Celebrate Walpurgis!
davelee (Stoke-on-Trent,
UK)
Repent on deep reflection
So what if Procol Harum had made better use of one of their
finest moments, Matthew Fisher's Repent Walpurgis, the
majestic final track on their début album. Say, for example,
that:
- It was the B-side of A Whiter Shade of Pale. Well,
with a B-side like that, it would sell even more bucket-loads
than it did, staying at No 1 in the UK for 8 weeks not 6,
holding off The Beatles' All You Need Is Love
before finally succumbing. And there'd be no talk
of Matthew missing out on deserved royalties.
But would making it the B-side really do it justice? What
about:
- It was the follow-up to AWSoP, with Homburg on
the B-side. And why not an instrumental for a single / 45?
Surely a Top 5 single all round the world, maybe No 1. As
Procol flex their muscles, even their management bow to
pressure, and their début album is released a week later
in Glorious Stereo with AWSoP included, and almost
sells more than Sgt. Pepper in the run up to
Christmas. The world falls over itself in praise for Repent
Walpurgis, mainly because it has successfully knocked
Englebert Humperdinck's The Last Waltz off the top
spot.
Or what about:
- It was used in the film Separation, for which
Matthew also writes the rest of the score, which is
released on LP, which is huge, which means he leaves the
band to become a successful solo artist, inspiring U2 and
Eno, which leaves the band in the lurch. Copping joins
early and Trower stays longer. However, as the band
struggle for post-AWSoP recognition, their Live
from Edmonton album is a huge success, pushed heavily
by a single (simple) minded bunch of record company
executives, who might have been put off by a 'one-long-song-sequence-thing-on-Side-2';
as Side 2 of Edmonton now reads Simple Sister,
Song for a Dreamer, Luskus Delph, and Still
There'll be More, ... and then ... and ...
Well, maybe not. But it's something to dream about while
you're listening to that beautiful piece of music we know as Repent
Walpurgis.
davelee