Subject: Re: The Lindsey Vonn Book
You know I'm a ski racing nut and I'm looking forward to reading Vonn's book.
Everything you wrote about her and about achieving in athletics goes for arts and music.
I know music the best. People who dabble don't get it. They don't get how hard it is. They don't get how much work it takes. Which is why most artists who make recordings and play shows never get any traction, except maybe within their own tiny scene.
They don't get the level of emotional commitment required and the level of abject humility required to acknowledge when you suck and to do the work to get better. And, in art/music, it's not to be "better" yourself -- you also have to understand that you're doing it for the music. To make the music good, not to make you good.
I know people think my band was silly and stupid and a throwaway. But they have no idea.
They have no idea what it takes for a few people, individually and collectively, to get good enough at writing and singing and playing that they can go into a room of strangers who have never heard them play before and not only delight those strangers but compel them to bring 2,3,4 friends with them the next time they come. And all of a sudden there are 700 people in the club and 1,000 waiting outside to get in. Not because you're cool, but because you did the hard work to get good. Because you care SO MUCH about creating something that WORKS, that touches other people the way The Beatles or Joni Mitchell or Stevie Wonder touches you.
Being good really isn't very fun. It's hard work. I go powder skiing to have fun. Playing music is life and death, even playing a gig these days in a goofy cover band for a benefit show. It just matters that much, and it has to if you want to be any good.
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From: Bob Edwards
Subject: Re: The Lindsey Vonn Book
Bob
Great Lindsey Vonn book review. You have an ability to relate and get to the heart of the story.
I was living with Dan Fogelberg in Nashville. We had returned from the first east leg of his first "Homefree" tour and now he had returned from LA after cutting the west leg of the tour short and going without me. In the time he was gone, I had a chance to think about my life and what I wanted to do. I had decided that I didn't want to be a part of the Dan Fogelberg show (assuming he wanted me to be) and I needed to return to U of I to complete my degree. There is a lot more to the story but all was good with Dan and I. The rock n roll road is a long lonely one with a lot of time after and between sound checks and shows. Nobody knew who Dan Fogelberg was so I called it the Dan Fogelberg (who?) tour. But I digress. I am leaving to go back to Illinois and Dan says: You know how hard I have worked! Validation? Yes, I knew (up close and personal) how hard Dan worked and I know from our time together how hard he would continue to work. In Nashville, through Dan, I had met so many talented people, but Dan was special because he "made it". Of course, Dan also had Irving Azoff. Irving and I weren't friends then or afterwards. But, Dan was like Vonn: a loner and a hard worker. He was a perfectionist. Dan died at 59 from Prostrate Cancer, but before he did, he sailed alone from his Maine island home, to a doctor visit in Boston. That was Dan.
Hard work is often a long lonely road. A goal is set but more than achieving a goal, life's work is a process. A process that Dan (and others like him) are always passionately working, wanting and trying to perfect. There is no substitute for hard work. Life is difficult not easy and only hard working, responsible problem solvers achieve success and maintain their success.
Only too often observers see and envy what someone else has but they fail to see what price they paid for it.
Best regards to someone who has enriched my life in many ways.
Bob Edwards
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From: Daniel Stein
Subject: Re: Football Dying
Bob,
We just test drove our second electric car. It is really hard to get them in the midwest but we wanted to do it because of climate change and also I was looking for something that drives like a manual transmission. I grew up in Brazil where the vast majority of people still drive manual and well, we like driving. We still worship Ayrton Sena and Fittipaldi (hoping to see Emerson's grandkid in F-1 someday - the Barrichello generation was just sad).
This is the first time I drove something that even remotely compares to a manual transmission experience. In fact, it is BETTER. And I am also not talking about the fancy Teslas. We drove an ID4 and a Leaf 2022 - both were amazing to drive and quiet. We pulled the trigger on the Leaf. We were worried about range and charging times but, even in the US, it is pretty easy to find a station and the new 2022s have great mileage. Gas cars are dead.
As for American football (not to be confused with real football: soccer), the game is basically a bad version of boxe with a ball but with more breaks for advertisement. No one outside of the US gives a damn about it. In soccer on the other hand, the action never stops. It is like comparing the Grammys to Eurovision - one is an old system that no one cares about and the other is reinventing itself every year and remaining relevant.
We watched Eurovision last year (because of the movie) and I could not take my eyes off the screen. Even through the terrible bands, the show is phenomenal. What a great production. Also, like soccer - no advertisement interrupting the show. Sure, there are sponsors in the back and the occasional "brought to you by" but it is not a show where the ads are more memorable than the game like the Super Bowl.
Love your writing and your podcast - always looking forward to listening to the new guests. I quote you in in my class every now and then and recommend the podcast to students that are serious about going into the biz.
best,
D.
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Daniel Stein, DM
Music Technology and Production - University of Notre Dame
Adjunct Professor, Latin American and Latino Popular Music - Saint Mary's College
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Subject: Re: Yacht Rock-This Week On SiriusXM
Re your Yacht Rock episode...it amused me that my old band Yachts has somehow got included on a Yacht Rock Classics compilation (a mistake, I assume; merely included due to the name of the band, and the song "Yachting Types")...the raucous Richard Gottehrer production, with it's marching synth and ham-fisted playing, must've scared the life out of people expecting the subtlety and precision of Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Kenny Loggins et al.
