Six years ago, when Salvo launched their PROCOL HARUM reissue programme, it might seem exhaustive but there were omissions, which made the band’s fans keep their 1997 Repertoire editions for additional bonus material. More so, there were audio issues (some of them are addressed here) that made those who remembered the vinyl originals cringe. All of these setbacks are to be made irrelevant by the upcoming deluxe remasters from Esoteric who scheduled the group’s first two albums for June 29th, with the next two, “A Salty Dog” and “Home,” to follow later in the year to span most of PROCOL’s years with Robin Trower on guitar – or Matthew Fisher‘s one plus one.
They come expanded to include everything that was out there, on different labels, before, plus much more including previously unreleased recordings. Save for that, the deluxe editions – there’ll be regular ones, too, on a single CD each, as opposed to the clamshell box of “Shine On Brightly” – will be augmented with a facsimile of promo posters and have liner notes written by Henry Scott-Irvine, the author of "The Ghosts Of A Whiter Shade Of Pale". As for the songs per se, they run like this – as detailed by our friends from Beyond The Pale:
Procol Harum
“Procol Harum”
CD1:
1-10. Original album
bonus tracks:
11. A Whiter Shade of Pale
12. Lime Street Blues
13. Homburg
14. Good Captain Clack (single)
15. Alpha (Olympic, March 29th, 1967)
16. Salad Days (Olympic, March 29th, 1967 – unreleased)
17. Understandably Blue (Olympic, July 17th, 1967)
18. Pandoraís Box (Instrumental, Advision, 24 August 1967)
19. Cerdes (Outside The Gates Of) (alternate mono mix)
20. Something Following Me (Alternate Mono Mix)
CD2:
1. A Whiter Shade Of Pale (extended early version, Olympic, March 29th, 1967)
2. Homburg (extended stereo version, Advision, August 1967)
3. Repent Walpurgis (extended stereo version, Advision, August 1967)
4. Conquistador (1971 stereo mix)
5. She Wandered Through The Garden Fence (1971 stereo mix)
6. Something Following Me (stereo mix)
7. Mabel (undubbed stereo mix)
8. Kaleidoscope (stereo mix)
9. Cerdes (Outside The Gates Of) (stereo mix)
10. Homburg (1971 stereo mix)
“Easybeat,” June 14th, 1967 – BBC Light Programme (unreleased):
11. Morning Dew
12. A Whiter Shade of Pale
13. Mabel
“Top Gear,” September 27th, 1967 – BBC Radio One (unreleased):
14. Homburg
15. Good Captain Clack
16. She Wandered Through The Garden Fence
17. Kaleidoscope
Shine On Brightly
“Shine On Brightly”
CD1:
1-11. Stereo mix remastered
bonus tracks:
12. Il Tuo Diamante (Shine On Brightly – Italian version – mono)
13. Quite Rightly So
14. In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence
CD2:
Mono mix remastered – previously unavailable on CD:
CD3:
BBC Radio One, February 14th, 1968 (unreleased):
1. Monsieur Armand (mono)
2. Seem To Have The Blues (Most All The Time) (mono)
3. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone) (1967 version – mono)
4. Shine On Brightly (1967 version – mono)
5. In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence (stereo mix)
6. Monsieur Armand (stereo backing track)
7. A Robe Of Silk (stereo backing track)
8. McGregor
9. ‘The Gospel According To’ (Wish Me Well)
10. Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)
11. Quite Rightly So
12. Rambling On
13. Shine On Brightly
“Top Gear” – BBC Radio One Session, August 19th 1968 (unreleased):
14. Skip Softly My Moonbeams
15. Wish Me Well
16. Long Gone Geek
“Top Gear” – BBC Radio One Session, October 6th 1968 (unreleased):
17. In Held ‘Twas In I (Look To Your Soul / Finale)
