I have to click on the button above that says "show outline of ALL messages" or something to that effect.

Hopefully a helpful hint

Best, Joan :-) Jem33@aol.com

Jem33@webtv.net

In searching like the Sycophants of Learning,

The Symmetry it calls to me...

The chandelier in Sinful Swing.

And the face of Alice Ghostly Turned a Wyatt Earp shade of pale...

can anybody out there help with backgroundfacts about the lyrics in ”Nothing but the truth” I need info about purpose, morals, aimings and so on. Please answer to jan.wifstrand@sydsvenskan.se

Thanks!

Does anybody have a MIDI file of Conquistador? If not, does anybody know if sheet music of the song is in print?

Dionysus

Was entitled by choosing the first word of each verse.

OK - here goes Nothing!

I'm not used to this Board and hope this Works.  BTW - who's
that Webmaster Henri, anyway? <g>

Jens and Roland have done a GREAT job revamping this Site
today, haven't they?

I just noticed a real Gem of a comment from Denny Cordell in
the History Section - from 2/14/69 - Bristol Evening Post -
the last sentence, describing AWSoP:

"..the instruments used were piano, organ, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums,  and it was the haunting sound produced on the organ which captured the ears of disc-buyers everywhere."

No matter what Denny's faults were as a producer - the man
sure knew musical Quality when he heard it!  :-)

  

Shine On! jens

http://www.procolharum.com/epost.htm

http://www.procolharum.com/procol_dc.htm

I had never seen what he looked like as a young man before - only recently having seen him shortly before his death, being interviewed in that Tom Petty "Behind the Music" on VH1.

I'll always love Denny for producing Procol's First, knowing that they sound best Live, with no frills!! It's just a damn shame he didn't get better sound engineers to do that job -- Is the dorky looking guy sitting next to him one of those incompetent engineers, by any chance? (BtW, Denny's the one in the foreground, let there be no confusion).

I also love him for his statement about what aspect of AWSoP caught the ears of all those millions --- see that quote repeated in the place of honor -- atop the Hammond Page here

http://www.procolharum.com/organlinks.htm

and for bringing in BJW to the Joe Cocker "Little Help Session."

I don't know any instance of his being a "n'er do well" and won't believe ill of him until and unless I see proof of any misdeeds. As far as I know he was a great asset to Procol and the world of music.

Thanks again, Larry!! Best, Joan :-)

Hi Jason

I'd bet they never played the Fisher/Reid masterpiece
"Wreck of the Hesperus" LIVE.

I wanted to add a Title to my last message, which I neglected to do because I'm not used to this Board yet <g>

I also want to add that Hesperus is one of my Favorite PH tunes - Especially the Vocals - I can't imagine Gary or anyone else singing that song as beautifully - and also for that ethereal Piano, which I assume to be Fisher as well, although there's No official documentation of that, as far as I know.

This brings up another question -- the composer credits of the ASD album,  and also SOB -- both Very sketchy!

Can anyone officially confirm the Piano Credits on Wreck of the Hesperus?

Whoops -- of course I meant to say in my last message that the
MUSICIAN credits of SOB AND ASD are sketchy, not the Composer
Credits.

The composer credits are only a little bit sketchy on SOB --
i.e.  who wrote the music for Each Section of In Held Twas In
I? That's been partially documented on the Repertoire Reissue
of SOB -- Fisher composed the Music of Grand Finale.. But the
other sections have not been delineated, as far as I can
remember....

I emailed MF about this, and he was kind enough to respond. He played it - of course we all guessed that, right? Apparently, actually, Brooker played the left hand, and MF the right. Problem is, as I noted on the SS CD... I cannot decifer exactly what the low-end, right hand part is...

However... all that bitchen high end stuff that we CAN hear is most definately MF - Just knew it, God love him - And congratualtions to him - It's absolutely fuckin' brilliant! Kills me over and over, even as the years roll by.

Ethan Reilly papa_abba@yahoo.com

        I wrote this last nite in rather a blur, I fear.  What I meant to say was that MF emailed me that Brooker played the "low range" piano (which I mentioned I was barely able to decifer while programming SS) and MF played the obvious two handed "mid and high range" piano of which we are all familiar.  Clearly there are at least three hands on the "Hesperus" piano - probably four.  By the way, MF said that his and Gary's piano parts were not recorded simultaniously.

Ethan

	Goodness knows I hope someone cleans up all of my rubbish from the last 24 hours!  I should be rather embarrassed (I should be taken out and tarred and feathered!)  And yet, my dedication to accuracy supersedes even my own “cringing embarrassment”.
	As to the question of “who played piano on Hesperus”, well first of all:  I think that I somehow managed to allow my own musical understanding (or lack there of) to influence a remembrance of what MF had emailed me some 10 months ago on this matter, and want to be absolutely exact about it now.
	I actually feel somehow “inappropriate” passing on Fisher’s words on this, and yet, I think I will violate no one with this info (I HOPE!).	  

	These are MF’s exact words about the Hesperus piano part:

Q. Did you, or Gary Brooker play piano on “Wreck of The Hesperus”, and who is singing this one?

A - That’s me on piano and vocals. (Actually, I play the Right-Hand piano and Gary plays the Left-Hand - not at the same time - they were overdubs.)

	There: now you have the quote - straight from the horse’s mouth - and I hope that it has been “appropriate to reproduce”, and of service to all PH fans.
	Funny, really, all this discussion about this particular part, because I carried this very question (and, of course, many others!) around inside my head from the time that the “ASD” LP first came out in the 60’s, and only by way of email - and a great deal of patience (waiting for MF to very graciously find the time to get back to me) did I finally get this long awaited answer.
	I do have to say however, that having transcribed “Hesperus” for literally scores of wonderful, musical-unearthing hours, I am still, not exactly sure what Fisher meant by this statement.  Performing (what I perceive to be) the left and right hand parts to this song separately, seems somehow impossible.  To me, one hand literally relies upon the other - which is, I fear, what led me to guess that there must be still another “lower” part which Brooker had played.  But then, please remember, I am no keyboard player!
	Anyway, aside from all this, what can be said for sure is that this is Fisher’s tune.  As a musician, I (personally) believe that it is safe to say that the entire piano part - however exactly executed, was created by him.  And if you want my opinion - it - and the complete work - is NOTHING SHORT OF BRILLIANT.  		Indeed, I have hundreds of hours in the total reproduction of this masterpiece, and believe me, I could tell you of MANY MORE absolutely magnificent treasures I have uncovered within! 

Thanx again, everyone, for your patience with me!

Ethan Reilly

One reason that Matthew Fisher hasn't received his due credit for so much of his Procol work -- aside from the Big One, of course, his creation of the organ melody of A Whiter Shade of Pale -- is the very poor crediting on the liner notes of SOB and ASD. The former does not have a breakdown of who composed what parts of In Held 'Twas In I, and the latter's Musician credits are TERRIBLE -- with no breakdown by track of who played what instruments. (I was hoping the liner notes to the Westside Reissues would correct these oversights but so far they haven't, have they?)

Aside from than the main - Brilliant! - piano on Hesperus, other ways Fisher has been slighted by these inadequate notes:

His composition of the (imo) best parts of In Held 'Twas In I: In The Autumn of My Madness and Grand Finale, and his creation and playing of the lovely piano solo in the latter. The piano solo is still "hearsay" - the other 2 have been documented here at BtP and by Keith Reid (Repertoire Reissue, re Grand Finale).

And I just read an interview in the Shine On archives where Gary Brooker says that Matthew Fisher plays all the instruments on "Pilgrim's Progress" except bass and drums, so I guess that means he's the pianist on that track as well. Gary apparently did not play at all on Pilgrim's Progress.

Thanks to Ethan for the Hesperus clarifications. One reason that Matthew Fisher hasn't received his due credit for so much of his Procol work -- aside from the Big One, of course, his creation of the organ melody of A Whiter Shade of Pale -- is the very poor crediting on the liner notes of SOB and ASD. The former does not have a breakdown of who composed what parts of In Held 'Twas In I, and the latter's Musician credits are TERRIBLE -- with no breakdown by track of who played what instruments. (I was hoping the liner notes to the Westside Reissues would correct these oversights but so far they haven't, have they?)

Aside from the main - Brilliant! - piano on Hesperus, other ways Fisher has been slighted by these inadequate notes:

His composition of the (imo) best parts of In Held 'Twas In I: In The Autumn of My Madness and Grand Finale, and his creation and playing of the lovely piano solo in the latter. The piano solo is still "hearsay" - the other 2 have been documented here at BtP and by Keith Reid (Repertoire Reissue, re Grand Finale).

And I just read an interview in the Shine On archives where Gary Brooker says that Matthew Fisher plays all the instruments on "Pilgrim's Progress" except bass and drums, so I guess that means he's the pianist on that track as well. Gary apparently did not play at all on Pilgrim's Progress.

So my only point was that your's and Josh's interest was strongest around the first LP - and mine carried on...

However, I am indeed grateful that you brought that "PH" LP home, so long ago... It's tough to say which PH LP is the best, but one thing is sure - none is better than that one.

Is Henry Scott-Irvine on line?

Thank for the ospitality

antonio costa barbe (most@msoft.it).

Hi Jason!

I think you're right abuut Fisher being the composer of the Autumn.. section of In Held Twas In I,  as well as Grand Finale.

Henry Scott-Irvine, in the liner notes for the Boxed Set, singled out Grand Finale for special praise, btw, calling it "classic Harum,"  but forgot to mention Fisher as the sole composer of its music.. Luckily,  Keith Reid (I think) did acknowledge that in the notes to the Repertoire Reissue of SOB..

But back to the subject of "In the Autumn of my Madness" - I'd like to see an Official acknowledgment from PH about its composership... too bad that opportunity was missed in the liner notes of the Boxed Set..

I asked MF at Shepherds Bush (where a section of the audience hollered for it) whether Hepserus might ever be played on that tour. 'Well, there's nothing to it, really,' he replied.

Gary's 1969 interview about the lyrics to AWSoP is now up on this Site.

I had read this in an old issue of Shine On, and always wondered --- Shouldn't Gary have said:

"Hey MAN,  why ask ME??  I Didn't write those WORDS!!!"

I guess he just couldn't bring himself to admit that he didn't create the WHOLE THING..

 

Here's the LINK:

http://www.procolharum.com/awsopint.htm

http://www.procolharum.com/mojo95.htm

- writer Rob Chapman quotes "the old salty dog" - i.e. Gary - as offering the following "..less than politically-correct scenario: -

"I always imagine that if I ever get stuck in one of those cauldrons on the Ivory Coast and the cannibals are about to cook me, I'd just have to mention that I did A Whiter Shade of Pale and they'd let me go."

To which Chapman adds - to end his artcle: "Actually, knowing Procol's luck, they'd probably reply 'Sorry mate, we prefer Homburg."

Which makes absolutlely NO SENSE, because everyone knows that Gary is the sole composer of Homburg, so why wouldn't they have let him go anyway???

Of course what Chapman SHOULD have written was

".....'Sorry mate, we prefer Pilgrim's Prgress.'

OK - Let's see how this works from Prodigy...

I really appreciate the tributes to BJ from his friends and bandmates, as posted here at this Site.  But those who knew him personally tend to focus on his tragic death, and how much they miss him.  This is very understandable.

As someone who didn't know him, but admires his music tremendously, I'd like to remember him by focusing on his amazing musicianship, which is something that can and should live forever.

Sadly, BJ is now virtually unknown among the world of drummers.  I found this out about a year ago, when my husband and I wrote to Modern Drummer Magazine about him, and was told that ours was the ONLY letter about BJ that they Ever received in their 20 years of publication!  BJ is Never mentioned by other drummers who are interviewed in this publication. Even Mark B. - the Cover Subject of their 2/92 issue - didn't mention him!!!

I think there are several reasons for BJ's anonymity among drummers - a major one being that he was never very well recorded on PH's studio albums.  His best recorded work so far is on the Edmonton album, and even there he's obscured by the orchestra unless one listens for him.  That's why I'm so interested in seeing some of PH's LIVE shows released on CD - in HiFi form.  I hear that Jens may start a Forum on requested LIVE shows that should be released on CD (the perfect cure for Bootlegging), and I hope this is done soon.

I'll close with a section of BJ's daughter Nicola's tribute to him - see the AOL postings - of 10/8/96, which moves me to tears almost every time I think of it:

"...I want the whole world to know how much he loved to play his drums for you, and just bring great music to your ears..."

I want more of the world to know about this as well.  BJ deserves no less.

One reason the might be valid for the lack of acclaim on
BJ's behalf, and ye the group members in general, is that
the music they were playing from 1967-77 was not that of its
contemporaries--in other words focused (Focus was a great
 group, but that's another story) on the virtuosity of the
various performers.  Look at Trower in his post Barricades
era...the guitar just let loose a torrent of notes, much like
every other well known guitarist of the age. (in the case of
keyboards, look at Jon Lord,Keith Emerson,etc)  Procol didn't
do anything along the lines of verse-insert looooong solo passage here-verse-etc. With the exception of Power Failure
which blew me away in that BJ didn't get compositional credits
(Imagine a wet-behind-the-ear Procol fan listen to the tune and say, "Gosh! Brooker even wrote the drum solo! he's zany!")
The sheer group mentality of starting, playing then ending the
song that PH exhibited on vinyl kicks it to the side of
the public eye's field of vision.  So, all you hear of is:
AWSoP, Gary Brooker singing it, KR writing it and comments about RT's departure, w/ occasional talk about organs and somesuch, the end.  A shame really, but such is the way of
things.
Thought for food,
Jason

ED

The only drum solo on an official PH album is on Broken Barricades -- "Power Failure." B.J. did that solo very differently each time he played it -- except I think the last few bars were the same going back into the song. There are several Live recordings of that solo that put the album version to Shame -- e.g. Texas radio show on KZEW in 1974; Rockpalast German TV show, 1976, WPLJ NYC radio show 1971 (this one with the mighty Trower as well), and others.

