A SALTY DOG

At the time this single wasn't very succesful, which is nearly criminal. It's easily among the finest Procol songs - and among any rock songs with classical music orientation. Like their smash hit debut 'Whiter Shade', it's been covered probably hundreds of times ever since, and in many languages (even in Finnish I know at least two established artists in the seventies).

Probably the song is familiar to 95% of PA community so it doesn't really need an introduction. Did you know the excellent orchestration was by Gary Brooker himself? (Hopefully the 4-cd compilation "All This and More..." doesn't give false information.) The lyrics of Keith Reid are very cinematic and relatively straight-forward without his usual surrealism, about an unfortunate sea voyage. The grandious oceanic atmosphere is present right from the start. The song is in extremely slow tempo and the emotional build-up is strong. Of course it comes quite near to being pathetic, but it does keep its credibility and seriousness. One could compare it to a slow movement of a romantic era symphony.

B-side includes 'Long Gone Geek'. I don't remember was it just a b-side track, but it seems to be included on several compilations and CD editions of A Salty Dog album. Probably it was hard and bluesy because I have skipped it like many of their early songs of the rougher style.