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Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint last reissued Procol Harum’s 1975 album Procol’s Ninth as part of its ongoing series dedicated to the band.  Now, the label has gone even further back in time for its recent, expanded 3-CD deluxe edition of 1971’s Broken Barricades.

Procol’s fifth studio album, Broken Barricades was also the last to feature guitarist Robin Trower for two decades.  Trower joined pianist Gary Brooker, bassist-organist Chris Copping, drummer B.J. Wilson, and producer Chris Thomas at London’s AIR Studios for sessions which Esoteric confirms began not in February 1971 (as has long been reported) but in December 1970.  Typical for the band, Barricades pushed their music in different directions.

The opening “Simple Sister” was a hard rock salvo, and indeed, Gary Brooker (co-writer with Keith Reid of five of the eight tracks) was simplifying his often-complex compositional style for much of the album, relying upon the repetition of one or two four-bar chord patterns.  “Simple Sister” complemented its heavy guitar riff with Brooker’s boogie-woogie piano and even strings and three trumpets conducted by AIR’s owner, George Martin.  Broken Barricades found room for Moog-driven minimalism (the title track), taut rock (“Memorial Drive”), impressionistic, string-laden drama (“Luskus Delph”), a rhythmic, drum-centric rumble (“Power Failure”), and a heartfelt Jimi Hendrix tribute penned by Trower and Reid (“Song for a Dreamer”).  The album’s final two songs haven’t aged quite as well as the rest of the album: the raunchy “Playmate of the Mouth” and brutal “Poor Mohammed.”

Esoteric’s reissue adds nine bonus tracks on CD 1, including an alternate version of every song – ranging from early and alternate mixes to backing tracks – plus a jam on “Memorial Drive” entitled “Memorial Jam.”  (All four bonus tracks from Salvo’s 2009 reissue have been reprised, but the bonuses issued  on Repertoire’s 2002 edition – the single edits of “Broken Barricades” and “Power Failure” and mono mix of “Simple Sister” – have not.)

The second and third discs present Procol in a live setting.  First up is a radio broadcast from New York’s WPLJ-FM from April 12, 1971, just weeks before Broken Barricades’ June release.  Robin Trower would leave the band in July to pursue his solo career, to be replaced by Dave Ball (who would only stay in the line-up through September 1972).  Then there are four tracks from BBC Radio One’s Sounds of the ’70s from October 6, 1971, and finally, a Swedish radio broadcast from Stockholm recorded on October 16.  This latter presentation adds two songs left out of the original broadcast (“In the Wee Small Hours of   Sixpence” and “Repent Walpurgis”).  “Shine on Brightly,” which is heard on the WPLJ show, was also performed in Stockholm but the liner notes indicate that it wasn’t of sufficient musical quality to include.

The new edition of Broken Barricades is housed in a 10-panel digipak and features both a foldout poster and a thick, 28-page booklet.  Roland Clare has written a lengthy essay drawing on new interviews with Gary Brooker, Keith Reid and Robin Trower, incorporating track-by-track liner notes and more.  Paschal Byrne has remastered at The Audio Archiving Company, and photographs throughout the booklet include one of an original master tape box used here.

Broken Barricades is available now at the links below!

Procol Harum, Broken Barricades (Chrysalis LP ILPS 9158, 1971 – reissued Cherry Red/Esoteric ECLEC 36273, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Original album plus bonus tracks

1. Simple Sister
2. Broken Barricades
3. Memorial Drive
4. Luskus Delph
5. Power Failure
6. Song for a Dreamer
7. Playmate of the Mouth
8. Poor Mohammed
9. Simple Sister (Raw Track)
10. Broken Barricades (Long Fade)
11. Memorial Drive (Early Mix) (*)
12. Memorial Jam (*)
13. Luskus Delph (Early Version) (*)
14. Power Failure (No Applause) (*)
15. Song for a Dreamer (King Jimi) (Backing Track)
16. Playmate of the Mouth (The Boyard’s Ball) (Raw Track/Heavy Brass Mix) (*)
17. Poor Mohammed (Backing Track)

CD 2:

Live – WLPJ-FM New York City – April 12, 1971 (*)

1. Memorial Drive
2. Still There’ll Be More
3. Nothing That I Didn’t Know
4. Simple Sister
5. Luskus Delph
6. Shine on Brightly
7. Whaling Stories
8. Broken Barricades
9. Juicy John Pink
10. A Salty Dog
11. Whisky Train
12. Power Failure

BBC Radio One: Sounds of the ’70s – October 6, 1971 (*)

13. Simple Sister
14. Quite Rightly So
15. Broken Barricades
16. Power Failure

CD 3

Live – Sveriges Radio, Stockholm – October 16, 1971 (*)

1. In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence
2. Still There’ll Be More
3. All This and More
4. Quite Rightly So
5. Power Failure
6. Pilgrims Progress
7. Simple Sister
8. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
9. A Salty Dog
10. Repent Walpurgis
11. In the Autumn of My Madness/Look to Your Soul/Grand Finale

(*) previously unreleased