Obituary
He was the man who wrote and co-wrote songs of Procol Harum, A Whiter Shade of Pale being the most famous and long standing. He also wrote the lyrics for the songs of other artistes. He was 76.
Keith Reid RIP. He wrote the songs
by 23 Comments
Well, I’m sorry to hear it. AWSOP may be more famous, but I prefer to remember him as the man who wrote the lyrics for A Salty Dog. R.I.P.
Me too. Probably the best 12 inches of vinyl ever to bear the MFP label – the compilation strangely titled ‘A Salty Dog’ (also a regular release title) that was MFP 5277. Blew me away the first time I played it. Mellotron, plucked strings, piano, cello, birdsong, massive climactic crescendo mid-choon, it had it all, and that fabulously strange lyric, before the shivering fade. So much imagery and so many ways to wonder about what it all meant.
And then there’s Homburg.
The town clock in the market square stands waiting for the hour, when its hands they both turn backwards and, on meeting, will devour both themselves and also any fool who dares to tell the time, and the sun and moon will shatter and the signposts cease to sign.
I didn’t realise that there was a comp called A Salty Dog, I only know the regular album – but it sounds like I might have all the songs anyway.
A1 Homburg¬
A2 She Wandered Through The Garden Fence¬
A3 The Milk Of Human Kindness*
A4 The Devil Came From Kansas*
A5 A Salty Dog*
A6 Magdalene, My Regal Zonophone^
B1 Shine On Brightly^
B2 Boredom*
B3 Conquistador¬
B4 Your Own Choice+
B5 Rambling On^
B6 Pilgrim’s Progress*
* From the regular album ‘A Salty Dog’ 1969.
^ From the album ‘Shine On Brightly’ 1968.
¬ From the eponymous debut album 1968.
+ From the Regal Zonophone single A side, also on ‘Home’ album 1970.
Excellent! But yes: I have all the toons…
Just listening to AWSOP for the first time in like forever last night.
A truly extraordinary song from a year chock full of truly extraordinary songs.
RIP Mr R
RIP indeed. Time for this, I think. I love the arrangement, and I love watching the ladies of the choir having an absolute blast.
That Music For Pleasure was truly extraordinary, including many a gem of their early repertoire, most played right up to the end. Homburg is my favourite, closely followed by Salty Dog, but I have a soft spot for She Wandered Through The Garden Fence.
Homburg – superb! Conquistador was comfortably better than AWSOP, as well.
Progressive Rock’s most interesting lyricist.
Quite apart from “Shine On Brightly” and “A Salty Dog”, there’s “Home”, “Broken Barricades” and the magnificent “Live: In Concert with The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra”.
Underrated band? Probably.
For an extensive overview I recommend the 3-CD “Thirtieth Anniversary Anthology” which contains all their bangers and a lot of excellent slightly more obscure stuff.
What on earth could this song be about?
Underrated band? Definitely!
Lucky enough to see them twice – once at Manchester Poly on the Grand Hotel tour, the next time at Warwick Uni on the Exotic Birds and Fruit. Only ever had one album though, the aforementioned Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Time to get that 30th anniversary anthology Mike mentions above, methinks
A Salty Dog is a magnificent song and without doubt their high water mark. Can’t say I cared much for their other stuff (apart from AWSOP of course).
That’s unfortunate: my own view would be that AWSOP was the low point (a pretty high low point!) and, from there, they just got better and better (though not, of course, more popular) – up to and just about including, say, “Procol’s Ninth”.
And a golden mid period around Grand Hotel and Exotic Birds & Fruit. Saw them live in about ’74, when the great B J Wilson was still alive, a monumental talent on drums.
That’s interesting – so, for you, their golden period started when Robin Trower left?
Both of those albums are magnificent. The popular view in the UK focuses on the first 3 or 4 albums, all of which are equally great, but the later material is just as engaging – I recall buying Grand Hotel long years after it came out, probably on a lunchtime Fopp visit when I fancied getting something different, and on a whim plumped for an old Procol album, having dropped them from my personal musical radar over a decade before. The surprise and delight of finding that album to be hugely enjoyable was what prompted me to fill in the gaps in my collection both back to the first four, and forward into the next century. They really have been an underappreciated gem in their own country.
Robin who? (Sorry, I missed out on his contributions, never much wanting to investigate. Dunno why, just didn’t like all the Hendrix schtick taking the focus away from the songs.)
I don’t think his Hendrix thing really took hold until his solo career started. His playing on the Procol Harum albums is spot on for the songs, in my opinion anyway.
VV, I don’t believe that the popular view in the UK extends beyond AWSOP!
I completely agree with your last sentence – I would seriously struggle to choose a “best” album between the seven, from Shine on Brightly to Exotic Birds…every one is a gem, including the Edmonton album.
To be clear, I meant the popular view outside the civilian population.
Decent obituary on the BBC website.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65122226
Just been listening to “Grand Hotel”. For some reason I didn’t take to it at the time. Sounds great now.
Bringing Home The Bacon : best drum intro ever!