Tracklist:
CD1:	CD2:
1. Yellow Roses Written by R. Apps	1. Madman Written by G.T. Moore
2. Car Crash Written by R. Apps, T. Pook	2. Take Me Back Home Written by R. Apps
3. Harlequin 2 Written by G.T. Moore	3. Love 13 (Lone) Written by T. Pook
4. Smiling Ladies Written by R. Apps	4. Something Inside Written by R. Apps
5. Little Boy Written by G.T. Moore	5. Miss Kiss Written by G.T. Moore
6. Sally Goodin Written by W. Guthrie	6. John Brown Written by B. Dylan
7. Upon Reflection Written by R. Apps	7. Big A Written by G.T. Moore
8. Lord & Master Written by Collins, T. Pook	8. Winter Harlequin Written by G.T. Moore/p>
9. Little Angel Written by R. Apps	9. The Sound Of Music Written by G.T. Moore
10. Goodbye Written by G.T. Moore	10. Your Love And Mine Written by R. Apps
11. For You Written by R. Apps	11. You Really Got A Hold On Me Written by W. Robinson
12. Sally Goodin Written by W. Guthrie	12. The Great Dust Storm Written by W. Guthrie
13. Carnaval & Penitence Written by G.T. Moore, T. Pook	13. My Turn To Cry Written by G.T. Moore
14. Harlequin 2 Written by G.T. Moore	14. This Old Heart Of Mine Written by Dozier, Holland
15. Rosalind Written by T. Pook	15. Minstrel And A King Written by G.T. Moore
16. Bye And Bye Written by G.T. Moore	16. Getting 'Em Down Written by R. Apps
17. Through Time Written by G.T. Moore	17. I Wouldn't Mind Written by G.T. Moore
18. Only A Hobo Written by B. Dylan	18. He's A Poor Boy Written by R. Apps
19. I'm Ready To Leave Written by T. Pook	19. The Devil Written by G.T. Moore
20. River Of Fortune Written by R. Apps	20. Wanderer Written by T. Pook
21. Some Kinda Big Thing Written by G.T. Moore	21. Harlequin 5 Written by G.T. Moore
22. If It's Love Written by R. Apps

 

 

 

I was delighted when I found this new compilation, which begins with the first album in toto. Here's the sole review at Amazon, which sums things up nicely: I can't believe how good this album is - imagine if in the summer 1970 Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles and Crowded House (no kidding) got together and recorded a hazy summer filled acoustic album in a field complete with heavenly vocal harmonics and real background bird song and field sounds - this album is that and more. You will NOT be disappointed, a true gem of a find; how this band didn't end up massive is a true mystery to me. I'll put money on it being your new fave album within 10 minutes of listening.
Apart from the delight of being reunited with old friends who haven't lost their charm, it's also very instructive to compare the songs from the first album with their other material. Most fascinating from my point of view is "Harlequin 2 (long version)", an alternate take of this exquisite song. I remember from the penny concert when Gerald Moore introduced it by saying that "harlequin is such a lovely word" - so much so that he wrote several numbered Harlequin songs. After the song part of H2 ends, there is a brief pause and then a longish (by Heron standards) instrumental section, followed by variations on the song's chorus. The instrumental section is adorned by several instruments being played out of time, explaining why the song was cut at the end of the vocal section and so appeared enigmatic. I wrote that this is an alternate take; it may be the same basic take as the final version, but mixed slightly differently and without the Hammond organ overdubs, which give the lie to the "recorded live in a field" statement. Actually, H2 is the only song which sounds as if overdubs were added.

I am reminded of the quote which I put in the 'River of fortune' review: we shortened a couple of the original recordings because of cock-ups. The out of time instrumental contributions certainly fall into the cock-up category.

There is another extra song, 'Rosalind', which sounds like the other songs on the first album. In my review I compared Heron to Crosby, Stills and Nash, but this song sounds much more like Simon and Garfunkel. In fact, listening to the entire first album reveals a division in sound between two camps: on the one hand there are Roy Apps and Tony Pook, whereas on the other hand there is Gerald Moore. The Apps/Pook songs have two part harmonies and are gentle (for example, "Car crash", "For you"), whereas the Moore songs tend to be more adventurous musically (the aforementioned "Harlequin 2") and sound closer to pop. The best songs, naturally, are when everybody contributes fully.

This division becomes clearer on the second album, when bass and drums were added to the Heron mix (and I can also hear electric guitar here and there). All the charm of the first album has been lost, replaced by some homogenous acoustic pop sound which is not particularly good. I have only listened to a few of the songs from the second album; those which included on the 'Best of' compilation are similar but not as good as those from the first album, and those which weren't included are dissimilar and nowhere as good.

It seems very much like I am going to confine my listening to the first album and recommend it to everyone
by  N. Newman, 2009