1970: En casa con Procol Harum

Contenido de esta entrada:

Introducción

Lanzamiento del álbum

Enlaces, letras y opinión personal

Artículo anterior de Procol Harum: 1969: El perro saleroso de Procol Harum

Siguiente artículo de Procol Harum: 1971: Las barricadas rotas de Procol Harum

Sitio oficial de Procol Harum: Procol Harum - Beyond the Pale

Facebook oficial de Procol Harum: Procol Harum | Facebook

Portada del álbum Home

Introducción

El anterior artículo lo dedicamos al tercer álbum de Procol Harum, A Salty Dog.

En este artículo continuamos su historia hasta la publicación de su cuarto álbum Home. Tras la publicación del álbum A Salty Dog se produce la salida del organista Matthew Fisher y el bajista David Knights y se les unió el ex compañero de banda bajista / organista Chris Copping de The Paramounts, Procol Harum fue, a todos los efectos, The Paramounts de nuevo en todo menos en el nombre. El propósito de traer a Copping era devolver parte del sonido R&B a la banda que tenían con su formación anterior.

Las sesiones iniciales se realizaron en Londres en Trident Studios en el otoño de 1969 bajo la supervisión del ex organista Matthew Fisher, quien también había producido el álbum anterior de la banda. Descontentos con el sonido y las actuaciones, la banda abandonó las sesiones de Trident y comenzó de nuevo en febrero de 1970 con el productor Chris Thomas y el ingeniero Jeff Jarratt en Abbey Road Studios. Una vez que se completó el álbum, se decidió que la portada sería una parodia de una edición británica del juego de mesa snakes and ladders, con miembros de la banda.

Ejemplo de tablero del juego snakes and ladders

Lanzamiento del álbum

Cuando el álbum fue lanzado en junio de 1970, llegó al número 34 en los Estados Unidos y al número 49 en el Reino Unido; llegó al Top 10 danés, alcanzando el puesto número 6. El álbum fue precedido por el sencillo "Whiskey Train", escrito por el guitarrista Robin Trower con el letrista Keith Reid. 

Pantallazo de la lista británica. Permaneció una semana en lista

En una revisión retrospectiva, Bruce Eder de AllMusic escribió: "El álbum clásico más duro del grupo es, más allá de una excelente vocalización de Gary Brooker, principalmente un escaparate para la guitarra de alta potencia de Robin Trower y una sección rítmica dura como el rock, con B.J. Wilson solo un poco menos animado que Ginger Baker en parte de la música. Procol Harum tenía una personalidad dividida en ese momento, la banda yuxtaponía números de rock & roll como "Still There'll Be More" y "Whisky Train" influenciado por Elvis Presley con piezas más oscuras y dramáticas como "Nothing That I Didn't Know" y "Barnyard Story". Chris Copping sustituye en el órgano, reemplazando a Matthew Fisher, pero el sonido general es el de un Procol Harum más delgado, todo excepto por la ambiciosa "Whaling Stories", incluso fue un compromiso que casi funcionó, mostrando el sonido de guitarra más grande que la vida de Trower (saliendo aquí como Robert Fripp de King Crimson). en uno de sus momentos más pesados) dentro de un concepto de art rock algo pretencioso.".

Contraportada del álbum

Enlaces y letras 

Enlace a la lista de reproducción del álbum: ♫ ❤️ Procol Harum - Home (1970) 🎸

Lista de canciones

Todas las canciones fueron escritas por Gary Brooker y Keith Reid, excepto donde se indique lo contrario.

Lado A

1. "Whisky Train" (Robin Trower, Reid) - 4:31
2. "The Dead Man's Dream" - 4:46
3. "Still There'll Be More" - 4:53
4. "Nothing That I Didn't Know" - 3:38
5. "About to Die" (Trower, Reid) - 3:35

Lado B

1. "Barnyard Story" - 2:46
2. "Piggy Pig Pig" - 4:47
3. "Whaling Stories" - 7:06
4. "Your Own Choice" - 3:13

CARA 1

A1 Whisky Train

Enlaces

PROCOL HARUM - Whiskey Train

Whisky Train

Whiskey Train/Procul Harum

Letras

Ain't gonna ride that whisky train

Ain't gonna burn up no more flame

Throw away my bottle down the drain

Ain't gonna ride that whisky train

To think that I could be so wrong

To be so sick and still go on

The way I drink it's been too long

Don't see much point in carrying on

I'm gonna lose these drinking blues

I'm gonna find a girl to make me choose

Between lovin' her and drinking booze

I'm gonna lose these drinking blues

Ain't gonna ride that whisky train

I'm tired of burning in the flame

Throw away my bottle down the drain

Ain't gonna ride that whisky train

Videos

Procol Harum-Whiskey Train - YouTube

A2 The Dead Man's Dream

Enlaces

The Dead Man's Dream

Procol Harum - Dead Man's Dream

Procol Harum:-'The Dead Man's Dream'

Letras

As I lay down dying, a floor for my bed

And a bundle of newspaper under my head

I dreamed a dream, as strange as could be

Concerning myself, and somebody like me

We were in some city, the stranger and me

The houses were open, and the streets empty

The windows were bare, and the pavements dirty

I asked where I was; my companion ignored me

We entered a graveyard and searched for a tombstone

The graves were disturbed, and the coffins wide open

And the coprses were rotten, yet each one was living

Their eyes were alive with maggots crawling

I cried out in fear, but my voice had left me

My legs were deformed, yet I moved quite freely

My head was on fire, yet my hands were icy

And everywhere light, yet darkness engulfed me

I managed to scream and woke from my slumber

I thought of my dream and lay there and wondered

Where had I been? What could it mean?

