Procol Harum - Friday Night Is Music Night (2014-11-24) FLAC

GENRE: Prog Rock | Art Rock
FORMAT: Lossless (Flac) 
SIZE: 664 mb (3% Recovery)

Excellent soundboard recording
For one night only, 'Friday Night Is Music Night' presents Procol Harum in a symphonic spectacular for BBC Radio 2.
This special event will take place at the Dominion Theatre in London, with the sixty piece BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Firman and the forty voice CEF Chorus.

The band who created the iconic track that is still voted the best pop record of all time, 'Whiter Shade of Pale', will be led by the founder member of the band, singer/pianist and composer Gary Brooker.
Geoff Whitehorn who among his credits, has played for Roger Chapman, Elkie Brooks, Paul Rodgers and Roger Daltrey, plays lead guitar.
Geoff Dunn, on drums, joined in 2006, having played for such luminaries as Jimmy Page, Dave Stewart, Van Morrison and Manfred Mann.
Matt Pegg, on bass joined in 1993 having played with Jethro Tull, folk-rock supergroup The Gathering, Francis Dunnery, Chris Difford of Squeeze, The Drifters, and The Stone Roses' Ian Brown.
Josh Phillips plays keyboards and Hammond. A renowned composer in his own right, his career with the band began in 1979, after a long and fruitful association with Pete Townsend.
Having played their symphonic set to thousands overseas, Procol Harum are at last bringing the show to the UK's shores. Their reputation and illustrious pedigree promises that this special 'Friday Night Is Music Night' will be a unique and unforgettable concert experience.

TRACKLIST:

CD1
01 - Introduction
02 - Homburg
03 - Simple Sister
04 - Grand Hotel
05 - Fires (Which Burned Brightly)
06 - Missing Persons
07 - Something Magic
08 - Broken Barricades
09 - Sympathy For The Hard Of Hearing
10 - A Salty Dog
Run time:-  53:42

CD2
01 - Wall Street Blues
02 - Nothing But The Truth
03 - Into The Flood
04 - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
05 - An Old English Dream
06 - In The Blink Of An Eye
07 - Grand Finale
08 - Introductions
09 - Conquistador (encore)
Run time:- 49:01

NOTES:

When the psychedelic group who soundtracked the original Summer of Love launch into the 1967 chart-topper ''A Whiter Shade Of Pale'' – still irresistible to these ears despite being the most played UK single of all time – the rush of nostalgia proves as heady as patchouli.

With a Bach-like prelude by violinist Darryl Way, of Curved Air fame, and the sixty piece BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Firman, ''Pale'' remains the Holy Grail fusion of symphonic pop, as acknowledged by the fans who join in on “the crowd called out for more.”

Indeed, there was always more to the good ship captained by pianist and composer Gary Brooker, MBE, the sole original member, as they demonstrate with the plangent opener ''Homburg'', their second 1967 Top 10 hit, and ''A Salty Dog'', which makes the most of the 40-strong Crouch End Festival Chorus beloved of Ray Davies and closes the first half.

Brooker's affecting vocals share the blue-eyed soulfulness of his late 60s contemporary Steve Winwood on the title tracks of cult albums Broken Barricades and Grand Hotel before the five-piece band and ensemble run the gamut from the pastoral ''An Old English Dream'' to the predictable ''The Wall Street Blues'', before encoring with another epic classic, ''Conquistador'', arguably bettering the version from their 1972 hit album Live In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

Procol Harum seem poised to reclaim their rightful place alongside Pink Floyd in the great British progressive rock pantheon.

(http://www.independent.co.uk/)

Procol Harum Dominion Theatre London 24 November 2014

Friday Night is Music Night (for BBC Radio 2)

imageLast night Procol Harum performed for ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’. The performance will be broadcast shortly on Radio 2. This special event took place at the Dominion Theatre in London, and Procol Harum were accompanied by the sixty piece BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Firman and the forty voice Crouch End Festival Chorus.

The current line-up of the band is founder member, singer/pianist and composer Gary Brooker, Matt Pegg on bass, Geoff Dunn on drums, and Josh Phillips on keyboards and Hammond organ. Their usual guitarist Geoff Whitehorn had been taken unwell a few days ago and was replaced at very short notice by Dave Colquhoun of Rick Wakeman’s band who did exceptionally well, having learnt the set in two days, and who was himself suffering from a broken ankle and walking on crutches. Procol Harum dont play in their home country very often these days, and it is many years since they have performed a symphonic set in the UK.

The venue for this unique concert was the Dominion theatre, a beautiful 2,000 seater hall, which sits at the end of Oxford Street in Tottenham Court Road, and has for the past 12 years been the home of Queen’s We Will Rock You musical. The concert was sold out, with Procol Harum fans travelling from around the world to experience this performance.

imageThe orchestra and choir filled the entire stage, and a small stage had been constructed for the band, just above the orchestra pit. The concert started at 7.30pm sharp, with the familiar chords of Homburg and the opening line “Your multilingual business friend, Has packed her bags and fled” filling the theatre and sending shivers down our spines. Songs like these were written to be performed with orchestral accompaniment, and Gary Brooker’s voice rang strong and clear above the majesty of the music. A perfect opening song. This was followed by Simple Sister from 1971’s Broken Barricades, and Grand Hotel from the 1973 album of the same name. Gary explained how, at the of the album’s release the band would stay in the best hotels, eat in the best restaurant, and travel in limousines, and joked that for this concert he came on the tube, ate a takeaway burger, and that they had to finish the show on time so that he could catch the last train home. This was followed by Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) which is also from Grand Hotel. Next was Misssing Person, which is a Brooker solo track, and was performed by the band only, sans orchestra . Broken Barricades was then followed by Sympathy for the Hard of Hearing, which Gary dedicated to those who have fought for their country. The first set closed with an epic version of A Salty Dog which Gary dedicated to Alvin Stardust, Jack Bruce, and also to Geoff Whitehorn who was apparently texting his best wishes to the band from his hospital bed, and was surely there in spirit.

After a short interval the concert resumed. The second half started with a second attempt of the opening section of A Salty Dog, to remedy ‘a technical fault’ for the purposes of the recording for radio, although I am sure none of us had noticed any technical fault the first time round. This was followed by Wall Street Blues (band only), Something Magic, Nothing But the Truth and Into the Flood. The Gary announced the song that “started it all for us in 1967″ which sounded just great, with a strong passionate vocal performance by Gary and Josh on Hammond, recreating the texture and sound of the Hammond solos to perfection. The song received an amazing reception from the audience with applause which seemed to go for ever and a standing ovation with the who,e theatre on their feet. Amazing. imageThe concert closed with An Old English Dream, and The Blink of an Eye (Gary explained how the song was written about 9/11, how the band would often talk to the New York fireman as they passed by the fore station, and how many of those men lost their lives). The encore was Conquistador. A truly epic concert. It’s a shame that Procol Harum don’t play more often in this country. Gary joked at one point that he “wasn’t sure if the band would make their 50th”. I’m sure they will, and based on this performance they continue to go from strength to strength.

(http://vintagerock.wordpress.com/)

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