Procol Harum: a Breath of FreshEar

Matt Russell, FreshEar Records

The problem with reissues of classic albums, we're often told, is that fans have heard them before ... why would they want to hear them again?

As a reissues specialist we at FreshEar believe we have the answer, and that our approach will bring a breath of FreshEar unto your nightly listening.

Familiarity, they say, breeds contempt ... a motto for the masses. But conversely Unfamiliarity breeds Content. You get it? We'll say it again: Unfamiliarity breeds Content. That is our motto here at FreshEar.

Our Procol Harum reissue series, All This and Then Some, comes with a very special opening offer ... more details below. But first, whetten up your appetite with these track-listings ...

PHASE ONE
(immediate release)

All This and Then Some, Album 1
Conquistador / Quite Rightly So / A Salty Dog / Whisky Train / Simple Sister / Grand Hotel / Nothing But the Truth / Pandora’s Box / Something Magic / The Truth Won't Fade Away / An Old English Dream / I Told on You

This may well look like a 'Greatest Hits' album, and that's a good thing (tho' we know some great fans of this band will immediately spot what we're doing): we kick off the All This and Then Some series with a record everyone – man, woman and child – will want in their collection, on their turntable, in the car, in the other car, etc.

Phase One continues with ...

Album 2, of which the contents may seem a little more off-the-wall, but which still deserves a place in ev'ry home ... perhaps in the boudoir, even, in view of the particular slant of some of the more suggestive tracks.

All This and Then Some, Album 2
She Wandered through the Garden Fence / Shine on Brightly / The Milk of Human Kindness / Dead Man’s Dream / Broken Barricades / Toujours l’Amour / Beyond the Pale / Fool’s Gold / Skating on Thin Ice / Holding On / Shadow Boxed / Last Chance Motel

PHASE TWO
Phase two will follow in late summer, by which time we assume all fans will have realized what's going on, and what the criteria are for selection of tracks

All This and Then Some, Album 3
Something Following Me / Skip Softly (My Moonbeams) / Too Much Between Us / Still There’ll be More / Memorial Drive / A Rum Tale / As Strong as Samson / Taking the Time / Wizard Man / Man With A Mission / A Robe of Silk / Image of the Beast

All This and Then Some, Album 4
Mabel / Wish me Well / The Devil Came from Kansas / Nothing that I didn’t Know / Luskus Delph / TV Ceasar / The Idol / The Unquiet Zone / The Mark of the Claw / (You Can't) Turn Back The Page / The Blink of an Eye / Soldier

All This and Then Some, Album 5
Cerdes (Outside the Gates of) / Rambling On / Boredom / About to Die / Power Failure / A Souvenir of London / The Thin End of the Wedge / The Final Thrust / Strangers in Space / One More Time / The VIP Room / Don’t Get Caught

Yes, you guessed it! The FreshEar principle ... successfully applied already to the back catalogues of artists as diverse as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, Cressida, The Nice, The Doors, The Move, The Who, The Monosyllables, The Hefties, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, The Lemon Pipers, Throbbing Gristle, The Monkees, Prong, Crass, The Nolan Sisters, Billy-Joe McAllister, The Runaways, Bigfoot ... is simply to regroup bands' songs, and present them in an unfamiliar order.

Away from their one-time track-neighbors, old songs sound real fresh.

That is our motto here at FreshEar.

PHASE THREE
Phase three will be with you in, or by, early Fall

As before, Album Six will have all the Procol Harum songs that were track #6 on their original albums, Album 7 will have all the songs that were originally track #7 on their original albums. Put it another way, the first track on each of our discs is always from the artist's début album, the second track is from their original second album, and so on. Easy, and Fresh.

Please note that the integrity of the artist's oeuvre is not compromized in any way because the songs are still presented in the correct order. in other words Juicy John Pink still follows Boredom, for instance: they're just on different albums. And every album plays chronologically, to enhance the listening pleasure for discerning customers and their nearest and/or dearest.

All This and Then Some, Album 6
A Christmas Camel / Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone) / Juicy John Pink / Barnyard Story / Song For a Dreamer / Bringing Home the Bacon / M. R Monde / (blank track) / Introduction, Menace, Occupation / A Dream In Ev'ry Home / The Question / Neighbour

PHASE FOUR
Phase four is scheduled for the Christmas market, with timely release dates in October, November, etc

Here at FreshEar we pay every bit as much attention to the appearance of our albums as to the sound quality. We make no unverifiable claims, that tracks are remastered from original sources, or freshly mixed by boffins with groundbreaking analysers and so on. But we do claim that every album we release will have a brand-new cover, and that the cover art will be a joy and a jewel in your home and your heart. A renowned and glamorous artist is currently perfecting the album-cover set, and exquisite thumbnails will be available shortly.