Best wishes
Henry Priestman (N Wales)
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RE: MACIAS/SPOTIFY
Thanks for publishing David's full letter. I think every artist should read it to open their eyes to the reality of marketing music today and making money from it.
While we all agree 100% that there is a huge imbalance between the percentage master owners and song copyright owners earn, Steve Seskin's math was off by a bit…or maybe it was a typo.
200 million streams at $5,000 per million streams would be 1 million dollars, not a 1 trillion dollars.
Seth Keller
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Steve Seskin needs to check his math. Wow.
Campbell McNeil
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I don't write, record or play, but in regards to his posted note :
Yes, $5000 x 200 million ( the lower figure ) = 1 trillion dollars.
Too bad the actual formula would be $5000 X 200 = 1 million dollars
I'm sure nobody would complain if Spotify paid $5000 per stream, but…
From,
Just a roadie (Doug Goodman)
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The letter from Steve Seskin has "fuzzy" math: "His label would get $5000 per million streams. He would get via his artist deal some of that money. Let's do the math. $5000 x 200 million ( the lower figure ) = 1 trillion dollars. The writers would split somewhere between $40, 000 and $50, 000. So… label gets one trillion, artist maybe 1 million, writers $40,000 to $50,000. Do you think that's fair?"
Using his example, the label gets $5,000 per million streams, then 200 million streams would be $5,000 x 200 = 1 million dollars, not one trillion. Looks like he overstated by a million-fold. Is it me...? Bob Paris
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I made a big mistake yesterday. My math was wrong and I apologize for that. In the scenario I laid out the label makes 1 million dollars. The artist makes whatever their deal calls for and the songwriters make around $20,000 each. That is grossly unbalanced and unfair. There are no artists without songs and some of the best songs ever written were written by outside writers. I'd hate to see that profession go away…
Steve Seskin
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In my 25 years of running a reissue label in Canada, I have never met a mid level band from the 60s to 80s, signed to a label, that ever made any money from their masters. They simply never recouped. Doing the math, even a gold record (50,000 in Canada) would not recoup based on how these deals worked. I know people with several gold records to their credit, who still owe the label hundreds of thousands. Each record simply put them further in the hole.
But many of them did not care. They wrote their own material, so the SOCAN cheques were good, there were tons of places to play, and a record on the radio got them more and better gigs.
So much for the "good old days".
Peter Burnside
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I love David….and I agree with his comments….and others have had his back with better words.
I really just wanted to say that running into David at The Americana Music Awards at the Ryman a few years ago and realizing we were at the same Jesus Lizard show 25 years earlier was a revelatory moment for me. The dude is class and love of music incarnate.
Dave Schools
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WHAT STEVE SESKIN SAID ABOUT SPOTIFY & FAIRNESS
Beth Nielsen Chapman
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Thank you for publishing the Dave Macias full article. Very enlightening.
We should just remember 2020 when 200+ UK artists made $400k from streaming alone.
Keep up the good work . Thank you for all that.
Michael Wijnen ( Paris-FR).
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This was a great read. I got in a lot of trouble once because I said "just because you make music, doesn't mean you have a right to make a living at it". I see so many artists chasing algorithms In a "record, release" hamster wheel that has a song every month with no quality control. Just a finished song. At one point recently I had a client I was trying to navigate out of this have a release date before the song was even written. Well the verse was but not even the hook. Catching the algorithm was the important thing. No you can't make a living off 1000 spins on Spotify. Or a million but you have the ability to make money in many other ways bouncing off Spotify exposure. It's also cheaper than ever to make content like music videos. It's an amazing time. Can rates go up, of course. The pie is indeed not fair but the public is not behind songwriters. They do t know who they are. They see a hit and they see the iceberg that is Ariana Grande but now all the songwriters under the water. "Why does Ariana need more money". We in our bubble get it but the average person coming home from work has no clue who songwriters are or what they do. I have an action plan I've been yelling about for 2 years about how we can have better exposure for songwriters. IE. YouTube. Every single person is listed In video credits. The only people missing? The songwriters. Check. Managers and labels RARELY include songwriters. YouTube should have a "type of video" being uploaded. If it's a music video a new spot opens where at least one songwriter has to be entered for the upload to be accepted. If you could whisper something in the ear of a million people at one time… would that not be a superpower? That's what songwriters do everyday and it creates revolutions, change, breakups, makeups, every day.
Chad Richardson
The S.O.N.G. Space
Los Angeles
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RE: THE BOEING DOCUMENTARY
I was on a DC !0 after a support show with Souther Hillman Furay for the Eagles that left Miami for LA July 5, 1974. Somewhere over a swamp, there was a big THUMP and the plane started to head down. The stewardesses went into attack mode and prepared us for emergency landing. The plane was shaking like a Vibro Massage bed but with much larger cycles-nearly violent. After 5 minutes the pilot (or first mate) came on the PA with a shaking voice and said " l-l-l-adies and gentlemen, we are having some kind of hydraulic system problem and will report back". They never did. I said my prayers, wrote a goodby note to my family, and looked out the window We we're descending into the Okeefenokke Swamp from what I could see, when we got close to the ground there were a hundred emergency vehicles lining the runway. That's how I discovered there was a Tampa! Loved it ever since
We disembarked and from the ticket area we looked straight out to the plane. There was the reversing mechanism from the wing engine gone and the center engine was gone too. After a while I went over to the desk and asked what was going to happen now. The desk agent said "we have another DC10 on its way!" I said "and how am I gonna get home because I am never getting on a DC10 again." They got a DC8.
