Customer Reviews

Procol Harum 30th Anniversary Anthology

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As box sets go, this one's pretty damn essential. Brit label Westside has assembled the first four Procol records on 2 CDs, plus a third disk containing singles and alternate mixes. The singles are understandable (two of them are 'Whiter Shade of Pale' & 'A Salty Dog', after all) but the remainder of Disc 3 SHOULD have included the 5th album 'Broken Barricades', thus presenting the complete Brooker/Trower era. One star off for this blown opportunity as well as the nondescript packaging (this has to be the least lavish 30th anniversary box set in memory). While everyone familiar with Procol Harum will admit some kind of grudging respect, they weren't the kind of band you did cartwheels over: they kind of seeped into your high esteem by degrees. And yet they performed accessible and intelligent music that somehow touched all the bases - rock, blues, progressive, folk - all at once, and in a more meaningful way than many of their contemporaries and descendents. While Matthew Fisher's organ (funerals a specialty) and the early metallic scree of Trower's guitar are prime components of their sound, the focal point of Procol was and will always be singer/pianist Gary Brooker, whose haunting, haunted vocals always reminded me of wearing a peacoat in a cold December fog. (The weather's bitterly gloomy, but the coat is warm and comforting.) Add the fact that most of these tracks are products of a songwriting partnership (with Keith Reid) that resonate with distorted echoes of Brecht-Weill and English music-hall artists, and pinning Procol Harum down to a single category becomes impossible. The resulting music somehow holds the disparate elements together, creating something new in the process, and it works beautifully. To Westside's credit, the remastering on all four albums is superb and a big improvement on the original vinyl. Got us a no-brainer here, folks.

Procol's first four albums, some singles, B-sides, and outtakes, all of which have something to commend them. The sound is much better than previous releases of this material, and the material is often terrific.

At their core, Procol was really a British R&B outfit with an imaginative Hammond organist in Matthew Fisher, and one of the most distinctive guitarists around in Robin Trower (before he submerged his style into that of Jimi Hendrix). And Gary Brooker was always a terrific singer. The first record was mostly Ray Charles influenced, although the lyrics strove for mid-sixties Dylan. The second record is as psychedelic as they come, and the third (Salty Dog) was Beatlesque in its scope and variety. Procol fans shouldn't miss this collection.

Procol Harum practicallly invented "classical rock", and few groups have had the kind of musical alchemy that this band did: Matthew Fisher's classically-trained organ, Gary Brooker's bluesy vocals, Robin Trower's emerging guitar-god chops, and Keith Reid's intriguing lyrics. This set includes their first four album releases, representing perhaps their best work.

Their self-titled debut album established Procol Harum's baroque sound with classically-infused tunes such as "Conquistador" and "She Wandered Through the Garden Fence". It is interesting that the original UK release omitted their smash single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale", but that was standard practice in the UK recording industry in those days, to omit singles from the subsequent album release. (If memory serves me, the US release dropped the track "Good Captain Clack" in favor of "Whiter".) Also of note is the fact that the album is entirely in mono, a strange production decision considering it came out in the same era as stereophonic sprees such as "Sgt. Pepper" and "Pet Sounds". (There are stereo takes of some of the songs on the third disc.)

For my money, "Shine on Brightly" was their best album, and one of the 60's rock masterpieces. Trower really begins to emerge as a force here, as evidenced on tracks like "Rambling On" and the suite "In Held Twas In I". (According to the liner notes, the latter work was a big influence on the Who's "Tommy.") The album's theme of self-searching and discovery echoes the Moody Blues' "In Search of the Lost Chord", and production-wise, its ambition rivals "Sgt. Pepper".

"A Salty Dog" is another classic, a more subdued concept album for the most part, but with satisfying tunes throughout, including the lushly-orchestrated title track (a hint of the Edmonton Orchestra collaboration to come), the searing guitar of "The Devil Came from Kansas", and the gentle ballad "Too Much Between Us". The band carries the sea-voyage theme very effectively here. (The producers of this set made the annoying decision to leave off the title track on this disc, for "time constraint" reasons, and instead included the single version of "A Salty Dog" on Disc 3.)

"Home" is a bit more uneven than the previous two albums, and marked the departure of organist Fisher. But there are still highlights, including "About to Die", the mini-suite "Whaling Stories" (whose seagoing theme could easily have fit on "A Salty Dog"), and the amazing "Whisky Train", one of Trower's greatest moments and one of the best damn rock songs ever.

Disc 3 would be for completists only, if not for the inclusion of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "A Salty Dog". Also, "Homburg", the followup single to "Whiter", is worthy of inclusion. I agree with another reviewer that it would have been nice to drop some of the "alternate takes" in favor of squeezing in their excellent fifth album, "Broken Barricades"; maybe licensing was an issue. But make no mistake: this is a fine three-disc compendium of Procol's early work, and an essential addition to the collection of any fan of the "progressive rock" era.

Only two complaints:

1) I have to put the third CD on if I want to hear "Salty Dog" with the rest of the album.

2) Broken Barricades wasn't on it. But thank the gods in the heavens it's available again separately.

