Procol Harum

Artist Rating: 85%

Peak Album Score: 23

Average Album Score: 22

Development Score: 5

- The majority of those points are solely for "Whisky Train". In general, the band stuck to its sound throughout. There were some successful deviations, though, mostly on Exotic Birds and Fruit.

Originality Score: 10

- Monotonous as the group's career was, it's not like anything sounded like that before they showed up - and who the hell was writing genius pop songs based on Bach pieces?

Personal Bias Score: 25

- When the band is on, they've got a real great sound going (as in, throughout the debut and on like 1/3 of every subsequent album), but it's really obvious when they aren't too interested in a song. Unfortunately, that happens a significant chunk of the time.

Procol Harum (1967) - 93%

Perhaps because their name is so dang ugly sounding, Procol Harum has been somewhat lost to time. As a result, so has Procol Harum. But what a great album this is! If I had any complaint, it'd be that the mood is a little monotonous (throughout their whole career, actually), but goodness gracious, these songs are good. You know "A Whiter Shade of Pale", the first of two Bach citations bookending the album - a classical-pop fusion of genius quality. You may know "Conquistador", the other single, a sinister guitar-organ duel track with great melodies and cool rhythmic shifts. The other songs are pretty much nobodies, though. "A Christmas Camel", which totally rips the piano riff from Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man", is the best of the lot (and puts the riff to better use, if you ask me). The lyrics are cryptic, the melodies are simple but effective, and man, that piano getting smashed gets me a-goin'. "Repent Walpurgis", speaking of smashing, is an explosive instrumental closer with multiple killer guitar solos from Robin Trower, a poignant leading organ melody in the beginning (following the awesome proto-"When the Levee Breaks" drum intro), and a lengthy quote from Bach's first prelude in C (from Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1). The interim tracks mostly rule also. Again, the sound is a little too one-sided to warrant worship, but nobody who likes 60's music, rock, or classical music should live without owning this album.

- Highlights: "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "Conquistador", "She Wandered Through the Garden Fence", "Cerdes", "A Christmas Camel", "Repent Walpurgis"

Shine on Brightly (1968) - 86%

This album is a somewhat unfortunate story - it starts out so well, and ends in a pool of 'eh'. The first two tracks equal or best everything on the debut. "Quite Rightly So" is pretty much another solid winner in the style of "Cerdes", "Something Following Me", and "A Christmas Camel", only maybe even better. The title track is... kind of hard to try and describe in a different way also, because all Procol Harum songs sound the same. But it is REALLY good, I promise! "Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)" is also pretty awesome, with an oompah beat driving throughout, until the beat drops and gives way to this big, noisy crescendo apparently based on a classical piece. "Wish Me Well" is a little too close to 'Procol Harum does the blues' for me to love it, but Trower still tears it up. "Rambling On" is a bit of a slop compared to the band's best, but the same stylistic hooks are still there... so if generic Procol Harum does it for you, you'll dig it. "Magdalene" is kind of lame. That leaves the MASSIVE closing epic - reportedly the first of its kind, and thus the ultimate predecessor to such beauties as "Supper's Ready", "Close to the Edge", "The Gates of Delirium", etc... - which is a huge mess. Similar to Van der Graaf Generator's later epic, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers", "In Held T'was I" is split into really obvious and poorly sequenced segments, some of which are great, many of which aren't. The beginning is an 'Eastern-style' narrative set over some Indian-sounding instruments, ending with the rather comical answer from the Dalai Lama (to the question of the meaning of life): "Life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?" The good thing here is that the band probably had a sense of humor about it. Also, Terry Reid is a VERY good lyricist in general (so is Peter Hammill of VdGG, though). Certain sections are very, very entertaining ("It was teatime at the circus..." reminds me, retroactively, I guess, of "Willow Farm" from "Supper's Ready"), and others are very beautiful (I don't know the names of any of them, but the one about 4/9 through the song). Still, the whole is patchy, as is the album as a whole.

- Highlights: "Quite Rightly So", "Shine on Brightly"

A Salty Dog (1969) - 90%

This is also a...relatively...disappointing album. It begins promisingly. The title track is, oh, I don't know, EASILY the best song the band ever wrote. Ever. Exclamatory remarks!!! It gives me shivers every single time I hear it. Reid's lyrics are better than ever, the string arrangement is too poignant, and Brooker's singing does it more justice than he's ever done before. The rest of the album doesn't match it at all.. but it's also pretty consistently good. It's got some ballads - "Too Much Between Us" is a little too soft, but is saved by that great hook where Brooker repeats the last line of the chorus again; and "Boredom" is a little boring... but less because the song sucks than that I tend to not like flute driven 'native' sounding grooves like that. It's got some serious blues rockers - "The Devil Came from Kansas" has got a thick tone, and lots of cool soloing in what would otherwise be a plodding bore (but isn't!); "Juicy John Pink" is as straightforward as blues come, but goes for more of that awesome 30's sound than for the dull Clapton sound, so I enjoy it greatly; and "Milk of Human Kindness" is a mild piano-guitar riff-rocker with really nice melodies. A good bunch! The album's other epic, "Wreck of the Hesperus" is truly fabulous, and only fails to be the album's highlight on account of the flabbergasting genius that is "A Salty Dog". The chord changes, orchestration, piano-driven groove, and bursts of guitar amid the mess, of "Wreck" make it a true masterpiece, though. Don't ignore over it, as I'm always tempted to do.

