Within Our House

Gary Brooker – Piano, vocal Mark Brzezicki – Percussion Michael Bywater – Church Organ Dave Bronze – Bass Robbie McIntosh – Acoustic Guitar The Chameleon Arts Chorus, Chorus Master: Andrew Phillips The Chameleon Arts String Quartet Producer – Gary Brooker

On 28th September 1996, a crowd gathered at the beautiful 13th Century church of St Mary & All Saints in rural Surrey, England. The purpose was to rehearse and then perform two concerts in aid of church funds, the music varying from pastoral to gospel but all 'deemed appropriate'!

The choir (numbering 16), string quartet, and organist were reading from music prepared in the weeks before by Gary Brooker, whilst the front line 'rock band' played ad lib on acoustic instruments. The rector, the Revd. Geoffrey Willis, had managed to squeeze an audience of 150 into the ancient pews, half local congregation and half 'rock fans', and with 25 performers and the necessary staging and equipment, the little church was bursting at its sacred seams!
In the days before, Gary had decided to arrange a mobile recorder in case the unique evening turned out to be worth saving. As with any 'one-off' effort, total perfection is not the objective, but rather to communicate to everybody present what live music is all about – Enjoying Yourself! and so bumps, groans, jokes, tuning, flying insects, and musical hesitancies, are all included as they happened, and as they were experienced by everybody that night.

The magnificent walls, arches, and windows of St Mary & All Saints have surely heard many sounds and words over its 700 year history, but as the echoes faded into the dark corners that night, it must have felt that something special had happened – it had – Within Our House.

NB The original liner note doesn't specify the exact location of 'St Mary & All Saints in rural Surrey' ... it's at Dunsfold, the village where Gary and Franky Brooker were living at the time.
 

You can order this album from Amazon by following these links: Amazon USA or Amazon UK

If you are planning to buy Within our House, there are still copies of the original recording available from Gary himself; the Repertoire re-issue liner suggests that the original edition is sold out but BtP understands (April 1998) that this is not yet the case.