Another Live drum solo he did was in 1977 -- at the end of"The
Unquiet Zone."  The best performance of that I've heard --
with the best fidelity of any of the audience-taped shows --
was at Hofstra University -- 5/77 -- WLIR Radio, I think --
one of their last shows.  That awful Farfisa Synth really
mucked up Procol's sound during that gig, but it wasn't very
prominent on "The Unquiet Zone" thank goodness -- and this was
a real tour de force for Gary, Mick and B.J.!!!  Mick quit the
band soon after and then they all disbanded -- a shame because
 - except for that wretched {{synth}} replacing the
indispensable Hammond, those 3 musicians were at the top of
their form at that time..

I'm always hoping for the release of these great Live shows in high fidelity sound, emplasizing the Drums. Too bad Gary has decided to begin the Live releases with that Liquorice John set -- what PUTRID MATERIAL that is -- no PH tunes just trite rock 'n roll -- kinda like The fParamounts must've sounded before Matthew and Keith joined the others and moved them in more unique and glorious directions..

http://www.procolharum.com/vox86.htm

I recently noticed that the photo of Fisher at the Hammond that they used (and labeled 'Gary Brooker, 1967' or something like that) was probably from the video shoot of AWSoP with Royer and Harrison in that old castle. I still don't have a complete copy of that and wish I did because it includes some nice performance footage... I've seen 2 versions - both incomplete -- one presented on MTV, 1986, cut off with RT commenting at the end; and the other with the complete song but interspersed with &^%^&** Vietnam War footage -- What a Bringdown!! - to coin a phrase from back then -- and certainly having NOTHING to do with AWSoP --- grrr.....

So if anyone has a complete unadulterated copy of that video please email me.

Hi friends! I'm think I'm not crazy, but.... I've listened carefully to the alternative 'naive' version of Homburg in the three CD box set: no doubt, is B.J on Drums: His style, His COLOR on drums, and His pulse of the bass drums, His breaks. Then I ve re-listened the original version of Homburg: am I crazy, or the style and the sound of the drummer are like-Bill-Eyden style???....?? what do you think about? best :-) antonio c.b. most@msoft.it

     I named my dog Homburg 'cos he wouldn't answer to A Whiter Shade of Pale. ;-)

I especially like their reissue of ASD because it includes Long Gone Geek - one of my fave PH tunes, and a NICE LEAN Production - just the way I like 'em!

I'd still like to know if the band approved the Liner Notes to all these Repertoire releases, or just the music.

Please send any information to hughesdw@geocities.com. Thanks!

jens

just bought the triple cd. Good job stereo version of
Whiter shade of pale was never released, would never have
been a hit - Bobby Harrison's drums were so poor!
He later found his true vocation as a vocalist - i have 3
SNAFU albums - at times they are incredible.
Like Gary said in Shine on they picked the best versions in
the first place!
Mike

http://www.the-spa.com/nomortal/page1.htm

The Fillmore West was located at Market and Van Ness Streets, and PH played there in the late 60's and early 70's. I was privileged to see them there in 1970, and it was the BEST SOUND I've EVER heard, with the possible exception of their 1973 gig at the even-larger Winterland Auditorium, also a Bill Graham venue.

If you want more info about the Fillmores - see my page in tribute to the late great Bill Graham at this Site:

http://www.procolharum.com/procolbg.htm

where there's a LINK to the Fillmore Page.

My Question: Did PH play at the Fillmore Auditorium in the 60's? It would have to have been between 1967 and 7/4/68.

We consulted Robert Moselle, who sent us those items. He replied,

"I wasn't in SF in the '60's, so will defer to the historians on the respective names of venues where Procol Harum may or may not have performed. Go with whatever changes you wish. I just looked at the ad in the paper for the '95 concert, and it was for "The Fillmore." So there you have it. Not Fillmore West, not Fillmore Auditorium, not even Millard Fillmore (America's 13th president). Just "The Fillmore." Wherever it was, it was great!'

So we have amended the pieces on that basis.

I'm looking for the album "Procol Harum Live".
Was it released as a CD?

Please e-mail me, if you can give me a hint where I can buy it.

Thanks, Gerhard

gerhard.hanzal@bmuk.gv.at

Having bought the triple cd I notice the versions of Quite
Rightly So as album track and single are quite different.
Lyrics towards end  of first verse are even different.
Was this the genuine single release.
Can't remember i was only 7 at the time!!
Mike

I noticed on the "THrough the Garden Fence" boot
it does have an alternate end to the first verse:
"Though seldom meeting, I'm not conceding
 Seems to me there's no retreat (I think= that how it goes)
So there actually might have beebn two versions at the outset
I wonder what lead to the vers change?

Jason

sounded to me like " i'm not repeating" not conceding
The album track sounds tons better to me
Mike

http://www.procolharum.com/kr_variant.htm

Dave - hopefully you're reading this. Thanks so much for your Guestbook entry!! On your page at this Site, it says you played uncredited on Grand Hotel. I'm a real stickler for giving credit where due (!) and am saddened when I read about "uncredited" performances. So -- Would you be willing to tell us what guitar parts you played on Grand Hotel?

http://www.procolharum.com/db_gh.htm

"Salad Days" from the first album is described as being from "Separation," and there's a track on one of Matthew Fisher's solo albums that is also credited as being from the same film.

Does anyone know anything about the movie, and what the Procol connection was?

Sincerely,

MrEWorm

Separation (1968)

UK 1968 Color

Produced by: Bond Films

Language: English

Runtime: UK:93

Distributed by: London Independent Producers

Directed by Jack Bond

Cast (in alphabetical order)

Jane Arden (II) .... Jane

Joy Bang

Fay Brook

David De Keyser....Husband

Terrence De Marney....Old man

Ann Lynn....Woman

Iain Quarrier...Lover

Written by Jane Arden (II) (also story)

Cinematography by Aubrey Dewar, David Muir (I)

Film Editing by Michael Johns (I)

Produced by Jack Bond

And...I saw GB May 97 live with Ringo Starr, Jack Bruce and Peter Frampton and a real drummer whose name I forget. This performance was GREAT and better appear on CD and video. Bruce, Brooker and Frampton played like they have been a band for years! It turned me on to Brooker and I have been adding to my Brooker/Procol Harum collection ever since! (Where was Procol Harum all my life?)

Happy Holidays to all. And, Gary, how about dropping us a posting?

Meanwhile as you will see from our 'What's New' feature Gary sends his Christmas good wishes to the Online PH community.

I have always felt that Gary was playing on "Hear Me Lord,"
Side 4, Track 4).  If not kudos to whomever it was.
When GB goes on line, I hope he can fill us in with
the answer.
RAM
Monterey, CA
www.cce-mcle.com

     Gary's contribution on All Thing's Must Pass
      can be found on the track of My Sweet Lord

      From the Alex Bennett Radio Show 1970
  "A trained ear could hear it"... Gary Brooker

I'm not usually into gaming, but I must compliment Jens, Roland and/or Whomever for those GREAT Contest Anagrams!!! Be Barrie's and Rock, & Fisher's Turf INDEED!

They remind me of a very clever San Francisco crossword puzzle writer named Merl Reagle, who clued me in to the fact that you can rearrange the letters in "ERIC CLAPTON" to spell "NARCOLEPTIC" - LOL!!

But seriously folks, have Great Holidays!!

Best, Joan :-)

Enjoy, and happy holidays.

-Annabel Gill.

January 7, 1998

I am the producer of a radio show in Chicago named NeedleDrop,
hosted by a band named the Cleaning Ladys.  We have been on-air for 4 years.

I am having trouble finding out how to contact Gary or Matthew in order to conduct a phone interview for our show.

My name is Tina and my work # is 773-525-2101 if anyone
can assist me in this matter.  Thank you.

January 7, 1998

I am the producer of a radio show in Chicago named NeedleDrop,
hosted by a band named the Cleaning Ladys.  We have been on-air for 4 years.

I am having trouble finding out how to contact Gary or Matthew in order to conduct a phone interview for our show.

My name is Tina and my work # is 773-525-2101 if anyone
can assist me in this matter.  Thank you.

I was especially impressed that Roland correctly credited Eric Bazilian, one of my Favorite musicians, for composing (words and music) the Joan Osborne megahit "One of Us." Eric is often slighted by the press in this regard, and Joan erroneously credited for that song - sound familiar? ;-)

This was one great article, and I think my very Favorite part was:

"Matthew Fisher took his place eyeing the Korg keyboard without great enthusiasm..."

Anyway -- here's the link to Roland's GREAT article about Matthew Fisher, Eric Bazilian, Gary Brooker et al

http://www.procolharum.com/chid_97.htm

Thanks again, Roiand!

Anyway - I can't see the AWSoP discussion there, so can someone post the gist of it here?

[I imagine it can't be too profound, judging from the Questions and Answers that Are visible on that page -- e.g. the health benefits and risks of eating the contents of one's nose --- and someone actually posted an ANSWER to that one! LOL!!!!! ]

*

"Can anyone explain the words from the song 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' by Procol Harum?"

THE WORDS are a psychedelic kaleidoscope of fragments; allusions to and images from a treasury of sources (some real, some imagined). Part of their purpose is not to be meaningful in any conventional sense, but to challenge the conventions of meaning. To begin to 'explain' the words, we must first recognise their evocative power - a sort of mystical melancholy. The words derive from the musical setting borrowed from Bach's Suite No. 3 in D Major. But crucial to an understanding of the words, it is necessary to place the song in the context of the 'Summer of Love' in 1967. Together with other examples of psychedelic pop - for instance, 'Sunshine Superman' (Donovan), 'Purple Haze' (Jimi Hendrix Experience) and 'Hole In My Shoe' (Traffic) - 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' attempts to articulate the retreat of 'reason' and the cleansing of the doors of perception ('She said there is no reason / And the truth is plain to see ...') in the mind-expanding experience of an acid trip.

John Storey, lecturer in Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland.

*

PROCOL HARUM was one of many groups in the late 1960s who succumbed to the influence of psychedelia and - lacking any other model - imitated Bob Dylan in an attempt to come up with something suitably outlandish. Dylan's razor-sharp, surrealistic images were transformed into a muddy soup of hallucinatory drivel. The Beatles themselves were not immune from this creeping disease - witness 'I Am The Walrus' or 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. Even the lyricist, Keith Reid, would have difficulty explaining away a line like 'One of sixteen vestal virgins were leaving for the coast,' even in simple grammatical terms [Of course if you trouble to quote Reid's line correctly this 'objection' fades away! RC]. These songs stand or fall entirely on their musical content. In this respect 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' has weathered rather better than others of its generation. Trying to analyse the lyrics may seriously damage your mental health.

Andrew Laycock, Tavistock, Devon.

*

'A WHITER Shade Of Pale' is a 1960s reading of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Miller's Tale et al.

Dave Lee, Kidsgrove, Stoke.

*

'A WHITER Shade Of Pale' is lyrically a pile of pretentious rubbish which makes the mistake of assuming the mantle of literature. Its chief problem is its lack of humour. 'I Am The Walrus' is a different kettle of custard. It is full of humour and, far from 'imitating Bob Dylan', its influences are Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and Edgar Allen Poe - Lennon's favourite authors.

Paul Kennedy, London SE4.

*

THE LINES of the song have their origin in the same narcotic as inspired the title of the group, namely Latin lessons.

Tony Sudbery, Fulford, York

It's just nice to see all the interest in AWSoP after all these years.

Thanks also for posting that Swiss review of PS. FINALLY someone in the press has owned up about that Drumming!

http://www.procolharum.com/ps-review.htm

And now there's another excellent review of that CD by Simon Hinkler:

http://www.procolharum.com/ps-review2.htm

in which my favorite passage is as follows:

"....Matthew Fisher plays Hammond organ in preference to modern synthy noises."

I'm so sorry PH chose to use ANY synths at All - on the CD or in their LIVE shows! Their 90's lineup boasts a PERFECT sound with Gary's great piano and Matthew's magic touch on that Hammond -- any other keyboards just interfere with the perfection and wimp out the sound. The cold digital mix on Prodigal Stranger was a major disappointment to me, and Hinkler seemed to echo those sentiments in his review.

I'd love to hear a synth-less LIVE show from the 90's PH someday, in addition to their releasing some of their *Fantastic* Vintage ('60's and '70's -- WITH BJW) synthless LIVE shows remastered to do their sound justice - as Jimmy Page recently did for his band.

Best, Piotr Wlaz

My 12" is on Chrysalis
Is this unusual?

Starritt@bigfoot.com

http://www.procolharum.com/marcelo1.htm

but I'm totally IMPRESSED that my 2 favorite science fiction authors - P.K. Dick and Theodore Sturgeon - are featured!!! I always wondered if Keith Reid might be a P.K.Dick fan - I wouldn't be surprised!!

Another PKD/PH connection is that Paul Williams - the journalist, not the singer - who wrote the liner notes to SOB - was also the literary executor for PKD, and wrote a monumental article about PKD for Rolling Stone in the '70's.

Paul's magazine Crawdaddy is now being published as a mail order, and back issues are also available - including issue #12 which contained a rave review of Prool's First. I think Paul's Crawdaddy Site is at:

http://www.cdaddy.com

Anyway - Thanks to Roland and Marcello for that exciting new piece I'm looking forward to reading!!

http://www.procolharum.com/gold455.htm

It WAS cut off in the middle by accident!! Thanks to Editor Greg Loeshcher, the review in its ENTIRETY is printed in the 2/27 issue of Goldmine - #459 - Bill Wyman on the cover. The missing pieces include praises for HOME and Disc 3 -- all in all a GREAT review!! Many thanks, Brad, I hope you come visit us here at BtP someday!

