And Gary Brooker, the Bass of David Jerry Garcia Is Fond of Quoting
few outings, the band was a fivesome star- in all these cases was a basically sterile mu- reportedly postponed an album until he ring the organ and piano of Matthew Fisher sic in which the two styles never really could turn out something a bit more upbeat. and Gary Brooker, the bass of David meshed, but merely alternated with each Practically speaking, this may have been a Knights, the guitar of Robin Trower, and other. Procol Harum never fell into this good idea;Broken Barricades,afterall, the drums of the ubiquitous B. J. Wilson trap-largely, I think, because first and fore- was about the decline of Western civiliza- (not to be confused with B. J. Thomas). most they're rock -and -rollers, and they con- tion, an awfully tough act to follow. But I This lineup set the basic pattern for their sequently adopted only those elements of think they needn't have worried. Even at his work, with the compositional chores divided classical music that are most compatible gloomiest, he seems unable to avoid flashes between Fisher, Brooker, and Trower. (It spiritually with those of rock, the harmonic of mordant wit and healthy self -mockery. is interesting to note, parenthetically, that language and the tight structure in particu- And if his vision is a dark one, itis never a good deal of the material from this early lar. With thisin mind, the quintessential trivial; if he has not been quite the Compleat period remains a part of their performing Procol Harum track would have to beRe- and Perfect Songwriter, he has rarely been repertoire.) pent, Watpurgis,a shattering instrumental anything less than a very good one: In 1969, David and Matthew departed, to from that first album in which, against a melancholy Bachian organ -and -piano back- There's too many women, and not enough be replaced by one Chris Copping, a tricky wine, lad who could play Matthew's organ lines ground, Robin Trower's guitar screams out Too many poets, and not enough rhyme, with one hand while negotiating a keyboard in the purest kind of rock-and-roll language.
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