Echoes In The Night (studio album) by Gary Brooker

From Crumpet 04/09/2018 17:10

Echoes in the Night is a the closest thing you’re likely to get to a Procol Harum album that doesn’t have their name on it. This album features several common members with the band, including lyricist Keith Reed who has written several tracks and organist Matthew Fisher who composes some of the albums songs. While ‘No More Fear of Flying’ is Brooker’s most popular solo album, this one stands up to it and is every bit as good as it.

While the album has less great tracks than the aforementioned record, it has one amazing song that lifts it up to the same level, that track is the experimental, lyrically perfect ‘Ghost Train’, which has become a new favourite since I first heard it. Other than that, the best tracks are ‘The Long Goodbye’, ‘Mr. Blue Day’ and the title track. The weakest track is ‘Hear What Your Saying’ which is a less fun, less wacky version of the incredibly fun and brilliantly wacky track ‘Get Up and Dance’ from No More Fear of Flying.

Overall, the album is, like all of Brooker’s solo efforts, more poppy than I would like and isn’t as good as any of the great Procol Harum albums, but it is a fun record, and even if you don’t buy it I urge you to listen to the fantastic ‘Ghost Train’. So get this if your a Brooker fan or a Harum fan who has exhausted their catalogue.