Customer Reviews

Secrets of the Hive: The Best of Procol Harum

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

 

 

At a time when the music industry seems to be flooding the market with compilations of major artists that contain just a tidbit of something new to snare "completeist" fans, those same fans may be understandably wary of adding yet another "essential" compilation to their collections. There are already many Procol Harum "best of" and "greatest hits" compilations on the market, so why should anyone buy this one?
There are several good reasons. First, this is the first compilation that spans their career to date. So if you are going on a road trip and can't decide which of your Procol Harum CDs to bring with you, Secrets of the Hive makes perfect sense. Secondly, there is the quality of the remastering to consider. It is superb! Finally, there is the attractive and informative booklet that accompanies the CD. It is filled with all sorts of pictures and interesting facts about the band that make the overall Procol Harum experience that much more enjoyable.
Fans may argue about which songs should have been included that weren't and those that should have been left off. I have my list. But overall, Salvo Records did a fine job of offering fans a balanced sampling of Procol Harum's oeuvre. All the essentials are here, its just the electives one may quibble about.
The gimmick here is a live recording of the previously unreleased Into The Flood. Its an excellent song, but this set didn't need a gimmick to sell me on its merits. I'd have bought it regardless. Whether you are a long-time fan of Procol Harum or a new listener, the grand overview of the band's career as presented on Secrets of the Hive is one you will be proud to own and one you will play over and over.

I'm glad I bought this 2-CD set of Procol Harum songs, even at the mildly steep import price. It's kind of a 40th anniversary thing (their first single, "Whiter Shade of Pale," came out in 1967), and many of the songs are so memorable. I've been going around with "Homburg" and even "the Idol" running in my head! At first I thought that the band's mid- to late-'70s period was under-represented on these two discs, but I counted and there are 10 songs out of 35 from those albums. (Fans seeking a more complete overview of the period should seek out the fine but now deleted "Chrysalis Years" PH CD.) What worked less well for me are the newer songs tacked on at the end of each CD, from Procol's '91 and '03 "reunion" releases. Those six tunes are generally not at the level of the rest of the stuff, leading to a sharp dropoff in quality. It's not a good way to wrap things up. (The lone exception to the substandard newer material is the stately instrumental that closes the 2nd disc, "Weisselklenzenacht," from the '03 Wheel's on Fire CD.)
One less important but still nice aspect of this set is the excellent and informative liner notes, 28 pages of info!

As a band who has any number of best of sets in and out of print, Procol Harum is one of the toughest bands to compile. There are the classic singles "A Whiter Shade of Pale" "Homburg" and others which must be included in any collection. Salvo is the first label to undertake the careful release of the Procol catalog, and with it, this double disc anthology, and a 3 cd, 1 dvd box set. While one can argue that some singles are omitted here, they can all be obtained easily enough on Repertoire's 3 cd set "The Singles A B" which remains in print. This double disc set does a great job of mixing the classic 60s and 70s Procol with a smattering of releases from the 1990s and 2000s. A full 156 minutes of run time, and gorgeous 32 page booklet fill out this nicely representative 35 track Salvo release. I regret that I was so tough on the Salvo box set when it was released. While I still think it dwells unnecessarily on more recent works, I am now convinced that it is a much better representation of the band than when I first heard and reviewed the box set. I cannot undue my harsh critique, but can say that this double set, available quite inexpensively from drop shippers, is a wonderfully sounding overview of Procol's career. I think three Procol sets are must have's, first the 3 cd Repertoire singles set, second this double set, and third the 3 cd 1 dvd Salvo box. If you read this review please ignore my harsh words of the Salvo box set and purchase it. We are fortunate to have a label like Salvo releasing classic music such as the Move catalog and the Peter Green Anthology. Buy this set, support Salvo, and long live Procol Harum.

I had just gotten this prized posession from Amazon and threw it in the car for a vacation drive south to Disneyland for me and my daughter. She's in high school so I didn't think she'd care for it much but, I was impressed by her good taste after all, and it turned out to be our road music for about 3 complete plays. A great selection of some of the smartest music from the 70s and 80s. If you just kind of know about Procol Harum because you like "Whiter Shade of Pale" and maybe "Conquistador" then get this - it may just blow your mind baby.

This is by far the best collection of Procol Harem songs ever. It has much more than their best known songs, unlike earlier compilations. It is a good anthology of this band, though it is not in a completely true anthology form. It is, however, a lot closer than most anthologies that completely mix up the timeline of a band's songs. What the record company has done with this compilation is split the anthology into two CDs. Each are in true anthology form, going from the earliest works to the latest works with only one exception (the last song on the first CD). It gives a good representation of the works of this band that most people know only for "A Whiter Shade Of Pale". I think one will be amazed that there's more to this great band than just this one song.

Procol Harum is my second favorite band of all time, second only to the Stones, and just "second" only marginally above Fanny. That said - well, they've never, ever been shy about repackaging themselves. "Secrets" may be the newest compilation of Procol Harum's material, but it is, by NO means, the "best." A) of all the tracks listed hereon, an unnecessarily inordinate amount of attention is is devoted to PH's post-1991 output. And B), what is worse, much is made of the fact that a live version of the song "Into The Flood" is included. Beware, folks: unless this recording is of the 9/17/2001 "millineum" concert, which, a rarity, featured 2 Procol Harum guitarists, the sublime Mick Grabham, who was PH's guitarist from "Grand Hotel" thru "Something Magic" - Procol's most prolific period - and the..."current" guitarist, the ever-histrionic G Whitehorn - and I have a bootleg of that concert - that one song...just...ain't...worth...it. A far, far superior PH compilation is that "Singles A & B," which offers some real treasures in addition to just "rare and remixed B-sides": there's a live version of "Luskus Delph," previously unreleased from the "Edmonton" session; (forgive me if I "adjective" too much like Cameron "incindiary" Crowe here), there's a live, absolutely transcendent version of J Strauss' "Blue Danube"; and especially, there's the original "Into The Flood," originally an unused song-demo for 1991's "Prodigal Stranger" - and the guitarist on IT is Bobby Mayo, Peter Frampton's late great keyboardist/rhythm guitarist/conscience. The short almost offhand solo that Mayo delivered, is - and I shall resist the justifiable urge to say, "Well, DUH" here - vastly superior to what I HAVE heard Grabham and Whitehorn do, and what I can only surmise that 'horn currently...excessively delivers. But hey - this IS Procol Harum we're talking about here - and if the Stones can inflict the satanic "Miss You" on every single "best of" THEY'VE released since it was..."hatched," I guess Procol Harum can be spotted one sort of..."duf" track. And "Hive" does present all new liner notes courtesy of Procologist Roland Clare, always a pleasure, but - again - be forewarned, every song on "Hive" has been released before, some more than 4 or 5 times...