Turned out the plane was "Barbara"-National named their planes then-and it was the same aircraft that recently had a window blow out and a passenger get sucked out the window.
Bill Siddons
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Bob, I'm so glad you wrote about this documentary and are encouraging your readers to watch it. I grew up in the airline industry, my father having been a United Airlines captain who flew both Boeing and Douglas aircraft (including the Boeing 720 you first flew on). I later became an attorney specializing in aviation related cases, so I have a keen interest in these matters and follow them closely.
"Downfall" a superb doc produced by Imagine (Ron Howard). It delves into great detail about the history of the company and the change in its corporate culture following Boeing's merger with McDonnell Douglas, which transitioned the company's focus from safety and integrity to market share, stock price and corporate greed, all enhanced by Boeing's fierce competition with Airbus after introduction of the Airbus A380.
But, as in-depth and compelling as this doc is, it covers only part of the sordid story leading up to the conditions that led to these two crashes. Specifically, it implies that the FAA, which is charged with regulating airline safety, was duped by Boeing, and it makes the FAA out to be an unwitting victim of Boeing's cover-up about the MCAS system. The truth is very much to the contrary. For years, the FAA has had a too-cozy relationship with the airlines it purports to regulate. Among other eyebrow-raising interactions between the FAA and the airlines over the years(too numerous to go into here), the decades-old arrangement called "delegation" allowed the FAA to delegate certain oversight powers to the airline itself, and Congress for years enacted laws broadening the scope of this arrangement. Under that arrangement, Boeing was allowed to make its own ill-advised and profit-driven decisions about the MCAS system and whether pilots would be trained in it or even told about it.
This part of the story is laid out very well in the other excellent documentary about the 737 Max: PBS's Frontline episode called "Boeing's Fatal Flaw." Only 53 minutes in length and well worth watching if you want to get the full picture of how corporate greed and governmental relaxation of regulatory standards can set the stage for the perfect storm that results in these kind of tragedies.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXMO0bhPhCw
Doug Knoll
Pacific Palisades, CA
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RE: GARY BROOKER
In 1968, we (Mandrake) opened for Procol Harum for a week-long engagement at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. This was a few days after the Democratic Convention riots, so yeah, "those were different times..."
Now, I saw a zillion rock groups back in the 60s, either as second act, first act, or thanks to club/musician connections. I was truly privileged to see the best of the best, but I have to say Procol Harum was a unique band with unbelievable power. Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher were on opposite sides of the stage, facing each other, with Robin Trower in the middle and David Knights on bass and B.J. Wilson (who also was part of the rhythm section for Rocky Horror Picture Show) on drums, a bit more in the background. It was a symmetrical, brilliant stage setup, especially because they had a little room to stretch out. Those five musicians owned the stage.
They were easily as strong a group live as Hendrix or the Who, just in a different way. And, Brooker's voice sounded exactly like it did on the recordings. As in, exactly. That gig was one of my favorites ever, and although I normally didn't watch headliners or support groups unless it was a group I liked, I watched every second of every night they played. If they'd been there for another month, I still would have watched every second of every night. They were that good.
Craig Anderton
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This is close to my heart. Pulling into my parents garage in their black '60 T-Bird (w-walls, mud skirts), a song came on the radio that kept the motor running and my mouth from closing. I remember closing my eyes and praying (God, please don't make this The BeeGees).
Whiter Shade of Pale drove me to the Fillmore, where their set easily made my all time Top Ten. Up there w Original Allmans (Fillmore Auction), Ya Yas Out (Stones"Breakfast" show MSG), Springsteen (Bottom Line), Mothers at Fillmore (Live LP) and Sabbath at H. Bowl (Ward goes down). Crushed velvet neo classicism with grit the Moodies could never approach. BJ Wilson the most underrated drummer I can think of. Friends at UVa in a band called The Slythy Toves were just as smitten, gaining regional chart position with a cover of Kaleidescope.
I got to know Mgr/Road Mgr Ronnie Lyons while product managing Ten Years After and Alvin Lee for Chrysalis, Procol's management company. We spent a timeless stretch sailing off the Florida Coast. Later I was surprised when Clive introduced me to his latest A & R find, Mathew Fisher. So introverted. His 2 solo albums are great barebones work, esp Don't Make Me Sing That Song Again.
Gary Brooker will be missed. Another brightly shining example of how lucky we were to live through those times.
Murray Krugman
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Bob, well said. But go back and have another listen to the song "Salty Dog". Written by Brooker and Keith Reid.
To me, it's one of the great British rock ballads. I don't know if you even call it a ballad, it really is it's own thing. Maybe early art rock, doesn't matter, it's magnificent.
But Gary Brooker's singing is other worldly on that song. And it's not just how technically good he is. It's that he DELIVERS the lyric. And Keith Reid's lyric is so good.
Also, to me, as a guy that works in the studio, it sounds like a live vocal performance.
I have a comp cd in my car with some of my fav songs, I regularly go back and listen to that. Absolutely one of my favorite vocal performances.
