If you will forgive the digression, I’ll leave aside current events for a moment to offer a year-and-a-half-old recording of a fifty-four-year-old song.
In December of 2021, some friends and I got together in a studio in Dobbs Ferry, NY (Riverworks Recording) to try our hand at a classic Procol Harum tune. A few weeks back I dusted off the files and slapped together a mix, and the multitalented Gary Lue (seen here on the drums) edited some cell-phone footage together for a video of the proceedings.
The personnel are several members of the mysterious musical society calling itself the Shoal Survivors (you may recall this collaborative video we got together for during the early days of the Wuhan Red Death lockdowns). The platoon that assemble for this session were: Gary Lue on drums; Bryant Urban on bass; Carl Sturken and Martin Hargrove on string synthesizers; Rob Levin on piano; Theo Griffin on cello; and Joe Abelson on guitar. (The fat, poorly dressed singer slumped in the corner looking like a stabbing victim is, I’m sad to say, yours truly at maximum COVID weight. I have since flensed off the excess poundage, however, and am once again in fighting trim.)
I’ve always loved this beautiful song — it was Gary Brooker and Procol Harum’s very best, I think — and it was a treat to have a go at it with such a fine group of musicians.
2 Comments
Nice work. Malcolm, I believe your voice would have blended well with PH. I enjoy all these Shoal Survivors tunes.
What a nice break and way to do something fun and challenging during lockdown insanity. It probably beats naked gardening (which I did the lockdown summer); growing food well is challenging too.