Shine On Brightly ... Plus!

Original Album in Stereo plus 8 Bonus Tracks

Producer Denny Cordell began to lose interest in Procol in 1968 and, despite being credited as such, was content to allow 'Assistant Producer' Tony Visconti (later to become David Bowie's regular producer) to take the reins after the recording of the single Quite Rightly So and its B-side In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence in March 1968. Olympic Studios' wizard engineer Glyn Johns, who was then working on the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album, was also enlisted, but went uncredited on the album sleeve.

Meanwhile, Cordell became pre-occupied with his burgeoning talent Joe Cocker, and even poached Procol's organist and drummer to play on Cocker's UK début album With A Little Help From My Friends.

Released in December 1968, the Shine On Brightly album is perhaps Procol's tour de force. The Hammond organ playing of Matthew Fisher – then nicknamed Matthew Celestial Smith, as a tribute to his eclectic influences – and Robin Trower's unique blues-drenched guitar playing both succeeded better on this album than any other. The sleeve is a clever depiction of Reid's lyrics for the title track. Deemed offensive by Procol's American label A&M, this artwork was banned and re-done for the US release. It reached #24 in the USA, but – despite excellent reviews – failed to chart in the UK.

Shine On Brightly was originally going to be much more blues-oriented. Several songs recorded between the Autumn of 1967 and the Summer of 1968, and intended for side two of the original vinyl album, were dropped to make way for In Held 'Twas In I. Originally entitled 'Magnum Harum', it was something of a magnum opus! (Interestingly, for the record, the Who's Pete Townshend, who is often credited with citing the Pretty Things' SF Sorrow as the major influence on Tommy, also claimed In Held 'Twas in I was a major inspiration for his rock opera. Compare The [sic] Grand Finale – classic Harum, with Rob Trower's guitar in ecstatic form – with Tommy's Listening To You / See Me, Feel Me! ... )

This package also includes as many of those 'dropped' songs as could be located, as well as the world-premiere release of the legendary 'lost' PH track Alpha. Remastered in digital stereo, this special edition CD also contains the original album covers for the UK and the USA, along with Paul Williams' liner notes.

BONUS TRACKS

Seem To Have The Blues (Mostly [sic] All The Time)
Recorded on the 20th of October 1967, this outtake – which lay unreleased until 1976, when it appeared for the first time on the Rock Roots: Procol Harum compilation – is a gem!

Monsieur Armand
Recorded as a part of the above session – and also remaining unreleased until 1976 – this outtake was later re-recorded in 1974 as Monsieur R Monde for inclusion on the Exotic Birds And Fruit album.

Alpha
Mixed down from a recently discovered four-track master, this song precedes Something Following Me, which Gary Brooker previously claimed to be the first song he wrote with Keith Reid. The song received [sic] its 'live' début at Los Angeles' 'House Of Blues' in 1995, during one of Procol's many 1990s re-union tours of the USA. This is a superb outtake, which is so obscure that even Matthew Fisher has forgotten it!

In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence
With Quixotic lyrics in the tradition of Conquistador, this was the UK 'B' side of Quite Rightly So. Certain releases in foreign territories used the alternate version featured next ...

In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence
... and this is that alternate version! (see here for discussion of these two tracks)

Quite Rightly So
Starting with take 4, which breaks down a little over halfway through the song and following a brief invitation to Gary Brooker from Denny Cordell to hear what it sounds like so far, we move into Take 6 – a fractionally longer version of the finished 45 master than any which have been heard previously.

Il Tuo Diamante
Or Shine On Brightly as sung in Italian by Gary Brooker! Unanthologised on CD until it finally made ail appearance in 1997, on the German Repertoire label's own Shine on Brightly reissue. Apparently, there is also a rare Italian-language version of A Winter Shade Of Pale, which (as yet) we have been unable to trace.

Henry Scott-Irvine, Summer 1998

Original Album Credits
All tracks were written by Gary Brooker (music) and Keith Reid (words) with the exception of Quite Rightly So and In Held 'Twas In I, which were written by Gary Brooker & Matthew Fisher (music) and Keith Reid (words).

Bonus Track Credits
All were written by Gary Brooker (music) and Keith Reid (words) with the exception of Quite Rightly So, which was written by, Gary Brooker & Matthew Fisher (music) and Keith Reid (words).

An Apology From Westside
We had previously announced that SOB+ would include the 'previously-unissued' track Gospel According To Matthew. Sorry to disappoint, but it turns out that GATM is merely an early 'working title' for Wish Me Well, which, of course, does appear here as part of the original SOB running order. My faux-pas – and my faux-pas only, – and one I deeply regret ...

By way of compensation, we have bowed to overwhelming collector demand and will now be mixing down several recent discoveries – including Pandora (instrumental), which we had originally opted not to release due to its rudimentary nature, but which fan pressure has now dictated otherwise! – to form part of Westside's A Salty Dog ... Plus! collection, due out as WESM 534 in the Spring of 1999. We'll see you there ...

Tony Rounce, General Manager, Westside, August 1998