Thanks,
Kenny Greenberg
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Gary Brooker's passing was the first thing I saw today when I turned the Internet on. Hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. A hard one. (Two more really bad things were to ensue in the following hour, but Brooker's passing towered above.
The first time I heard A Whiter Shade I was driving up Charles St. in Baltimore and I had to pull off the road and listen to this strange and gorgeous and mysterious song, and I was hooked instantly. After I started doing album rock radio in 1967 I championed Procol Harum and Philadelphia because of that became one of their best markets.
Whiter Shade has a middle verse you may not know about. It connects the storyline missing from first to second verse.
She said we were on shore leave/Tho in truth we were at sea
So I took her by the looking glass/And forced her to agree
Saying you must be the mermaid/Who took Neptune for a ride
But she smiled at me so sweetly that my anger straightways dies
And so it was that later...
I took to occasionally reciting on air that missing middle verse on WMMR and it became one of my on air signatures. People still tell me about how that moved them.
Some years ago I got to MC a Procol Harum show as I have done any chance I could over the years, but this was different. It was in Longwood Gardens, a magnificent place of nature with an Amphitheatre they do shows in when the weather is warm. Renaissance, another band I have had a long and continuing personal relationship with was the opener. And it was my birthday.
Gary gave me the most wonderful present of performing the missing middle verse when they inevitably did the song. Magical moment whern time stopped and it became one of those moments one sometimes plugs into for renewal.
Even the lesser albums (like Something Magic) had moments of wonder, and in the new millennium there were a batch of digital only live albums that showed the band was as majestic as ever. Most are no longer on iTunes where I nabbed them as they appeared.
Over 50 years later my favorite band, one that has gotten me thru tough stretches and tougher moments.
Rest well, Gary, and thank you for the magic and the music.
Michael Tearson
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Brooker was genius…got to chat him up at a Dallas show, we shared our love of Oregon, where his visits to Steamboat Lodge are legendary. And what a voice!
Each time I saw PH, his singing amazed. And his little bits between songs were hilarious. RIP to one of the masters!
Don Crouch
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So sad to hear of Gary Brooker's passing. I was and still am a huge Procol Harum fan. First five studio albums through Broken Barricades are classics in my humble and Grand Hotel and Exotic Birds and Fruit ain't chopped liver. It is a crime that so much of their catalogue is unavailable. Remember seeing them at the Fillmore East with the Byrds opening June of '69 and again a year later same venue and many times thereafter. Always felt they were a greatly underappreciated band. Not to mention one of the great rock drummers of all time with BJ Wilson (talk about working that cowbell). Well thanks for the appreciation of a great songwriter, singer and piano player and a great vastly underappreciated band.
Peter Roaman
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I only got to see Gary Brooker live one time - as part of Eric Clapton's 1982 touring band (a band that also featured Albert Lee!) - Muddy Waters made a guest appearance on "Blow Wind Blow" - it turned out to be his final live performance. The Fabulous T-Birds opened. Pretty iconic, looking back. Still have the t-shirt.
Vince Welsh
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You nailed it, today.
! was (am) a big fan of Procol Harum and the one thing that sticks out for me is that they
were one of the most British-sounding bands during their time. The lyrics had a lot to do with
that but Brooker was certainly a unique vocalist. I have owned every album they ever released.
As for Conquistador, the drum fills by B.J. Wilson set the "Live" version apart from the studio one and
for almost 50 years, I have pointed out to others that IMO this is the best example of Rock drumming with Orchestra
that you can find.
Tony Colao
Easthampton, MA
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Gary Brooker appeared in the film "Evita" as one of the singers doing "The Rainbow Tour." As soon as I heard "that voice" I recognized his incredible voice.
Reportedly Brooker stated he earned more money doing the film than any other time during in his career.
Bob Jameson
Sugar Land, Texas
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Thanks for this, Bob. I did know Gary. Played keyboards on his album "Lead Me to The Water." We hit it off because he was a flyfisherman. I gave him a box of flies tied by my friend Amos Garrett. He invited me to fish on his private stream on his estate. Alas, I never made it there.
Yes, what a great voice! And what a kind gentle man.
Phil Aaberg
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I saw Gary back in the nineties at the Half Moon pub in Putney. The band included Boz, Andy Fairweather Low and Henry Spinetti. Gary's singing was magical, making the night unforgettable. He was cut from the same cloth as other great UK singers of his generation, such as Steve Winwood, Paul Carrack, Paul Rodgers and Glenn Hughes. Authentic and soulful, his voice had a story to tell. RIP.
Robert Bond
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Bob: Gary Brooker was also a part of the Concert for George in the Royal Albert Hall and looked right at home.
John Small
Fort Myers, FL
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Thanks for this appreciation of Gary Brooker and Procol Harum. They meant a huge amount to me in my high school years. I even hitchhiked 120 miles to see the Broken Barricades tour when I was 14. (I suspect 14 year olds don't do that anymore; probably a good thing!) By the way, yes, Matthew Fisher did do a second album, called I'll Be There. You should try to seek it out; the title track is quite astonishing.
Tycho Manson
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Procol Harum is one of my all time favorite bands, PH likely holds the record for me regarding how many shows from one band I attended during an 18 month period...it was 8 shows for me. PH live were great...especially encores when they rolled out classic Chuck Berry/etc, jams and riffs. RIP Mr. Brooker....and thank you.
