Gone to Earth is the eighth studio album by the English rock group Barclay James Harvest released in 1977.

Background

"Poor Man's Moody Blues" was written after a journalist angered the band by referring to Barclay James Harvest as a "poor man's Moody Blues". In response, guitarist John Lees wrote a song which sounded like the Moody Blues song " Nights in White Satin", but in fact was cleverly not the same - the words would not fit.

Justin Hayward David Justin Hayward (born 14 October 1946) is an English musician best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the rock band the Moody Blues. Hayward became the group's principal lead guitarist and vocalist over the 1967–1974 ...

was not pleased; meeting him years later, bassist Les Holroyd apologised for it. Other songs on the album deal with subjects like ended relationships ("Friend of Mine"), alienation ("Leper's Song") the exploitation of animals for their fur ("Spirit on the Water") and the

space race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the t ...

("Sea of Tranquility"). The album's title, ''Gone to Earth,'' refers to the fox hunter's cry used to indicate that the quarry has returned to its lair. The original LP version of the album, designed by Maldwyn Tootill, featured die-cut outer cover and full-color inner album sleeve. On one side of the inner sleeve was an owl (as shown in the picture); on the other side was a picture of a sunset. The inner sleeve could be reversed so that either side would be displayed through the die cut.

Reception

''Gone to Earth'' reached #30 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

; in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

it peaked at #10 and stayed for 197 weeks in the

German album charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustr ...

. As of 2011 it is ranked #6 on the list of longest running albums in the German album charts. Only the ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'' soundtrack and albums by Simon & Garfunkel (''Greatest Hits''),

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

(''1962–1966''), Pink Floyd (''Wish You Were Here'') and Andrea Berg (''Best Of'') spent more weeks in the charts. It was the band's largest selling album, eventually selling more than a million copies worldwide. ''Hymn'' (often misinterpreted as a Christian song but actually a song against the dangers of drug use and dedicated to musicians like Jimi Hendrix,

Paul Kossoff Paul Francis Kossoff (14 September 1950 – 19 March 1976) was an English guitarist, mainly known as the co-founder and guitarist for the rock band Free. He was ranked number 51 in ''Rolling Stone''s list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All ...

and Janis Joplin)Information about the song hymn
/ref> was a successful turntable hit at German radio stations in the late 1970s.

Track listing

Personnel

;Barclay James Harvest * John Lees –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s *

Les Holroyd Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), a ...

– vocals, bass, guitars,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme – vocals, mellotron, keyboards *

Mel Pritchard Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), a ...

– drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Information about the album
{{Authority control 1977 albums Barclay James Harvest albums Polydor Records albums Albums recorded at Strawberry Studios