Procol Harum / Osaka 1972 TV Broadcast / 1DVDR

Procol Harum / Osaka 1972 TV Broadcast / 1DVDR / Uxbridge

Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan 7th May 1972

Click Image To Enlarge

The legendary first visit to Japan was realized in 1972. A shocking video that allows you to witness the scene in color is now available.
What is recorded in this work is “May 7, 1972: Festival Hall Performance”. This is the multi-camera pro shot. Speaking of 1972, it was an era that could be called the dawn of Western music, with PINK FLOYD and CHICAGO returning to Japan, DEEP PURPLE, and EL&P coming to Japan for the first time. They also landed in Japan in the form of a coupling with TEN YEARS AFTER (one month after PINK FLOYD returned to Japan and one month before CHICAGO). First, let’s look back at that monumental date.

・May 4th: Nippon Budokan ←※WHITER WEEK OF PALE
・May 6th: Osaka Welfare Pension Hall
・May 7th: Festival Hall ←★This work★

The above three performances. At our store, the audience recording “WHITER WEEK OF PALE: JAPAN TOUR 1972 (Uxbridge 099)” is the standard, but the main one is Nippon Budokan on the first day (some recordings in Osaka are also included). On the other hand, Osaka was held for two days, and the festival hall performance of this work was also the final day.
This show will be recorded on TV and will be broadcast in a time frame of approximately 45 minutes. It has been prized as a monumental image of the history of Japanese Western music. However, most of the masters that have been loved so far are black and white (even those uploaded to a certain major video site are black and white). On the other hand, this work is the ultimate master of color. The quality is shocking. Of course, since it was broadcast on TV more than half a century ago, it cannot be said that it is “official quality”, but the freshness of the master is strange. The screen is free from the roughness caused by dubbing, has beautiful colors, and has sharp edges. The names of each member and the Japanese captions for the lyrics are not distorted at all, and each letter is clearly displayed.
And color development. Although I cannot say that there is no fading, there is almost no color transfer or bleeding, and you can clearly see the texture of your skin. Recently, color versions of monochrome images colored by AI have become popular, but this work is on a completely different level from such pseudo-images. Even more amazing is the audio. Although there is a slight dust noise, it is just “not completely absent”. There is no twisting or distortion, and the basic quality can be called “excavation official grade.” Both the performance and the singing voice can be enjoyed with the full flavor of the sound board.
What is depicted with such visual beauty is truly a legendary scene. Although it was essentially the opening act for TEN YEARS AFTER, the broadcast time was about 45 minutes, so it wasn’t a full set, but the MC was omitted as much as possible, and the essence of the famous songs was concentrated. Let’s check out the contents here.

●Moonlight
・In The Autumn Of My Madness／Look to Your Soul／Grand Finale
●Others
・Blue Shadow：Conquistador／A Whiter Shade Of Pale
・Others: Whaling Stories／Bringing Home The Bacon／Power Failure／A Salty Dog

Still, it’s amazing. It’s an amazing video. Although the monochrome version was also valuable, I never expected to be able to enjoy the legendary first visit to Japan in color (yes, the visual beauty of this work is not “watchable” but “enjoyable”). Even though there were no home VCRs at that time (the first consumer Betamax was released in 1975 and VHS in 1976), so many masters still existed… It makes me want to give thanks to the goddess of records. This is a piece of cultural heritage that you should face with all your heart and soul. Please come by.

★Multi-camera professional shot of the legendary first visit to Japan “May 7, 1972: Festival Hall performance”. Previously, most of the works were monochrome, but this work is the ultimate master of color. The screen is free from the roughness caused by dubbing, has beautiful colors, and has sharp edges. The Japanese captions such as the lyrics translation are also beautiful down to the last character. There is no color transfer or bleeding, and even the texture of the skin can be clearly seen. It is completely different from pseudo-color images colored by AI. It is truly a piece of cultural heritage.