Norm Prusslin
Stony Brook, N.Y.
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Thank you for recognising the importance of gary brooker bob - whiter shade of pale had the same impact on me as god only knows, purple haze and love me do and pain in my heart they all shifted some life changing cog in my brain - seeing gary brooker on top of the pops in 67 added a fire, an inspiration and determination in me not to settle for the dreary predictable path I was expected to trudge along as a working class lad from Salford.
Pete Carroll
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"Whiskey Train" got a lot of play on FM stations in LA. I also love "Shine On Brightly", but maybe "Quite Rightly So" even more, and the segment of "In Held Twas In I" that Keith Reid (I've heard) sings: "In the autumn of my madness when my hair is turning grey...". "A Salty Dog" is a song for the ages, transcendent. Saw them play it live at the Santa Monica Civic. I always wondered if it was inspired by Poe's "Ms. Found In A Bottle".
What a special voice he had. Procol Harum did classical-leaning rock better than anyone. And stylistically they stood alone.
All the Best.
Berton Averre
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Nice piece on Gary Brooker. Procol Harum got a lot of airplay on the "underground" stations in Philly. I saw them four or five imes in High School (68 to 72). They always seemed to be on tour. In small venues they headlined and were supporting acts at The Spectrum.
I still play Broken Baracades and Home.
Thanks for the nice obit.
Peace,
Gary Jackson
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And what a delight it was to hear "The Devil Came From Kansas" in Lillehammer. Mr. Van Zandt knows how to pick 'em.
Stephen Knill
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Bringing Home the Bacon is an incredible song. BJ Wilson starts it off with an odd sounding rhythm. The hold band kicks in behind him. Great burning guitar solo. Great lyrics by Keith Reid..this track burns!!
Tim Pringle
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Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I was running a record shop when this record broke and we could not get enough stock. No stock issues nowadays! Best. Ellis Rich
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The opening licks to very few songs send shivers down my spine. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is one that does in a very big way. The sound of a Hammond B3 has a way of doing that to me and others. I'm frankly aghast you don't like the track. It's a classic that unquestionably helped define an era! The first time I saw Procol Harum they were headlining a show at the NY State Pavilion on the grounds of what previously was the 1964 world's fair. Also on the bill that evening were Rhinoceros, Spooky Tooth and NRBQ. It was a great show! The voices of very few 1960s, 1970s artists have held up. McCartney vocally is a shell of his former self, which was shockingly apparent when you watched the Peter Jackson "Get Back" doc. Steve Winwood is prob the "golden child" wrt maintaining a truly great voice. Gary Brooker's voice held up pretty well, too. The last time I saw Procol Harum was at NYC's Bottom Line, in the tail end of that venue's existence. You also need to listen to the title track of "A Salty Dog." I'm saddened by Brooker's passing. Procol Harum's body of work admittedly was inconsistent, but they did produce a lot of good material. Shine on brightly, Mr. Booker. RIP.
Stuart K. Marvin
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One of the most entertaining gigs I attended was what was left of Procul Harum at the Shaw Theatre in London. On a Sunday night. Turned out it was the finale of a PH Convention weekend, with a worshipping and uncomfortably fanatical audience, as you might imagine, just like a Galaxy Quest Convention.
Brooker somehow rose above the occasion. And even then a great singer and a very solid Brummie (you do know what that means, right?).
'People used to call us progressive' he said, 'but we're really just a Birmingham twelve bar blues band'.
He'll be missed.
Nick Morgan
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I was maybe 15 and still in high school, my third or fourth concert ever…Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, I believe. The headliner was King Crimson, second act was Procol Harum. The opening band were unknowns, though I'd heard one track on late-night radio, so I wasn't all that surprised that Yes blew everyone away. I wondered how Procol Harum could follow that. The band came out unseen on a dark stage, suddenly bathed in a burst of light with the opening note of "Shine On Brightly."
Can't say I ever became a huge PH fan, but that show is embedded in my memory to this day. RIP, Mr. Brooker.
Daniel Liston Keller
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Really Glad You mentioned a lot of the Deep lp tracks
He played a Real Piano and his parts orchestrated all those great songs Before Conquistador
& the orchestra
As a matter of fact when they showed up to the Hollywood Bowl they didn't even play Whiter Shade of Pale
maybe that was disappointing to their original fan base
but they had deeper fish to fry
When I lived in Vegas in 1973 Procol Harm went from headlining over Loggins & Messina to opening for them
Less than a year later
when fortunes flipped they were never hip
& they were part of that magical time were you had your own lyricist
a few bands took it advantage of them
King Crimson the dead and Procol Harum
what a unique rock band
Morley Bartnof
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I saw this guy too and had the honor of spending a good chunk of the day in February 2019 assisting in bringing him and his keyboardist Josh Phillips to do NYC radio promo while Procol were doing a brief tour to promote "Novum" in the States.
I made sure to brush up on as much as I could of their records and brought along a few which he graciously signed. He was as nice and easy going a fella I've ever encountered in my brief interactions with musicians as "the label guy". It was a hoot to see legendary DJs and journos in awe of him and even a bit tongue tied in his presence. Clearly Procol Harum made an indelible impression on them years ago and held them in very high esteem. In between interviews outside he'd very calmly and effortlessly roll a cigarette and then head into the building for the next interview. Later that night at City Winery he proceeded to blow the doors off that place with that distinctive powerful voice as well as backed by a knockout band. A Salty Dog he was not.
