Alpha
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' (FM, tenor): with a triple
ending ... 'eye in the middle, eye in the middle, eye in the middle of
my head' |
(No More) Fear of Flying
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' (FM, alto): guitar solo from TR, and a
brilliant alto break from FM |
McGreggor
[Brooker /
Reid] |
'Kings' (FM, bones, tambourine):
starts with evocation of Highland pipes, as with The Piper's Tune
of yore. Very faithful to the early PH version, inc. the syncopated
ending |
Salad Days (Are Here Again)
[Brooker / Reid] |
Just Brooker and Phillips; lost first verse beginning
'Take the ice-cream from my shoes' (as sung to fans by GB on the balcony
at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, summer 2003) |
The Milk of Human Kindness
[Brooker / Reid] |
This song was scheduled for Friday
20 July, but omitted: Most of the 'Queens' team knew it well; MW learnt
it from an iPod just before the gig, and a tentative quality was
apparent, and understandable, in the drumming |
A Rum Tale
[Brooker /
Reid] |
'Queens'; pretty much the standard Procol version.
This is not a lost song of Brooker / Reid, but it certainly is a rare
song, however frequently it's played. |
I Realise
/ Understandably Blue
[Brooker /
Reid] |
GB, solo (the setlist showed
Understandably Blue). Quite a delicate song which would have suited
Petula Clark rather well, had she but heard it. Faintly reminiscent of
The Exodus Song at its opening. [The idea of the Procol Rarum
show was born, incidentally, one February afternoon after GB played this
very early Brooker / Reid song to RC from BtP] |
Victims of the Fury
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' (TR steel-strung acoustic guitar; FM, tenor):
first verse just piano and voice. A fine vocal performance throughout,
whereas it has sounded quite strained with Procol from time to time, as
it's pitched very high. GB points out that Robin Trower set these Reid
words first. |
Alaskan King Fever
[Brooker] |
'Kings' (TR steel-strung acoustic
guitar; FM, tenor): song introduced by GB as a kind of follow-up to
The Angler: he was in the tundra trying to prevent a mighty salmon
pursuing its ancestral breeding path – 'I felt so ashamed that I was
forced to write a song'. |
Bird Island
[Brooker] |
'Kings' (TR electric guitar; FM, alto): not a
Brooker/Reid song, since GB has not yet selected Reid words to go with
it. Attractive melodic piece with the vocal line taken by TR, FM
providing a counterpoint. |
One Eye on the Future
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Queens': this has become a
familiar song to the cognoscenti, but it's still something of a lost
number and obviously deserves to be recorded. The bridge passage,
occurring twice, is less harmonically interesting than it was in last
century's arrangement: but it's still a fine song. |
Something Following Me
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Queens': the song is back in the Procol repertoire,
where it belongs. Nice performance, not any kind of retread of the 1967
recording: much more of a vehicle for soloing, which was well-received. |
Yours if You Want Me
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' minus TR; FM alto, Bronzie
on electric upright bass, and featuring Dave Ball on his 1958 model Les
Paul (Gibson Custom Shop Historic Model Number LPR-8, Serial number 8
7231 for those who need to know these things!). Great R'n'B feel here,
the whole piece being a cousin of Hootchie Cootchie Man. Witty,
self-deprecating lyric: did I hear 'jazz' rhymed with 'spaz'? Ball on
top form and very warmly received by the audience, many of whom had also
heard him play with the Palers' Band earlier in the day. |
Dancing Underneath the Moon
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' (FM soprano, TR v nice lead gtr,
Bronzie elec. upright bass). The lost film-score item, very much a genre
piece, played romantically and attractively. [The piano on stage
belonged to Roland from BtP and, through an oversight, it was still
loaded with his sounds from the Palers' Project set (warm-up, before
this show): consequently the Commander had to rummage about a bit to
find the electric piano sound he wanted for this number, which it
anachronistically suits] |
Chasing the Chop
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' (FM tenor, TR lead, Bronzie
bass guitar). Or is it Chasing for the Chop? Splendid
song, played with committed, chugging verve (had been heard over and
over at soundcheck, incidentally). |
Poison Ivy
[Leiber /
Stoller] |
'Kings' as above. By no means a rare song, nor by
Brooker/Reid! This iconic item was the decisive watershed by which we
knew we had shifted from a Procol emporium into a No Stiletto Shoe-shop |
|
Presentation, by Roland
and Jens from 'Beyond the Pale' on behalf of Procol Harum fans
worldwide,
of two
Bristol blue glass trophies for Gary Brooker and Keith Reid,
commemorating over forty years of Unique Entertainment.
The boxed plaques were brought on stage by Al Edelist in 'One Eye Pizza
Delivery' tee-shirt
Full details here |
War is not Healthy
[Brooker / Reid] |
'Kings' + 'Queens'; the two bands combine on a
protracted work-out version of this 2003 Procol stage number; it works
very well for a party-style climax and there was plenty of dancing and
singing along. Of all the styles visited in tonight's show, this was the
least Procolian, oddly enough. It was such a good ending to the show
that the scheduled Shake, Rattle and Roll (which had been
extensively rehearsed) would have been entirely redundant. |
