Bakerloo
9. Eleanor's Cake Which Ate Her - Kevin Ayers
10. Again & Again - The Greatest Show On Earth

LP 2:
1. Water - Third Ear Band
2. Terrapin - Syd Barrett
3. A Glade Somewhere - Forest
4. Golden Country Kingdom - Pete Brown
5. Round & Round - Panama Ltd*
6. Black Sheep Of The Family - Quatermass*
7. Postcards Of Scarborough - Michael Chapman
8. Maybe My Mind - Tea & Sympathy
9. Old Gopher - Edgar Broughton Band

The original Harvest label double sampler 'Picnic - a Breath of Fresh Air' was the first record I ever bought. It cost 29/11d (£1.49 to you kids) and didn't leave my Dansette turntable for a month or more. I know every track off by heart and still play the vinyl on a regular basis 37 years after I bought it.It was a perfect snapshot of the music of the time and I aspired to buy every LP that was featured on the sampler. Many were bought - some subsequently re-sold - and a few retained. Would that I had kept them all - Record Collector magazine tells me that I could pay off my mortgage with the proceeds of the sale of a collection of the original vinyls. I have waited years for a CD re-issue to emerge. Having set the scene, you can, perhaps, imagine my disappointment with this issue which uses part of the title, part of the iconic Hipgnosis album sleeve and only a tiny amount of the original music. Nevertheless, setting aside my personal disappointment, this is a fair reflection of the 'Glory Years' of the Harvest Label, and if you missed the bus last time, get on board as soon as you can...

in 1970, Harvest released 'Picnic- a Breath of Fresh Air', a 19 track double LP, showcasing a selection of their artists, including progressive acts such as Barclay James Harvest, Deep Purple and Kevin Ayers. The album has since become a sought after rarity amongst record collectors, primarily due to the (reportedly accidental) inclusion of 'Embryo' - a demo version of a song by Pink Floyd. Although the song was played frequently at Pink Floyd live concerts, it was never released on any album until 1983, where the same demo appeared on the PF compilation 'Works'.

This 3CD set is strange bird indeed, in the sense that it shares most of the title of the original (- the word Picnic is missing), the album cover is the same, and most of the groups that contributed to the original release are also featured here.

Be warned however, that the material itself bears very little resemblance to the original 'Picnic': with the exception of 'Round and Round', 'Black Sheep' - and of course 'Embryo', this collection is all new material.

The tracks on offer here are not bad, and one might consider it a part II inspired by the original. I doubt however, that the material is strong enough to make any lasting impact today.

Listeners who have an interest in early 70s progressive rock will probably enjoy this collection, but Picnic it ain't.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Picnic...no
Oh Dear!...I found this CD very disappointing!...not a patch on the Picnic album ....lacks the atmosphere of the original. I am sure the sequence of tracks were important ! Read more

Published 4 months ago by Mr. David B. Gwilliam

3.0 out of 5 stars A partial delusion
I don't know why,but in the '80s I sold this compilation,in Catania,Sicily.I've been waiting for the exact remastered re-issuing of an album that I bought in London for a very... Read more

Published on 8 Feb 2010 by Pietro Silvestri

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Lookback at Harvest
I remember buying the original 'Picnic - A Breath of Fresh Air' for 29s11d (£1-50p) and playing it alongside the other excellent sampler albums such as 'Nice Enough to Eat' and... Read more

Published on 21 May 2008 by N. Mason

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories of a time when music was magical.
I love these samplers. This is a 3 CD set from Harvest who were EMI's "progressive" arm. During the 1970's the label was the home for some of the top names of the genre and a... Read more

Published on 2 Oct 2007 by K. A. Lay

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