Incidentally, Brad calls the instrumental AWSoP on Disc #3 a "dub version" - reggae lingo I believe.  I wonder if he's a reggae fan as I am.  If so he'd probably have enjoyed the reggae style revamping of Boredom that PH performed in the 90's..
 

Wanted to let you know that what's called "Chelsea's Tune" on there -- isn't - I don't know Where they got that title. The piece is MF's beautiful instrumental "Stoke Poges" that for some reason was never released - I believe it was an out-take from ASD.. As with Long Gone Geek - I wish it had been on that album - instead of ...say Too Much Between Us and Crucifiction Lane if they had to make space..

If by any chance you paid someone for Easter Island - remember that PH get no royalties -- in a way that's their OWN FAULT for not releasing their LIVE material Themselves...grr..... but I suggest they be compensated by buying one of their commercially available CD's -- preferably one of the first 3 albums, which feature the same lineup as Easter Island.

BTW - another error on the liner notes to Easter Island is their listing of Chris Copping as being on those sessions - of course he wasn't - the lineup was: Brooker, Fisher, Wilson, Trower, and Knights.

As far as buying legit CD's, the only one I don't have now is the first one, which I can't find anywhere. I was fortunate last month to acquire a virgin MFSL version of Broken Barricades, still in the long box.

As to buying PH's First album - try CDNOW online store:

http://www.cdnow.com

And there are also the recent reissues - from Repertoire and Westside - also available at CDNow, but the Westside Box Set can be had at a more reasonable price elsewhere, I think -- e.g. Thoughtscape Records

I went to CDNOW, and the price for the first two CD's totalled about $26, At CD Universe I found the 3 disk set on sale for $30. Can't wait for it to arrrive. My "Home" actually is real good sound quality-wise,, my "Salty Dog" stinks, so I'm pretty excited to get all the remastered material.

http://www.procolharum.com/gb_ltw_pr

was a bit misleading when it said that Eric Clapton participated in the recording sessions for that album. In fact, 2 songs on Lead Me To The Water were outtakes from Clapton's 1980 album "Another Ticket" -- Home Lovin' and what became the title track to Gary's album. This is documented in Marc Roberty's book "Eric Clapton The Complete Recording Sessions, in which Lead Me To the Water was Not listed as a Clapton session and those 2 songs were listed as outtakes from Another Ticket. I read in the Clapton bio "Crossroads" that Clapton's record company didn't want any songs on Another Ticket that weren't sung by Clapton, and that those songs (written by Gary) didn't sound commercial enough.

In fact I LOVE the song Lead Me To the Water - GREAT REGGAE!!!
 Clapton plays monster reggae style guitar on it,  showing
that he definitely learned a thing or 2 about reggae since "I
Shot The Sheriff"!  <G>.  I wonder what would've happened if
Clapton instead of Gary had sung that song on Another Ticket -
would the "suits" have accepted it for Eric's album then?
Perhaps.  And it may have even been a hit, which would have
benefitted Gary (the song's composer) as well as Eric.. I
think Clapton may have even sounded better than Gary on that
song.... yes I definitely think so....or --- to paraphrase
something Keith said about a PH song on the liner notes to a
recent reissue:

Lead Me To The Water - a GREAT tune!!  I just wish ERIC CLAPTN
had sung it!!  ;-)
 

http://www.procolharum.com/gb_ltw_pr.htm

Lead Me To The Water... a GREAT tune!! I just wish ERIC CLAPTON had sung it!

http://www.procolharum.com/andrews.htm

or

http://www.procolharum.com/note_paper.htm

Before I commit my heresies, let me establish my being a member of the fold.  I've been hooked since age 14; I was dismayed to learn that not every song on A Salty Dog was like The Devil Came From Kansas.  Being a good 14 year old (into Jimi Hendrix, The Doors), I hated the album for a few years.  Then loved it.  Everything I didn't like about it I came to love.  A Salty Dog and Pilgrim's Progress most of all.  But then every song grew on me.  I was hooked.  I've since woven Procol into my life in a daily/weekly way, which -- at age 43 -- would, I think, qualify me as some sort of advanced fan, if not fanatic.  But what I'm about to say now NEEDS to be said, given the quasi-religious tone which so many mailings/postings/musings have struck me as full of....Again: there are few greater fans of the band.  I play A Salty Dog on the piano (yes, in the key of C#) several times a week, and I run through A Rum Tale to unwind a lot (even remembering the "middle transposed part" which Gary reportedly couldn't remember in Denmark during a TV performance/interview); I formed a group in college to perform many of their songs live for a winter project (The Oberlin Rock and Roll Consortium, 1977)(we did everything from A Rum Tale to In Held Twas In I and most of tje Grand Hotel album...even Beyond the Pale!).  I
tracked down Matthew's solo albums years ago and, of course, bought Gary's.  I was saddened by B.J.'s death and listen to
Joe Cocker's "Just Like a Woman" just to hear another Procol-cut.  So I think I qualify as a member of this group of fans.
	But here's what needs to be said:
	1) When this band clicked, they were sheer genius; they clicked a lot.
	2) When Procol "missed", they did so by such a wide margin that it became almost hard to believe they were the same people who could be so brilliant.  The variation in quality was stunning.
	3) Of course almost anything Gary turns out (with that voice!), featuring a Hammond organ in the background with some
thundering drums will "pass" as "a Procol song" for the next several decades, but this is unfortunately too-accomodating a standard.  Most of his solo material has been plodding, without-spark or inspiration, bleak-when-not-weighted-with-religiosity and....just not so much fun.  I felt like it was far far from his R & B roots and usually far far away from the
dramatic tensions that held every early Procol album so tightly to the mark.  In short: he needed Matthew (and whatever creative rivalries, competition, friendly or otherwise) more than he knew.
	4) The same applies for Robin Trower.  Of course any long-standing fan would listen to the albums and wonder just how long the "chemistry" could hold, because it was obvious this wasat least "two-bands-being-held-together-temporarily-as one"
given the way Robin was begging to cut loose.  The tension, once again, on the early albums, was strong and worked beautifully.  But you could hear that he had to leave the band.  If only he stayed....if only he could have.
	5) Gary consistently -- and historically -- does not "get" that Matthew Fisher was not a "major contributor" to the band, but WAS half the band.  This may be a willful point of view on GB's part, or maybe self-serving ignorance.  To the amazement of many fans Gary still relates to Matthew as if he were a "guest artist" sitting in "with the group", instead of "the other half of the group".  None of this is to leave out B.J., or RT.  I believe that Matthew, himself, may have come to accept this fundamental distortion as well.  Gary's typically British understatement re: this issue is polite, charming, funny and....false.  He can believe what he wants.  To me, most of the time when Procol "worked" it was with Matthew holding up the other end.  There have been lovely exceptions -- most of Grand Hotel --but Gary needs a "non-Gary" in the band much, much more than he knows..

SPECIFIC HERESIES:
	1) Lime Street Blues is -- and always was --atrocious.  It is embarassing to listen to and could have easily served as a background sound-track song for AUSTIN POWERS.  The only other song it matches in its level of insipid "grooviness", in the most dated of 60's fashion (dated, that is, by the time it was released) is "Kaleidoscope".  Try watching AUSTIN POWERS and turning down the sound and playing THAT song.  "Yeah, baby..."

	2) "Home" is one of the most depressing albums of the second half of the 20th century.  Some nice piano sounds, but...so what?  The worst of Brooker's self-indulgences added to the most depressed aspects of Matthew's personality (as a Producer) added to we-should-all-go-kill-ourselves lyrics from KR.  Thanks, Keith!  Where are the seagull-sounds when we need them?

    -- Again, REMINDER: I regard this band as having been capable of BRILLIANCE.  And even -- God forbid, for a British band of this gravity -- humor.  (Good Captain Clack, a lot of Exotic Birds...)

3) the "Worm & The Tree" epic: "somethings better left unsaid?" No comment. Not fair to take apart the band in the post-Procol-Procol period.

4)  I just listened to Prodigal Stranger again.  Folks, "Learn to Fly," is one of the stupidest songs I've come across since the "Rocky Theme Song".  It is unthinkable that this was from a band which produced AWSoP and ASD.  And the lyrics -- often a difficult point for many songs which used to work, somehow--
are over-the-edge in their 1980's "go-for-it!" inspirational-blah-de-blah nothingness.  Incredibly awful.  Consider this:
	"Learn to fly
     Where eagles only dare to try
     We're on the wing
	 We dare to win
     We see the future and
     We're going to make it..."

The only reason this song hasn't been picked up by the U.S. Air Force as a theme song for military recruitment is because the music is so bad.

So...there we go, folks. I feel better. Please consider this as an antidote to the religious overkill afforded Messrs. Brooker, Reid et.al....I would go anywhere to hear them as a band again, and I would be ecstatic if they would give Matthew the writing credit he deserved and generally evolve into wonderful people in this latter part of their lives.....to match the wonderful music they've shared with us....

But let us remember: they are human and their failures are as real and profound as any the rest of us make. I hope you have enough of a sense of humor to understand where this all is coming from.

No flaming, please? I come in friendship. And this is my wife's e-mail account. My name is Jerry Sander. I can be reached either here or at jsander1@juno.com.

Anyone who passes this on to Gary or the discussion group I can't seem to figure out how to post to will get bonus points.

Peace, love, understanding (and a critical ear and brain),

   Jerry

Jerry

Best, Joan :-)

Sure you could read Home as depressing. Alternatively you could think of it as positive - just think how lucky you are
and why are you feeling so damned sorry for yourself!!
Judging off the album cover it's probably not meant to be
taken too seriously!
just listen closely to Robin's guitar on Whaling Stories and
it's one of the most creative peaces of music ever.
Maybe in a way i thought Exotic Birds and Fruit better. That
was probably from having heard "Beyond the Pale" live.
Mike

Anyway...I hunted down Matt's solo albums (even when my fiancee returned from London with a copy of "Wild Man Fisher's" recent album....I hated to disappoint her, and I appreciated the gesture. I still have the album. MF it is not.

What I said about "Lime Street Blues" is that it was so bad that it was INSTANTLY dated by the time it was released. The song could really be on the soundtrack to AUSTIN POWERS; watch the movie, turn down the sound and bring up "Lime Street". Ditto "Kaleidiscope". "Yeah, baby...". Groovy.

I also said that Broken Barricades may have been their peak and was generally not recognized as it should have been. Power Failure was brilliant.

And Prodigal Stranger was a very mixed bag. Some awful, dumb stuff mixed with authentically exciting stuff. "Learn to Fly" is the absolute pits, and it is hard to believe Keith Reid's lyrics have sunk this low. My comments re: the U.S. Air Force rejecting the song still stand.

I can't remember what else got jumbled by my computer. "Home" is an awfully depressing album; I think I hold KR most responsible for that, though the truly-depressed part of him must have interacted somehow with the truly-depressed side of Gary to form quite an intense little doom-and-gloom item which is about as exciting to listen to as the sound of your own hand getting slowly mangled by a coffee-bean grinder. "Whaling Stories" excepted. Which just proves my theory about genius alternating with embarassment.

Peace, Love, Understanding,

Jerry

-Annabel

As far as Kaleidoscope goes... I'm indifferent toward that one.

I happen to like Broken Barricades a lot, but to me it's a different band than before. I don't think I'd go so far as to call it their best, anymore than I'd consider Abbey Road the best Beatles album. The individual performances were probably the best ever, but as a group......I think not.

I'm still collecting my thoughts about Jerry's monumental post, but here are a few on those 2 albums:

I LOVE the HOME album for its soulful melodies, great guitar and BJ being noticeable for the first time on most of an album - though I think he was still too soft on WS. I never noticed the depressing lyrics much because I don't listen for conceptual meaning when enjoying music - rather I just like the lyrics to scan well, sound musical, not say really bigoted or trite things, and perhaps evoke some perceptual images. I've written elsewhere at BtP abuut why I think KR wrote so much death related material on HOME - because he felt the "death" of PH as he knew and loved it, due to MF's leaving. I'm really glad I don't listen for meaning in song lyrics - except for Journey's End and I'll Be There - I very much regret not understanding the extreme anguish in those songs until just a year or 2 ago...

BB? I never much cared for it but found out that was due to the production, not the songs. I LOVE the 5 BB tunes as presented on the WPLJ radio show of 4/71 - shortly before RT left. Those 5 plus Juicy John Pink on WPLJ put the album versions to Shame and are a tour de force for RT and BJW! This gig tops my list for remastering and release - perhaps as Bonus Trax to a BB reissue.

Annabel - which 10 seconds do you like on Prodigal Stranger? Could they include the gorgeous Hammond ending to King of Hearts? For awhile that was the only part of that CD I liked - then trained myself to like a bit more.... i.e. most of MF's organ lines - listen for them, ignore the drums and synths, and the number of enjoyable seconds on there may increase a bit..

Please excuse inevitable typos - due to a combination of sticky WebTV keyboard, tiny tv screen with blurry text, and imperfect wetware as well.

Best, Joan :-)

Shine on, Steve

I didn't care for all the orchestration on BB, nor the repetitious instrumental interlude in Simple Sister, so the improved fidelity wouldn't interest me much. I prefer the HOT RAW LIVE versions of the title track, Simple Sister, Luskus Delph, Memorial Drive and Power Failure on the WPLJ show...

I also loved Gary's inter-song comments, and the audience's frequent shouting of "B.J.!!" and "Repent." The latter undoubtedly meant "Bring Back Matthew Fisher!" But as I've realized recently, thanks to Axel and Peer from Denmark,

http://www.procolharum.com/tivoli75.htm

Matthew's "unseen touch" was still there - influencing Chris' organ playing and Gary's songwriting. In fact, right before Chris began the organ solo for SOB, Gary shouted "Matthew -->!"

