– Procol Harum in Concert – John Peel presents – June 21, 1970 – BBC Radio 1 –
Procol Harum, in concert for John Peel and recorded on June 21, 1970. Around this time, the band released their fourth album, Home a few days earlier and were undergoing some personnel changes in the process. Keyboard player Matthew Fisher left the band along with bassist David Knights. Former Paramounts bassist/keyboard player Chris Copping joined and the band took a decided turn in the direction of a more blues-based sound, which was the sound of The Paramounts, the band which eventually became Procol Harum – and now with the addition of Copping – it was, ostensibly The Paramounts.
Direction change or not, Procol Harum were still an extremely popular band, probably more so in the U.S. than in the UK – but not as popular as they were in the rest of Europe, where Home was in the top 10 in Denmark. The more bluesy-approach was relatively short-lived as they returned to the more Art-Rock based approach with Broken Barricades the following year.
Still, a band which proved influential to a number of musicians and became one of the catalysts in the Prog-Rock movement in the early 1970s.
If you’re not familiar with the music of Procol Harum, this is from their mid-point – and you might want to investigate their earlier material to get a better idea of why they were so influential. But this is still an enjoyable concert from a band whose work has always been interesting and engaging.
Play loud . . .but the original sound is bit funky towards the end and you might not want to test your speakers with this.
Past Daily is trudging along and we’re always looking for your help. We don’t run ads so we need contributors to keep us up and running. Costs even more now than it did this time last year. But we’re still offering you the best of what’s in the archive – yes, this is all from our Collection (except the sessions and concerts – gotta give credit where credit is due – BBC 6 Music and Radio X in London and RNE In Madrid are essential sources of finding new music) but everything is the result of yours truly digging into boxes, climbing over shelves, falling into dumpsters. It’s history, it’s important and it’s yours if you want it. All you have to do, if you’re up for it, is subscribe via Patreon (that little box at the bottom of this post) – click on it and you’ll be taken to their site where you can subscribe to Past Daily, let them know how much you want to donate – or check us out for free, test drive our site as it were and decide to become part of the Past Daily experience. Simple, painless and we’ll love you for it. Do it if you can and you’ll be able to download your own copy of all our posts and new ones as they appear. Kind of cool, don’t you think? But you have to become a Patron in order to do it. Think about it – no pressure – honest – really . . no pressure. But there’s this landlord . . . .