Ken Beck
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Nice post for Gary Brooker. I have a story that I have told many times about the return of Procol Harum in the 90s that you mentioned. As I worked the adult contemporary radio format in the 90s for Mercury Records, I was attending yet another Gavin Convention (remember those), and one of the "panel" events was a sort of "rate a record", where programmers and other industry luminaries would twist a dial left or right based on how much they liked the "hook" of a single. It was the "new technology" for auditorium testing for listeners in radio markets who'd get paid in pizza to vote on hooks for radio...thats research for you in the 90s!
At this panel, there would be 15-20 hooks played, the only criteria was it had to be a song not yet released to radio so we, the industry, could be sort of a fly on the wall for a music programming meeting with these radio programmers and consultants.
This event was always a bit of a highlight as the industry loves to talk about music, its why we were all schmoozing at a convention and was always fun to get a heads up on what was forthcoming at the format. At one of these conventions, one of the hooks TESTED better than anything anyone attending this function had ever seen. The room was "electrified" by this "hook", the song was a "SMASH"...all of us assumed it was a new Steve Winwood song, as it sounded a lot like a Winwood track...and he was well played at Adult Contemporary and it was an amazing hook and just scored like a perfect 10. I was of course envious as it was clear to me this was going to be a #1 radio song and probably hold the top spot on the R&R and Gavin AC radio charts for weeks and weeks and weeks. Believe me when I say NOTHING ever scored this good at one of these events before or since.
Astonishingly once the Procol Harum song (which is what it was) was serviced to radio, the track was STILL BORN. Fucking DOA... Nobody in that room eve put it on their radio stations and it was one of those defining moments for me, when I realized radio is a fucking joke and all these major market PD's and consultants were jackasses. It went nowhere BECAUSE it was Procol Harum. Slap "Steve Winwood" or heck rebrand it as a band no one ever heard and I am convinced it would have been a major hit...
One of the jading moments of my time working Adult Contemporary.
Bill Cason
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Thanks, Bob, for this tribute. I remember Gary well. I'm 76, the same age as Gary. So far, no lethal threats on the horizon, although I don't bother with annual physicals anymore. I'm ready to go anytime, but not in a hospital; in my own bed.
I started my first rock band in 1964. We were signed to Capitol Records. We believed we were the heirs apparent to The Beatles and The Beach Boys. But that was not to be.
When I was in my third band, Chamaeleon Church, in which Chevy Chase was the drummer, I got to see Procol Harum's US debut for free. Here's how it happened:
Procol Harum, a new band from England, was playing a concert in
our neighborhood, at the Anderson Theater, another old movie house
that had begun presenting rock concerts. It was on Second Avenue, a
few blocks south of the Village Theater (soon to be the Fillmore East).
I went over there early and, looking like I belonged, just strolled in
during the sound check and took a seat. Procol Harum was onstage
setting up. And then the most extraordinary thing happened. The road
manager yelled out to the scattered group of spectators out front: "Does
anybody have a set of drums?" I raised my hand. "I do," I said, without
thinking. Chevy's drums were set up in our loft. So I got into a station
wagon with the road manager and we drove down to Jefferson Street.
We disassembled Chevy's drums and loaded them into the station wag-
on. I didn't call Chevy and ask permission, for fear he'd refuse. It was
too late to back out now. I wondered if Procol Harum relied on being
able to borrow a set of drums at every stop on their tour
Naturally, I got to witness Procol Harum's first appearance in the Unit-
ed States without having to pay. The performance was impressive, especially the epic "A Whiter Shade of Pale," which was beginning to climb the charts at the time. The lead guitarist, Robin Trower, did an interesting thing: to give his guitar a distorted sound, he put it through 2 amps, a small one and then a big one. This created distortion and sustain without excessive volume. After the concert, we loaded Chevy's drums back into the station wagon, along with me, the road manager, and all five members of Procol Harum, and drove back downtown. I did my best to set up the drums like they had been but, alas, some pieces of hardware were missing. Procol Ha-Procol Harum had departed without one single word of thanks. Needless to say, Chevy was furious at me for pulling this stunt, but I replaced the hardware and he eventually got over it.
Copied and pasted from my memoir, "Making It: Music, Sex & Drugs in the Golden Age of Rock" Published by Calumet Editions, 2017.
Cheers,
Ted Myers
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I am crying real tears as I write this today. My personal email address tells my whole story.....(procol.....@aol)
A Whiter Shade of Pale will live forever. It is one of the most played songs of all time, and will remain in the consciousness of the human race forever.. but it is nothing compared to so much of Gary Brooker's and Procol Harum's other music. (Keith Reid's lyrics can not be ignored)
The incredible majesty of their compositions is indescribable. For me Bob, you just know when certain music touches your soul...no other explanation can be made. It more than resonated with me. I can't even put it into words. This loss to me is incredible as Procol has been the absolute musical partner to my whole life. I know you can understand that, as your love of music runs deep as well.
Procol was never given the respect they earned, and not getting into the RRHOF a few years ago was beyond a travesty and forever unforgiveable.
