Gary Brooker

After 10 albums with Procol Harum, lead singer, composer, and keyboard player Gary Brooker launched his solo career with this album. Of course, there were Brooker's familiar characteristics – the steady piano work, the butterscotch soul voice…

Echoes in the Night was the album for all those fans who had been waiting eight years for a Procol Harum reunion. In addition to Gary Brooker's singing and keyboard work, it featured Procol organist Matthew Fisher, lyricist Keith Reid, and drummer B.J. Wilson…

After 10 albums with Procol Harum, lead singer, composer, and keyboard player Gary Brooker launched his solo career with this album. Of course, there were Brooker's familiar characteristics – the steady piano work, the butterscotch soul voice. But he switched lyric partners for this set (except for the title track), trading longtime Procol wordsmith Keith Reid for Pete Sinfield, who had performed the same function for Procol contemporaries King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Brooker also tried a couple of tunes by Stiff Records pub-rocker Mickey Jupp (Jupp's versions are better) and Murray Head's "Say It Ain't So, Joe" (Roger Daltrey's version is better). The result was a varied set that succeeded in sounding like something other than Procol Harum's 11th album, although it did not demonstrate that Gary Brooker solo was going to be an improvement over the group.

Gary Brooker wrote music and lyrics for all the songs on his second album and acted as his own producer, resulting in perhaps his most personal statement as an artist. Unlike No More Fear Of Flying, on which he sometimes just seemed to be the singer on his own record, here Brooker delivered his songs with feeling, enabling him to overcome the star power of his backup musicians, who included Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Phil Collins. This was partly because Brooker no longer felt the need to separate himself from The Procol Harum sound that was so much a part of his natural musical identity. Brooker's lyrics weren't as philosophical as longtime writing partner Keith Reid's, but they could be just as intriguingly oblique.

Esoteric Recordings are proud to present the re- mastered CD edition of the album "Lead Me To The Water", the second solo album by Procol Harum's keyboard player and songwriter Gary Brooker. Recorded after Brooker had spent two years as a member of Eric Clapton's band, the record was a fine effort which featured a host of Brooker's friends as guests including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Phil Collins, Albert Lee et al. The album featured such magnificent material as "Mineral Man", "Sympathy For The Hard Of Hearing" and "The Cycle". This Esoteric Recordings reissue is remastered and includes a bonus track of the B-side of a single taken from the album.

Esoteric Recordings are proud to present the re- mastered CD edition of the album "Lead Me To The Water", the second solo album by Procol Harum's keyboard player and songwriter Gary Brooker. Recorded after Brooker had spent two years as a member of Eric Clapton's band, the record was a fine effort which featured a host of Brooker's friends as guests including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Phil Collins, Albert Lee et al. The album featured such magnificent material as "Mineral Man", "Sympathy For The Hard Of Hearing" and "The Cycle". This Esoteric Recordings reissue is remastered and includes a bonus track of the B-side of a single taken from the album.

Gary Brooker wrote music and lyrics for all the songs on his second album and acted as his own producer, resulting in perhaps his most personal statement as an artist. Unlike No More Fear Of Flying, on which he sometimes just seemed to be the singer on his own record, here Brooker delivered his songs with feeling, enabling him to overcome the star power of his backup musicians, who included Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Phil Collins…

Echoes In The Night was the album for all those fans who had been waiting eight years for a Procol Harum reunion. In addition to Gary Brooker's singing and keyboard work, it featured Procol organist Matthew Fisher, lyricist Keith Reid, and drummer B.J. Wilson…

Despite the departure of organist Matthew Fisher, Procol Harum survived, and this album is ample proof. Fisher was one of the prime architects of the Harum sound, and his work on such classics as "Shine on Brightly" and, of course, "Whiter Shade of Pale" underline that. Procol continued as a four-piece, and it was indeed a good thing that they decided not to replace Fisher…

The fourth album by Procol Harum was released as the band was in the midst of a significant shift. With the departure of organist Matthew Fisher, guitarist Robin Trower stepped more to the fore. The two-keyboard approach was still being utilized, with singer Gary Brooker's piano being joined on some selections by the organ playing of multi-instrumentalist Chris Copping. However, the stately grandeur that had been previously applied with grace and subtlety gave way to a band that rocked much harder…