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Whiter Shades: Esoteric Kicks Off Deluxe Reissue Campaign For Procol Harum

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Procol Harum - Procol HarumCherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint is skipping the light fandango with its new reissue campaign dedicated to the classic albums of Procol Harum.  Though these titles have been previously issued on CD before (including recent, now out-of-print deluxe editions from Salvo Music), Esoteric's new editions boast previously unreleased music and other new bonuses as well as copiously-annotated booklets and restored original album artwork.  The first two titles in the series, 1967's Procol Harum and 1968's Shine On Brightly, are both available now in multiple formats.

The self-titled Procol Harum marked the album debut of the band then consisting of Gary Brooker (vocals/piano), Robin Trower (guitar), Matthew Fisher (organ), David Knights (bass) and B.J. Wilson (drums).  (Brooker, Trower and Wilson had all previously played in The Paramounts, the group that scored a minor U.K. hit in 1964 with Leiber and Stoller's "Poison Ivy.")  With all but the closing track, Fisher's "Repent Walpurgis," penned by the team of composer Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid, Procol Harum heralded bold new voices in the British rock scene with its progressive blend of psychedelia, classical and blues idioms.  The LP, produced by Denny Cordell and released on Regal Zonophone, had been preceded by two single releases.  May 1967's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached No. 1 in the U.K. in June and stayed in that position for six weeks.  (Guitarist Ray Royer, whose tenure in the group was short-lived, played on "Whiter Shade.")  "Homburg" then followed in October, making No. 6 on the pop chart.  Surprisingly by today's standards, neither song was included on Procol Harum in the U.K., but "Whiter Shade" was added to the LP for its U.S. release.  It replaced "Good Captain Clack" in a reshuffled sequence.  "Whiter Shade" would make No. 5 in the U.S., with "Homburg" performing less impressively at No. 34.

Esoteric has Procol Harum, remastered from the original mono tapes (no stereo version exists), available in both 1-CD and 2-CD iterations.  The single disc has the original 10-track U.K. album plus four bonus tracks - the singles "A Whiter Shade of Pale" b/w "Lime Street Blues," and "Homburg" b/w "Good Captain Clack."  This edition is seven tracks short of Salvo's 2009 version of this LP.  However, Esoteric also has the album in a 2-CD deluxe edition with 15 bonus tracks - seven of which are previously unreleased and two of which are making their CD debuts.  The seven previously unreleased cuts encompass the band's 1967 BBC performances for Top Gear and Easybeat.  The other bonuses include B-sides, alternate takes and stereo mixes.  Henry Scott-Irvine provides the new liner notes, and the 2-CD set also includes a facsimile promotional shop poster made for the release of the album in January 1968.

Procol Harum - Shine On BrightlyProcol Harum followed up its debut with Shine On Brightly, which actually got a U.S. debut (on A&M Records) in September 1968 in advance of its December release in the U.K. on Regal Zonophone.  The original band line-up remained intact for this LP which solidified Procol's place in the burgeoning progressive firmament and moved even further away from the group's blues and beat roots.  This was largely due to its 17-minute-plus closing track, the song suite "In Held 'Twas In I."  Once again overseen by producer Denny Cordell, Shine On also featured the participation of uncredited engineer Glyn Johns and assistant producer Tony Visconti, who helmed a handful of the tracks on his own.  The single "Quite Rightly So" premiered in March 1968; this time, the track (which charted in the U.K. at No. 50) was included on the album.  With another set of surreal, mind-expanding Brooker/Reid originals, and writing contributions from Fisher as well, Shine On Brightly didn't generate a commercial radio hit but remains one of the group's most artistically successful outings.

The single-disc remaster includes the original stereo album and three bonus tracks: the Italian-language version of "Shine On Brightly" and the single "Quite Rightly So" b/w "In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence."  (The most recent Salvo reissue had 11 bonuses with the original album.)  The deluxe edition is a whopping 3 CDs, with Disc 1 replicating the single-disc contents.  Disc 2 has the original mono mix of the LP which has never before been released on CD, and the third disc has 17 more bonus cuts such as alternate mixes, backing tracks, outtakes and one-offs, and eight previously unreleased BBC session performances from Top Gear.  Henry Scott-Irvine again writes new liner notes, and the 3-CD mini-box set also houses 3 postcards and a foldout poster.

Esoteric has already announced the next titles in the Procol Harum series: 1-CD and 2-CD versions of A Salty Dog and Home, both due on July 31 in the United Kingdom.  In the meantime, you can peruse the track listings and order Procol Harum and Shine On Brightly at the links below!