The original band was amazing, but over the past 15-20 years or so they have been touring with mostly the same super talented people since they reformed for the Prodigal Stranger...
The current band has done tremendous justice to the Procol Harum legacy as any fan could tell you. The music and Gary's voice is beyond anything I have ever heard.....But their music was not just something you listened to. .It was overpoweringly beautiful and it was always an experience....Something that very few artists can achieve....I saw them many times over the years, and they never disappointed...They always could recreate their sound.. whether they played with an orchestra or not....because as you said...it was Gary's voice that was really Procol Harum. (of course us knowledgeable fans knew all of the other bandmate's contributions), but his voice...
The world has lost a gift today.
A funny story....A good friend of mine is a concert promoter and Procol needed an opening act for a show that wasn't selling well, and they needed someone cheap. I would have paid them to open. My friend hired me....My favorite piece of music that they ever performed and wrote was In Held Twas in I...It was virtually a complete album side of their amazing Shine On Brightly record and it was unbelievable music to me. I asked them if they would be playing it that night and they said no.
Somehow before the show I wound up in the restroom with a horrifying stomach and I couldn't listen to their sound check. I had to stay where I was if you understand what I mean.
They played the whole of In Held Twas In I for their sound check as they needed to practice it for a future gig! A bad sandwich literally was the cause of one of my greatest regrets in my life!. I know it sounds silly and meaningless, but their music meant so much to me, especially that piece....and I am so heartbroken over the loss of a musical genius. And Gary was a genius. All true songwriters and musicians know this to be true. It is non negotiable. Their body of work supports it.
All you have to do is listen... " And Look To Your Soul "
RIP Gary Brooker- And thank you for everything you gave to me.
Leigh Goldstein
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Bob—A very sad day for me. PH was probably our favorite band and I have many fond memories of seeing them in person. It started in 1967 at the Anderson Theatre on the lower East Side. They were on the bill with Moby Grape. It was a brutally cold night and the Grape were delayed getting in from Boston. So, PH must have played every number they knew.
I think people tended to say it "Procul" since with a British accent, that's what it sounded like. You may know that the name derived from the name of a friend's cat. However, the name should have been "Procol Harun".
I agree that some of their best tunes were "Shine on Brightly" and "Whiskey Train".
I think that Matthew Fisher did release more than one album. His lawsuit with Gary was very sad. Matthew left the business to write computer software.
My understanding is that Trower left because he felt that Gary restricted his soloing.
The final makeup of PH was, in my opinion, the best of all.
With a friend, I attended a show of theirs in Huntington, NY and got to meet Gary and some of the other band members. My friend and I were speaking with Gary and somehow we got around to discussing how the kids today know nothing about the geography of the world. So Gary asked us to name the four states in the US that begin with the letter "A". We both had brain freezes and could not remember the fourth state. Talk about being embarrassed!
Best,
Gehr Brown
P.S. You can read a full obituary if you go the PH's website "Beyond the Pale". Gary had many other talents—he was a world class fly fisherman and raised a lot of money for worthwhile charities.
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Thanks Bob for acknowledging Gary Brooker. He was a soulful voice in a great band. His spirit, music and Procol Harum will be missed.
Later incarnations of PH respectfully kept the flame alive.
Aside from Reid, Trower and Fisher PH also had an extraordinary drummer in (the late) BJ Wilson.
Shine On!
Paul Bronstein
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I can honestly say that I'm not a big fan of Procol Harem but I have an interesting story somewhat related to Gary.
I retired and moved to golf course community and I meet this guy. Bob Scott. English. A very nice, refined fellow. Snappy dresser. Retired airline pilot. Used to fly big planes for Cathay Pacific. Stationed in Hong Kong. The world was different then. When he was a pilot, flying and pilots were glamorous. He was in the Royal Navy before that. He flew a carrier-based twin-engined low level, high speed strike airplane called the Blackburn Buccaneer. . Interesting guy. Great stories.
So we get to talking. Turns out he was in a band before he joined the navy. This is the early 60's. They were called The Paramounts. He was their lead singer. Members included Gary Brooker and Robin Trower! This is before Procol Harem.
The story is that Bob didn't turn up at a gig one night and panic sets in. Robin Trower suggests that Gary take over the vocals. The rest, they say, is history. Bob never returned to the group.
I asked Bob why he quit. His father and father before that were Royal Navy. He didn't show because he enlisted. He said he didn't think much about quitting. The band didn't seem that important. He never got in touch with any of the guys after he left. His wife tells me that there is even a liner note on one of Procol Harem's early LP's that asked "Where's Bob Scott?. He never looked back.
Thanks
Andy Dancsak
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Fellow fan of "In City Dreams." It's a supple record, the performances are a cut above. I always loved the third track: "Bluebird."
Just might be Trower's finest guitar performance. He delivers with such delicacy and finesse, and the dance between his playing and Dewar's aching and nuanced vocal does both of them credit. I remember coming across it again just a few years ago on YouTube and was pleased to see that it had clearly reached quite a few folks way-way deep.
"Bluebird" didn't steady me through cold turkey with a drug habit or greet the birth of my child, like it did for a couple of the YouTube faithful — but it was an absolute favorite song when songs meant everything to me.
Hit me right in the heart and it's still stuck there.
