Procol HarumBeyond
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Oleh Bandura writes to
BtP,
I've come across an unlikely source/context for a Procol review,
and finding it here should indicate how viable is Procol's appeal.
In the latest issue of Psychotronic Video (#31) there's a
review of PH's Musikladen video.
Psychotronic Video is a magazine devoted to alternative cinema, primarily obscure horror movies (including the 'so awful they're great' variety), but also alternative pop culture in print and music. 'Alternative' in this case is broadly defined, and this is refreshing in that it regards worthy efforts beyond the present decade.
Also, the magazine's editor, Michael Weldon, has a thankfully low tolerance for Hollywood 'blockbuster' bluster and pap. He found The Blair Witch Project to be much ado about nothing: essentially, bollocks and a lot of wind, and I wholeheartedly agree. I don't always agree with his or his contributors' tastes, or the merit of certain morally bankrupt gorefests that the magazine has applauded, but if one's film, book, or music is positively reviewed in Psychotronic Video it seems to follow that a certain hipness is ascribed to the work. And it is then absorbed and adored by a certain segment of the cool culture cognoscenti (sorry about the grating alliteration). Weldon and his magazine do have a very loyal cult following and it is international in flavor.
| THE BEST OF
MUSIKLADEN LIVE - PROCOL HARUM (EME) The post Whiter Shade Harum do nine songs live in 1971 (it was a Christmas special). Songs are from all their LPs (except the first), up to Broken Barricades. All of them sound great, but my faves are Simple Sister and the mean-spirited Still There'll be More. The (excellent) band includes the clearly-in-charge leader / singer Gary Brooker and (the late) drummer BJ Wilson (who had been with Brooker since the Paramounts formed back in '63). The real revelation here though is young guitarist Dave Ball who looks kinda like Roger Waters and had just replaced Robin Trower. He was in the group for less than a year. What happened to this guy!? Two more (not so memorable) later songs from a 74 TV appearance round out the 45 min. tape. The German Musikladen TV program (formerly Beat Club or Beat Beat Beat) was filmed in a Bremen studio." |
Many thanks to Psychotronic's Michael Weldon for permission to quote the above: please write to him for copies of the magazine ... he advises Palers that 'there should be more about the band in Psychotronic Video #32 (article on the Atlantic City Pop Festival)' : this should be well worth getting hold of.
You can buy this from Amazon USA by following these links: VHS or DVD
| More Procol recordings reviewed | This video reviewed in Goldmine |
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