Customer Reviews

Lead Me to the Water

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Having worn out my cassette years ago, I was delighted finally to find Lead Me To The Water listed here. I ordered it through an amazon partner immediately upon discovery four days ago and it is already playing as I review it.
Gary Brooker has recorded much wondrous music in his long career, but this CD remains his most underrated and enigmatic effort. Despite being largely overlooked, it is by far the best of his solo work.
No Keith Reid needed here. Gary wrote the music and the lyrics. If you like Brooker's voice and style, you are going to love this CD. Among my favorites are Mineral Man, Another Way, the fabulous title cut, and Sympathy For The Hard of Hearing, so evocative of the hardships of war. But the best of all is The Angler, a bewitching tale of elemental struggle between man and fish on Oregon's Deschutes River. The CD is so good, one really has to wonder why it never got any promotion.
Brooker is ably backed on Lead Me To The Water by a number of well-known musicians including Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, George Harrison, and Tim Renwick. This is certainly one CD you should buy while its still available.

Note: September 2011, I just picked up the remastered edition of this great recording. Those considering obtaining a copy will be pleased to know that not only does it sound better than ever, there is now an excellent soulful bonus track called Badlands which is a worthy addition to the original. Also, the new edition comes with an informative booklet that contains the all-important lyrics. Get this now before it goes out of circulation again!

1982's "Lead Me To The Water" is the second solo album for Procol Harum frontman Gary Brooker, and it is also his best solo album to date. For "Lead Me To The Water," Brooker turns up the rock feel a little bit more, and he also gets help in the studio from such star players as George Harrison and Eric Clapton on guitars, and Phil Collins on drums. It's a terrific album, with great tracks such as "Mineral Man" (with great guitar licks and percussion from Harrison and Collins, respectively), "Hang On Rose," "The Cycle," the reggae-flavored title song, "Low Flying Birds," and the excellent "Sympathy For The Hard Of Hearing." It's a hard CD to locate these days, but diehard Harum/Gary Brooker fans will love it. Definitely seek out "Lead Me To The Water." (NOTE: Brooker recorded a third solo album in 1985 called "Echoes In The Night," which is also a difficult album to find on CD lately. But it's also a great disc and totally worth getting, just like all of Gary's wonderful music, whether solo or with Procol Harum).

Gary Brooker's 1982 solo album is by far his best work away from Procol Harum. Song after song, there is no filler here. Brooker wrote all of the compositions, and proves he is a valid lyricist; he steps confidently out of Keith Reid's shadow and shows he was not simply a melody maker. Great session work by the likes of Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Albert Lee, George Harrison, and Mel Collins to name a few. I'd have liked to see a track by track list of musicians, but neither the vinyl or CD release has this information. This is an incredibly hard CD to find -- I actually had to order mine from a local dealer as an import disc from Germany back in 1991. That particular disc was issued by LINE RECORDS in 1987, if anyone wants to hunt it down. If you can't find it online, search the used record/CD shops in your area. You won't be let down.

Gary Brooker's second solo album featured a who's who of British rock stars of the time including the late George Harrison, Eric Clapton (Brooker was the musical director for Clapton's touring band at the time), Phil Collins and Mel Collins backing the Procol Harum vocalist on 9 songs (10 counting the bonus track). It would have been very easy for the songs to be overwhelmed by the star power of the players but Brooker brought some of his finest songs to the table for this terrific album.

"Lead Me to the Water" features Brooker writing both music AND lyrics for an album for the first time. Although not quite as lyrically adept as his frequent Procol Harum collaborator Keith Reid, Brooker does a fine job at tackling both which results in an album that is both musically adventerous as well as lyrically more personal. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Brooker's soulful delivery is so powerful here but either way Brooker is in top form.

The remastering of this terrific reissue is quite nice plus we also get a bonus track recorded at the same sessions. The liner notes give us a peak behind the making of the album and are terrific as well.

Recommended.

Long out of print and now available on CD this Gary Brooker collection of songs one is able to enjoy again. With the addition of "Badlands as the bonus track-a "B" side single you got it all. Guests musicians-George Harrison, Albert Lee, Eric Clapton, Chris Stainton, & Phil Collins all contribute some very fine playing to Gary's singing and playing. Have a good time listening to this CD

Sort of a prelude to Prodigal Stranger, this album deals with family values (Home Loving), Helping friends in personal trouble (Hang On Rose), and other personal issues. Mineral Man is about being a tough macho man, Low Flying Birds is about issues with "easy" women. A beautiful and sensitive album. Who cares about the celebrity guest musicians? Not me.