Who will search for Holy
Grail ...
Westside records will
Westside Records report (1997)
that they have 'cleared out Abbey Road' of all the Procol Harum
material that was mastered there, and are planning yet more re-releases
of the early albums.
Fans who have already bought the Anniversary Boxed set and the
Repertoire releases will not feel like forking out further
shekels (the price is to be 8 pounds 99 in the UK) for the same
material one more time: until they read on ...
Procol Harum ... plus (for release May /
June 1998: about 71 minutes)
- All the tracks from the original album were originally to
have been heard in stereo ! (but read this)
- Hitherto-unknown versions of Shine On Brightly and
of Quite Rightly So (the latter undubbed, now
mixed from the 4-track tape which is labelled 'An Ode
By Any Other Name, 13 January 1967' – surely
some mistake!) both recorded at sessions for the first
album. It has now emerged that Shine On Brightly
was fully-mastered for Procol's First but for some
reason left off that album, and utterly [sic] reworked for the second album.
This first version is apparently going to surprise a lot
of people.
- A Whiter Shade of Pale, Lime Street Blues, Homburg
and Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone) – the
only bonus cuts that have been carried over from the
anniversary boxed set.
- Packaging to include previously-unpublished period
photographs of the group.
- Hitherto-unheard versions of Cerdes (Outside the Gates
of) and Something Following Me, featuring
Bobby Harrison on drums and Ray Royer on guitar (but see here)
- A previously unknown version of Salad Days (Are Here
Again), mixed by Tony Rounce, Westside's general
manager, from a 4-track master, which is reported as also
being a Harrison / Royer cut, not that that song has a
guitar part in the version we know and love. Tony was
familiar with Procol Harum in these glory days – 'a
fan, but not an aficionado' is his typically Procolian
self-assessment – and he has mixed these new-found
songs in a style which he thinks fans of the period will
enjoy. 'We're not talking digital Brothers In Arms
here,' he quipped.
- Found on the same reel of tape was a version of Mabel,
previously unreleased, which Westside and Henry Scott
Irvine also consider to be a Bobby Harrison take. The
rhythm track is said to be similar, if not identical, to
the familiar version, but lacks overdubs. Procol seem not
to have played Mabel live for a long while after
BJ Wilson joined the band, so it may well be that we have
always been listening to Bobby Harrison, and that the
studio party Kenny White describes,
at which Barrie Wilson played skulls, was merely an
overdubbing session.
- I asked what the chances were of any further Harrison /
Royer versions turning up, and Tony Rounce said he
thought they were 'Pretty slim.' Tapes were often slung
on to skips when the studios got too crowded and anything
they have not retrieved from Abbey Road by now is
reckoned not likely to turn up. Unless, of course,
members of the public have harvested them from those
skips! Westside had a call, following the release of the
triple boxed set, from a junk-man who said he had a
stereo master of In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence:
Westside put him in touch with Onward / Westminster music
who (in principle) still own that recording.
- It's worth pointing out that, while it will be
historically fascinating to hear Harrison / Royer rare
cuts, it is likely not to be the most musically-satisfying
experience in the world ... considering that not only the
recordings themselves but also 40% of the players were
rejected by Procol Harum at the time.
Shine on Brightly ... plus (for release
summer 1998)
- An instrumental version of Pandora's Box, which
Westside are not convinced ever had a vocal track put on
it. Tony Rounce was tempted to discard this take, since
it is unfinished, and he doesn't want to publish anything
(even in the name of completism) that will do a
disservice to the band's reputation as musicians: but the
historical importance of the particular song overrode
that scruple (it didn't come out as planned, but surfaced
here). He is, however,
suppressing a few odd jams that sound like no-one in
particular, and is not releasing the work-in-progress MacGregor
tape (he did, here!)
he has found which features drums, bass, two rhythm
guitars and nothing else, not even a guide vocal. Damn!
- Gospel According to Matthew: this is described by
Tony Rounce as 'a completed R&B-flavoured mid-tempo
track in the mode of Lime Street Blues – sounds
like what Traffic were doing at the time.' (this turned
out to be Wish me Well!)
- Alpha: the egregious five-chord blues that Procol
eventually aired on the 1993 tour.
- I asked if there was any chance that they would find A
Robe of Silk, which the band recorded in 1967 at the
old De Lane Lea studios (later Kingsway Recorders). Tony
Rounce's answer was a simple 'No.' It seems that Gary
Brooker went to Abbey Road to remove ('as is his right,
of course') the Chrysalis-period PH tapes that belong to
him and Keith Reid; Tony thinks it possible that some
earlier tapes may have been given away in that batch in
which case Westside cannot expect to see again. If Robe
still exists, Tony Rounce thinks it may be among those
tapes in Gary's possession. He points out that, although
Gary and Keith are not participating in this set of re-releases,
they will benefit from them in terms of accruing writer-royalties,
as will Matthew and Robin; artist royalties will also be
paid, but not publishing, since the rights to those early
songs belong to Onward / Westminster music.
A Salty Dog ... plus! (for
release autumn 1998)
Home ... plus! (for release
early 1999)
- 'Beyond the Pale' is not empowered to divulge the
projected contents of these albums, but it is only fair
to say that it will be well-worth watching this space.
Mindful of fans' expectation of value-for-money, Tony
Rounce is planning to go as close as he can to the 79-minute
maximum with these releases ... so we may expect some
choice surprises. I did not pick up news of any new
songs, incidentally, but it would not be too much to hope
for some studio chat, even some Liquorice John
material.
BBC sessions
- Westside's ambitions are not exhausted by the above! At
the moment they are contemplating the release of some of
Procol's BBC sessions; the master-tapes may not
necessarily exist any more (unless the original producers
/ presenters have retained them) but the rights to the
acetate transcription discs, which were made for the
BBC's world-service, remain with the licensee – the
ubiquitous Platz and his protean empire.
- So we may expect, eventually, some cleaner copies of the Through
The Garden Fence material – as well, perhaps, as
some of the other early BBC sessions that Pat Keating and
I have listed at 'Beyond the
Pale'
More about Procol Harum and Westside Records