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Procol Harum: Procol Harum

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Dream Records
Released: 1967
Time:
 50:36
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Denny Cordell
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.procolharum.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2001.05.04
Price in €: 6,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] A Whiter Shade of Pale (Brooker/Reid) - 4:07
[2] Conquistador (Brooker/Reid) - 2:40
[3] She Wandered Through the Garden Fence (Brooker/Reid) - 3:26
[4] Something Following Me (Brooker/Reid) - 3:40
[5] Mabel (Brooker/Reid) - 1:55
[6] Cerdes (Outside the Gates of ) (Brooker/Reid) - 5:03
[7] A Christmas Camel (Brooker/Reid) - 4:51
[8] Kaleidoscope (Brooker/Reid) - 2:55
[9] Salad Days (Are Here Again) (Brooker/Reid) - 3:40
[10] Good Captain Clack (Brooker/Reid) - 1:33
[11] Repent Walpurgis (Fisher) - 5:03

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


ROBIN TROWER - Lead Guitar
MATTHEW FISHER - Hamond Organ
DAVID KNIGHTS - Bass Guitar
BJ WILSON - Drums, Percussion

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1992 CD Intercord 1612
1969 LP Intercord 126300
1972 LP A&M 4373
1992 CD Castle CLA188
1997 CD Repertoire 4666
2001 CD JVC Japan 61309

Maybe we're all a bit biased here: but has there ever been a more brilliantly accomplished debut album?

'I suppose the first album was the album I was the happiest with. It was fantastic, you know; I thought all the songs were great. It was the worst recorded album, but I really like it.'

Keith Reid, 1972

Liner notes: To be listened to in the spirit in which it was made

Items of interest: The original album did not feature A Whiter Shade of Pale: it was added for the American version.

This necessitated a change in the classic Beardsley-influenced album sleeve, which, like the Salty Dog and Home artwork, had been executed by Dickinson, who went on to marry Keith Reid.

The advertisement (right) relates to the 1973 A&M re-release of the album, and was originally printed in Rolling Stone.

Variant versions: Good Captain Clack as it appeared as the 'B' side of the Homburg single differed by one gong-beat from the version on this album.



Procol Harum's debut album is amazingly engaging, considering that it was rushed out to capitalize on the hit title track. The material was all already written (before the hit, in fact), but the group recorded the LP in just two days, simply to get a long-player out, and came up with one of the more pleasingly straightforward releases in their history. The range of sounds here is the widest ever heard on one of the group's albums — "A Christmas Camel" isn't that far from the old Paramounts, the group tackling a sound inspired by Bob Dylan (and derived specifically from his "Ballad of a Thin Man"), while "Salad Days" and "Kaleidoscope" are hard-driven psychedelic rockers, stripped down to the basics, with no pretensions. "Conquistador" was the "lost" single off the album, finally released years later in its live orchestrated version, but much more intense in this original version, which has never gotten the respect it deserves. In between those are pub songs, novelty tunes, and one Matthew Fisher instrumental excursion, "Repent Walpurgis," that became the finale for the group's shows for years to come. Originally released under the title "Procol Harum," the British version of the LP didn't contain the hit. In 1997, Repertoire Records reissued this album — retitled A Whiter Shade of Pale — in remastered state of the art sound, with four bonus tracks, including a pair of harder blues-based numbers by the band from 1967.

Bruce Eder, All-Music Guide
 

 L y r i c s


CONQUISTADOR

Conquistador your stallion stands
in need of company
and like some angel's haloed brow
you reek of purity
I see your armour-plated breast
has long since lost its sheen
and in your death mask face
there are no signs which can be seen

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador a vulture sits
upon your silver shield
and in your rusty scabbard now
the sand has taken seed
and though your jewel-encrusted blade
has not been plundered still
the sea has washed across your face
and taken of its fill

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador there is no time
I must pay my respect
and though I came to jeer at you
I leave now with regret
and as the gloom begins to fall
I see there is no, only all
and though you came with sword held high
you did not conquer, only die

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind


SHE WANDERED THROUGH THE GARDEN FENCE

She wandered through the garden fence
and said, 'I've brought at great expense
a potion guaranteed to bring
relief from all your suffering.'
And though I said, 'You don't exist,'
she grasped me firmly by the wrist
and threw me down upon my back
and strapped me to her torture rack
And, without further argument
I found my mind was also bent
upon a course so devious
it only made my torment worse

She said, 'I see you cannot speak
is it your voice that is too weak?
Is it your tongue that is to blame?
Maybe you cannot speak for shame.
Or has your brain been idle too,
and now it will not think for you?'
I hastened to make my reply
but found that I could only lie
And like a fool I believed myself
and thought I was somebody else
But she could see what I was then
and left me on my own again


SOMETHING FOLLOWING ME

While standing at the junction on 42nd Street
I idly kick a pebble lying near my feet
I hear a weird noise, take a look up and down
The cause of the commotion is right there on the ground
Imagine my surprise, thought I'd left it at home
but there's no doubt about it, it's my own tombstone