Email me for more info about WPLJ...

Best, Joan :-)

-Annabel

Annabel

And, I do not know why they seemingly chose to "downplay" what I consider to be MF's quintescential component, but it does seem that they did. Maybe someone thought that Hammonds weren't "90's". I don't know.

Look, they average listener doesn't understand the wide array of choices that have to be made. Sorry. No one wanted more dripping, rolling, flowing, and bloody well brilliant hammond organ on that recording than I, but hell - it wasn't my decision.

I'm just glad as hell that they made it. It's absolutely a work of art - at a time when art is definitely at a premium. Brooker's voice kills. It bloody well KILLS. It IS Procol - and I love it.

Yeah... I really miss BJ - who wouldn't? But the rest of the team evidently selected Brzezicki and he sounds just fine.

Who are we to know better than those, of whose music we are so enamored - I'd really like to know???

ethan reilly papa@abba@yahoo.com

And, I do not know why they seemingly chose to "downplay" what I consider to be MF's quintescential component, but it does seem that they did. Maybe someone thought that Hammonds weren't "90's". I don't know.

Look, they average listener doesn't understand the wide array of choices that have to be made. Sorry. No one wanted more dripping, rolling, flowing, and bloody well brilliant hammond organ on that recording than I, but hell - it wasn't my decision.

I'm just glad as hell that they made it. It's absolutely a work of art - at a time when art is definitely at a premium. Brooker's voice kills. It bloody well KILLS. It IS Procol - and I love it.

Yeah... I really miss BJ - who wouldn't? But the rest of the team evidently selected Brzezicki and he sounds just fine.

Who are we to know better than those, of whose music we are so enamored - I'd really like to know???

ethan reilly papa@abba@yahoo.com

>>>I really miss BJ - who wouldn't? But the rest of the team evidently selected Brzezicki and he sounds just fine. <<<

Well he sounds like a machine to me. I didn't realize this at first -- though I knew something was wrong. It was only when listening to the songs focusing most of my attention on the drums that I noticed how mechanical they were.

The album began as a set of demos recorded with a drum machine (I think this was Procol's first mistake), and Mark could have studied those, not realizing the rare and glorious kind of drummer BJ was and that BJ's drumming was such an important part of Procol's sound - and so he probably emulated the drum machine, thinking that was the right thing to do. I can only speculate about why the band members didn't notice this; being distraught about the loss of BJ may have had something to do with it.   Mark's drumming is one of the reasons that PS sounds more like a Gary Brooker solo work than a Procol album.

I've heard a rumor that one song on PS actually still has the drum machine, and I've also heard that Mark says he plays on all the songs.. But both stories could be true. Mark sounds so much like a machine anyway that even he could have been fooled and not realized that the producers left the machine on that track.

Yes BJ is gone but another drummer can play the tunes with artistry -- one way would be to study BJ's work, as I wish all drummers would do. Graham Broad, for instance, comported himself beautifully at Redhill. Bill Eyden has also proven himself with Procol. I'm sure there are others.

IMO, the good parts of the album are Gary's strong vocals, Robin's guitar and Matthew's organ lines. The weak links are the drumming, and the substandard songs. Keith's words are totally ordinary and boring and most of the music is melodically uninteresting. Unlike all the other Procol albums, Gary only wrote the music for one of the songs by himself and he used outsiders as co-composers for almost half the songs... Matthew played some lovely organ, but has not yet been inspired to compose songs in the Procol style again; I think he would be so inspired if and when that terrible crediting injustice is corrected. It would also help if his late lamented Hammond were finally replaced.

>>>Who are we to know better than those, of whose music we are so enamored - I'd really like to know??? <<

Well it would be none of our business if they made the album only for their own private enjoyment, but in fact it was made to sell to us -- the public -- and so every one of us has a right to pass judgment on it.

	I had a feeling I’d be hearing from you - I’m still not 100% sure who you are.  I believe you signed your correspondence “g”.  I assume that you are the one to whom I was responding in the first place, with my email, “Excuse Me”.  Well, again... excuse me.
	I quite enjoy your passion.  We could use a lot more of it down here in my neck of the woods...

	So, let’s see what I can agree with in your note - and perhaps - what I cannot.

You wrote (of Mark Brzezicki - Drummer on “Prodigal Stranger”): “Well he sounds like a machine to me. I didn't realize this at first -- though I knew something was wrong. It was only when listening to the songs focusing most of my attention on the drums that I noticed how mechanical they were.”

	Firstly, if you are comparing Mark’s drumming to BJ’s - I agree 100% - Mark is far more metronomic than BJ.  For the most part, the “evolution” (for lack of a less "euphemistic" term) of pop music has seen a greater and greater emphasis on technical perfection, and indeed, most often, this has been at the expense of what I would call, “soul”.  However, in the broadest picture, in spite of his technical proficiency, I did not find this to be the case with MB’s performance on PS.

You continued, “The album began as a set of demos recorded with a drum machine (I think this was Procol's first mistake), and Mark could have studied those, not realizing the rare and glorious kind of drummer BJ was and that BJ's drumming was such an important part of Procol's sound - and so he probably emulated the drum machine, thinking that was the right thing to do. I can only speculate about why the band members didn't notice this; being distraught about the loss of BJ may have had something to do with it. Mark's drumming is one of the reasons that PS sounds more like a Gary Brooker solo work than a Procol album.”

	You raise many points.  If the album was recorded with a drum machine which was later replaced by Mark’s live performances as you suggest (especially if there were no tempo changes programmed into the tracks) this would indeed account for the sense that Mark has perfect time.  However, my guess is that Mark just happens to have rather faithful time anyway.
	I should explain, that for me - the first thing I noticed when I originally discovered the “Prodigal Stranger” CD in that little music store in Frankfurt, was the extremely disheartening absence of BJ on the project - and then to my horror, the “ominous” dedication.  I just stood there in shock - not wishing to believe.
	But, because BJ’s drumming was - as you so accurately put it - “rare and glorious”; because his magnificent passion was unparalleled - because he was indeed pop music’s only “orchestral percussionist - rock drummer - all rapped up in one”, I myself, was very relieved when it became evident to me, in listening to PS, that Mark was either a big BJ fan, or had been well coached in the “PH tradition” by the others.
	And whether you agree with my aforementioned judgment or not, I must say that the very notion, that the likes of Brooker, Reid, Fisher, and Tower could have somehow “failed to notice” what the drums on PS were sounding like - or that they could possibly, after all these years of brilliance, in the face of their combined, timeless, musical wizardry, be in any way, musically naive enough to have made some sort of inadvertent, or unthinking choice in the selection of their drummer, falls completely outside of the realm of logic.  (Once again, excuse me).

“I've heard a rumor that one song on PS actually still has the drum machine, and I've also heard that Mark says he plays on all the songs.. But both stories could be true. Mark sounds so much like a machine anyway that even he could have been fooled and not realized that the producers left the machine on that track.”

	It seems as though the one and only possibility you don’t wish to address here, is that of Brooker, Reid, Fisher, and Tower having made a sober and deliberate choice in this matter; a choice arising from the talent for which we love them so much, and the direction in which they wished to take this project - a decision with which they themselves in hindsight, are most likely, thoroughly pleased.

“IMO, the good parts of the album are Gary's strong vocals, Robin's guitar and Matthew's organ lines. The weak links are the drumming, and the substandard songs.”

	Oh dear me.  Are you one of these people who sits around listening to Procol Harum albums 24 hours a day, eight days a week?  You think the songs on PS are substandard?  Listen to all the other PH albums.  With perhaps the one exception of the original “Procol Harum” LP, I would venture to say that they are all “miscued” with “substandard songs”.  And so are EVERYONE else’s albums.  Might I suggest that you simply get over it?
	They’re not gods you know - geniuses perhaps - but not gods.  They’re entitled to their humanness - just as you and I are.  And moreover, they are entitled to embark upon any journey to which their own musical hearts lead them.  They are not responsible to remain eternally shackled to some sentimental image of what you and I might think PH “should be”, simply for the sake of our own nostalgic preoccupations.  They’ve paid their dues to us.  My CD collection is a testimony to that fact.  And if we don’t like their new directions, we can always choose not to follow...

“Keith's words are totally ordinary and boring and most of the music is melodically uninteresting.”

	Might I please ask you to reread your own statement here?  Keith Reid’s words on PS are most definitely NOT “totally ordinary” and neither is "most of the music melodically uninteresting”.  Neither does the drumming lack passion, hearteningly reminiscent of BJ as it is.
	Did they “miss the mark” here and there?  YES.  Just as they did on all the other albums.  Just as Mozart did for goodness sake!

	My dear fellow PH fan, I seriously doubt that Mark Brzezicki will soon apologize to you for not “being” BJ Wilson.  He is after all, Mark Brzezicki.  He plays with power - he’s solid, he has a great “tight” touch - and YES, I do miss BJ - GOD KNOWS I REALLY DO.  But not because of Mark’s presence on “Prodigal Stranger”.

	In closing, I will simply say, that just as he always has (and perhaps even more so than ever) - Gary Brooker sings absolutely fuckin’ brilliantly on the PS CD - Congratulations to him for his interminable spirit!  What an absolutely delicious and wonderful treat for all of us PH fans, and how utterly grateful I am for it!  And I do agree with you, in wishing that MF had left a vastly more definitive mark on this project, and I hold the hope that we will soon see the fullness of his MATCHLESS IMAGINATION in a brand new PH project.
	But, after all these years, the PS lyrics and music - for the greatest part - succeed quite favourably, in conjuring that same old faithful, dark and light - and truly scrumptious “PH” spirit.   I would NOT be without “Prodigal Stranger” in my collection.  I listen to it often.  Right now, in fact!

Ethan Reilly

Regensburg, Germany papa_abba@yahoo.com

P.S. You know my friend.. there might actually not BE a Mark Brzezicki. Indeed, there are some very good drum programmers out there... hmmm?

	One hopes ya'll will forgive my 2x typo on robin tRower's name.  So much hasty copying and pasting...

papa e

  >>>>I believe you signed your correspondence "g". <<

No -- my name is Joan May (Jem33@aol.com) and the <g> was a "grin" denoting my little joke about your duplicate post. Or did you already know that? <g>

 >>> I assume that you are the one to whom I was responding in the first place, with my email   <<

Nope -- that was someone else, I believe.

Most of our disagreements are matters of taste. I don't care for most of the music -- as I said almost half of which was co-composed by people outside of Procol Harum (Noble, Thompson), and I much prefer Keith's Vintage inspired surrealistic madness and Gonzo "shock jock" sensibilities to the current crop of platitudes on this album. I don't like metronomic mechanical sounding drummers like Mark -- though I have expressed my appreciation for Procol drummers other than the great BJ - i.e. Bill Eyden and Graham Broad. Simon Phillips is another of my favorites and he was considered for PS but he never got to audition -- they chose Mark, the first and only drummer they tried! Coincidentally, around the time this album was being conceived, Simon Phillips had a solo album out called "Protocol" which, of course, is an anagram for "To Procol." <g>

But I mainly want to address the following with some factual clarifications:

>>>>>                 I must say that the very notion, that the likes of Brooker, Reid, Fisher, and Trower could have somehow "failed to notice" what the drums on PS were sounding like - or that they could possibly, after all these years of brilliance, in the face of their combined, timeless, musical wizardry, be in any way, musically naive enough to have made some sort of inadvertent, or unthinking choice in the selection of their drummer, falls completely outside of the realm of logic ..<<<

First of all, Robin Trower had absolutely nothing to do with the production of this album and after it came out, he did everything he could to distance himself from the project. Originally it was assumed that Robin would tour with the group but he adamantly refused to do so - joining Bryan Ferry's band as a sideman instead. When questioned by the press about this, he was very gracious but did indicate that he wasn't given enough space to play to keep him interested, and he also said (in Record Collector, 1995) that, though Gary sang well, the demos sounded better to him than the finished product.

Gary and Matthew probably wouldn't agree with your opinions about their musical infallibility. Both of them have admitted to major errors and regrets on former projects -- Gary regarding the inclusion of some songs on Procol's Ninth -- Eight Days a Week and The Final Thrust - and of course the Worm fiasco on Something Magic -- he's expressed great remorse about that, his attitude being best summed up as "What was I Thinking??" -- i.e. he admitted that he _failed to notice_ how awful that piece sounded with him speaking, rather than singing, those words.   And Matthew..... well --- take a look at his 1995 interview in MOJO magazine entitled "The Part Timer" -- the one containing the sentence "I cringe at every record I ever made."

http://www.procolharum.com/mojo95_mf.htm

And here's a recent opinion of his about Prodigal Stranger: From Marcelo Pereira's 1998 Interview with Matthew Fisher http://www.procolharum.com/marcelo_mf02.htm : ".... I was very involved, although I didn't see all the tracks from their inception. My feeling is not that I didn't feel like a member of a group as much as it just wasn't a group. If the album sounds a bit too 'produced' I expect I'm as much to blame as anyone for that. With the benefit of hindsight I wouldn't want to do another album that way. ..From a strictly musical point of view, I suppose I wouldn't mind working on another Procol album if it could be more like a 'real band' (the way it used to be). "

That mirrors something I've frequently said about this album -- that it was Concocted on a Computer and you can Tell.   Matthew's words are very encouraging to me -- perhaps there could actually Be a 'real band' Procol album in the future, especially if that terrible crediting injustice is finally corrected.