1972年に実現した、伝説の初来日。その姿をカラー目撃できる衝撃映像が登場です。
そんな本作に記録されているのは「1972年５月７日：フェスティバルホール公演」。そのマルチカメラ・プロショットです。1972年と言えば、PINK FLOYDやCHICAGOの再来日、DEEP PURPLE、EL&Pの初来日などが立て続けに実現した洋楽の夜明けとも言える時代。彼らもTEN YEARS AFTERとのカップリングというカタチで日本上陸を果たしました（時期的にはPINK FLOYD再来日の１ヶ月後、CHICAGOの１ヶ月前といったところです）。まずは、その記念碑的な日程から振り返っておきましょう。

・５月４日：日本武道館　←※WHITER WEEK OF PALE
・５月６日：大阪厚生年金会館
・５月７日：フェスティバルホール　←★本作★

以上の３公演。当店ではオーディエンス録音『WHITER WEEK OF PALE: JAPAN TOUR 1972（Uxbridge 099）』が定番と鳴っておりますが、どちらのメインは初日の日本武道館（大阪録音も一部収録）。それに対して大阪は２日間開催され、本作のフェスティバルホール公演は最終日でもありました。
このショウはTV収録が入り、約45分の枠で放送も実現。日本洋楽史の記念碑的な映像として珍重されてきました。ただし、これまで愛されてきたマスターは、ほとんどがモノクロ（某大手動画サイトにアップされているのも白黒です）。それに対して本作はカラーの極上マスターなのです。そのクオリティは衝撃的。もちろん半世紀以上前のTV放送ですから「オフィシャル級うんぬん」という話にはならないのですが、そのマスター鮮度は異様。ダビングによるゴワゴワ感もない画面は発色も美しければ、エッジもシャープ。メンバー１人ひとりの名前や歌詞対訳の日本語テロップもまったく潰れず１文字１文字まで綺麗に表示される。
そして、発色。退色ゼロとは申しませんが、色移りや滲みもほとんどなく、肌の質感に至るまで鮮明に分かる。昨今、モノクロ映像をAIに着色させたカラー版が流行していますが、本作はそうした疑似物とはまったく次元が違います。さらに驚異的なのが音声。僅かなチリノイズもなくはないものの、それは「皆無ではない」というだけ。ヨレや歪みも起こさず、基本クオリティは「発掘オフィシャル級」とでも呼べる感じ。演奏も歌声もサウンドボードの旨みたっぷりに味わえるのです。
そんな映像美で描かれるのは、まさに伝説の光景。実質的にTEN YEARS AFTERの前座だったとは言え、約45分の放送枠でフルセットとは行きませんが、MCなどは極力省かれ、名曲群のエッセンスを濃縮。ここでその内容もチェックしておきましょう。

●月の光
・In The Autumn Of My Madness／Look to Your Soul／Grand Finale
●その他
・青い影：Conquistador／A Whiter Shade Of Pale
・その他：Whaling Stories／Bringing Home The Bacon／Power Failure／A Salty Dog

それにしても凄い。凄すぎる映像です。モノクロ版でも貴重だったのに、まさか伝説の初来日をカラーで楽しめるとは（そう、本作の映像美は「観られる」ではなく「楽しめる」の次元なのです）。当時は家庭用のビデオデッキなどない時代（ベータマックスの民生一号機が発売されたのは1975年で、VHSは1976年）にも関わらず、これほどのマスターが現存していた……その事実に、記録の女神への感謝すら捧げたくなります。全身全霊で正対していただきたい文化遺産そのものの１枚。ぜひ、どうぞ。

★伝説の初来日「1972年５月７日：フェスティバルホール公演」のマルチカメラ・プロショット。従来はほとんどがモノクロでしたが、本作はカラーの極上マスター。ダビングによるゴワゴワ感もない画面は発色も美しければ、エッジもシャープ。歌詞対訳などの日本語テロップも１文字１文字まで綺麗。色移りや滲みもなく、肌の質感に至るまで鮮明に分かる。AIに着色させた疑似カラー映像とはまったく次元が違う。まさに文化遺産そのものの１枚です。

(45:25)
1. Wailing Stories
2. Bringing Home The Bacon
3. Conquistador
4. Power Failure
5. In The Autumn Of My Madness
6. I Know If I’d Been Wiser (Look Into Your Soul)
7. Grand Finale
8. A Salty Dog
9. A Whiter Shade Of Pale

PRO-SHOT COLOUR NTSC Approx.45min.

Gary Brooker – voice & piano
Chris Copping – Hammond organ
Dave Ball – guitar
Alan Cartwright – bass
Barrie J Wilson – drums