Procol Harum ~ A Salty Dog (1969) 2CD 2015 Esoteric Recordings UK •• NEW ••

Description: Procol Harum A Salty Dog 2-CD SET BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 22503 UPC | 5013929460348 1969, 2015 TRACK LISTING DISC ONE 01. A Salty Dog 02. The Milk Of Human Kindness 03. Too Much Between Us 04. The Devil Came From Kansas 05. Boredom 06. Juicy John Pink 07. Wreck Of The Hesperus 08. All This And More 09. Crucifiction Lane 10. Pilgrim's Progress "In the time I'm thinking about now - the late, waning sixties - there was no better band to slip you into a long night of dreams than Procol Harum, and no better record than A Salty Dog'. A Whiter Shade Of Pale' had been a big hit just two years before, in 1967, and it was one of those songs that changed the whole map. A Salty Dog', and particularly its title track, was like a further labyrinthine exploration down that new road. You couldn't know what waited for you around the first turning. Maybe demons. Maybe dragons. Or maybe another new turning. For me and all my friends who loved the band, and this album, the songs seemed like a challenge. Where would they take you? What would you find? A sand so white, and sea so blue, no mortal place at all' Procol Harum's music drew from so many deep wells - classical music, 19th century literature, rhythm and blues, seaman's logs, concretist poetry - that each tune became a cross-cultural whirligig; a road trip through the pop subconscious. For that time, and for this one too - for any, I'm sure - it was great traveling music. I've been on a few journeys myself since the Salty Dog days, and Procol Harum has always been with me... 'Your witness my own hand'... " Martin Scorsese, April 15th 2012, ending with a Keith Reid line from 'A Salty Dog', in his foreword to the Omnibus Press publication 'Procol Flarum - The Ghosts Of A Whiter Shade Of Pale' IT IS NOT without irony that Martin Scorsese should be such a diehard Procolite. Scorsese had been the film editor for the movie Woodstock, while Procol had often used The Band's famous 'Basement Tapes' rehearsal space in Woodstock. As a consequence, Procol were invited to appear on the billing at 'The Woodstock Festival'. Had they accepted the offer, Procol would have appeared on the final evening of Sunday August 1 7 shortly before Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Woodstock of course turned out to be the most autumn of 1968. Three songs were recorded by Heidcr; namely, Pilgrims Progress, Long Gone Geek and Stoke Poges. The latter was a Matthew Fisher instrumental, possibly planned as a follow-up to Fisher's 1967 'Procol Harum' album closer Repent Walpurgis. Eventually Stoke Poges was deemed unworkable and dropped. "I don't think it was very good at all," shrugged Fisher. "In fact I gave away the acetates." According to road manager John 'Kellogs' Kalinowski, Gary Brooker was contacted by The Hollies producer Ron Richards while in Los Anegles. Richards - who had formerly produced Brooker's early 1960s Beat combo The Paramounts - ottered Procol Harum the opportunity to record at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, utilizing the latest eight-track technology. Jumping at the chance Procol headed back to Blighty. "We'd never been terribly happy with the sound on the first two albums that Denny Cordell produced", says Fisher, "so when we got a chance to choose a autumn of 1968. Three songs were recorded by Heider; namely, Pilgrims Progress, Long Gone Geek and Stoke Poges. The latter was a Matthew Fisher instrumental, possibly planned as a follow-up to Fisher's 1967 'Procol Harum' album closer Repent Walpurgis. Eventually Stoke Poges was deemed unworkable and dropped. "I don't think it was very good at all," shrugged Fisher. "In fact I gave away the acetates." essential herbs of the day, due to that little credit. In truth what I'd really done was go across the road from the studios to get the band cups of tea, and plates of egg and chips!" The Milk Of Human Kindness: "This came about when we first got in to Abbey Road." Fisher recalls, "There were a lot of instruments laying around, including a large mellotron, which we didn't use, the harmonium used by The Beatles on We Can Work It Out and an upright de-tuned piano. It was rumored that this was the piano used by Russ Conway on his hits of the late fifties. I think Gary tried out that piano out and dec ided that it was the right sound. Too Much Between Us was co-written by Trower, Brooker, and Reid. The song is a delicate acoustic collaboration featuring Brooker's voice at its most sensitive, clearly displaying his versatility as a singer. Reid's lyrics feature the line, 'There's too much sea between us' and, with the song being one of four compositions on the album alluding to water, some music writers have mistakenly reached the conclusion that A Salty Dog was 'a concept album' about the sea. The Devil Came From Kansas was co-written by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid while Procol were staying at Woodstock. It was rehearsed on the Hohner Pianet that Brooker took on tour with him for composing (the same piano he'd used in his Paramounts days). This piano-pounding guitar-driven 'Devil' became a standard at many of ProcoPs shows. On this particular studio recording, Trower's guitar pans across the stereo channels, switching from left to right and back again. The song also features un-credited backing vocals from Brooker's wife, Franky, and Keith Reid. ‘"This song came about because I've always liked Randy Newman," says Reid, "I bought his first album, which featured a song called The Beehive State. It had a line about a corrupt senator [from Kansas). That inspired the song." Boredom is credited to Fisher, Brooker and Reid. This is an up-tempo number featuring a marimba that was discovered in the instrument cupboard in Studio 2. As The Beatles had discovered, this mythical cupboard full of strange and unfamiliar instruments, had helped to enlarge many a record's sonic palette. "EMI always had lots of interesting things lying around," recalls Ken Scott, "and as more multi-tracks for recording became available, it allowed for more musical experimentation... " "The Studio 2 cupboard was full of all kinds c goodies", says Fisher, "you could find everythin from wooden blocks, tambourines, xylophone* glockenspiels, marimbas, and