Best, Joan :-)

	How nice to at last meet meet you personally!  (as it were)  Clearly you have your PH research down well, and indeed, you and I do share a great fondness for the Procol Harum.
	Interesting to learn of Trower’s “distancing” himself from the PS project, but not surprising.  Likewise with Fisher’s comments.  If you read my last communique, you’ll see that I felt his “distance” too on the project.
	I guess my main point is that I would really like to leave these reflections up to PH themselves.
	And again, if I myself were to comment (as I am prone to do) I would say that Reid’s words did still shine through faithfully on PS - and that Gary’s voice just cripples me.  And also, that everso thankfully, the PS project - in spite of the “shortcomings” expressed by Fisher and “tRower” - nevertheless, gives ME (if not yourself) “PROCOL HARUM ONCE MORE” (even in these seemingly musically barren ‘90’s).
	Anyway, I feel certain that you and I seek out many of the same kinds of musical objectives.  And while I for one, do not want to return to an era which has already been and gone - I nevertheless would be thrilled by a CD that reflects the hunger of those “60’s, splintered-bone-juting-through-raw-flesh-days”.
	I’ll tell you this: It can happen again.  Fisher is brilliant.  Brooker’s voice absolutely kills - incontrovertibly, even to this day - and it is a definitive tribute to one who indeed “pushes the limits” as he does.  Trower is as raw and bluesy as ever... and Keith Reid has probably got shit is his drawer, that would render all of us speechless...  which might, perhaps... not be such a bad consequence!

Ethan

P.S. Speaking of “mechanical” and “metronomic” components, I would love to send you a copy of my “fully computer generated” CD, “A SALTY SEQUENCE” PH Tribute. If you are interested, drop me a line at: papa_abba@yahoo.com

Yes, Procol Harum produced their share of less than inspired material, but to hark on about it as much as you did strikes me as a bit paltry, even allowing for your intention of using your posting as an antidote to any sycophancy that might have started to appear on this forum.  By the way, 'Broken Barricades' was produced by Chris Thomas and not by Matthew Fisher, someone you perhaps hold in too high regard.

Yours,
Paul

Chris Savage (sidsavage@aol.com

http://www.procolharum.com/note_paper.htm

or

http://www.procolharum.com/andrews.htm

I've been trying for years to find a copy of the Bedlam LP. He played with them briefly after PH........with the (today, I'm sad to report) deceased Cozy Powell. Some of those tunes "Whiskey and Wine", "I don't Feel So Good" still stick in my mind after over 25 years. Anyone know if this material can be found?

I'm glad you mentioned Cozy Powell. I was so sorry to read of his death -- in alt.rock-n-roll.classic -- of an auto accident. Powell was a master drummmer, the only prominent drummmer to praise BJW in print SO FAR -- see the HISTORY ->Letters to Editors Section here at BtP.

Yes that letter from Cozy in praise of BJ is in the History section on "artciles," rather than letters to editors"... the Octopus in the Hot Bath article to be exact.

Here's the URL:

http://www.procolharum.com/press3.htm

It's also LINKED to BJ's page --

http://www.procolharum.com/procolbj.htm

Best, Joan

RIP Cozy and B.J.

The liner notes and cover photos are full of errors. The photos are of the Fisher PH incarnation - sort of the opposite of the Easter Island error which pictured and named Copping by mistake. I LOVE the cover photo - the same one that's in the Westside Box, with Dave K. looking sleepy, Robin impish, and Matthew eyeing Gary with an...interesting expression on his face.

I think it's worth getting - but recommend compensating the band by also buying an extra copy of a legitimate PH CD.

And PH -- why not release a really Quality copy of most of WPLJ???

I'm not a real big fan of post-RT PH, but I did see them in 1971 with Dave Ball, and was quite impressed.

As to that track list - the titles on the cover aren't quite accurate. I Think the following are:

Excerpts from WPLJ Radio/NYC/4/12/71: Memorial Drive, Still There'll Be More; Nothing That I Didn't Know; Shine On Brightly (listen for Gary's shout of "Matthew--->!" right before Chris plays Matthew's organ solo (and does Not sound the same..); Broken Barricades; Whaling Stories (with jazzy intro); JUICY JOHN PINK! (WoWWWWW);

Excerpts from show with Dave Ball - probably Stockholm, 1971: All This and More; Quite Rigtly So; Pilgrim's Progress; In the Autumn of my Madness; Look To Your Soul; Grand Finale. ----------------------

That's it. The missing tracks from WPLJ are GREAT versions of Luskus Delph and Power Failure; an OK Whisky Train, and an A Salty Dog where Gary sings horribly FLAT....

I just noticed your reply (thanx again) was posted today at 2:07 GMT.......heads a little fuzzy this morning, but I think that makes it about 9PM thursday here on the east coast.

(RT/WPLJ section): Simple Sister -- great Lean and Powerful version without that (imo) dull and superfluous instrumental interlude. WoW -- does BJW play this one up a Storm!! Ditto RT!!!!

(Dave Ball section): Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone).

There's a review of this CD in the 8/98 issue of Discoveries Magazine by the great Brad Bradberry who has written so many complimentary articles about PH for Goldmine magazine. (Jeff Tamarkin - another PH fan and expert - used to be the Editor of Goldmine but now works for Discoveries).

I just noticed in the Symphonic liner notes that Repent
Walpurgis was arranged by one Christian Kabitz (not to be
confused with Lenny Kravitz? <G>) and that said Kabitz only
arranged that One song.  That makes me wonder -- who is that
Kabitz guy, and Why was HE chosen to do the arrangement???
 Why not the Composer Himself - MF of course - who's done many
orchestral arrangements -- and if not MF, why not Gary or
Maestro Dodd??  

Of course I don't think the symphonic RW would've been much
better no matter who arranged the orchestra because -- as
someone pointed out on the PH email list -- the church organ
was invented as a Substitute for an orchestra and both
together are redundant - one always interferes with the other.
 Have there been any 'concertos for church organ and
orchestra'?  I don't think so.  The best one could hope for -
if an orchestra MUST be added to RW  (WhY?....  WHY????)  -
would be if it just Shut UP during all the organ parts and
came in to play the Ave Maria during the piano interlude...

But I digress... I think a symphonic RW -- if one must be recorded -- should, out of respect for the Composer, have been arranged by him -- or he should've been given 'first crack' at doing so. Can someone ask Gary why this wasn't done? And why Kabitz was chosen?

And.....just who IS this Christian Kabitz, ANYWAY???? Any info on him would be appreciated.

See http://www.procolharum.com/barbicprog.htm

>someone pointed out on the PH email list -- the church organ was invented as a Substitute for an orchestra

Though some might not agree ...

>If an orchestra MUST be added to RW ... to play the Ave Maria during the piano interlude

I'd be happier never again to hear that Gounod kitsch slopped over the top of Bach's prelude.

>Can someone ask Gary why this wasn't done? And why Kabitz was chosen?

We might speculate that part of the reason for the Kabitz arrangement's being used on the Symphonic recording was that it existed already, so nobody had to be paid to do it!

It may have only been a question of money, but "you gets what you pays for" as they say. And all the other songs on the album were arranged by the composer (Gary) or the orchestral conductor (Maestro Dodd or Darryl Way).

I still think - barring further explanatory information - that MF should have at least been Asked to do the arrangement. It's an insult to the song and the composer if the only reason that an amateur's arrangement was used - on that song and no other on the album - was because of the money.

I agree with much of what you said -- RW is the only track on that album that I can stand to listen to -- mainly for the organ, and RT's solos - which I agree aren't as great as his originals but, imo, lightyears better than Whitehorn's. I don't like that orchestration - I Cringed when it first came in on top of the beautiful organ, drowning it out - and my favorite parts are where the orchestra quiets down to let the original instrumentalists take over. And I sure do agree with you about that Drumming!! And I'm not sure I'd like any other orchestral arrangement any better. But the reason I posted as I did was because I was shocked and saddened to learn that Matthew Fisher totally dislikes the arrangement -- see the article at:

http://www.procolharum.com/rw_roland.htm

He said that the orchestra should sound disturbing and angst ridden but just sounds pompous instead, and that he wishes he had been given the opportunity to arrange RW because he 'couldn't have done a worse job.' But he was not given this opportunity - not even asked what he thought about that arrangement of HIS piece -- but rather called in at the last minute, not even by the producer but by the producer's Manager (Kellogs) to play over the already completed orchestral arrangement -- LIKE SOME SIDEMAN OFF THE STREET!

And when I discovered that RW wasn't even arranged by someone highly respected or prominent in the field - like ALL THE OTHER SONGS ON THE ALBUM WERE -- but by some college student ... well, IMO, that just compounds the thoughtlessness and violation of a great artist's work.

It turns out that Kabitz isn't only a college student but also a professional conductor of some sort who worked with Gary prior to the Symphonic album - on "rock meets classics" tours. For further info see:

http://www.procolharum.com/gb_rpc.htm

I'm glad RW wasn't arranged by a total amateur after all! But it's still flabbergasting to me that Gary brought this arrangement into the Symphonic Project without it's EVER ONCE occurring to him to ask Matthew Fisher what he thought of it!

I've nicknamed Gary "His Highness" because of his regal bearing and his self-references as Commanders, Deities and such. But now I think a more appropriate moniker for him might be:

THE INNOCENT SOLIPSIST.

And it also reaffirms my own opinion that you resent Gary and have precious little love for the man <<<

I have the utmost respect for Gary as a musician and the guiding force in Procol Harum. As I don't know him personally it would make no sense for me to either love or resent him. I'm sorry if I gave that latter impression but it's not how I feel. I do feel that some of his behavior has been thoughtless vis a vis Matthew -- not just this instance but the credit refusal of 1967, the loss of Matthew's Hammond in the early 70's and not replacing it, and the 1991 Kate Bush recording gig that was rightfully Matthew's -- but I don't think any of these things was intentional. We can all be thoughtless at times and can benefit from this being pointed out to us -- as I was thoughtless in writing in such a way as I could be misinterpreted as hostile when my intention was to be helpful. <<<< The fact that Matthew was not consulted and that he hated the arrangement of his composition does not signify an insulting lack of respect for him<<<

I think it signifies thoughtlessness, not purposeful disrespect. (That's why I used the word "Innocent"). I know Gary has great respect for Matthew and if he realized his thoughlessness he'd want to make amends for it. This can only be beneficial to Procol's future.

<<<< but merely underscores one of the realities of the recording industry. Just a glance at the long list of PH cover versions and it becomes clear that there is nothing more to say on this topic.<<<

Well I have more to say <g>... This wasn't a case of some impersonal record company playing fast and loose with Matthew's composition, but rather a production by Gary, who was working closely with Matthew (in Procol) at the time this album was created.   Matthew could very easily have been consulted about that arrangement and then given the choice of modifying it to suit his taste, writing a new arrangement if he could do that within the alloted time frame, or deciding that Repent shouldn't be on the Symphonic album.

<<<< What is most appalling is your PERSONAL attack upon Gary's casual nature and good humor. To extrapolate Gary's references to "Commander, Guberanator, Rear Admiral, etc." is to miss the whole point of what he is about. <<

That wasn't meant to be a PERSONAL attack but was rather MY little attempt at humor which apparently you didn't perceive as such for which I'm sorry.

<<<<< (And will you please show me where Mr. Brooker has been referred to as a deity?)<<<

I had to use the Search Engine to find this Link and it Worked!! Here it is:

From GB's 1995 tour diary, Shine On, Winter '95 "....Procol open and should be in for an early night but I sit through the Kansas set and Alan Parsons so I can sing Limelight with Al. The crowd love it and dressed all in white standing out front, a glow of white light enveloping me, Whitehorn remarks I appear as some sort of deity...... ...the world is our oyster! We played at the same venue in 1993 with Jethro and did great. Lets dress in white and play God again! By halfway through the set most of the crowd have gone home ....There is a post-mortem. It's incomprehensible ...., alone in a ghastly unpredictable world. It was a mistake to wear the white He's angry!   Alone and unloved in the bar, our hero the Commander ponders life....."

The URL is

http://www.procolharum.com/gb_heavenhell.htm

And it also reaffirms my own opinion that you resent Gary and have precious little love for the man <<<

I have the utmost respect for Gary as a musician and the guiding force in Procol Harum. As I don't know him personally it would make no sense for me to either love or resent him. I'm sorry if I gave that latter impression but it's not how I feel. I do feel that some of his behavior has been thoughtless vis a vis Matthew -- not just this instance but the credit refusal of 1967, the loss of Matthew's Hammond in the early 70's and not replacing it, and the 1991 Kate Bush recording gig that was rightfully Matthew's -- but I don't think any of these things was intentional. We can all be thoughtless at times and can benefit from this being pointed out to us -- as I was thoughtless in writing in such a way as I could be misinterpreted as hostile when my intention was to be helpful.

<<<< The fact that Matthew was not consulted and that he hated the arrangement of his composition does not signify an insulting lack of respect for him<<<

I think it signifies thoughtlessness, not purposeful disrespect. (That's why I used the word "Innocent"). I know Gary has great respect for Matthew and if he realized his thoughlessness he'd want to make amends for it. This can only be beneficial to Procol's future.

<<<< but merely underscores one of the realities of the recording industry. Just a glance at the long list of PH cover versions and it becomes clear that there is nothing more to say on this topic.<<<

Well I have more to say <g>... This wasn't a case of some impersonal record company playing fast and loose with Matthew's composition, but rather a production by Gary, who was working closely with Matthew (in Procol) at the time this album was created.   Matthew could very easily have been consulted about that arrangement and then given the choice of modifying it to suit his taste, writing a new arrangement if he could do that within the alloted time frame, or deciding that Repent shouldn't be on the Symphonic album.

<<<< What is most appalling is your PERSONAL attack upon Gary's casual nature and good humor. To extrapolate Gary's references to "Commander, Guberanator, Rear Admiral, etc." is to miss the whole point of what he is about. <<

That wasn't meant to be a PERSONAL attack but was rather MY little attempt at humor which apparently you didn't perceive as such for which I'm sorry.

