A Salty Dog video: Procol Harum Week

October 6th, 2009

‘A Salty Dog’ is widely regarded as one of Procol Harum’s finest songs, and you wouldn’t get any arguments from Head Full of Snow on that count.

Taken from the 1969 album of the same name, it marked vocalist and songwriter Gary Brooker’s first attempt at an orchestral score, and the lavish result places ‘A Salty Dog’ in the bracket of all-time great progressive rock compositions. It can also be regarded as quite a feat, considering Brooker had no classical training whatsoever.

The briny, maritime masterpiece, featuring nautical lyrics from the Procol Harum writer in residence, Keith Reid, failed to capture the mood of the public when released as a single in May 1969. Still dismissed as the one-hit wonders behind ‘AWSoP‘, ‘A Salty Dog’ climbed to an underwhelming No. 44 on the UK singles charts.

Since then it has gone on to enjoy deserved appreciation amongst critics and fans alike.

‘A Salty Dog’ appears on the album of the same name reissued by Salvo and Fly Records band available from Amazon.co.uk

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