- Highlights: "A Salty Dog", "Wreck of the Hesperus", "Crucifiction Lane"

Home (1970) - 82%

Home is certainly an outlier. Organist Matthew Fisher departed in '69, leaving Hendrix-worshipping axeman Robin Trower as the only lead instrumentalist... and it shows. The opening track is perhaps the most uncharacteristically thrilling song of the group's career: "Whisky Train" is a straight-forward hard rockin', blues, riff tune, and man is it good! Trower's guitar tone and the riff are as good as it gets, and I don't even mind that the thing lasts for six minutes. Much of the album sounds rather lost, though (ironically, given the title), wandering on the fringe of the styles the group had covered before. "The Dead Man's Dream" attempts to adopt the mood of the group's earlier dark epics, but ends up sounding a little too generic to match them (still good, though). "Still There'll Be More" is a humorous rocker with good melodies and riffs, but doesn't really sound like themselves. "About to Die" is a pretty effective 'intense bluesy' rocker, while "Nothing that I Don't Know" doesn't quite succeed in the Traffic vein it attempts to (or maybe it does - I don't love Traffic). "Barnyard Story" is a moderately unmemorable piano ballad - not their best - and "Piggy Pig Pig" is a pretty good charging rocker loaded with great guitar fills and a rather hilarious ending (Brooker and co. yelling the title over and over in funny voices). "Whaling Stories" attempts to make a progressive epic by smashing together a rather dull, ballad-y verse bit and a really intense bridge. The bridge is admirable - Brooker legitimately yelling like a fiery evangelist; great, thick guitar tones; and cool, dissonant chord progressions (even if the riff consists of ascending scales - as odd as the scales sound) - but doesn't jive too well with its surroundings, and I have no recollection of how the rest goes.

- Highlights: "Whisky Train"

Broken Barricades (1971) - 85%

The most immediate prominent characteristic of this album is its length - thirty-five minutes! The next one is that Trower's guitar dominates this album even more than it did Home, and that's hard to do! He actually writes a significant chunk of the songs here, and even those that Brooker writes sound like Trower wrote them. The best example of that phenomenon is the opening "Simple Sister", based on a great hard-rock guitar riff and growing into a great, moody mid-section (with a solo, of course). The title track, unfortunately, sucks - a totally unmemorable melody overlaying a decent synthesizer part. No guitar, either! "Lukus Delph", another 'softie' track, tries to succeed like "A Salty Dog" and falls nowhere close. Most of the other songs, though, can be characterized as 'rockers' ("Power Failure", with a neat percussion bit in the middle, "Memorial Drive", with a nice bluesy feel, "Playmate of the Mouth", which is kind of like an attempt at Chicago, with the brass and the length and all). Except "Song for a Dreamer", which is quite a deviation for Procol. The song's basis is a full texture of guitar ambiance, and the vocals are laid on top sporadically and through a phaser. Kind of a cool experiment, if you ask me.

- Highlights: "Simple Sister", "Song for a Dreamer"

Grand Hotel (1973) - 91%

Forget Yes, forget Genesis - this is the most obnoxiously over-the-top album. Everything is drenched in orchestration, choirs, and a distinct lack of rockin' guitars (for the most part, though there's some great bits), and for goodness' sake, look at that album cover! The opening title track boasts as un-rock 'n' roll lines as "Tonight we dine at Hotel Ritz / a golden dish with every wish." Who could this be appealing to, anyway? Oh, right, people who listen to music because it sounds good. And oh, does it sound good. That opening title track gives "A Salty Dog" a run for its money as the group's best song ever (not quite, though, not quite). The main melody is stunning, the crescendo in texture is gripping, and the drum fills are as bombastic as they should be. Perhaps the best moment of the whole album for me is the all orchestral break about halfway into the song - is that not the most beautiful thing Gary Brooker has ever come up with?? It's just a superb, poignant melody, and the decision to play it solo violin over a growling piano, and to throw in the women's choir on the repeat.. gah!! Good, good, good. The negative flip side is "TV Caesar", a six-minute bore with no really memorable melodies and clumsy-sounding lyrics. Virtually everything else is great, though. The third epic, "Fires (Which Burn Brightly)", is almost as good as the title track. It could be easily mistaken for a Renaissance (band, not era) song, with pure female vocals adoring a piano accompaniment as the main riff. The chord progressions are some of Brooker's best, and the song changes texture enough to keep interest all the way through. The two great epics from this album are easily Procol's most successful ventures in progressive rock. My other favorites, among the minor tracks, are "Toujours L'amour", a pretty solid 'orchestral rocker' with nice vocal melodies and even some distorted guitar (and a great solo at the end), and "A Souvenir of London", a hilarious hillbilly romp about venereal diseases picked up at a London brothel. See, they still have a sense of humor!