This was the band that moved me the most in my misspent youth, and their most important work is here. What a band! Play "The Band" next to them, and you get some nice reverberations, but these guys are more moving to me. They were just an irreproducible mix of talent.

This collection has reactivated neural clusters in my brain that had long been put to sleep by post-Procol Harum musics.

PH's oeuvre is so deep, so musically and intellctually satisfying, practically no other band compares. I really do wonder, though, what they sound like to someone who has never heard them before? To me this music still sounds vital.

Yes the packaging is cheesy but then the price is right. I throw away the jewel boxes anyway and stash the bare CDs in folders holding 84 discs at a time anyway ...

This is truely a great collection of die-hard Procol fans. What I want to know is what ever happened to all the cuts from the "Broken Barrickades" album, like "Simple Sister" and " Power Failure", etc. I can't find them anyplace. If anybody out there has any info, please e-mail me... signed True Procol Fan Vaugj@aol.com

And a good deal...that is, if you get this for around $25, which of course you can through one of the other sellers.

Here you get the first four cds, plus a bunch of outakes and alternatives versions.
Listening to this stuff is a mixed affair-some of the tunes sound just as fresh and timeless as I thought they did when I was 18. And some of it is painfully dated and precious sounding.

For those who care, the packaging is nothing fancy, merely adequate at best. The liner notes are informative, brief and at times, glib. I would have liked to have seen each album cover be presented in color. And yes," A Salty Dog" is presented separately from the album, stuck in with the singles and rarities in disc three. (Arghhh.) Space saving maybe, but quite annoying.

Almost everything on that first release is great (except maybe Mabel-I never could get behind that tongue in cheek music hall sound that brit bands occasionally indulged in.) Too bad the quality is so poor, but it beats the hell out of my mono-electronically-altered to -sound like stereo vinyl copy! I expected miracles in re-mastering: in truth, the sound quality is far from revelatory, even on the subsequent stereo releases. I guess the masters themselves must have had distortion on them. This is especially noticeable on "Shine On Brightly." (And I thought it was my old worn out vinyl!) In contrast, I recently bought a reissue of Love's 'Forever Changes', and was blown away by the quality of that remaster. Funny thing is, the more I listen to this stuff, the less it bothers me. Revisiting these tunes is like reconnecting with an old friend-they are already etched in my brain, every note, screaming guitar lick,Fisher organ part and Brooker wail, yet they still sound fresh and immediate to these ears.

Shine On Brightly was a personal favorite way back when. I still love "Quite Rightly So" and the magnificent title track. In general 'side one' still holds up quite well. "In Held Twas I" is good psychedelic fun, but I doubt I'll be listening to it much in the future. It has some value as nostalgia, but once around was enough.

"A Salty Dog" was also a favorite, and I am sad to say there are not many tunes from that album that resonate with me today. I still find much to love about the title track, which is a stellar example of the grandeur and majesty this band could conjure. "Milk of Human Kindness", "Wreck of the Hesperus', "Too Much Between Us" and Pigrim's Progress" stand the test of time quite well, while songs like "Juicy John Pink" and the "Crucifiction Lane" have fared worse." Boredom" is well, plain boring.

One could already see that Robin Trower wanted to go one direction, while Matthew Fisher another. Perhaps Brooker was in the awkward position of having to bridge those worlds. With his powerful R&B vocals, he was certainly capable of belting out the blues. But for this listener, Procol Harum embodied that ineffable and unlikely marriage of rock and classical music, woven into the fabric of Keith Reid's surreal lyrics. By "Salty Dog", it was clear Procol Harum was in the midst of an identity crisis.

Which is why 'Home' is probably my least favorite in the package, having only a handful of songs that fit the classic PH mold. That being said, 'Dead Man's Dream', 'Whaling Stories', 'Nothing I Didn't know' still sound great today. In retrospect, it appears I may have underestimated this album' s enduring worth.

The alternatives on disc three are interesting, but with the exception of 'Homburg' (a great song that was only released as a single), "In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence" (b side that was quite good,) and of course, Whiter Shade of Pale (appearing in no less than three versions, including a rare stereo version!) it will mostly appeal to completists.

Procol Harum was an important voice in 60's early 70s pop music. Their contributions have often been overlooked and underrated. You can definitely hear that the Band was influenced by these guys. They were originals. And although I do not categorize their music as 'progressive rock' per se, they certainly pointed the way for those bands who later went down that road.

The bottom line is, their music is great fun to listen to, and even by today's standards, the musicianship is excellent. Even if you didn't live through the era, it might be well worth your while to check these guys out. And here's a great place to start.

The first 4 Procol Harum albums have been released in various CD formats now, most containing bonus tracks (different takes, outtakes). This collection brings you the first 4 albums on the first 2 CD's and the third CD is filled with tracks that didn't fit on the first 2 plus a stack of bonus tracks.
Sound quality is great and the bonus tracks are really interesting.

This CD boxed set is a must for all fans of Procol Harum. It contains their first four albums (which were the best) as well as some rare singles and unreleased material. Definitely worth having in your CD collection.

We want "Broken Barricades". We want "Broken Barricades"!