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It might be the melancholic voice of Gary Brooker, it might be the Hammond of Matthew Fisher, it might be that romantic atmosphere that oozes from every note, but when faced with an album like "Shine On Brightly," one cannot help but agree on the importance it had for the music of the years to come.
A refined and elegant work, standing among the very first albums of progressive, then still in the womb of the groups that were giving birth to it, including Procol Harum.
The album in question was released in 1968, a year after the worldwide success of "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" and the release of the first LP. It is a mature work, rich in baroque elements and continuous references to classical music; along with the previous one, the forerunners of baroque or symphonic rock, call it what you will.
And naturally, an album worthy of being called great must be played by a great group (a bit like the Cinghiale brush advertisement...) or at least in good shape, and Procol Harum was both. Here, none of the band's components clash, on the contrary, there are features that shine and together exalt the music itself. For example, the warm and ringing voice of Gary Brooker, the Hammond organ of Matthew Fisher, the trademark of their sound, Robin Trower's blues guitar, along with a well-crafted and respectable rhythm section with Barry Wilson on drums and David Knights on bass. The group also counted a lyricist in its ranks, Keith Reid. Another important factor that makes this band's sound unique is the fact that besides an organ, there is also the constant presence of a piano, played by the singer, which often walks on the base perfectly crafted by Fisher's hands.
But let's get to the album, composed of 7 tracks including a 17-minute suite, one of the first in rock history. It starts with "Quite Rightly So", brief but intense. Extraordinary singing and a bouncing organ line that, right after listening to it, makes us want to start whistling it. The title track is also beautiful (which the group will also sing in Italian with the title "Il Tuo Diamante"), with piano and guitar creating a perfect blend. In the middle, a notable organ solo of fine quality. Along with the previous piece, two songs that paradigmatically highlight the band's style, capable of moving and full of sentimentality.
Next is "Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)", a track with different musical settings, more whimsical and hard thanks to a guitar solo leading us to the final digression. "Wish Me Well" is instead a piano piece on which Robin Trower draws continuous flashes, reminiscent of the Rolling Stones. "Rambling On" brings us back to the style that most represented the group, with a slightly melancholic piano base and the warm, smooth guitar ever-present to mark the rhythm. In the finale, a register change under the sign of carefreeness in a fervor of sounds. Another excellent piece, magnificently interpreted by Gary Brooker, the group's spearhead. "Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)", the penultimate track, is also excellent like any moment taken from the album, where in the end one can notice a sort of fanfare that revisits the previously outlined theme.
The album closes with the suite "In Held Twas In I", composed of 5 movements:
- Glimpses of Nirvana: the intro of the song takes us to paradisiacal musical shores, thanks to a heartrending piano merging with the sitar, perfectly representing the piece's sweet and peaceful atmospheres, marked by a barely hinted and whispered singing, almost like poetry.
- Twas Teatime At The Circus: a very short section, seeing a decisive change in musicality towards more carefree and circus-like themes, before being interrupted by an explosion that makes way for
- In The Autumn Of My Madness: another masterpiece of drama, with excellent Hammond parts embroidering the crescendo leading to a more "avant-garde" subsection, loaded with psychedelia, a precursor to much progressive, which imperceptibly allows us to gently enter
- Look To Your Soul: summarizing the group’s musical canon with the usual tension and epicness.
- Grand Finale: the suite ends with a fully instrumental section, accompanied towards the end only by almost ecclesiastical choirs. Even the guitar solo is precious, rising above the song and decreeing its finale. A surely fitting title for the last part of the suite.
Thus ends the album, refined, melancholic, an absolute masterpiece of the '60s, hinting at the music to be revisited in the following decade by various groups. Fundamental.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Quite Rightly So (03:44)
For you (whose eyes were opened wide
whilst mine refused to see)
I'm sore in need of saving grace.