<<<<< (And will you please show me where Mr. Brooker has been referred to as a deity?)<<<

I had to use the Search Engine to find this Link and it Worked!! Here it is:

From GB's 1995 tour diary, Shine On, Winter '95 "....Procol open and should be in for an early night but I sit through the Kansas set and Alan Parsons so I can sing Limelight with Al. The crowd love it and dressed all in white standing out front, a glow of white light enveloping me, Whitehorn remarks I appear as some sort of deity...... ...the world is our oyster! We played at the same venue in 1993 with Jethro and did great. Lets dress in white and play God again! By halfway through the set most of the crowd have gone home ....There is a post-mortem. It's incomprehensible ...., alone in a ghastly unpredictable world. It was a mistake to wear the white He's angry!   Alone and unloved in the bar, our hero the Commander ponders life....."

The URL is

http://www.procolharum.com/gb_heavenhell.htm

I'm intrigued by your comment about open reel sources of the WPLJ material. Are those the "acetates" whereby someone could remaster a really GREAT edition and release it on CD? I've been hoping that could be done - perhaps as BONUSes to a reissue of BB -- not all of WPLJ of course -- just the 5 BB tracks and JUICY JOHN PINK - that latter being by far my favorite song on there!

I like all the BB material on that radio show MUCH better than the overproduced album versions -- Memorial Drive, Power Failure, BB, Simple Sister (WoWWWWW) and Luskus Delph.

Ditto for the WPLJ/Juicy John Pink -- Lightyears better than that BJ-less, horrific-harmonica-ridden, handclapping and footstomping infested version on the ASD album!

The 1973 RT performances in particular, sound quality, etc. From the two PH tracks you mentioned it leads me to believe that maybe those are Paramounts tracks, or Liquorice John??

Anyhow, I'm thinking of buying it...is it worth it?

I really have enjoyed the Robin's Last Stand CD.....at least the first part.

I can't imagine why they are not legitimately released...how about it guys!!

Other items of note on the CD are the 9 RT tracks from 1973, pretty darn good, they have the feel of a club performance, with a lot of RT intros, a few people clapping, and pretty loose, but hot performances. I'm also curious about the outtake track from Prodigal Stranger.....I think it would have been one of the best on the album!

http://www.procolharum.com/redhill_tylko.htm

...especially the exchange with Chris Copping after the gig ---- very gracious, Chris!! :-)

...but I wonder at the report that Keith Reid's sister was there. I hadn't heard that. Could they have mistaken Matthew Fisher's sister (who I know Was there) for Keith's?

Please read http://www.procolharum.com/liqj2.htm (and the various pages that are linked from there) and mail us if you know the titles of any songs from the Liquorice John Death sessions that are not listed already at 'Beyond the Pale'.

Thanks!

http://home.sn.no/~jensan/Procol.htm

there's a great (mirror image?) photo of the band, from the cover of the Westside Boxed set, I believe, or at least from that same photo shoot, and if you click on that photo you can hear a few bars of Grand Finale.

I guess that piece was put there to signify the Finale of the former Site, and the birth of this one.

Could that lovely audio/visual Page be LINKED from here?

Thanks! Joan :-)

Btw. That picture is edited by Mattias Gidløf, whose father works at Sedish Connection and helped us reigsiter our URL and so on. It was designed well before the Westside box was released (but I guess it must be the same picture).

Looking forward to a splendid uncharted celebration of the end of World War II. "The bangs are over, a child is born".

Thank you and good-night.

Signed,

G.B.

     Anglin's Pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea had a few
Spanish mackeral, pompano,and the occasional tarpon.
Deerfield Pier had mangrove snappers,tarpon,African pompano
and a couple of permit.Pompano Pier had a few Spanish
mackeral,snook and triggerfish. Down at Bud N Mary's in
Islamorada there are reports of tarpon, dolphin up to 30
pounds, blackfin tuna, yellowtail snapper and kingfish.
(http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports)

Regards from South Florida,
B.P.    

It's called either Last Stop Greenwich Village, or Some Time Greenwich Village: made in 1969 by Peter Geissner at a New York venue, perhaps the Fillmore East or somewhere on Long Island, it shows Procol Harum performing 'against a psychedelic backdrop'.

If you have a copy of this film or know the whereabouts of one, please mail us at 'Beyond the Pale'

I don't care for the sound of those BBC cuts and can't imagine their ever being "tweakable" to do justice to Procol's True LIVE sound. A couple of them are with Royer/Harrison rather than Trower/Wilson -- actually I do like one of those- NOT because of Royer/Harrison (!): AWSoP. While the original single is by far the BEST version, imo, because of the ethereal Tone of that M102, (and thank Goodness they had the sense to eliminate those awful 3rd and 4th verses), the version on the BBC also sports a beautiful Organ Melody - the counterpoint parts to the vocal a bit different from the single. Matthew plays a measure or so from his organ *solo* in concert with Gary's voice - a very nice touch, not on the single - and the organ melody is a bit more seamlessly Classical than the original. It doesn't contain the 6 note ascending scale in the "playing cards" section - the most R&B part of the organ melody, and not coincidentally, the section that Joe Cocker's totally "de-classified" (non-classical) R&B version of the song features so prominently (sung by his backing vocalists). Anyway -- I think that disk is worth getting just for the AWSoP.

I'm sorry to hear that Westside is planning on releasing the BBC sessions as LIVE CD's - and if they do I hope they At Least eliminate that horrible DJ who introduces some of the songs!! Aarrgh!! If only BJ's DRUMS had been that loud in the Mix!! And there are other Live tapes that sound so much better -- Fillmore EAst, Easter, 1969; WPLJ Radio, NYC, 4/12/71 (w/RT); British Biscuit, London 1976 - the best ASD I've Ever heard (no strings attached), and even some of the 5/77 Hofstra WLIR/FM performaces -- an excellent Unstrung version of Something Magic, and an Unquiet Zone with a Killer drum solo by the incomparable unsung drum hero B.J.Wilson.

Best, Joan :-)

First time here, so if I screw it up, let me apologize in advance. I have just recently become aware of a recording of Peter & The Wolf with Viv Stanshall, Gary Brooker, John Hiseman etc. I haven't been able to track it down anywhere. One of the folks on the Bonzos list suggested I ask here. I would be interested in any format, with CD being preferred, if such a thing exists. Can anyone help?

                      thanks,
                        Jon
                         jgould@icanect.net

oh yes, I have this record. It's from 1975, vinyl, and Gary plays the bird at the synthesizer. You can find also Manfred Mann, Phil Collins, Eno, John Hiseman, Jack Lancaster and some other guys. I do not know if there is any CD available.

Fritz, Germany

it really exists on CD by Castle Communications CSC 7091

It is released in Germany by Castle Communications Deutschland Gmbh.On CD it is narrated by Viv Stanshall. I own the German Vinyl version too, this is spoken by Wilcken F. Dincklage (RIP) , aka Willem.

bye Dietmar

The PH Digiplex Page (John Ferrari's) comes up, as does Matthew Fisher's Page and Annabel's Art Page -- but NO BtP!!!

This is not good, is it? Can the situation be fixed?? Maybe Annabel can help here?

Thanks! Joan

"Multiple page submissions are important. If you have 10 pages making up your website, all 10 URLs can be submitted to search engines and directories. This increases the relevancy rating at most directories, which in turn increases the chance that your website address will appear on the first two pages of returned search queries at most search engines and directories... It's also important to perform repeat submissions whenever making changes to your site. This ensures that search engines are kept up-to-date with vital information regarding your website, plus, it gives your listing a boost toward the front of the line after inevitably being shoved to the rear by the thousands of other new listings. "

That's probably more info than you cared about, just take whatever's useful. I apologise to anybody who doesn't give a dry fig about this stuff.

-Annabel

Thanks for submitting BtP to WebCrawler!!

I found out that BtP pages Do come up on EXCITE after all -- I had been using a local search engine on WebTV which I mistook for EXCITE.

It was the *real* EXCITE that recently led me to that great tribute to BJW by Bob Siebenberg, the drummer for Supertramp.

Best, Joan :-)

Anyway -- many thanks, Annabel for clue-ing in the WebCrawler!!

Now ---- can you help us find the Fisher/Dewar CD????

Best, Joan

see the article:

http://www.procolharum.com/phalbum1_plus_ln2b.htm

..and I want to write him about the upcoming liner notes to SOB---PLUS and ASD -- PLUS - if they're anything like what's on the 3CD box then some major revisions are in order --- but I find there is no email address for Mr. Rounce. I guess I could write to him via snail mail but that's so much less fun!

Actually there is no such thing as a "collective voice" of course -- and I hope he meant he'd listen to all the opinions of the avid fans who contribute to this Site.

I tried to access the Web Address listed on Procol...PLUS but just got an "address unknown" message.. has anyone else been able to get to the Westside WebPage? And more importantly can someone please provide an email address for Tony Rounce???

Thanks, Joan :-)

And at the end of the notes it says all music was by Brooker except QRS by Brooker/Fisher. NO mention that Repent Walpurgis was by Fisher alone!!! (and Bach if you wanna get technical....)... The composer credits on the back of the booklet are correct in this regard (but not about Lime Street/Harrison) -- but the LINER NOTES SHOULD AGree with the credits on the back!!!!!

The most egregious error MUSICALLY was attributing Cerdes to Royer/Harrison!! Sheesh!!!!! Henry Scott-Irvine tried to make a bunch of excuses about that in Roland's article -- I was waiting for him to conclude "....and besides, the Dog ate my Homework!"..... saying he hadn't heard the track that ended up on the album, but Tony Rounce insisted that Henry certainly Had..

 BTW -- I get the impression that Rounce thinks fans want to have more Royer/Harrison tracks unearthed and released... I can't imagine Why,  unless they're songs that Robin and BJW never recorded... I'd much rather that Westside expends their energy finding, remastering and releasing the great LIVE material of the Vintage PH -- beginning with the Fisher/Wilson/Trower incarnation of course.

B.J.Wilson Matthew Fisher and Robin Trower

Similarly, in the discussion of the creation of AWSoP -- there's again NO mention of Matthew Fisher, whose organ melody was so integral to the success of that song.

So the liner notes are woefully incomplete and misleading, as well as full of errors.

I do hope Westside will be issuing a corrected and expanded booklet for PH...PLUS, as Tony Rounce has suggested, and that they will rethink the notes on the next 2 ....PLUS releases (if they're planning to include the same notes as on the 3CD Box, which also contain errors and oversights).

Thanks! Joan :-)

http://www.procolharum.com/dewar.htm

I fear MF has been victimized yet again by the poor business judgments of those around him -- and this time I can't blame Keith Reid...

I first got a sinking feeling about this when reading the extensive blurb on the Page mentioned above -- and noticed there was NO INFORMATION included on where and when the CD was/would be available....Uh...Oh....

Then I heard it was released in England in 5/98. But NO ONE can find it Anywhere as far as I can tell -- in England, the USA, the Internet -- ANYWHERE!

One place LINKED to gemm.com said they got ONE COPY in 5/98 which they sold the same month, and didn't know if they could get any more.

Then I tried to find Chrysalis Recods... They Used to have a webPage and a NYC address --- but no more..

So my sad interim conclusion thus far -- and hope I'm wrong -- is that :

Chrysalis released a handful of these CD's in 5/98 and then went out of business.

PLEASE someone -- tell me I'm Wrong about this!!!

Has the Fisher/Dewar CD become an Instant Rarity in 3 months' time??

HELP!!!!

Thanks, Joan

CeeDee Mail -- a reliable mail order source from the UK says they have as many copies as they can sell!!! With their permission, I'm reprinting their email. Just email them at the following address.

>>>> From: 113115.115@compuserve.com (Peter Purnell) Date: Tue, Jul 21, 1998, 2:52pm (PDT+3) To: jem33@webtv.net (joan may) Subject: New James Dewar/Matthew Fisher CD!

Dear Joan,

The James Dewar CD is available at £9.99 delivered UK or £11.99 delivered outside of the UK.

If you require a copy please advise.

Regards

Peter CeeDee Mail <<<<<<

Thanks, Peter!!! :-)

Correct! I've ordered my copy from Peter Purnell and I live in the states.  Peter was extreamly helpful.
                                            Thanks Peter
                                             Mike C.

Well it "only" took about a YEAR, but Stumbledown Romancer is now being offered at amazon.com!!! I submitted a fan review and I suggest others do the same. Right now there's no descriptive information on amazon's page.

I'm grateful to Peter Purnell of CeeDee Mail in the UK for continuing to carry this CD since its release.

Best, Joan :-)

My sources at the Skanderborg Festival report that the All Starr Band played 'Whisky Train' and 'AWSOP' yesterday in Jutland, Denmark. Further news about this event will be forwarded to Roland as soon as I have read all the papers. Shine On!

If anybody knows anything else about the record and/or the CD please let me know also.

although my forst encounter with PH was AWSOP ireally never bought any of their music until i heard a song called "the night they drove old dixie down" whom i thought was PH. well, although i was disappointed, i picked up their HOME album and was immediately hooked. i also bought their first second and third albums in rapid fire and the rest was history. i was a PH fanatic. i think it was garys vocals as well as his unusual chord changes which hooked me. now in reading all of these postings i have not seen anyone so much as praise GRAND HOTEL which i think is PH at their epitome. talk about melody, WOW. i would likee to get other peoples opinion about this much underated album which i think was one of the best endeavors.