flutes. Rob chose th tambourine with sleigh bells to play. I played acousti guitar on the basic track. I think it was my idea to ad' the marimba and rec orders. The recorders would hav been taped on a different day, sinc e they didn't com from the Abbey Road cupboard. They were brought ii by me and Gary. I brought in a treble recorder and Gar a descant. I think the idea of the recorders wa influenced by my enthusiasm for a track, which wa released in 1958, called Tom Hark by Elias & His Zig Zag Jive Flutes." Juicy John Pink is a 12-bar blues inspired by Trower' lifelong love of Muddy Waters. It was his firs composition for Procol Harum."Robin came up witl the music for Juicy John Pink and it just sounded like an early blues," says Brooker. "I wasn't really a writer at the time, Trower adds, " was just lucky to come up with some ideas." It was recorded at The Rolling Stones' original rehearsal space - now the headquarters of The Stagi media newspaper - in Bermondsey Street, South Eas London. With the railway arches near to the Studie providing a haven for the numerous meth-drinkinj. tramps living underneath, a clue emerges as to whoir Reid's Juicy John Pink character could possibly bei Brooker sings in character, "Well I opened my eyes this morning; I thought I must be dead!" ...A Salty Do£ indeed! The Wreck Of The Hesperus was sung by Fisher whe composed the melody. This was Procol's second sonç to feature a full orchestral accompaniment. "I was thinking of Phil Soector mppts Tchaikovsky" Fisher, "I do remember I was looking at the scores of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony and working out how he did this? I think the song had some post production on it in New York at Phil Ramone's A&R Studios, which used to be CBS Studios. I think it was only my stuff we worked on there? I suppose I was more sensitive about what was wrong with my songs, so more time was spent getting things right." All This And More proceeds at a stately pace with Brooker’s impassioned vocals and regal piano juxtaposed against Trower's chugging bluesy licks. "Gary announced that he'd also done a small arrangement for trombones for the end of All This And More", recalls Fisher, "I think this was a try-out, but everybody liked it so it was used." Crucifiction Lane by Trower and Reid came from a Bermondsey street called Crucifix Lane, adjacent to where The Rolling Stones’ rehearsal studio was located. This was another of the album's songs to make reference to 'the sea’ with the line "And if the sea were not so salty", sung, unusually, by Trower in a rather bluesy mid-Atlantic vocal style, perhaps with Otis Redding in mind? Pilgrims Progress saw Fisher compose the melody as well as singing and playing virtually every instrument including the Phil Spector-like bells at the end. The song’s haunting hymnal quality was inspired by The Bee Gees, but Fisher now feels the vocal should have been handled by Brooker.* | Long Gone Geek a Brooker, Fisher, Reid collaboration, became the B-side to 'A Salty Dog', because 'Geek' was the only good recording from the earlier and otherwise aborted Wally Heider sessions. This up-tempo number should have been included on the original vinyl album as it was often performed live. Reid's lyric, written before his first trip to the USA in autumn 1967, concerns a gun toting tabby cat, while Brooker's shout of "Procol Harum" off-microphone near the end makes cryptic reference to the Burmese Blue cat that originally inspired the band s name. The cat 'Procol Harum' was owned by Guy Stevens' dope dealer nicknamed 'Bob'. Stevens was Procol's founder-manager in 1967. Reid gleaned the word 'geek' from Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and the 'Pinstriped Sweet' character, "the convict in Cell 15", was already familiar from Brooker's final yell in Lime Street Blues [the B-side to A Whiter Shade Of Pale]. "Musically, Long Cone Geek was a Small Faces- influenced piece," admits Fisher, who knew The Small Faces' organist Ian McLagan prior to joining Procol Harum. Mac had recommended that Fisher buy a Hammond B3 as it would lead to his being gainfully employed in a high profile band. It's to both Brooker and Fisher's credit that A Salty Dog ended up becoming a genuine product of group unity. Each artist was given a 'director' role for his own song: Trower oversaw the recording of his own compositions, while Fisher paid attention to his. Ken Scott: [As the producer] "Matthew Fisher was always very easy to work with. They all were. Very enjoyable sessions all round. Matthew felt, not unsurprisingly, more like a member of the band than a producer." Ronnie Lyons: "I brought A Salty' Dog in for under $20,000 with a full orchestra playing on three tracks." A Salty Dog, featuring artwork by Keith Reid's girlfriend Dickinson, which was homage to the old Player's Navy Cut cigarette packet, entered the UK singles charts at #44 for one week in 1969. In America on its A&M imprint the album reached a Billboard #32. When reissued as a Fly Records 'Doubleback' with Procol's eponymous debut album (to also include A Whiter Shade of Pale) in 1972, A Salty Dog reached a UK #27. Ken Scott would go on to produce albums with Lou Reed and David Bowie, later producing Supertramp and a host of others. Bassist David Knights would leave the group in 1969 to manage Mickey Jupp's Legend, while Matthew Fisher quit that year, too, to become a record producer, later producing three American million-seller gold disc albums for Robin Trower, among others. Procol Harum would go on to produce another seven albums, averaging one LP a year until 1977 when they split up. They reformed in 1991 and, despite line-up changes, have been playing ever since. ~ Henry Scott-lrvine April 2015 SHIPPING TO USA ONLY Buyer Pays Shipping $3.99 1st CD $3.99... each additional $1.50 CDs will only be combined with other CDs or DVDs To qualify for the combined discount, all items must be purchased together, paid for with 1 payment, and shipped all together in 1 shipment. Please use the add to cart feature, once you have ordered all your desired items, proceed to checkout to complete your order with the combined total.

Price: 17.98 USD

Location: Gold River, California

End Time: 2024-02-06T11:21:50.000Z

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