It was dark in the deathroom as I slithered under

Videos

procol harum - the dead man's dream (with original album stereo sound) - YouTube

A3 Still There'll Be More

Enlaces

Procol Harum:-'Still There'll Be More'

Still There'll Be More

Procol Harum - Still there'll be more 1970

Letras

I'll bathe my eyes in a river of salt

I'll grow myself right up to the sky

I'll sing in the forest, tear down the trees

I'll foul all the fountains and trample the leaves

I'll blacken your Christmas and piss on your door

You'll cry out for mercy, but still there'll be more

I'll put a blight in the orchard

I'll run wild through the fields

I'll waylay your daughter and kidnap your wife

Savage her sexless and burn out her eyes

I'll blacken your Christmas and piss on your door

You'll cry out for mercy, but still there'll be more

Videos

Procol Harum - 03 - Still There'll Be More (1971) - YouTube

A4 Nothing That I Didn't Know

Enlaces

Nothing That I Didn't Know

Procol Harum:-'Nothing That I Didn't Know'

PROCOL HARUM-Home-04-Nothing That I Didn't Know-Prog Rock-{1970}

Letras

Did you hear what happened to Jenny Droe?

Couldn't believe it, but it's true

Twenty-six, and now she's dead

I wish that I could've died instead

Did you hear what happened to Jenny Droe?

Did you see how thin and pale she grew?

So much suffering, could not hide

Endless heartache until she died

Did you hear what happened to Jenny Droe?

Strike me dead, make it a truce

Strike me dead, let me go

Nothing that I didn't know

Did you hear what happened to Jenny Droe?

Couldn't believe it, but it's true

Twenty-six, and now she's dead

I wish that I could've died instead

Videos

procol harum - nothing that i didn't know (with original album stereo sound) - YouTube

A5 About to Die

Enlaces

Procol Harum - About To Die (Home 1970)

Procol Harum – About To Die 1970

About to Die

Letras

About to die - the crowds applaud you

About to die - they'll resurrect you

Light a candle up in kingdom come

Light the way for the saviour's son

A candle burning bright enough to tear the city down

About to die - the crowds reward you

About to die - their cheers ignore you

Light a candle up in kingdom come

Light the way for the chosen one

No candle burned with fire enough to tear that city down

About to die - the crowds applaud me

About to die - they'll resurrect me

Light a candle up in kingdom come

Light the way for the savior's son

A candle burning bright enough to tear the city down

CARA 2

B1 Barnyard Story

Enlaces

Procol Harum:-'Barnyard Story'

Barnyard Story

Procol Harum - Barnyard Story (orchestral version)

Letras

Chicken in the farmyard, there's an oven in your bin

You're growing old with sorrow, you're growing fat with sin

I was living in the graveyard, I was hanging from the wall

I was living in the desert, I was trying not to fall

Once I stood upon Olympus, then the heavens opened wide

I beheld that flaming chariot and I saw the sacred bride

Now and then my life seems truer, now and then my life seems pure

All in all, my thoughts are fewer - maybe death will be my cure

Videos

PROCOL HARUM: BARNYARD STORY, (WITH DR UNDERHOLDNINGSORKESTRET), VEJLE, DENMARK, 21 JANUARY 2011 - YouTube

B2 Piggy Pig Pig

Enlaces

Procol Harum:-'Piggy Pig Pig'

Piggy Pig Pig

Letras

Wash yourself and see your sorrow, make every pitcher clean

Take a mop to swab the floor and destroy the evil dream

Counting houses full of lead, the evil eye on high

The streets awash with blood and pus, the new moon's in the sky

God's aloft, the winds are raging

God's aloft, the winds are cold

After leaving I was weeping - count it out in tolls

Watch the book, the page is turning - how the tale unfolds

Inside every cancered spectre,

inside-outside find your own

God's aloft, the winds are raging - God's aloft, the winds are cold

Videos

Procol Harum-Piggy Pig Pig - YouTube

Procol Harum * Piggy Pig Pig - YouTube

B3 Whaling Stories

Enlaces

Whaling Stories

Procol Harum:-'Whaling Stories'

Letras

Pailing well after sixteen days, a mammoth task was set

Sack the town, and rob the tower, and steal the alphabet

Close the door and bar the gate, but keep the windows clean

God's alive inside a movie! Watch the silver screen!

Rum was served to all the traitors; pygmies held themselves in check

Bloodhounds nosed around the houses, down dark alleys sailors crept

Six bells struck, the pot was boiling - soup spilled out on passers-by

Angels mumbled incantations, closely watched by God on high

Lightning struck out - fire and brimstone! Boiling oil and shrieking steam!

Darkness struck with molten fury, flashbulbs glorified the scene

Not a man who had a finger, not a man who could be seen

Nothing called (not name nor number) - Echo stormed its final scream

Daybreak washed with sands of gladness, rotting all it rotted clean

Windows peeped out on their neighbors, inside fireside bedsides gleam

SHALIMAR, the trumpets chorused, angels wholly all shall take

Those alive will meet the prophets, those at peace shall see their wake

Videos

14 Whaling Stories - Procol Harum With The Danish National Concert Orchestra & Choir - YouTube

B4 Your Own Choice

Enlaces

Your Own Choice

Procol Harum:-'Your Own Choice'´

Procol Harum- Your own choice

Letras

There's too many women and not enough wine

Too many poets and not enough rhyme

Too many glasses and not enough time

Draw your own conclusions

My old dog's a good old dog

My old man's a silly old sod

The human face is a terrible place

Choose your own examples

Went to the river, but I could not swim

Knew I'd drown if I went in

Lost my faith in a terrible race

Rest-in-peace hereafter

Créditos

Chris Copping – órgano, bajo

B.J. Wilson – batería

Robin Trower – guitarra, teclados

Gary Brooker – piano y voz

Keith Reid – textos