A Salty Dog
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A Salty Dog is the third studio album by English progressive rock band Procol Harum, released in 1969 by record labels Regal Zonophone and A&M.
Content
A Salty Dog has an ostensibly nautical theme, as indicated by its cover (a pastiche of the famous Player's Navy Cut cigarette pack). Interspersed with straight rock, blues and pop items, A Salty Dog showed a slight change of direction from its predecessors, being thematically less obscure. The title track itself was the first Procol track to use an orchestra, as would be referred to in the live album performance released some three years later.
The album was the first record produced by Matthew Fisher, who quit the band soon after its release. This was also the last Procol Harum album to feature bass guitarist Dave Knights.
Background and recording
A Salty Dog was recorded in March 1969. The musical tensions between the group and Robin Trower were beginning to show in this album, and although his guitar sound remains integral to most of the tracks, "Crucifiction Lane" (featuring a rare Trower vocal), in retrospect, shows that Trower was already moving in a different direction from the rest of the band. Still, this album is much more musically varied than the two previous albums, with three Fisher vocals and one by Trower.
Reportedly, when Gary Brooker first played "A Salty Dog" at the piano for B.J. Wilson, a sunbeam illumined Wilson's face and he told Brooker he thought it was the most beautiful song he had ever heard.
Personnel
- Gary Brooker – lead vocals Template:Small, piano, celeste, three-stringed guitar, bells, harmonica, recorder, wood, orchestral arrangements Template:Small
- Robin Trower – lead and acoustic guitars, lead vocals Template:Small, sleigh tambourine
- Matthew Fisher – organ, lead vocals Template:Small, marimba, rhythm and acoustic guitars, piano, recorder, orchestral arrangements Template:Small, production
- Dave Knights – bass
- B. J. Wilson – drums, conga drums, tabla
- John "Kellogs" Kalinowski – bosun's whistle, refreshments
- Keith Reid – lyrics
- Technical
- Ken Scott – engineering (1–5, 8–10)
- Ian Stewart – engineering (6)
- Henry Lewy – engineering (7)
- Dickinson – front cover art