  After Procol Harum released Grand Hotel in 1973, I was
lucky enough to see them perform in Dallas (from about the
6th row or so).  I had not heard this music before the
concert, but as is often the case, afterwards I bought the
album, bought the sheet music book (since I love to "hack" on
the keyboards a bit myself), bought the next album when it
came out (Exotic Birds and Fruit), and saw them the next year
also!
  But Grand Hotel was not just any ordinary album.  This music combined the best of rock organ and guitar with the incomperable musical compostions of Brooker's piano.  Like the finest hotel, this was the finest music.  Like the finest
wine (like the glass of wine on the album cover) this was not
just fine rock music, this was great music!
  How do words descibe music?  Not easily.  How do mere words
describe a feeling, a love of music, the enjoyment of
something played countless times over and over and loved
since the first time?  In this case, near impossible.
  No, hearing all of the songs on Grand Hotel for the first
time played LIVE by the group itself was awesome.  I have
vivid memories of B.J. jumping from drum to drum on "Bacon".
I can still clearly see Copping on organ, driving with
intensity, like on "Fires (Which Burnt Brightly)";  and the
impression of Mick Grabham on guitar - in the background
behind piano and organ until those incredible flashes of
guitar when this long red-haired rocker whould capture sole
attention of the entire audience, like on "Toujours L'amour"
and "T.V. Caesar".
   But the leader of this group was clearly the piano
player.  I was somewhat new to this group.  Sure I had heard
"Salty Dog" and "Whiter Shade of Pale".  But seeing the piano
at the *foreground* of the stage was something I never
expected.  And I was on about the 6th row on the floor,
directly in front of all of it!!  It was an image every
Procol Harum fan can imagine as if we could see it today.
Gary Brooker playing, pounding, moving, singing, sometimes
frantically if not forcefully, with passion and with
purpose.  This music was so new and so different, it was
transforming.
  So if I had never them live, would I still hold Grand Hotel
and Exotic Birds and Fruit among my all-time favorite albums,
which I still listen to and love with as much pure enjoyment
as ever?  Who knows and I care not to rationalize why I love
these 2 albums as much as I do.  I only know that I always
have and always will!

regarding the song WHALING STORIES does anyone think that the line "sack the town and rob the tower and steal the alphabet" is KEITH REIDS own tongue in cheek joke about ROBIN TROWERS discontent. rob the tower sure is close to robin trower. its just a thought.

KR astutely mentioned in an interview that it was too bad they named the album after the title track because that probably led to their getting bad press about the entire album's being pompous and overblown, when in fact only a few tracks fit that description. Thereafter PH didn't name their albums after individual songs.

Best, Joan

Scoppa Review: http://www.procolharum.com/gh-rev_scoppa.htm

What about "Something Magic"?

I got the impression from KR's comments about Grand Hotel that he thought it was a mistake to name an entire album after one of its songs, and he/they weren't planning to do that again. But of course they did, just one more time....

>>>>> Due to this album's title cut, though, the band began to resent their new image. Explained Keith Reid, 'Not to put Grand Hotel down, but because of all the orchestration, that single song was given far more importance than the rest of the album, which is a shame because there was so much more to the album than just that one song. Therefore, this time around, we're not going to jeopardize the whole album by allowing people to listen only to the title cut.'

Trackless title-painting:

This time there is no title cut. Exotic Birds and Fruit is named after the cover of the album, a reproduction of a famous English oil painting. 'We named it after the painting because we liked it and we hate the idea of naming any more albums after one of the cuts on it. ' <<<<<<

Included Page: Circus Raves' on 'Exotic Birds and Fruit'

http://www.procolharum.com/raves_ebaf.htm

jk

pardon me if you think im overzealous in adding KING of
HEARTS from PRODIGAL STRANGER to my top 10 list. to me it
ranks up there with many of there classics. what i find
most procolish about the song is garys chord changes
remeniscent from the GRAND HOTEL album. i would most
definatley welcome more songs like this from gary and co.
on future recordings.

Glad to be back, Jason M. Scruton

if procol harum decide to realse any new material and need a u.s. distributor deal, maybe they could contact TVT records. they just reecently inked another very underated band XTC

im writing in response to quite a few letters ive seen lately dumping PH into the progressive rock category. i NEVER bought in to the idea that procol was nothing more than a very talanted ahead of their time R & B outfit who could easily jump from one genre to another just like the beatles, and like the beatles thier roots stemmed from R & B. if one must categorize procol, mention them alongside BOB DYLAN, THE BAND, TRAFFIC, THE BEATLES, and others im sure, but to dump them in with the likes of ELP, YES, GENESIS, and other prog rockers, NO WAY. NOT in a million years. long like PH and their music.

Yes, I know that all of you Genesis (and Phil Collins) fans will be enraged, and will call me all sorts of unkind and unprintable names, but I stand by my opinion. You can't convince me that there is a single Yes or Genesis composition or performance that compares to AWSoP, Repent Walpurgis, ASD, or half-a-dozen other PH works. This is especially true of the Genesis dreck that made it to Top Forty radio.

Comments invited--but be nice!!!

"Have you heard the recording of Redhill?

I have, yes. It's all right."

So: who has it? How do we get it? Let's see some postings here demanding it!!!

Did someone say there is a Procol Harum 3-CD box set?  Please tell me how to get it!  Thanks!

Here's the Page with a bunch of articles/reviews, etc. about the Box:

http://www.procolharum.com/boxrev.htm

Best, Joan :-)

http://www.procolharum.com/awsopcomp.htm

Thanks for asking.I've been waiting for backup.The letter is in the mail. 

I thought I was the only one who loved this band, or even knew about it. I should have known you Brits stick together.

Really I WISH I could see him in concert, when Procul Harum was still together I was only an infant sadly.

Hey, who you callin' a Brit? <g>. I think we Americans constitute the majority of the visitors to this Site-- click on the CONTACTS menu and see all the fans who've admitted to visiting these wonderful Pages (I'm sure there are many more who lurk here as well) -- from all over the world and especially the good ole US of A!

>>>Really I WISH I could see him in concert, when Procul Harum was still together I was only an infant sadly. <<<<

I was older during their Vintage years and was privileged to see them in 1970 and 73 and they Killed both times -- the BEST sound I've ever heard in my LIFE and sadly the worst reproduced on record. But they can still be seen in their Vintage performances -- via the TV concerts and performance clips from 1967-76 ---- thus far only bootlegs with terrible sound quality but the visuals are quite good, thankfully. I bet those vids can be tweaked up sound wise too and someday legitimately released. Then people who weren't even Born during Procol's Vintage years --- and those who are not yet born even now -- can continue to enjoy this magnificent band in all its glory.

Best,

Joan http://www.procolharum.com/awsopcomp.htm

I can't believe that there are no video or kinescope tapes of live club performances from 1967-68, with material from the first three albums.

Does anyone know of where such material might be? And how we can get copies?

When I saw the "1991" in your title I wondered where Ian Wallace and young Matt Pegg came from <g> but then I realized about the typo -- as I should know, being the self proclaimed Typo Queen of the Internet and all, most of my worst typos coming when I'm trying to make a point, or during the punchline of a joke. It's frustrating that we're unable to edit our posts...but at least we're all in this together. :-)

I like Mike Boehm's descriptions and agree with his musical tastes about the songs, and _Geoff_ (Boehm's error) Whitehorn's Van Halenesque excesses (which I think are more excessive than Boehm does).

Yes, I'm sure Matthew Fisher looked as solemn as a church organist and there are historical reasons for that.

I hope your transcription will be posted in the "On Stage" section of this Site -- along with any other reminiscences you might have.

Thanks again!

Best, Joan

http://www.procolharum.com/awsopcomp.htm

>>>>> The Greatest Record Ever Made?

Some say A Whiter Shade of  Pale, others say Stairway to Heaven.  Both answers are wrong.  The correct answer is, of course, Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard. <<<<

While I don't agree with him - I think it IS AWSoP - perhaps Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle does. Just over 3 weeks after Matthew posted the above, Carroll expressed very similar sentiments in his December 7th column:  

>>>>>  Little Richard and The Great Dame

Saw Aunt Mary coming and he jumped back into the Theatre on the Square

JON CARROLL  

Monday, December 7, 1998

IT IS ABOUT time that someone said out loud while he is still alive that Little Richard is one of the great Americans of the 20th century. His devotion to anarchy is both uncompromising and cheerful, an almost impossible combination. His fashion sense is so peccable that it achieves impeccability by coming in the back door. He can still do a falsetto scream at will. Plus, he rocks.

Here is what there is too much of in popular music today: dour people. Dour young women depressed about something, dour young men strangling on their rage. Dour is OK, but there is life beyond dour. There is Little Richard.

Little Richard likes sex. That's sort of a radical message these days, a straightforward ``sex is fun´´ kind of thing. Little Richard believes that sex is Christian. If you asked Little Richard, What would Jesus do?, he would respond: ``She´s got everything that Uncle John needs,´´ which would be confusing out of context but still -- you´d understand the message.

Greil Marcus wrote a wonderful essay about Little Richard on the Dick Cavett show in the early '70s. Also on the show were Erich Segal, author of the now-almost-forgotten ``Love Story,´´ and John Simon, the critic who has made a career of being acerbic about everything. Simon did not like Segal´s book, and the two of them were debating furiously. Little Richard watched. He seemed to think that the conversation was insufficiently focused. He suddenly levitated from his seat, causing the others to shrink back noticeably. He fixed them with a gaze. They were unable to meet it. He said: ``WHY, IN WHOLE HISTORY OF AAAAART! THAT´S RIGHT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU KNOW, MR. CRITIC? WHY WHEN CREEDENCE CLEARWATER PUT OUT WITH THEIR `TRAVELING BAND´ EVERYBODY SAY WHEEE-OOOOO! BUT I KNOW IT ´CAUSE THEY ONLY DOING `LONG TALL SALLY´ LIKE THE BEATLES AND THE STONES AND TOM JONES AND ELVIS BECAUSE -- I AM ALL OF IT, LITTLE RICHARD HIMSELF, VERY TRULY THE GREATEST, THE PRETTIEST, AND NOW TO YOU (he looks at Segal) AND YOU (to Simon). ``I HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK MYSELF. I AM A WRITER. I HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK AND IT´S CALLED, HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD! THAT´S IT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD! THE STORY OF MY LIFE! CAN YOU DIG IT? THAT´S MY BOY LITTLE RICHARD, SURE IS. OO MAH SOUL.´´

And it was suddenly clear who the actual artist onstage was, who the real visionary was, who was reviewing the assumptions of art and making selections as though from a menu. Little Richard, in performance, taking on the world with one hand tied behind his back and WINNING. God bless him.

IT IS MY belief that every night at the Theatre on the Square, one of the spiritual heirs to Little Richard is on full public view. His/her name is Dame Edna Everage, although it's also Barry Humphries. [what follows is a blurb on Dame Edna -- for the complete column, see

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/carroll/ ]

Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but jrc@sfgate.com.

  ©1998 San Francisco Chronicle  Page E8 <<<<< 

Ray Charles (#3), "The high priest, the genius, the Michael Jordan of soul. Ageless" ---- Al Kooper   <<<<

and

Little Richard (#21) "Total attack - yet effortless. He invented rock 'n' roll." ---- Gary Brooker, Procol Harum <<<<

A Starr in his own right

MAYBE someone laughed when Ringo Starr first got up to play on his own, but it's the former Beatle who has been chuckling ever since. To mark the 1Oth anniversary of his All Starr Band, the old drummer next month will be in the metropolitan area, where he's already sold out at the Beacon Theatre and Westbury Music Fair. Second shows have been added. It's all part of a world tour for the All Starrs, who include stellar talent such as Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, Gary Brooker, Jack Bruce and Simon Kirke. They start at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City on Feb. 12, and play South Africa in March.

Mentre leggevo le riflessioni di questo eccellente Autore, apprezzavo la lieve, calibrata fatica cui mi sottoponevo per tradurre dall'inglese all'italiano un testo tanto denso di bagliori del Nirvana post-natalizio.
E  cosi', quando mi sono addormentato improvvisamente, giunto proprio alla parola 'Homburg', al mio risveglio ho avuto la folgorante illuminazione! Perche' anni addietro avevo fortunatamente letto in lingua originale, con la stessa dolce fatica, 'A Christmas Carol', e IMROVVISAMENTE mi sono  ricordato cio' che Scrooge amava ripetere: "bah, humbug!..."
Adesso non ho piu' alcun dubbio: in quest'ambito letterario l'amico Don A. Carrel  e' il mio scrittore preferito, assieme a Lewis Carroll.
			antonio costa barbe'
(I hope someone will be translate in English my reflections above).

'While I was reading the reflections of this excellent author, I began to feel the light, measured fatigue brought about by translating from English into Italian a text so rich in gleams of post-Christmas Nirvana.  And so, having fallen asleep unexpectedly, right at the word "Homburg", on my reawakening illumination came to me like lightning!  Because years previously I had luckily read in the original language, with the same pleasurable fatigue, "A Christmas Carol", and SUDDENLY I remembered what Scrooge was fond of repeating: "bah, humbug!..."

Now I no longer have any doubt: in this particular literary world my friend Don A. Carrell is my favourite writer, alongside Lewis Carroll.'

http://www.procolharum.com/scrooge.htm

Michael Kac

I think the original publisher was Essex Music, but the song has changed hands since then and is now published by Buck's Music -- a Simon Platz Company...

As I said -- just a guess. I hope someone more authoritative than this humble admirer will come forward with the precise information.

Best,

Joan May

http://www.procolharum.com/awsopcomp.htm

Toghether with swedish musicians he performed Conquistador, A Salty Dog and A Whiter Shade of Pale.

I enjoyed every millisecond of it!

Thanks to Joan and Hermann, I've become hooked on the British Biscuit recording of the Blue Danube waltz (more properly, An der schönen blauen Donau), by Strauss. Does anyone know of any other instances where PH recorded this work? I've heard rumors that there was an "official" recording done in Austria when they were commissioned to perform the work on its anniversary--is this the case?

Anyway, not the most earth-shattering question in the world, but I would appreciate any input.

