Expanded Procol Harum reissues (2015)

I do not think Edmonton was a great recording to start with. I have never heard a great version of that album, and I have owned quite a few on vinyl and CD. But I love it anyway. I think the Salvo is fine. I think I have a Repertoire kicking around somewhere that sounds similar. I tend to focus on the studio albums and a few favorite classic shows; especially the 1971 broadcast best known as Shine on Live and the Elusive Procol Harum.

 

I think the performances of Conquistador and A Salty Dog with the Edmonton Orchestra are definitive. For me, anyway. Apart from hearing the song A Whiter Shade of Pale years earlier as an AM radio hit, that was my introduction to Procol Harum as an identifiable band.

 

Absolutely. The live album is fantastic. The drums on Conquisador perfect

I think it's a fabulous sounding record.

 

The first 4 songs on the Edmonton album are perfectly fine but what puts it over the top for me is "In Held 'Twas in I". I love the performance as done there. Then when you add the live "Luskus Delph", I'm totally in. Those last two chords still give me chills.

 

The live Luskus Delph is a bonus for the CD release; not on the original LP. It may have been on a single (45). I do enjoy the addition of the track. I would agree that the top two cuts for me are Conquistador and In Held.

My issue with the LP is that the short lived guitarist kind of phoned it in. He was bookended by Robin Trower and Mick Grabham who I really liked.

 

So, has anyone compared sonics of the 2002 Repertoire CD with the 2009 Salvo for the Live with Edmonton Symphony album?

 

Yes, the live "Luskus Delph" was the B-side of the UK "Conquistador" single.

 

Just read this and checked - the Westside box has a stereo 'A Salty Dog' on Disc Three.

 

Yes, the Westside box was a bit strange. The singles were on disc three; so were removed from their respective albums on discs one and two. But as noted it had a few nice rarities before the following spate of reissues. I always thought Westside did a very nice job and was surprised when Salvo botched the first two albums.

 

Adrian, as I understood the reissue situation, Salvo somehow lost licensing rights to the first four (1st, Shine On Brightly, A Salty Dog, and Home) - they had been on the Regal Zonophone label (a EMI imprint) in the UK, while the succeeding albums were on Chrysalis. The Salvo project retained all albums from Broken Barricades through to Something Magic, after which the band broke up, only to re-form in 1991 to produce Prodigal Stranger, and then Wells On Fire in 2003. The latter two have not been reissued at all. Meanwhile, the "First Four" were picked up by Esoteric/Antenna - an up-and-coming reissue house, who did yet another remaster and issued four very high quality double deluxe editions (triple in the case of Shine On Brightly) - well worth getting if you have the scratch. (The notorious "sped-up" Salvo issue of SOB was the one (ironically?) that received the super-deluxe treatment! And of course the speed was corrected .... ). Incidentally, the Esoteric reissues are also available as single CD releases, but the deluxe editions have a lot more interesting bonus tracks.

 

Only A Salty Dog was removed from its album of the same name, and relegated to Disc Three in mono form - the other three albums are intact in their original UK form.

 

Wells on Fire was one of the Let them Eat Vinyl great vinyl issues from2015. All except the first four as you describe above. Great double LP sets that mimic the expanded CD. Fabulous artwork and they sound great.

Wish the first four would be issued on vinyl like these

 

I'd like to see a better reissue campaign than the Salvo reissues, post Home.

I'm sure there's a fair few Procol live recordings available that are not from the 1990s reformation onwards. Why there's not a comprehensive archive of 60s and 70s era Procol live is, forgive the title, beyond the pale.

 

I have the four CD deluxe Esoteric titles you mentioned. What do you recommend for the next batch, the Salvos? Do these have bonus tracts too? And are they still in print?

 

I just re-read the liner notes on the Repertoire CD and it lists mastering by EROC, of krautrock fame. Don't know who did the Salvo. Anyone else know?

 

Mazz- I love this shot and not necessarily for the Procol Harum album cover but simply as a great picture of a serious music collector in his library. Would love to see what the rest of the room looks like!

 

I've poste several images of my record room on other threads. Here's one from Revolver's 5oth Anniversary....

 

In case anyone is interested in The OOP Salvo box it $20.36 Canadian pesos

All This And More (W/Dvd) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B002LWJXNU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hwHUxb2KVE62P

 

Spectacular. Thank you for sharing.

 

long thread here but quick question.....

what are the definitive digital editions now that several versions are out now. I am interested in the first through Broken Barricades mainly if that helps

 

I would say the Esoteric sets for the first 4 and the Salvo for Broken Barricades. (As I recall, the Salvos for Home and A Salty Dog are similar to the Esoterics.)

 

A few comments. One, it could be misinterpreted from a post above that the Esoteric version of Shine on Brightly is sped up. On the contrary, it is just fine. Only the Salvo had a problem. Not all agree, but I think a few cuts on the first album were sped up on the Salvo version. Those are also just fine on the Esoteric. The Westside versions were fine also.

With regard to the Westside box, there is a fair argument that the first album did not have AWSOP in the UK and therefore moving that cut to the third disc did not change the disc order. In the US, the first album did have AWSOP so it seems like a change was made to a US listener.

I once owned the Salvo box. The DVD in it had nothing rare, just pieces of other DVD releases. There were one or two live rarities. Overall I found it a disappointing set as it was not particularly comprehensive or, for me at least, satisfying. The Salvo two CD hits collection was better. Inexplicably, the cuts on that disc were not subject to speed errors even though many of those same cuts were botched on the subsequent single disc releases.

I actually like the Salvo mixes a bit more than the Repertoire for Broken Barricades etc. But they do have EQ as far as I can tell, its just that I agree with the EQ choices that were made. Not compression to my ear, just EQ. I have received critical comments on my view that the mix of Broken Barricades on Salvo is preferred to the Mobile Fidelity version. Again, it is an EQ choice. Now that I think about when I had taken the time to make a comparison I must have liked the Salvo versions over the Repertoire as they are the ones on my primary listening shelf.

To make matters even more obscure, there are also Friday music versions of Grand Hotel and Exotic Birds that can be entered into the comparison mix. I thought those were pretty good also; though not all that different than the Salvo mixes. However, there were a few extra cuts on those that varied (I seem to recall alt versions of Blue Danube -- not the live version but a studio version). Always did like the alt version of As Strong As Samson; sort of a country guitar feeling.

 

There's an alternative Strong As Samson? Interesting.

 

The alternate "Samson" is a different mix in the key of Db.

The only CD version of "Broken Barricades" that I have is the one that Gary Brooker did a limited pressing on in 2001 on Gazza Records. I have no idea what source was used but it was done before any of the reissues on CD were eventually available in the marketplace. I seem to remember that Gary was frustrated that the album had not been available on CD for so long that he did this pressing himself. There were some negative comments about the sound on this board but it's not one of my favorite PH albums and I haven't played it in a long time. It's probably good enough for me.

 

Oh I had the Gazza version of broken barricades. I forgot about that. Bought along with John licorice death if I recall. I liked the MFSL and salvo better.