Artist: PROCOL HARUM
Album: LIVE (DVD)

Release date: 2002/ 2005
Media type: DVD

It's a great pleasure to have this long-dreamed-of Procol Harum release to review: and though there are one or two criticisms of the product in what follows, nobody should feel deterred from buying it. It contains band-footage – both concert and rehearsal – to die for, and the sound is absolutely excellent.

First of all, the repertoire and the performance. Procol played Copenhagen on 15 December 2001 – numerous concert reviews and pictures are here – for about 100 minutes, a roster of fine songs, classics, rarities, and a couple that some might term 'fillers'.

But to be honest such matters are dwarfed by the interest of the section named 'Uninhibited', described by Gary as 'an Easter-egg', that's to say, a stowaway relative to the main feature. This takes us into Gary's barn for an informal rehearsal and chat, featuring a handful of songs heard in the Copenhagen show, some rarely performed items, and some rather astonishing non-Procol pieces that seem just to appear out of thin air. This is magic stuff: after all, most people who buy this disc will have seen the band in concert (albeit not in such splendid close-up) but how many of us have sat in on a session in Gary's barn and seen how the band go about their preparations for a gig?

TRACKLIST “LIVE” :

Bringing Home the Bacon
Pandora's Box
Holding On
Piggy Pig Pig
Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
Homburg, Fires (Which Burnt Brightly)
Seem To Have the Blues (Most of All the Time)
Memorial Drive
Grand Hotel
Wizard Man
Beyond the Pale
A Salty Dog
A Dream in Every Home
A Christmas Camel
New Lamps For Old
As Strong as Samson
Repent Walpurgis
Conquistador
A Whiter Shade of Pale

TRACKLIST “UNINHIBITED” :

A Whiter Shade of Pale
Memorial Drive
Seem To Have the Blues (Most of All the Time)
Wizard Man
Morning Dew
Hey Joe
She Wandered Through The Garden Fence
Let’s Go Get Stoned

LINE-UP:

Gary Brooker, vocals/ piano
Mark Brzezicki, drums
Matthew Fisher, Hammond organ
Matt Pegg, bass
Geoff Whitehorn, guitar