Stockholm 1971 Pre-FM Master (Siréne-103)
Folkets Hus, Stockholm, Sweden – October 16th, 1971
Shine On Brightly, In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence, Still There’ll Be More, All This And More, Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone), Quite Rightly So, Power Failure, Pilgrim’s Progress, Simple Sister, A Salty Dog, Repent Walpurgis, In The Autumn Of My Madness, Look To Your Soul, Grande Finale
Stockholm 1971 Pre-FM Master is Siréne’s only Procol Harum release to date and it is an interesting release. A fifty-five minute tape of this broadcast has been circulating for years, but this new source contains twenty more minutes of the show including “Shine On Brightly”, “In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence”, “Repent Walpurgis”, “Look To Your Soul” and “Grand Finale”, all of which have been absent. Along with all the songs being present, they are also placed now in the proper sequence.
This is, according to Siréne, the pre-broadcast master, the actual tape produced that night. It is in excellent stereo sound quality with no trace of radio broadcast effects that mar other recordings that come from the radio.
Also, the Folkets Hus is a small venue and the audience are very quiet and respectful throughout the entire performance so the bottom line is this is a pristine and very enjoyable recording.
This show occurs on their Scandinavian tour during October 1971 in support of their fifth LP Broken Barricades. The two dates following Stockholm were in Göteborg on October 17th and Oslo, Norway on October 18th.
Only two songs, “Power Failure” (with drum solo) and “Simple Sister”, are performed from the new album with the rest of the set list coming from their previous three.
David Ball was the new guitarist who replaced the recently departed Robin Trower and provides capable lines over the swirling organ and lyrical drums. The tape cuts right in with “Shine On Brightly”. “Pedal or skin…we’ll do a folk song” Gary Brooker says before “Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)”.
He also calls for the wave sound effects saying, “give me some waves” before “A Salty Dog”. But the highlight is “Repent Walpurgis”, captured brilliantly on this recording. Stockholm comes packaged with the thick glossy paper inserts and it is great to see Siréne giving the band such a high-class production.