I went into a shop, and bought a loaf of bread
I sank my teeth into it, thought I'd bust my head
I dashed to the dentist, said, 'I've got an awful pain!'
The man looks in my mouth and screams, 'This boy is insane!'
Imagine my surprise, thought I'd left it at home
but there's a lump in my mouth of my own tombstone

I went to see a movie, got the only empty seat
I tried to stretch out in it, something blocking my feet
Finally the lights came up, and I could clearly see
a slab of engraved marble, just staring up at me
Imagine my surprise, thought I'd left it at home
but there's no doubt I'm sitting on my own tombstone


MABEL

Don't eat green meat it ain't good for you
you know it killed your brother, killed your sister too
even fresh fried chicken on new-mown sand
can't beat red beans eaten outa your hand

Oh Mabel, Mabel! You know I love you gal but I'm not able
Mabel, oh Mabel, please get off the kitchen table
Don't slice no onions, don't peel no grape
dream about banana slice nor sniff around short cake
and if on a winter's day you find your sundial's wrong
you'll know the weather is what's brought it on

Oh Mabel, Mabel! You know I love you gal but I'm not able
Mabel, oh Mabel, please get off the kitchen table
Put the peas in the pot, put the pot on the hot
In the cellar lies my wife, in my wife there's a knife
so tote that hammer, lift that pick
and banish inhibition with a pogo stick  

Oh Mabel, Mabel! You know I love you gal but I'm not able
Mabel, oh Mabel, please get off the kitchen table


CERDES (Outside The Gates Of)

Outside the gates of Cerdes sits the two-pronged unicorn
who plays at relaxation time a rhinestone flugelhorn
whilst mermaids lace carnations into wreaths for ailing whales
and Neptune dances hornpipes while Salome sheds her veils

Phallus Phil tries peddling his pewter painted pot
but Sousa Sam can only hear the screams of Peep the sot
who only sips his creme de menthe from terra cotta cups
and exhales menthol scented breath whilst spewing verbiage up

Down technical blind alleys live the wraiths of former dreams
And Greeps who often crossed them are no longer what they seem
And even Christian Scientists can but display marble plaques
Which only retell legends whilst my eyes reach out for facts
Yeah, my eyes reach out for facts


A CHRISTMAS CAMEL

My amazon six-triggered bride
now searching for a place to hide
still sees the truth quite easily
but shrouds all else in mystery
while madmen in top hats and tails
impale themselves on six-inch nails
and some Arabian also-ran
impersonates a watering can

Some Santa Claus-like face of note
entreats my ears to set afloat
my feeble sick and weary brain
and I am overcome with shame
and hide inside my overcoat
and hurriedly begin to quote
while some Arabian sheikh most grand
impersonates a hot-dog stand

The Red Cross ambulance outside
can only mean that I must hide
'til dusk and finally the night
when I will make a hasty flight
across the sea and far away
to where the weary exiles stay
and some Arabian oil-well
impersonates a padded cell


KALEIDOSCOPE

Jostle, hassle, elbow bustle
in a swirling rainbow tussle
Caught and frozen, broken sheen
now unites for one brief scene

Lonely in the dark I grope
the key's in my kaleidoscope
Confused faces change their places
take up stances, exchange glances
Lost in multicoloured hues
there is no whole which I can choose

Lonely in the dark I grope
the key's in my kaleidoscope
In one face, one moment's fusion
realize the new illusion
Clutching fingers break the puzzle
jostle, hassle, elbow bustle

Still out in the dark I grope
the key's in my kaleidoscope


SALAD DAYS (Are Here Again)

You come to me at midnight and say, 'It's dark in here.'
You know you robbed me of my sight, and light is what I fear
I tell you that I can not see but you persist in showing me
those bangles that I paid for long ago

And though my face is smiling I'm really feeling low
and though you say you're with me I know that it's not so
Your skin crawls up an octave, your teeth have lost their gleam
The peaches snuggle closer down into the clotted cream
and for some unknown reason my watch begins to chime
and though I beg and plead with you, you tell me it's not time

And though my face is smiling I'm really feeling low
and though you say you're with me I know that it's not so
The sun seeps through the window to see if we're still dead
to try to throw some light upon the gloom around our bed
At quarter past the doorbell rings, the water faucet drips and sings
and still my reason will not rhyme, and still you tell me it's not time

And though my face is smiling I'm really feeling low
and though you say you're with me I know that it's not so
You really know that it's not so
Click here for variant Salad Days words


GOOD CAPTAIN CLACK

Still scowling black
good Captain Clack
must eat his humble pie
His bed is made
the colours fade
his eyes once wet are dry

The naked muse
who sits and chews
tobacco off a tree
removes his shoes
gives way to booze
and searches endlessly

See the naked jumberlack
sip his aphrodisiac
Cotton-picking farmers three
Though I lost my weather vane
and of sense I have one grain
I'm content sipping lemon tea


REPENT WALPURGIS

Instrumental

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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