Procol Harum - Live (DVD)

Three reviews culled from Amazon websites

We reprint these customer reviews without seeking permission from the authors, hoping that – since their work is on the web anyway – they will be happy to see their opinions compiled in furtherance of the Procol cause. Each gave the DVD five stars out of five.

Bob Steingraber from San Jose, Ca. United States, 3 August 2002: Procol Harum: As Great as Ever!!!

Any fan of Procol Harum should pick up this DVD now! The band is in fine form, the video is well shot, the sound is crisp and well balanced, and the song selection spans the band's entire career: full of classics, rarely-played gems, and a few relatively newer cuts from 1991's Prodigal Stranger CD. This is a nearly two-hour concert from Denmark in December, 2001. The band includes Gary Brooker (piano, vocals), Matthew Fisher (Hammond B3 organ), Geoff Whitehorn (guitar), Mark Brzezicki (drums), and Matt Pegg (bass guitar). From sizzling rockers like Memorial Drive and Piggy Pig Pig to beautiful ballads like A Salty Dog and Homburg (and all points in between) the band plays with great passion and precision. Gary Brooker's voice and piano playing are incredible, and the rest of the band shines on brightly, as well!

The concert is shown without cuts and interruptions. Among the special features included are interviews, very cool rehearsal footage, a discography, and a family tree. This DVD is a real bargain. For Procol Harum fans, buying this is a no-brainer. Adventurous fans of Art Rock, Prog Rock, Classic Rock, Psychedelic Rock will find all this and more (including a sprinkling of Classical Music, R&B, 50s & 60s Rock & Roll, and even World Music) in Procol Harum. This is a truly great band deserving far more success and acclaim than they ever received. They do it A-L-L with power, majesty and class!

Sam King from Concord, NH, August 15, 2002: A Regal Zonophone indeed

This is just a great DVD! Just the opportunity to see Matthew Fisher and Gary Brooker at work is a real treat in itself. Their current lineup is very good, with a percussionist formerly from Big Country and Dave Pegg's son on bass. The new guitar player is quite tasteful, sticking closely to the classic style of the early band (think Robin Trower à la Gibson, minus the wah-wah). The performance in Copenhagen includes good performances of twenty-odd pieces spanning their career. I would have liked more from the second album ... No 'life is like a beanstock [sic]'? Shame! Also, I wonder if they still perform Cerdes, Outside The Gates Of? (answer here)

The real treat, however, is a surprise extra performance of six or seven songs in rehearsal for the tour. In a relaxed atmosphere, they run through great versions of Morning Dew, Hey Joe, and a wonderful rendition of She Wandered Through The Garden Fence, among others. Watching Matthew Fisher play those beautiful lines from that song on his Hammond/Leslie combo was worth the purchase of the DVD itself. A cap to the set was an inspired version of Let's Go Get Stoned, a song where you can clearly see Gary Brooker's debt to Ray Charles.

If you have been a long-standing fan, or ... wonder what all the hoopla was about "skipping the light fantastic", check out this DVD. You can't go wrong. Hey, the price is right too. Now, how about Robin Trower on DVD!

Anonymous reviewer from Denmark: 22 May, 2002 : Procol's like wine - It gets better when it gets older!!

Really - really nice show and performance.....

I live in Copenhagen, Denmark, and have seen them several times over the years, and it is very nice now to be able to watch them on DVD. The present band constellation are doing fair justice to both the older and newer material from Mssrs Brooker, Reid and Fisher's very interesting back-catalogue.

The whole band was "on their toes" from the first number (well knowing, that the Danish television was taping the performance for transmission later that year.) Mr Brooker did his well-known humoristic intros to the songs and it seemed that everybody, both on stage and in the public was having a swell time..! In fact the concert was aired on the 31st of December 2001.

The really fine and good thing about this DVD is, that not only do you get almost the whole complete concert, but you also get nearly 50 minutes of rehearsals done just before the band went on stage in Copenhagen. They rehearsed some old standards - not thrown in by the actual songs in the concert setlist...!

So all in all - a very very pleasant evening and a nice DVD.