Procol Harum, Procol Harum (Regal Zonophone LRZ 1001, 1968 - reissued Esoteric Recordings, 2015)

1-CD Version: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2-CD Version: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

1-CD Version:

  1. Conquistador
  2. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
  3. Something Following Me
  4. Mabel
  5. Cerdes (Outside the Gates of)
  6. A Christmas Camel
  7. Kaleidoscope
  8. Salad Days (Are Here Again)
  9. Good Captain Clack
  10. Repent Walpurgis
  11. A Whiter Shade of Pale (Deram single DM 126, 1968)
  12. Lime Street Blues (Deram single DM 126, 1968)
  13. Homburg (Regal Zonophone single RZ 3003, 1968)
  14. Good Captain Clack (Regal Zonophone single RZ 3003, 1968)

2-CD Version:

CD 1:

  1. Conquistador
  2. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
  3. Something Following Me
  4. Mabel
  5. Cerdes (Outside the Gates of)
  6. A Christmas Camel
  7. Kaleidoscope
  8. Salad Days (Are Here Again)
  9. Good Captain Clack
  10. Repent Walpurgis
  11. A Whiter Shade of Pale (Deram single DM 126, 1968)
  12. Lime Street Blues (Deram single DM 126, 1968)
  13. Homburg (Regal Zonophone single RZ 3003, 1968)
  14. Good Captain Clack (Regal Zonophone single RZ 3003, 1968
  15. Alpha (recorded at Olympic Studios, March 29, 1967)
  16. Salad Days (Are Here Again) (recorded at Olympic Studios, March 29, 1967)
  17. Understandably Blue (recorded at Olympic Studios, July 17, 1967)
  18. Pandora's Box (Instrumental) (recorded at Advision Studios, August 24, 1967)
  19. Cerdes (Outside the Gates of) (Alternate Mono Mix)
  20. Something Following Me (Alternate Mono Mix)

CD 2

  1. A Whiter Shade of Pale (Extended Early Version) (recorded at Olympic Studios, March 29, 1967)
  2. Homburg (Extended Stereo Version) (recorded at Advision Studios, August 1967)
  3. Repent Walpurgis (Extended Stereo Version) (recorded at Advision Studios, August 1967)
  4. Conquistador (1971 Stereo Mix)
  5. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence (1971 Stereo Mix)
  6. Something Following Me (Stereo Mix)
  7. Mabel (Undubbed Stereo Mix)
  8. Kaleidoscope (Stereo Mix)
  9. Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of) (Stereo Mix)
  10. Homburg (1971 Stereo Mix)
  11. Morning Dew
  12. A Whiter Shade of Pale
  13. Mabel
  14. Homburg
  15. Good Captain Clack
  16. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
  17. Kaleidoscope

Tracks 11-13: previously unreleased Easybeat session, June 14, 1967
Tracks 14-17: previously unreleased Top Gear session, September 27, 1967

Procol Harum, Shine On Brightly (Regal Zonophone SLRZ 1004, 1968)

1-CD Version: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3-CD Version: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

1-CD Version (Stereo Album):

  1. Quite Rightly So
  2. Shine On Brightly
  3. Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)
  4. Wish Me Well
  5. Rambling On
  6. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)

In Held 'Twas I (Tracks 7-11):

  1. Glimpses of Nirvana
  2. 'Twas Tea Time at the Circus
  3. In the Autumn of My Madness
  4. Look to Your Soul
  5. Grand Finale
  6. Il Tuo Diamante (Mono) (Italian version of "Shine On Brightly")
  7. Quite Rightly So (Regal Zonophone RZ 3007, 1968)
  8. In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence (Regal Zonophone RZ 3007, 1968)

3-CD Version:

CD 1 - The Stereo Album:

  1. Quite Rightly So
  2. Shine On Brightly
  3. Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)
  4. Wish Me Well
  5. Rambling On
  6. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)

In Held 'Twas I (Tracks 7-11):

  1. Glimpses of Nirvana
  2. 'Twas Tea Time at the Circus
  3. In the Autumn of My Madness
  4. Look to Your Soul
  5. Grand Finale
  6. Il Tuo Diamante (Mono) (Italian version of "Shine On Brightly")
  7. Quite Rightly So (Regal Zonophone RZ 3007, 1968)
  8. In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence (Regal Zonophone RZ 3007, 1968)

CD 2 - The Mono Album:

  1. Quite Rightly So
  2. Shine On Brightly
  3. Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)
  4. Wish Me Well
  5. Rambling On
  6. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)

In Held 'Twas I (Tracks 7-11):

  1. Glimpses of Nirvana
  2. 'Twas Tea Time at the Circus
  3. In the Autumn of My Madness
  4. Look to Your Soul
  5. Grand Finale

CD 3:

  1. Monsieur Armand (Mono)
  2. Seem to Have the Blues (Most All the Time) (Mono)
  3. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone) (1967 Version - Mono)
  4. Shine On Brightly (1967 Version - Mono) (recorded at Advision Studios, October 1967)
  5. In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence (Stereo Mix) (recorded at Advision Studios, December 6, 1967)
  6. Monsieur Armand (Stereo Backing Track) (recorded at Advision Studios, October 11, 1967)
  7. A Robe of Silk (Stereo Backing Track) (recorded at De Lane Lea Studios, January 12, 1968)
  8. McGreggor (recorded at Olympic Studios, March 10, 1968)
  9. The Gospel According To...Wish Me Well (recorded at Olympic Studios, March 10, 1968)
  10. Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)
  11. Quite Rightly So
  12. Ramblin' On
  13. Shine On Brightly
  14. Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)
  15. Wish Me Well
  16. Long Gone Geek
  17. In Held 'Twas I (Look to Your Soul/Grand Finale)

Tracks 10-13: previously unreleased Top Gear session, February 14, 1968
Tracks 14-16: previously unreleased Top Gear session, August 19, 1968
Track 17: previously unreleased Top Gear session, October 6, 1968

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  2. Good news about the Procol Harum reissues. I hadn't even realized that the previous Salvo editions had gone out of print.

    Unfortunately, these new editions, while greatly expanded, don't appear to be comprehensive. There are previously released alternate versions, for instance, of "...Sixpence" and "Quite Rightly So," as well as some instrumental tracks on the Salvo "...Brightly" that appear to be missing here. There is a stereo mix of an alternate take of "Whiter Shade of Pale"; I can't tell if it's the same as the "extended early version" on the new CD. So there is a lot of good stuff on these new discs, but ultra-completists will want to hunt down earlier versions on Salvo, Repertoire, etc. as necessary.

    Meanwhile, Esoteric Records has already announced the track listings for the next two Procol Harum albums ("A Salty Dog" and "Home"), due July 31, on their web site. I'd like to know if the reissues will go any further, or if they'll stop after the first four albums. I believe they changed UK labels after the fourth album, but I may be mistaken. A 2-disc "Broken Barricades" could be great (if there is available bonus material; the Salvo reissue just had backing tracks). The sound on the band's "Beat Club" appearance is arguably good enough to warrant an audio release.

    Reply

    • This reissue series is only for the 1967-70 Procol Harum albums owned by "Bucks Music"(AKA "Fly Records" & "Cube Records"). The later Procol Harum albums(owned by Gary Brooker via his "Strongman Productions") are still under license to the "Salvo" label.

      Reply

  3. One thing that is glaringly ignored by nearly every CD release of the Procol Harum debut album, is that the U.S.A. DERAM version is the original track listing. It was released in August 1967. The UK version of the album was released in January 1968. In the U.S.A., where the "A Whiter Shade of Pale" single & the Procol Harum debut album were both on the DERAM label, there was no problem in including "A Whiter Shade of Pale" on the album. In the UK, the situation was different. In the UK, the "A Whiter Shade of Pale" single was on DERAM, but the album was on EMI/Regal Zonophone, so "A Whiter Shade of Pale" could not be included on the UK edition of the album. I wish that I still had my original U.S.A. DERAM L.P., because I miss the gapless transition between "Kaleidoscope" & "Salad Days (Are Here Again)" that was a characteristic of the U.S.A. version of the album. I will always hold the view that "Good Captain Clack"(the track exclusive to the UK version of the album) was a throwaway novelty song. By contrast, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a rock music classic.

    Reply

    • Philip, I didn't realize the USA version was the first released. Thanks for your detailed post. I've listened to the CD re-releases of this album for so long that I either forgot or wasn't aware of the differences (minus AWSOP) between the UK/US albums. I've got the US vinyl; guess I need to spin it again.

      Reply

      • Essex Music/Onward Music put their own interests first over that of their artists. The negotiations to take their artists(Procol Harum & the Move) off DERAM and onto EMI/Regal Zonophone is what caused the Uk release of the Procol Harum debut album to be delayed by 5 months, and also caused The Move's 1967-recorded debut album to be postponed into 1968. Career momentum for both groups were damaged, so that Essex/Onward could get a more lucrative licensing deal....for themselves.

        Reply

  5. There appears to be a discrepancy between the Henry Scott-Irvine liner notes on the expanded 2-CD Esoteric release of the Procol Harum debut album and what is indicated on the CD packaging. HSI says that PH entered a "different studio" (Advision) on April 19 to record a version of A Whiter Shade of Pale with new drummer Bobby Harrison, and later states that one of the six takes was cleaned up and included on the Esoteric re-release. However, the three versions on the disc are track 1-11 which is the single version recorded at Olympia on March 29, 1967 with session drummer Bob Eyden; track 2-01 - an extended "early" version also recorded at Olympia on March 29; and track 2-13 which is the the BBC Easybeat recording from June 1967. I do not see a AWSoP track that says it is from April. My guess is that the package is incorrect... the extended early version certainly sounds like Harrison's pedestrian playing but that could not have been recorded in March.

    Reply

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