Procol Harum - 1971-04-12 - A&R Studios, New York, NY (Gary Brooker - R.I.P.:1945-2022)

Procol Harum

April 12, 1971
A&R Studios, New York for WPLJ-FM (NYC) radio broadcast.
aka "The Elusive Procol Harum" and "Shine on Live"
Pre-FM Soundboard Recording, Very Good Quality
Available in both Lossless (FLAC) and Mp3 (320 kbps) versions

Well, here we are, another week, another legendary rock musician has passed away. A couple weeks ago it was British multi-instrumentalist (keyboards, sax, flute, clarinet, vibraphone, etc) and founding member of King Crimson and Foreigner, Ian MacDonald, who died of colon cancer (Feb.9, 2022) at the age of 75. And most recently, the sad news that legendary vocalist-pianist-composer Gary Brooker of Procol Harum has died of cancer at his home (Feb. 19, 2022) at the age of 76. Gary was one of the great rock vocalists, with his clear and powerful voice that came through on every song, and Procol Harum was one of the pioneers of progressive rock, combining classical influences with blues, rock, and powerful storytelling. Procol Harum was, of course, most famous for the classic 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', but the band produced many memorable songs and albums over the years, and Gary Brooker was the driving force, with his stirring lead vocals and piano, writing most of the songs, and Gary was the only constant member throughout the band's more than 50-year history. Gary formed his first band in the early '60's at age 17, with his guitarist friend Robin Trower, called The Paramounts. But by 1966, the band broke up, and Gary planned to concentrate on songwriting. Shortly thereafter, Gary met Keith Reid, a talented lyricist, and they began to write songs together. After completing numerous songs, they decided to form a band to play them, thus forming Procol Harum in 1967, with Brooker, Reid, organist Matthew Fisher, guitarist Ray Royer, and bassist David Knights. Their first single was 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', which went on to become one of the most legendary and iconic rock songs of all time, as well as a defining moment of 1967 and the 'Summer of Love'. And this before even making their first album. That first album, Procol Harum (1967) followed soon after, but featured some personnel changes, with former Paramounts players Robin Trower, and drummer BJ Wilson now joining the band. Their next two albums, Shine On Brightly (1968) and A Salty Dog (1969) featured the same lineup, and although did not match the commercial success of 'Whiter Shade', solidified their reputation, acclaim, and cult appeal as  progressive rockers. By their fourth album, Home (1970), Fisher had left and was replaced by former Paramounts organist CJ Copping, thus completing the full conversion of The Paramounts into Procol Harum. However, the clash in styles between guitarist Robin Trower and Brooker became too much, and Trower left after their next album, Broken Barricades (1971) to pursue his own solo career. Later that year, the band teamed up with a symphony orchestra for a concert that became Procol Harum Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (1972) released to much acclaim, and a big hit with the new orchestral version of 'Conquistador'.  More about the rest of the band's history in a subsequent post. Today I have a radio show from 1971, which was one of the last for the band with guitarist Robin Trower. It is a Pre-FM recording of a show recorded for broadcast on WPLJ-FM New York. It is of very high quality and features many of their earlier songs. However, it did not feature either 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' or 'Conquistador', so I have added a couple bonus tracks from a later 1972 show (audience recording).  A fine showing of early Procol Harum and Gary Brooker. 

   
Tracklist:
1. Memorial Drive
2. Still There'll be more
3. Nothing that I didn't know
4. Simple Sister
5. Luskus Delph
6. Shine On Brightly
7. Whaling Stories
8. Broken Barricades
9. Juicy John Pink
10. A Salty Dog
11. Whisky Train
12. Power Failure
Bonus Tracks (1972-04-20 - Chicago):
13. Conquistador
14. A Whiter Shade of Pale

Robin Trower: guitar, bass
Gary Brooker: vocals, piano
Chris Copping: Hammond organ, bass
BJ Wilson: drums    


 mp3 - Procol Harum_1971-04-12_New York_mp3.rar

FLAC - Procol Harum_1971-04-12_New York_FLAC.rar

 

 

“Gary’s voice and piano were the single defining constant of Procol’s fifty-year international concert career. Without any stage antics or other gimmicks he was invariably the most watchable musician in the show.” Part of a statement from Procol Harum band after death of Gary Brooker.