Best regards, Matthew

There is another version of Blue Danube in the Vienna 1975 concert - a great gig, with BJW and Mick in top form. They played Vienna 1974 and 75, apparently, and were commissioned by the Vienna City Fathers to work up that rendition, but never got paid (as of 1975 anyway). See Gary's song intros from that gig:

http://www.procolharum.com/song_intros.htm

This is one reason I think it's appropriate for Procol -- with MICK on Guitar!!! -- to play Woodstock 99 in Vienna this summer (see my post in Still There'll Be More); another connection is that Woodstock promoter Michael Lang was a crony of BJ's during their Joe Cocker years together.

I'm not that crazy about the Blue Danube though -- the band did a great job on it, but Procol's own music is so much more exciting.

All hands on deck...you are all terrific.I am testing,
testing, just in case Gary can stop by and say "HI" from
here.Look for that possible message around the end of
March.With pressure coming from all sides, he just might
cave.Unfortunately, when the commander's on tour time is of
the essence.Will do my best.  

Last night, after giving a brilliant performance at Sunrise

Musical Theatre, Gary in his Gary-esque manner, left me

with these parting words for all you Paler's, Whaler's and

Mailer's,:

      "Good evening!Never in the field of conflict has so
little been done by so few for greater result.I would like
to say a personal THANK YOU to those Sailor's, Paler's and
Whaler's whom have made themselves known. Never has so much
been given by so few. BLESS YOU. Guberanator."

(Hope I spelled that correctly for those for whom that has
meaning.) March 28,1999
 

Alec in San Diego

As you will know if you examine your out-box, I reproduced your message verbatim, suppressing only your name to spare any embarrassment. Other messages were presented with similar care.

I didn't receive any other communciation from you about 'the bust of an April fool's prank', or it would also have featured on the page of responses.

'I imagine I was not the only one to have been left off their selctive processing of feedback.'

No, every message was listed, though I included only one copy when identical messages were sent several times.

'I not only suspected a plot, but warned others of it as well.'

Don't forget that BtP gave a whole year's warning of this.

'... suppression of historic web interaction for the benefit of personal gain and webmaster fame ...'

I don't think anyone who's had dealings with the people who run this site will believe that either of us is interested in fame. As for personal gain ... :-) ... rather the reverse!

'Just what are we as a group supposed to think of this behavior by our mentors ...'

I am surprised to be viewed as a mentor, but if it must be so, my messages to the people are as follows:

(a) Even the annual hoax at BtP is carefully and honestly mounted

and

(b) Don't follow leaders

     PROCOL HARUM....Hall of Fame
     PROCOL HARUM....Hall of Fame
     PROCOL HARUM....Hall of Fame
     PROCOL HARUM....Hall of Fame
  Shall I go on? 

Ah.  Looks like I touched a nerve.  Now the blame is placed on me.  Embarrassed?  You've got to be kidding.  Do you really think I walked around downtrodden and ashamed for wondering whether or not there might possibly be a problem with the BtP site?  No, I was glad to see that the best web site I have ever floated into was still afloat.  Has anyone ever heard of satire?  Maybe I failed at my attempt, but the language in my message surely could not be interpreted as truly angry could it?  I had a smile on my face when I wrote it.  Take a second look at the words.  And by the way, I did send a message to you, Roland.  Sorry if it got lost in cyberspace but I still have it in my "sent items" folder.  This is what I wrote before the other message to Wonder:
To BtP:
   "What?  Is this another April Fools joke Roland?  I click on Wonder of Music and I click on Procel Harem (or however they misspell it) and get deliverd right back to the BtP page that tells about Wonder of Music.  Man, that's a sick looking website.  Why would anyone pay to enter a web site?  I'd go back to snail mail first.  I really hope this Y2K thing ends up being a joke.  I for one am against it.  Keep on Shinin,  Jim Krapf."

Perhaps initial reaction to my Shame message brought out a little frustration. Well, I was a little flustered too when I hooked into Wonder. I have such little time to spend at such web browsing that I sometimes curse and use bad language when things don't go right. My wife has even heard it a few times. I'm sorry if I touched a nerve, but at least I got a response. Touche! Why can't we all just get along? For the sake of Wonder, Keep on shinin! JK

'I had a smile on my face when I wrote it. Take a second look at the words.'

Maybe I was swayed by that little un-smiley icon!

Anyway, thanks for the clarification and kind remarks. No shame, no blame ... let's shine on together, through the shadows cast, to a brighter day ...

Pacifically, RC

 I thought it was your turn Bert, but, I'll take it..
 Thanks for "No More Fear of Flying" GARY. Well done. :)
 I echo your thoughts Jim. It would be GREAT to hear PROCOL HARUM play and record AGAIN!!!
 Has anyone seen DAVE??

I've gone ahead and ordered it anyway.

     Ain't no doubt about it. You better start,start
countin'your blessin's!! 

Even tho' vintage R&R isn't really my cup of tea, I'd recommend this disc to any PH afficionado.

Even tho' vintage R&R isn't really my cup of tea, I'd recommend this disc to any PH afficionado.

 Trying to get the latest on his health.  Also would like to contact him by sending him a letter.  Need address.

Is Good Captain Clack the best song ever?
Oh yeah!

Captain Clack (putting aside his humble pie)

I was a big Procol fan in high school and college and have just recently begun taking an interest in the band again and replacing my LPs with CDs. But so far I have yet to come across a recording of AWSOP with the additional verses (shore leave and all) referenced on this site. Does such a thing exist?
Also, I didn't see Badfinger's Without You listed among tracks featuring Matthew Fisher as a session musician. Could that be anyone else playing that stately swirling organ at the end?
Great site, by the way. Glad to see so many taking an interest in this amazing band.

Matt Walsh

     thought for sure "JL" would have had a say here

What?  Extra verses to WSOP?  I never....!!!

Matt Walsh

                Guestbook entry Jan. 31, 1998
                     Jacques Loussier?

           This space is available for 003...
           I wonder what
                       it's going to be? 

2) Anyone else really love the unreleased song "McGregor"?

3) Anyone else really hate the song "Robert's Box?" I always stop the album right after Fires Which Burn Brightly and pretend that song isn't on there. What a lousy way to close out an otherwise brilliant album!

1.  Yes

2.  Yes

3.  No

     Ain't no doubt about it....all 3 get a thumbs up.
       I even like Bert's rendition of Robert's Box!
                          ;-)    

That's just one of the many errors on the Westside liner notes. Richards did not co-produce any of the tracks on A Salty Dog. Nor did Royer and Harrison play on those alternate versions of Something Following Me and Cerdes. Nor did Bill Eyden play drums on Lime Street Blues...etc..

Liner notes to CD reissues are notorious for being full of errors, because there are apparently no negative legal consequences for printing false information, and notes are often written by fans instead of professional journalists (fans are cheaper but you get what you pay for).. Come to think of it, music journalists often make egregious errors as well -- e.g. the recent Chicago Tribune review (by Michael Parrish) of a Ringo gig which said that Gary is the organist for Procol Harum, and the article about Leslie Speakers on the Hammond FAQ (by Clifford Henricksen, reprinted from a 1981 music magazine) that makes the same mistake. I don't know Why these professional journalists aren't more careful - there's absolutely no excuse for their negligence, like there is with fans.

Anyway - enjoy the Westside/Procol music but be Very skeptical about the liner notes!

Best, Joan

I always thought "Simple Sister" & Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" had strong musical similarities. Music from Bowie wasn't particularly quick to get to my little town in Virginia, so I heard "Simple Sister" first (always liked it better) and assumed Bowie borrowed a lot from it. Recently I've turned up stuff that indicates "Daydream" was released first, if only by a few weeks. Still, they must have been neck & neck, & there was the Tony Visconti (sp?) connection. I'm enough Procol fan to assume they invented other people's sounds for them, but I suppose it went both ways often enough. Anybody know any more facts/rumours about these two songs?

Thanks, Ross

Does anyone out there (are you listening, Westside?) really believe that there does not exist an original studio recording
of Whiter Shade Of Pale with all four verses?  (Albeit
probably with Eyden or Harrison on drums and Royer on
guitar.)  I would also venture to guess that there probably exists a version of the same with B.J. and Trower.

After all, it was standard practice at the time for a group to
release the "short version" of a song as a single, and to put
the "long version" on the album.  Of course, we all know
about Procol's problems with WSOP and their first album....

I also respectfully disagree with JEM33.  The "third" verse
(about the mermaid) is great, and really adds to the song;
though I agree that the "fourth" verse ("If music be the
food of love....") is rather odd -- but I'll take it if Keith Reid
says so!

--JL

To my ears, the published lyric in "New Lamps For Old":

Innocent youth
Falsehood for truth

sounds like this on the EB&F recorded version:

Innocent youth
Foresake the truth  (or Forsaken truth)

I'll have to dig out a couple of live versions and see
what Gary sings there.

Actually, another published lyric to the same song:

The eye of the needle
The loss of the thread

I always thought was:

The eye of the needle
The gloss of the thread

--JL

There are doctor's for this!!!

Has anyone else received e-mail from the list
since July 1st?

Thanks,

--JL

Matt Walsh

--JL

  The addition of Trower and Wilson in stereo on an
already great song only made it better.
   The other factors are a no brainer.$$$$$$$

http://www.procolharum.com/acb_mf2.htm

>>>>>> Homburg

(acb): Tell about the history of the second single?

(MF): The recording that was released (the single) was actually the version we cut with Royer and Harrison, with some extra drumming by BJ. <<<<<<<<

And can anyone hear Royer's guitar in that song? No? Good!

Best, Joan :-)

Captain Clack

what are the mathematical implications of Whaling Stories ?

For a start, I should think your local record shop or online record dealer will be most happy to sell you Grand Hotel which is now on CD. Enjoy! 

Anyone care to venture a guess why Barricades and Live have never been reissued?   I was under the impression that Live (while not my favourite) was the best selling LP they ever had, and Baricades a close second.
 

>>>>>> .....I was under the impression that Live (while not my favourite) was the best selling LP they ever had, and Baricades a close second.<<<<<

Yes LIVE was by far the best selling LP (and AWSoP their best selling single, of course) but BB wasn't second but rather 4th or 5th -- at least according to the US Billboard Charts which is the best estimate we have (I assume) about sales because most of the fans are in the US.. You can find the relative chart standings in several countries by clicking on the RECORDINGS menu and I'll summarize their highest US chart positions and number of weeks on the Billboard Top 100 chart:

ALBUMS:

1. LIVE -- #5, 19 weeks

2. Grand Hotel -- #21, 7 weeks

3. SOB -- #24, 7 weeks

4 & 5. ASD and BB -- each reached #32 and spent 5 weeks on the chart 6. HOME - #34, 6 weeks

SINGLES:

1. AWSoP -- #5, 10 weeks

2. Conquistador (from LIVE) -- #16, 8 weeks

3. Homburg -- #34, 2 weeks

---------------------

Best, Joan :-)

>>> I'll summarize their highest US chart positions and number of weeks on the Billboard Top 100 chart: <<<

I meant to say Billboard Top 40 chart, not Top 100. I don't think we have the Top 100 standings posted yet... Sorry 'bout that!

Best, Joan

To my ears (of which I have four), Matthew's Hammond is all over the place. It's interesting that the credits list Brooker (piano) and Fisher (Hammond), with no other mention of "keyboards" or "synths." (Yes, we know that's a lie -- it's just interesting that the credits don't list any.)

The weak points, of course, are no B.J. Wilson, and the weakness/banality of many of Keith's lyrics.

--JL

I noticed several people (Joan?, etc.) raving about "Saw the Fire." However, this song does not have B.J. Wilson on drums -- it's Henry Spinetti.

It is also interesting that the only two completely "Procol-ish" songs are "Ghost Train" and "The Long Goodbye" -- both of which were performed at Edmonton '92. They are the only 2 songs from that album that have:

"keyboards"/vocal: Brooker (probably piano) "keyboards": Fisher (but maybe no Hammond on Ghost?) drums: B.J. Wilson words: Keith Reid music: Brooker/Fisher (And Dave Bronze on bass for good measure.)

All other songs on that album lack at least one of those components.

--JL

Also, All This and More (sans orchestra) sounds very sweet -- I'm surprised Joan hasn't mentioned this before. (If you have, Joan, then forgive me.) To me it sounds identical to the album version -- minus the orchestral overdubs, of course -- but plus a little more of Robin's guitar and Gary's great vocal improv at the end -- which they also could have taken out of the final album mix.

I can almost do without the "alternate mixes" of the original album takes (Still There'll Be More from ASD+, Piggy Pig Pig, Barnyard Stories, etc.), except that the alternate mix of Piggy is quite amazing (but so is the original mix).

Cheers!

--JL

Captain Clack

     What better way to celebrate the MILLENNIUM!!!
Oh, and by the way Gary...we just gotta have Heartbreaker. Please, please,please record this?
Thanks. ;-) 

Captain Clack

But 'What's the point?' has never been a guiding principle at BtP where we are trying to do all we can to stimulate and reflect interest in a band we want to see on stage again.

What I wonder is if the book will contain anything we don't already know via BtP.

Yes there will be plenty that is not already known to the general public (especially about the pre-Fisher Procol) and I assure you that since reading the manuscript BtP have been biting their tongues in fairness to Claes and SAF ... since as you know we generally try to bring Palers legit info the minute we hear of it.

Roland

Thanks,

--JL

I dunno, maybe "GB" or "KR" ?

--JL

              And dashing they are --JL,
              but not as dashing as you!
                        ;-)    

For all these years, I've had the words wrong. :-)

For "They told us we were savages" I had "The tale will start with 7G's" For "We got the groceries, you got the cake" I had "You got the gross proceeds, we got the gate."

What was i thinking? :-) :-)

gbJL