Salvo are finally starting to release the long promised Procol Harum 40th Anniversary remasters. If the sound is as good as their Move releases, we are in for a treat! The first two are due 6 April.
PROCOL HARUM
Their music was a particularly majestic hybrid. Keith Reid s expansive, highly cinematic lyrics crowned an instantly identifiable sound. Strong R n B influences were integrated with classical themes. Gary Brooker s blue-eyed soul vocals were accompanied by a hallmark dual keyboard sound (a Steinway grand piano and a Hammond organ), bluesy guitar playing, rock-inspired percussion and melodic bass lines, forming the essence of a uniquely British ensemble. Salvo, in association with Fly Records, have enlisted the assistance of songwriters and band mainstays Gary Brooker and Keith Reid in presenting the Procol Harum’s early albums as a part of their meticulously produced 40th Anniversary Series. Procol s classic recordings are to be collated chronologically for the first time accompanied by copious bonus tracks – including previously unreleased masters – and generous, highly detailed booklets. A wonderful album that built on the lavish promise of their first two singles, which weren t originally included, and proved very influential in its own right, Procol Harum s eponymous long-playing debut is here augmented by the inclusion of the timeless A Whiter Shade of Pale, the follow-up smash Homburg and a variety of rare and previously unreleased cuts selected by Gary Brooker. If any song can be said to encapsulate an era – to immediately conjure up the sights, sounds and smells of a particular time – then A Whiter Shade Of Pale is surely that song. For a whole generation A WHITER SHADE OF PALE remains the emblematic anthem of that Summer of Love. And even now, 40 years on, the song remains a haunting tale of mystery and imagination. Thanks to the extraordinary success of A WHITER SHADE OF PALE, the recording of the album had to be staggered, slotted in between a hectic round of one-nighters all over the UK. And when it hit No.5 in the US during the summer of 1967, transatlantic travel had to be factored in too. After such an interrupted gestation it would not have been at all surprising if the LP had lacked continuity, but in fact Procol Harum is a remarkably cohesive record. The foundations for a whole school of specifically English rock music were laid by A WHITER SHADE OF PALE and by the tracks on this album. Even the album s cover managed to capture the spirit of the times. Drawn in the style of Aubrey Beardsley, the illustration was perfectly in keeping with the faux-Victorian flavour established by Sgt Pepper and here we have used the rare pink Italian version.
1. Conquistador
2. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
3. Something Following Me
4. Mabel
5. Cerdes (outside the gates of)
6. A Christmas Camel
7. Kaleidoscope
8. Salad Days (are here again)
9. Good Captain Clack
10. Repent Walpurgis
11. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
12. Lime Street Blues
13. Homburg (single version)
14. Good Captain Clack (single version)
15. Il Tuo Diamante (Italian single promo version)
16. Understandably Blue (stereo)
17. Pandora s Box (version 1: backing track) (stereo)
18. Alpha (stereo)
19. Conquistador (stereo)
20. She Wandered Through The garden Fence (stereo)
21. Homburg (album version) (stereo)
Procol Harum (40th anniversary series)
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SHINE ON BRIGHTLY
Salvo, in association with Fly Records, have enlisted the assistance of songwriters and band mainstays Gary Brooker and Keith Reid in presenting Procol Harum’s early albums as a part of their meticulously produced 40th Anniversary Series. Procol’s classic recordings are to be collated chronologically for the first time accompanied by copious bonus tracks – including previously unreleased masters – and highly detailed booklets. In 1968, with their reputation in the ascendant, and having just signed to Herb Alpert’s A&M label in the USA, it was decided that the band s second album should be released in the States a good six months before the UK. It proved a good decision – and by the end of 1968, Shine On Brightly had reached No.24 on the US album charts. This would be the album that cemented Procol Harum’s position as one of the most imaginative and forward-looking groups of the era – a band more than capable of emerging from the shadow of their debut single, A Whiter Shade Of Pale. With the success of Shine On Brightly, musical comparisons were being drawn between Procol Harum and The Band. Both groups relied on the same line-up of organ, piano, guitar, bass and drums. And with the release of their own Music From Big Pink in the summer of 1968, The Band were finally being recognised as more than just Bob Dylan’s backing group. Some perceptive critics noted the influence of Procol Harum on Big Pink; while Shine On Brightly – a far more assured and confident sounding album than their debut – confirmed how much further Procol themselves had developed. Opening with Quite Rightly So (Procol’s third single), Shine On Brightly displayed a band at the top of their game and determined to stay there. Keith Reid’s lyrics, as inscrutable as ever, were particularly impressive on the title track, Skip Softly (My Moonbeams), and Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone). But in hindsight, it was the 17 minute In Held Twas In I which would prove the album’s most influential track. Divided into five movements, the song starts with Glimpses Of Nirvana, a wry spiritual quest; continues with the sprightly Twas Teatime At The Circus, which is at direct odds with the sombre In The Autumn Of My Madness, which in turn flows into Look To Your Soul before concluding with the triumphant Grand Finale. In later years Pete Townshend would cite In Held Twas In I as one of the building blocks which helped fashion Tommy; while Brian May maintained that the Procol suite had played a formative role in the Queen sound – indeed, there are distinct echoes of In Held Twas In I in the scene-shifting Bohemian Rhapsody.
1. Quite rightly so
2. Shine on brightly
3. Skip softly (My moonbeams)
4. Wish me well
5. Rambling on
6. Magdalene (My regal Zonophone)
7. In Held twas in I (Glimpses of Nirvana)
8. In Held twas in I ( Twas teatime at the Circus)
9. In Held twas in I (In the Autumn of my Madness)
10. In Held twas in I (Look to your Soul)
11. In Held twas in I (Grande Finale)
12. Quite rightly so (single version)
13. In the wee small hours of Sixpence (single mix)
14. Monsieur Armand
15. Seem to have the Blues (Most all the time)
16. McGreggor
17. The Gospel according to…
18. Shine on brightly (early version)
19. Magdalene (My regal Zonophone) (early version)
20. A Robe of Silk (backing track)
21. Monsieur Armand (backing track)
22. In the wee small hours of Sixpence (backing track)
Shine on brightly (40th anniversary series)
Buy your copy in our store or buy it here
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