Chances are, you know the British rock group Procol Harum from
\none of only two songs – “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” or the live,
\norchestral version of “Conquistador”. Although the band, led by
\npianist\/vocalist Gary Brooker, enjoyed some level of success on
\nboth sides of the pond in the late ’60s\/early ’70s, their legacy
\nhas not necessarily stood the test of time since then.<\/p>\n
So one might rightfully wonder whether we should get excited
\nabout the release of
\nBBC Live In Concert<\/i>, the first non-orchestral live release
\nfrom the band. Interestingly enough, the answer to this disc is
\n“yes”… even though it takes a little too long for things to
\nreally get rolling for the group.<\/p>\n
Recorded in 1974, Procol Harum was at the twilight of their
\nfirst stint together. Two integral members from the original
\nlineup, guitarist Robin Trower and keyboardist Matthew Fisher, had
\nleft the stable for some time. Procol Harum was about two years
\nremoved from their final big hit, the version of “Conquistador”
\nrecorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. And the audience,
\nwhile respectful, often sounds like they’re providing courtesy
\napplause for some of the tracks.<\/p>\n
Early on, one can’t blame them. The version of “Conquistador”
\nwhich opens the disc doesn’t have the greatest sound (Brooker takes
\nsome time before the levels for his vocals are set right), and the
\nsong feels like the life has been sucked out of it. In a similar
\nvein, “Whaling Stories” just drags on for far too long, almost
\nboring the listener to tears.<\/p>\n
Then, out of the blue, the magic kicks in, and the listener is
\nintroduced to several strong selections they might not be as
\nfamiliar with… though they’ll undoubtedly wonder why this is so.
\nTracks like “New Lamps For Old” and “As Strong As Samson” show
\ntheir power though their gentle, beautiful melodies that are driven
\nhome by Brooker’s vocals. Likewise, tracks such as “Beyond The
\nPale” and “The Idol” all quickly win over the listener. The disc’s
\nclosers, “Butterfly Boys” (once seen as a slap in the face against
\nChrysalis, the band’s label at the time) and “Nothing But The
\nTruth,” both do a great job in hammering Procol Harum’s influence
\nhome.<\/p>\n
Only one track, “Grand Hotel,” comes close to taking the wind
\nout of the band’s sails; though it has its moments, this track just
\ndoesn’t seem to fit in with the atmosphere that Brooker and company
\nwere creating during this concert.<\/p>\n
Chances are that
\nBBC Live In Concert<\/i> will really appeal mostly to the diehard
\nProcol Harum fans out there… but if you’re someone who wants to
\nlearn more about the band than just the two songs played to death
\non classic rock radio, this might just be the best place to turn to
\nlearn about a band who have been neglected in music’s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6603],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37091","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-procol-harum","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37091"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37091"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}