Harvest Festival was a luxury 5CD Box Set celebrating the EMI imprint Harvest Records from 1969 to 1979. It came with a vinyl sized 120-page hardback book.
This is part of my series ‘unboxing’ Box Sets which are now out of print. This is to help collectors who may be looking for these items on Discogs or Ebay. I also hope they are of interest for music fans who just like seeing this stuff! Who knows maybe it will generate a bit of interest so they are themselves re-issued in the future.
Edited Video Transcript Below
There was a time when boxsets were the same size as a vinyl album, two of the most famous ones were The Allman Brothers Dreams Box Set which I have covered in an unboxing video before (click here) and the Led Zeppelin Box Set. There is something very luxurious about a boxset that is done in this way. This particular box set only had 5CDs but it is the whole package and tremendous book that makes this so collectable. Plus it is a beautiful item to have in your collection.
Full marks to EMI who felt that their progressive imprint Harvest Records deserved this sort of attention. I really wish Island Records had done something like this as they alongside Harvest really were the king of samplers/compilations back in the day.
The outside cover depicts various recording artists from the Harvest Label in a pseudo greek / roman painting. You may recognise Rick Wright, Roger Waters, Bill Nelson, Pete Brown, Edgar Broughton, Steve Broughton, Glen Sweeney, Roy Wood, David Gilmour, Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Ritchie Blackmore, Arthur Grant, Kevin Ayers, Michael Chapman, Roya Harper and Shirley Collins.
As you open the cover you see the first 4 CDs, the 5th one is tucked in the back cover. This key thing I want to show you in these videos is exactly what is inside as I know on eBay you generally get a photo of the front and back. The first thing I want to say is the paper stock is top-notch and adds to the feel that this is a quality item.
One way of describing this box set would be to imagine an album size book on Harvest Records that comes with CDs! The book could be sold separately it is that good! I mean who doesn’t like to browse through life-size images of classic and rare album sleeves.
I have included the full tracklist at the bottle of this page and you can see they mixed classic tracks with those that could be found deep within each bands catalogue.
There are many essays within the book which is sprinkled with lots of memorabilia from the time. Apart from the obvious story of the label, there are features by Roy Wood, Bill Nelson, Ashley Hutchings, Kevon Ayers, Wooly Wolstenholme, and many others, there is also a section of Quadraphonic sound and full illustrated album and singles discography at the back. So if you want to collect every release on Harvest Records, this is a perfect checklist.
As you turn the pages you can sense of the golden age of collecting records as each iconic sleeve passes in front of your eyes. The photography is just fantastic and the full page photos get you as close to holding the real album as is possible from a book.
Harvest Festival is a classic box set from a classic era of boxsets and is highly recommended.
Boxset/Compilation, released in 1999
Songs / Tracks Listing
CD 1
1. Edgar Broughton Band – Evil
2. Michael Chapman – It Didn’t Work Out
3. Deep Purple – Wring That Neck
4. Roy Harper – Tom Tiddler’s Ground
5. Pete Brown And His Battered Ornaments – Morning Call
6. Third Ear Band – Stone Circle
7. Greatest Show On Earth – Real Cool World
8. Syd Barrett – Octopus
9. Panama Limited Jug Band – Round And Round
10. Barclay James Harvest – Mother Dear
11. Tea & Symphony – Maybe My Mind (With Egg)
12. Michael Chapman – Postcards Of Scarborough
13. Forest – A Glade Somewhere
14. Edgar Broughton Band – Out Demon’s Out
15. Pete Brown & Piblokto – Living Life Backwards
16. Quatermass – Black Sheep Of The Family
17. Bakerloo – Big Bear Ffolly
18. The Pretty Things – The Good Mr Square
19. Kevin Ayers – The Lady Rachel
20. Shirley & Dolly Collins – A Foresaking – Our Captain Cried
CD 2
1. Deep Purple – Speed King
2. Pete Brown and Piblokto – Things May Come And Things May Go But The Art School Dance Goes On Forever
3. Edgar Broughton Band – Apache Drop Out
4. Climax Chicago Blues Band – Everyday
5. Kevin Ayers – Butterfly Dance
6. Barclay James Harvest – Mocking Bird
7. Michael Chapman – Kodak Ghosts
8. The Move – The Words Of Aaron
9. Deep Purple – Fireball
10. Electric Light Orchestra – 10538 Overture
11. Ron Geesin & Roger Waters – Breathe
12. Barclay James Harvest – Medicine Man
13. Kevin Ayers And The Whole World – Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes
14. Michael Chapman – Fennario
15. Roy Harper – The Same Old Rock
16. Edgar Broughton Band – Hotel Room
17. Syd Barrett – Effervescing Elephant
18. Kevin Ayers – Song From The Bottom Of A Wall
CD 3
1. Pink Floyd – Money
2. Roy Harper – South Africa
3. Kevin Ayers – Interview
4. Babe Ruth – The Mexican
5. The Move – Do Ya
6. Southern Comfort – Something Said
7. Be-Bop Deluxe – Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape
8. Roy Wood – Dear Elaine
9. Kevin Ayers – Take Me To Tahiti
10. Edgar Broughton Band – Things On My Mind
11. Babe Ruth – Hombre De La Guitarre (from Amar Caballero)
12. Roy Harper – Another Day (live)
13. Electric Light Orchestra – Roll Over Beethoven
14. Be-Bop Deluxe – Maid In Heaven
15. Climax Chicago – You Make Me Sick
16. Electric Light Orchestra – Showdown
17. Wizzard – Ball Park Incident
18. Roy Harper – I’ll See You Again
CD 4
1. The Albion Band – Poor Old Horse
2. Martin Carthy – Old Hog Or None
3. The Albion Dance Band – Hopping Down In Kent
4. Ashley Hutchings – Postmans Knock
5. Gryphon – Spring Song
6. Unicorn – Have You Ever Seen The Rain
7. Be-Bop Deluxe – Fair Exchange
8. Kevin Ayers – Ballad Of A Salesman Who Sold Himself
9. Be-Bop Deluxe – Electric Language
10. David Gilmour – Short And Sweet
11. Roy Harper – When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease
12. The Saints – Erotic Neurotic
13. Wire – Reuters
14. The Saints – (This) Perfect Day
15. The Shirts – Lonely Android
16. The Banned – Little Girl
17. Wire – I Should Have Known Better
18. The Saints – Swing For The Crime
19. Bill Nelson’s Red Noise – Revolt Into Style
20. Wire – A Touching Display
CD 5
1. Deep Purple – Black Night
2. Pete Brown & Piblokto – Flying Hero Sandwich
3. The Move – California Man
4. Greatest Show On Earth – Magic Woman Touch
5. Kevin Ayers – Caribbean Moon
6. Trinidad Oil Company – The Calendar Song
7. Matumbi – Rock
8. Wire – I Am The Fly
9. Ivor Cutler – Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol 2 (excerpt)
10. Vivian Stanshall And Kilgarron – The Young Ones
11. Spontaneous Combustion – Sabre Dance
12. Be-Bop Deluxe – Ships In The Night
13. Bombadil – Breathless
14. Marshall Hain – Dancing In The City
15. Bill Nelson’s Red Noise – Radar In My Heart
16. Strapps – Child Of The City
17. Deep Purple – Hallelujah
18. Babe Ruth – Wells Fargo
19. Professor Longhair – Mess Around
20. Syd Barrett – Golden Hair
21. Edgar Broughton Band – Up Yours
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
