When I say they don’t make hits like this anymore, I’m not indulging in false nostalgia. It really is an otherworldly record that defies pop rules. It has two cryptic verses followed by two even more cryptic choruses and bookended by long instrumental passages which take up at least half the four-minute running time. It seems barely arranged at all, just a five-piece band playing completely live, overloaded with thick, furry, swirling organ, loose splashy drums, tinkling piano, an almost invisible guitar and Brooker’s quizzical, resigned and yet soulfully emotional vocals.
Indeed, rather than being considered the birth of classical rock this is a dose of classical soul, like Bach accompanying Percy Sledge down the dark end of the street. Nothing this weirdly assembled and almost haphazardly recorded would get through the song machine today, when such a beautiful oddity would have absolutely zero chance of getting played on the radio, or playlisted on Spotify.
Nevertheless, the song has been recorded over 1000 times by artists as varied as The Everly Brothers, James Last, Joe Cocker, Hugh Masakela, Annie Lennox and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. But nothing can touch the weird translucence of Procol Harum’s original. Brooker and Reid did write other fine songs. Conquistador is a fantastically intense rocker, Salty Dog a beguiling narrative of life at sea. They never had another major hit, but the Harum maintained a substantial cult audience throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and then got back together in the 1992 to continue touring, releasing 12 albums, all with their moments.
Brooker also made three solo albums, and worked as a pianist and vocalist with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr amongst others. He was a much-liked man, known to be devoted to his wife Franky, who he met in 1965 and married in 1968. And while he never ascended to the front ranks of rock stardom, it hardly matters. He wrote one of the greatest songs ever, and made one perfect record that will live on as long as there are discerning ears to listen.