Be kind and humour me
I'm lost amidst a sea of wheat
where people speak but seldom meet
And grief and laughter, strange but true
Although they die, they seldom cry
An ode by any other name
I know might read more sweet
Perhaps the sun will never shine
upon my field of wheat
But still in closing, let me say
for those too sick, too sick to see
though nothing shows,
yes, someone knows
I wish that one was me
02 Shine On Brightly (03:35)
My Prussian-blue electric clock's
alarm bell rings, it will not stop
and I can see no end in sight
and search in vain by candlelight
for some long road that goes nowhere
for some signpost that is not there
And even my befuddled brain
is shining brightly, quite insane
The chandelier is in full swing
as gifts for me the three kings bring
of myrrh and frankincense, I'm told,
and fat old Buddhas carved in gold
And though it seems they smile with glee
I know in truth they envy me
and watch as my befuddled brain
shines on brightly quite insane
Above all else confusion reigns
And though I ask no-one explains
My eunuch friend has been and gone
He said that I must soldier on
And though the Ferris wheel spins round
my tongue it seems has run aground
and croaks as my befuddled brain
shines on brightly, quite insane
03 Skip Softly (My Moonbeams) (03:51)
Skip softly, my moonbeams, avoid being seen
Pretend that perhaps you are part of a dream
which (seen by some other such person as me)
would only glow smiling and nod and agree
Skip softly, my moonbeams, for I have heard tell
that the stairs up to heaven lead straight down to hell
that pride is the last thing which comes before fall
I'd as soon talk to you as make love to a wall
04 Wish Me Well (03:24)
(Brooker / Reid)
You know I caught a glimpse, thought I understood
but I left it all far behind
Now if I'd known then what I know now
do you think I would've been so blind?
Gonna take myself to the wishing well
I'm gonna make myself one last wish
and if you follow me there, better bring what you've found
'cause my night has come and I'm going down
Gonna buy myself a big rocking chair
and when I'm sitting in that, then no-one will peek
And my friends will come, they'll see what I'm suffering from
How I wish, how I wish I could rock myself to sleep
Gonna take myself to the wishing well
gonna make myself one last wish
If you follow me there, better bring what you've found
'cause my night has come and I'm going down
05 Rambling On (04:33)
Our local picture house was showing a Batman movie
You see this guy fly up in the sky,
thought to myself, 'Why shouldn't I?'
So I bought a pair of wings, went up upon a wall
I was about to jump into the air
when a guy from the street called
He said, 'Hey wait a minute! Don't you realize the danger?
What do you think you are, some kind of angel?'
I considered for a minute,
realized he spoke the truth.
For the barbells on my eyelids
only emphasised my youth
and the sawdust in my plimsolls
means the same to him as me
But that's neither here nor further,
so I spoke considerately
'Now if you understand just what I'm trying to say,
whatever you do, don't grin, you'll give the game away!'
By now a crowd had gathered and it seemed that all was lost
In the anger of the moment I had diced with death and lost
It seemed to me the time was right so I burst into song
In the anger of the moment the crowd began to sing along
I could not see a way out of this predicament
Just then a breeze came through the trees
and up in the air I went
I must have flown a mile, or maybe it was eight
Thought to myself pretty soon I'd hit the Golden Gates
Just then a passing bird for no reason I could see
took a peck at my wings and that was the end of me
I went down, hit the ground faster than the speed of sound
Luckily I broke no bones only tore my underclothes
06 Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone) (02:54)
Though I know the night has fallen
and the sun's sailed out to sea
I will wait here for the band
to play the trumpet voluntary
And with one foot on the seashore
and the other in the sand
I will stand here plaiting daisies
whilst you play the piano-grand
Caprice, your bugle blew away
the cobwebs from my ears
and for once I stood quite naked.
Unashamed, I wept the tears
which I tried to hide inside myself from me,
I mean from you
but the shame I found too painful
and the pain it only grew
Magdalene, my Regal Zonophone
07 In Held 'Twas in I: Glimpses of Nirvana - 'Twas Teatime at the Circus - In the Autumn of My Madness - Look to Your Soul - Grand Finale (17:31)
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