All This and Then Some, Album 7
Kaleidoscope / In the Darkness / Held Close / Wreck of the Hesperus / Piggy Pig Pig / Playmate of the Mouth / For Liquorice John / Fresh Fruit / Without a Doubt / Enervation, Expectancy, Battle / The Hand That Rocks The Cradle / This World is Rich (for Stephen Maboe) / Sunday Morning

All This and Then Some, Album 8
Salad Days (are Here again) / 'Twas Teatime at the Circus / All This and More / Whaling Stories / Poor Mohammed / Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) / Butterfly Boys / The Piper’s Tune / Regeneration, Epilogue / The King Of Hearts / Fellow Travellers / Businessman

Which album is your favorite thus far? Crazy, isn't it, how fresh they all sound! And that's before you've even heard them!

PHASE FIVE
Phase five will be released on Boxing Day, 2018, and with it a very special special offer (see above)

Order the whole series up front, and you will be sent, free of charge, and by express courier to your door, a beautiful display-frame handcrafted, by native workers, from South American precious woods (ebony, iroko, mahogany and so on, subject to availability and demand). Each frame is fronted with toughened one-way glass and contains 13 squares, 12 x 12 cm in dimension, into which the new artwork may be slid. The whole frame not only hangs on the wall (fitting kit provided). It also offers the possibility of re-ordering the CD sleeves weekly, to harmonize with your ever-changing mood and lifestyle.

All This and Then Some, Album 9
Good Captain Clack / In the Autumn of my Madness / Crucifiction Lane / Your Own Choice / (blank track) / Robert’s Box / New Lamps for Old / Typewriter Torment / (blank track) / All Our Dreams Are Sold / The Wall Street Blues / Can’t Say That

All This and Then Some, Album 10
Repent Walpurgis / Look to Your Soul / Pilgrim’s Progress / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / Perpetual Motion / The Emperor's New Clothes / The Only One

PHASE SIX
Phase six will be the highlight of Spring 2019

With these important Phase Six albums we shall be including retrospective liner notes for the whole series. These have already been commissioned from a trusted provincial pedagogue and they will be exactingly written, packed with compulsively anal detail and made-up trivia, and will be ready in time for Valentine's Day. In order to ensure freshness these screeds will be treated in the same way as the original albums, chopped up / churned out in a fresh, alphabetical sequence, with no loss of intelligibility whatsoever. Indeed, readers will be able to see and enjoy how often particular Procol Harum buzz-words – 'integrity', 'oeuvre', 'searing', 'soaring', 'cryptic', 'Shakespeare', 'Bible', 'Kafka', 'wordplay', 'symbol', 'ostinato', 'subdominant', 'lawsuit', 'dramatic', 'gusto', 'Wilson', and so on – have been used, as all instances will occur together, grouped throughout as in dictionary order.

All This and Then Some, Album 11
(blank track) / Grand Finale / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / Learn To Fly / So Far Behind / Somewhen

All This and Then Some, Album 12
(blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / The Pursuit Of Happiness / Every Dog Will Have His Day / (blank track)

All This and Then Some, Album 13
(blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / (blank track) / Weisselklenzenacht / (blank track)

The blank tracks will in general be a standardized 4m 23 seconds, which is the average length of a Procol Harum number. At FreshEar, though, we're not dumb, and we realise that buyers of Albums 11, 12 and 13 may find the increasing silence tiresome, so from Album 11 we plan to reduce the running time of the empty tracks to 3m 36 seconds, which is the average length of a Harum single.

Album 12 will be a two-track EP, padded out with alternative mixes in Dflat of the familiar numbers, and Album 13, which necessarily features but a single Harum track, will be a flimsy throwaway flexidisc of the same quality as the Beatles' Christmas Records, and is certain to be a sought-after collector's item in centuries to come. Just cut out the cardboard coupons from the front artwork of each preceding CD in the series, send them to us here in Haapsalu, and the flexidisc – its flipside containing several similar instrumentals by different artists – will be mailed to you via our drones, in time for Easter 2020, no questions asked.

Click here to order your display panel, so you can get it fixed to the thickest wall in your condo, ready for the arrival of the first of these unforgettably marvelous CD reissues!

More Procol Features at this website