- Highlights: "Grand Hotel", "Toujours L'amour", "A Souvenir of London", "Fires (Which Burn Brightly)"

Exotic Birds and Fruit (1974) - 90%

For a long stretch, Exotic Birds and Fruit threatens to dethrone the debut as my favorite Procol Harum album, which makes no sense given how definitive the latter is. But the first four songs here are really that good. The opening "Nothing but the Truth" may be the group's most convincing rocker this side of "Whisky Train" - yes, more so than all the rest of Home and Broken Barricades. The song is just exploding with melodic ideas, great riffs, and serious attitude (er... for Procol Harum). "Beyond the Pale" may be even more enjoyable, though, with some sort of balkan-sounding instrument adorning the main riff, an awesome oompah beat underneath (I am SUCH a sucker for well-used oompah's, if you couldn't tell), and a really great swaying chorus (and several sections, to boot). "As Strong as Samson" is one of the group's strongest ever songs, with a truly fantastic chorus hook ("Ain't no use in preachers preaching when they don't know what they're teaching") following up a rather catchy and elegant verse melody. The song's coda stretches out the chorus into an emotional climax of sorts (not terribly common in Procol's history). "The Idol", while a good deal more repetitive than "As Strong as Samson", is the album's true epic. Even the verse - simple minor-key melody, piano accompaniment - is overblown (in fact, the chorus is a good deal less overblown, with a lovely relative major section to contrast), and is nothing next to the lengthy coda (with epic guitar solo), featuring Brooker preaching ("Just another idol turned to clay") with some harmony parts. Good stuff. Unfortunately, "The Thin Edge of the Wedge" sucks, and manages to be neither melodic nor entertaining (I think it attempts the latter, at least). "Monsieur R. Monde" and "Butterfly Boys" are convincing enough rockers, but "Fresh Fruit" is a tad too silly (melodically and lyrically, though only the former bothers me at all) for me to love. "New Lamps for Old" is a moderately successful stab at the band's original style (with a little more soul thrown in), but the biggest question mark is the closing "Drunk Again", a straight-up 50's style rocker one would expect more out of sides three and four of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road than Procol Harum. But heck, it's pretty good, and once again we're shown that the band wasn't monotonous by limitation, but by choice (...maybe).

- Highlights: "Nothing but the Truth", "Beyond the Pale", "As Strong as Samson", "The Idol"

Procol's Ninth (1975) - 75%

The ol' machine is finally running out of ideas. Somehow all the greatness to be found on Exotic Birds and Fruit made a quick exit from Brooker's abilities. Almost all of the songs here flounder between mediocre bluesy-rock ("Fool's Gold", "The Unquiet Zone", "I Keep Forgetting") and less intelligent attempts at pop music ("Taking the Time", "The Final Thrust", "Without a Doubt") than the group had done before. For some reason, there's a cover of "Eight Days a Week" to close it out. The only redeeming factor to be found is the opening "Pandora's Box", which totally kicks ass. Oh, wait. It was written before "A Whiter Shade of Pale". Still, it's good to hear it come out at some point. It's got a great, ominous, Zombies-esque marimba groove, later doubled by distorted guitar, and a pretty catchy verse part.

- Highlights: "Pandora's Box"

Something Magic (1977) - 69%

Procol realized, after the failure of Procol's Ninth, that they were never going to penetrate a general audience, and that they might as well go back to what their small-ish fanbase expected - artsy stuff. Unfortunately, almost all of the artsy stuff here is total junk. The three songs on side one that pull off a decent existence do so with hardly any artsy trappings at all. "The Mark of the Claw" (actually not written by Brooker) features a decent riff with a neat Van der Graaf Generator-esque start-stop coda, and the other two, "Skating on Thin Ice" and "Strangers in Space", are just such genuinely hopeless ballads that, for the first time in a long, long time, the group succeeds in conveying emotion to the listener that isn't obviously a show (Maybe ever? Even such stirring heights as "A Salty Dog" ring of contrived theatricality). Side two is taken up by, "The Worm and the Tree", an attempt at a second "In Held Twas I", which I didn't like too much in the first place. As you'd imagine, it's much weaker this time around. Actually, the musical bits are generally pretty good, especially the ones that try to sound intense (the end of "Part 1", for instance), but the lyrical parts are simply narrated with no interest (it's a fable, apparently). Yuck.

- Highlights: "Skating on Thin Ice", "The Mark of the Claw", "Strangers in Space"