Michael Nesmith & The First National Band Redux - 2019-10-06 - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA

Michael Nesmith & The First National Band Redux

2019-10-06
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
Webcast recording, good quality
Mp3 @ 224kbps

Here's one more look at the career of singer-songwriter-actor-producer-entrepreneur Michael Nesmith, this time in recent years near the end of his life. But first, to catch up on where we last left off: In the 1990's, the video branch of Michael's multimedia company Pacific Arts was a major player in the production and distribution of home video titles, including the entire PBS library of  shows on video. However, disputes between PBS and Pacific Arts regarding royalties and licensing fees soon emerged that escalated into major lawsuits and countersuits in the mid-1990's charging breach of contract, fraud, and misrepresentation. As the legal process took years to resolve, in the meantime, Pacific Arts was forced to cease its video operations. The case was finally decided in a jury trial in 1999, and in the end Nesmith and Pacific Arts won and was awarded a judgement of $48 million dollars, although rather than appealing the decision, PBS later settled with Pacific Arts for an undisclosed amount. When asked about the ordeal and winning his case against PBS, Nesmith responded with his famous line  "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief." Pacific Arts did continue as a company, but never went back into the home video business, but turned to the internet with its subsequent ventures Videoranch and the virtual world Videoranch 3D, which has hosted numerous concerts and live events. In 1998, Nesmith published his first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora and another novel in 2009, The America Gene. Musically, Nesmith continued to produce albums for other artists and released his own album, Rays, in 2006. His last album was The Ocean (2015), the concluding chapter in the the trilogy started with The Prison (1974), consisting of a story with musical accompaniment. Michael was also active with several reunions and tours with The Monkees over the years, including contributing to the Monkees 11th studio album Justus (1996) and various tours and appearances, including some appearances in the 1997 tour and the television special Hey Hey, It's The Monkees (which Nesmith wrote and directed), but then Nesmith left the tour unexpectedly. Michael did not rejoin with the other Monkees until after Davy Jones death, for a reunion tour in 2012. he also joined  The Monkees for a new album, Good Times! in 2016, in celebration of their 50th Anniversary. He also joined Micky Dolenz for a brief tour in 2018, cut short by Michael's health issues resulting in bypass surgery. In 2018, he also re-formed his old First National Band (now featuring his sons Christian and Jonathan) and toured briefly performing songs from those early albums. Those shows continued in 2019, both some with Micky and some with The First National Band. Plans for additional performances in 2020 were scrapped due to Covid, but his 'Mike and Micky' show tour was re-scheduled for fall 2021, and now billed as The Monkees Farewell Tour, marking their final appearances as The Monkees. The last of those shows was November 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. Michael Nesmith died of heart failure on December 10, 2021, less than a month after the final date of the 2021 tour. For this last remembrance, I have a show from October 2019 at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, with Michael and his reconstituted First National Band (with his grown sons), but now with Michael at 76 years old. Pete Finney replaced legendary pedal steel player Red Rhodes in the band. Thus the show features songs from those early First National Band albums in a fitting finale to Michael's career. Incidentally, Michael's son Christian Nesmith is a fine musician himself, and most recently, made a fantastic album in the progressive rock vein with his partner, Circe Link, called Cosmologica (2021), which serves as both a tribute to classic progressive rock, as well as a wonderful album of new music itself (worth checking out!). So, the tradition of musical creativity continues. Anyway, here's to Michael Nesmith, a unique and wonderful musical force.   