Steve Lindstrom
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Procol Harum is one of my top 5 bands. About 10 years ago I was visiting my brother, Teddy who is a producer at Sirius XM in NYC. While in Teddy's studio I heard that Procol Harum was at Sirius recording a live concert. I hustled over to that studio and set up a folding chair. The engineers were behind the glass but I was the only one in the studio! Yes, my own personal Procol Harum concert .. and this was when Matthew Fisher was still in the band!
To fully get Procol Harum you need to put them into the context of what else was on the radio at the time. There really wasn't any other dual keyboard driven, baroque-esque rock on the radio at the time. AND when there was guitar is was Robin Trower!. (keep in mind this is the world before guitar pedal effects).
AND B.J. Wilson on drums. I urge any of your viewers to listen to the live Procol Harum album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. B.J. Wilson is probably THE most underrated 60's drummer. Virtually no one knows who he was.
Well-crafted songs with esoteric, yet poetic, lyrics masterfully arranged and performed. Hopefully generations to come will have a listen
Best,
John Zambetti
The Malibooz
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RE: I WON'T HOLD YOU BACK
I just caught this now.
My first two big projects at Michael Jensen's Jensen Communications
company were Toto and Rosanna (the actress - not the song!).
When Toto got nominated for TOTO IV, we orchestrated a PR campaign
to blitz out both nationally and regionally in all the NARAS markets.
A good portion of the interviews were done at the studio located on Paich's property, and at any given
moment, the caliber of musicians that would walk through the door was absolutely mind-blowing.
Luke, Paich, Jeff and Steve Porcaro had played, written,
co-written, produced and/or arranged, sometimes along with James Newton Howard,
on and/or with hundreds of some of the absolute
best in the business, which also helped get these boys all those GRAMMY nominations
and wins including Record of the Year and Album of the Year.
BTW, the night of their big GRAMMY sweep,
Joe Porcaro (father of Jeff, Steve and Mike) was playing drums in the orchestra during the broadcast.
I toured with the band, sometimes on their bus, sometimes on the crew bus depending on
what had to be set up press-wise in the next city. It might have been a major market like Boston,
but then it could be a town with a venue where the next night a cattle auction was scheduled.
I got so sleep deprived that one night I fell asleep standing up, face forward against a wall, stage right.
I loved every minute of it.
And then - there was this.
Set list in hand, no matter where I was in
the house, outside, in the box office or production office,
I made sure I made it to the sound board in time
for every single performance of Luke singing,
"I Won't Hold You Back".
And that's the Gd's honest truth.
Janie Hoffman
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I'm late but thanks for writing this one Bob. One of my earliest childhood memories is accompanying my Mom to a small record shop as she bought a copy of Toto IV for my Dad's birthday. I was only around age 3 or 4 and fell in love with the album, which got a lot of play in our house. Sure it was mostly "Africa" and "Rosanna" but "I Won't Hold You Back" also imprinted on me. And then I moved onto the next thing, as kids do. I don't think I heard it again for another 15 years until dusting off that same vinyl copy of IV in college. (This was the late 90s and long before the hipsters began trumpeting vinyl, so most people thought I was nuts to have a collection.) Whenever "I Wont Hold You Back" came on my roommate would roll his eyes and insist I flip it over for "Africa". I defended the song but politely obliged most of the time.
10 years after that, my first marriage was falling apart. "I think we're just holding each other back now", surmised my wife at the time. I disagreed but unsurprisingly that song immediately called out to me. I started listening to it again and it took on a whole new meaning for me. Weeks, probably months passed until I noticed one day it had topped my iTunes "25 Most Played", dethroning a lot of my hard-earned favorites to my complete surprise. That year there was a lot of self-soothing with (quoting Jack Black from High Fidelity) "old sad bastard music" and that song held the crown for some time.
I'm older now and still enjoy listening to that song, though it comes with strings attached. Worth the trade-off? I think so.
Matt Robertson
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As a fan of Toto from the very beginning, I have always found that it has not only been the stellar singles they have produced-but the gems between the masterpieces.
On Hydra, the song Mama was stellar-showing off a level of jazz crossover that paid homage to so many Steely Dan tracks that these guys recorded on.
I have to agree with so many of the comments-if you didn't get the genius of Toto, you never will.
I am proud that still impact my life-both professionally and as fan to this day.
Thanks for the deep dive on I won't Hold You Back.
Best regards
Fabrizio Del Monte
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40 plus years thinking I'm the crazy one for liking Toto! Thank you Bob for pointing out the endless talent of a true band of musicians that are in it for the love not the money. I can finally stop listening in my garage with my cans on.
Bob Menafra
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I am deeply humbled and touched by all this. Really!
Thank you making it happen my friend and thanks to all who wrote in and all who have supported us and 'got it' thru all these 45 years.
I never saw music having to be a 'guilty pleasure'. I supposed if I wrote that hard punk was my 'guilty pleasure' would people laugh?
I can listen to Aretha, Slipknot, Adele, the Ramones and Miles Davis in one car ride so...+ I though a guilty pleasure was masturbation.
Jokes aside. Thanks for this. We never get this kind of attention and it comes at a great time as we head out of 2 years in Covid hell back on a world tour starting with our lifelong pals Journey for 40 USA arena shows starting next week. Can't wait to play live again!
I wont forget the kind words.
Luke
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