It took them five years to get there, but PROCOL HARUM and Esoteric are wrapping up the reissue programme which saw all the band’s albums remastered and gloriously expanded. Of course, there’s still non-classic “The Well’s On Fire” to be re-released, but October 30th will see the arrival of "Something Magic": the last record the ensemble put out in the ’70s before a breakup – the one that saw them introduce, thanks to the great Pete Solley, cosmic synthesizers to complement and contrast Gary Brooker’s piano, with Keith Reid‘s poetry reaching for a new realm. And the bonus tracks on this edition are most notable.
While the first disc features, alongside album’s pieces, a single B-side and a couple of Studio runs through numbers that didn’t make the final cut, the second CD hosts concert recordings from 1977 (previously unreleased on CD but available on DVD in the “Still There’ll Be More” box set) where a few fresh songs appear. In other words, essential.
Something Magic
CD1 – The Album:
1. Something Magic
2. Skating On Thin Ice
3. Wizard Man
4. The Mark Of The Claw
5. Strangers In Space
6. The Worm & The Tree Part One:
Introduction / Menace / Occupation
7. The Worm & The Tree Part Two:
Enervation / Expectancy / Battle
8. The Worm & The Tree Part Three:
Regeneration / Epilogue
bonus tracks:
9. Backgammon (B-side)
10. You’d Better Wait (live studio recording)
11. This Old Dog (live studio recording)
CD2 – BBC Radio One “In Concert”
Golders Green Hippodrome, London – March 12th, 1977:
1. Something Magic
2. Conquistador
3. Nothing But The Truth
4. Strangers In Space
5. Grand Hotel
6. Pandora’s Box
7. Skating On Thin Ice
8. The Mark Of The Claw
9. Wizard Man
10. This Old Dog
11. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