  
Tracklist:
01. intro/Nevada Fighter 5:46
02. Calico Girlfriend 3:25
03. Nine Times Blue/Little Red Rider 4:34
04. The Crippled Lion 3:27
05. Joanne 4:28
06. Dedicated Friend 2:47
07. Grand Ennui 7:15
08. Papa Gene’s Blues/Different Drum/Some of Shelly’s Blues 8:34
09. Silver Moon/Rio 11:28
10. Thanks for the Ride 4:45
57 mins

MN & First National Band Redux:
Michael Nesmith -- Guitar and vocals
Christian Nesmith -- Guitar
Jonathan Nesmith -- Guitar
Pete Finney -- Pedal Steel Guitar
Jim Cox -- Piano
Christopher Allis -- Drums
Jason Chesney -- Bass
Circe Link -- Backing Vocals
Amy Spear -- Backing Vocals

Michael Nesmith_2019-10-06_HSBF_San FranciscoCA.rar

 

Micahel Nesmith - 1992-09-16 - Austin City Limits (TV Broadcast), Austin, TX

Michael Nesmith

1992-09-16 (Recording date, broadcast date in early 1993)
Austin City Limits TV Show, Austin, TX
Broadcast recording, very good quality
Mp3@192-320 kbps

Moving forward with more from Michael Nesmith. Heading into the late '70's, Nesmith continued to develop his Pacific Arts Multimedia Co., exploring the potential for music and comedy videos as an entertainment package for home sales. He released two more albums on his label, From a Radio Engine to a Photon Wing (1977) and Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma (1979), also producing whimsical music videos for several of the songs. Around this time he was developing Pacific Arts into a leader in home video production and distribution, and he also developed Pop Clips, a music video TV show, which was sold to later become the basis for MTV. In 1981, Nesmith wrote, produced, starred in, and released Elephant Parts, a long-form video consisting of music and comedy skits for home video sales, which won the very first Grammy for music videos. During the '80's, Michael moved away from making records, and having already become the leading distributor of non-theatrical home videos, Pacific Arts turned to movie production as well, with Michael producing (and usually making a small appearance) in the cult films Time Rider (1982), Repo Man (1984), and Tapeheads (1988). Spurred by a popular resurgence in interest in The Monkees due to rebroadcasts of the TV show on MTV and Nickelodeon, a 20th Anniversary Reunion of The Monkees was announced in 1986, and although Michael was more amenable to a reunion by this time, he was unable to participate (due to conflicting prior commitments), but  did appear in a special Christmas Monkees video for MTV that same year, and also joined the other Monkees in 1989 for a reunion concert, as well as their Hollywood Walk of Fame dedication ceremony that year. In 1992, Nesmith returned to his his solo music career, releasing his first album of new music since 1979, Tropical Campfires (1992). To promote the album he played a series of US shows, culminating in an appearance on Austin City Limits. The album was hailed by AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald as 'one of the finest and most underrated albums of the 1990's'.  Here today, I have the performances from Michael's Austin City Limits show. Unfortunately, Michael was only given a half-hour on the show, so I have supplemented the 5 ACL songs with some additional songs played at his 1992 shows, which feature mostly the new songs from Tropical Campfires, with just a couple of older songs, to fill out the set to a full album length.These shows also feature the last performances of ace pedal steel guitarist Orville 'Red' Rhodes, who became ill shortly after these appearances, and later died in 1995. Once again, a fine show featuring these later Nesmith songs.

Tracklist:
1. Joanne
2. Laugh Kills Lonesome
3. Yellow Butterfly
4. Twilight On The Trail
5. Rio
Bonus Tracks (From a different 1992 US Live show):
6. Moon Over The Rio Grande
7. Juliana
8. I Am Not That
9. Rising In Love
10. Different Drum

Band:
Michael Nesmith - vocals, guitar
Red Rhodes - pedal steel guitar
John Jorgenson - guitar
Joe Chemay - bass
John Hobbs - keyboards
Luis Conte - percussion

Michael Nesmith_1992-9-16_Austin City Limits.rar