The Well's on Fire

Procol Harum

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 4, 2003)
• Original Release Date: March 4, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Eagle Records
• ASIN: B000089J12
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #94,878 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
2003 album and the bands first since The Prodigal Stranger in 1991. The 13 tracks are all Brooker/Reid originals and are instantly recognizable as Procol Harum at their best. Eagle Records.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harum's On Fire!, March 20, 2003

By	Alan Caylow (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Welcome back *again*, Procol Harum! I don't know what took them so long to record a follow-up to 1991's "The Prodigal Stranger," but, 12 years later, it's finally here at last: "The Well's On Fire," and I'm very happy to report that it was SO worth the wait. Founding members Gary Brooker (piano & vocals), Matthew Fisher (organ), and lyricist Keith Reid are back onboard, and, with guitarist Geoff Whitehorn, bassist Matt Pegg and drummer Mark Brzezicki, they've delivered an outstanding Harum album that sounds completely fresh, yet still harks back to the band's classic sound of yor. Fans will be smiling from ear to ear as they dip through the band's wonderful latest batch of melodic songs, like the opening "An Old English Dream," the rockers "Shadow Boxed," "The VIP Room," "The Question," "Wall Street Blues," "So Far Behind" and "Every Dog Will Have His Day" (featuring great barks & howls from Brooker), and beautiful ballads like "A Robe Of Silk" (very reminiscent of the classic "She Wandered Through The Garden Fence"), the heartfelt "The Blink Of An Eye" (inspired by the 9/11 tragedy), "This World Is Rich," "Fellow Travellers," and "The Emperor's New Clothes." And Matthew Fisher still knows how to deliver an organ masterwork with the finale, "Weisselklenzenacht (The Signature)." Gary Brooker's voice and piano playing is still as strong and commanding as ever, and Matthew Fisher's classic organ is still a joy to hear. As for the new Harum men, Whitehorn is so good on guitar that you don't miss Robin Trower, Pegg is a fine bassist and Brzezicki is a very powerful drummer (Harum's late great drummer B.J. Wilson would've definitely approved of him, I think). And co-produced by the band & Rafe McKenna, the album's production is crisp & sharp.I sure hope we don't have to wait 12 years for the next Procol Harum album---these guys are so good! "The Well's On Fire" is a terrific album, and a very welcome comeback of one of rock's finest groups. Procol Harum have returned again! Pick up this CD and celebrate.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Return, April 28, 2003

By	Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Mention Procol Harum to most people and if you don't get a blank stare, you hear "Oh, yeah, they did that Whiter Shade of Pale song, right?"
Mention they have a great new album and you may hear "You're kidding, those dinosaurs are still around?"
Part of Procol Harum's problem has always been that they have been identified with a song that is admittedly one of the finest songs ever to come out of the sixties. Most people just don't even know that they did anything afterward! Let's hope their excellent new album Well's On Fire changes all that.
I've listened to it now at least several dozen times and have read all the reviews posted here. Let me make a few observations. First of all, it is unfair to stack the current lineup against the fabled Procol Harum lineups of blessed memory. Those days are gone; some of the players don't want to come back, and one can't. Second, the heart and soul (Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid)of Procol Harum remain and Matthew Fisher is back. We should be thankful for that. Lastly, I'm happy to hear that the music is really all new. If I wanted to hear one of their old songs, I would put on an old album. Weisselklenzenacht does not sound like Repent Walpurgis as some suggest and I am grateful. Repent Walpurgis is one of a kind and should forever remain so.
Now to the music. Despite Matthew Fisher's return, the new PH lineup sounds more that of the days of Exotic Birds and Fruit and Grand Hotel rather than that of the first three albums on which Fisher played before he left the band. Some songs are instantly recognizable as having the classic Procol Harum sound: An Old English Dream, The VIP Room, Fellow Travelers, and The Emperor's New Clothes. I enjoy all those, but am specially pleased with rocking numbers like Shadow Boxed, The Question, and the very topical and timely Wall Street Blues. Every Dog Will Have His Day is also excellent, but we could have been spared the howling.
The Blink Of An Eye, the band's 9/11 remembrance falls short, but is not as trite as some suggest. The phrase about "living on Easy Street" and having the "rug pulled from under our feet" may sound hokey, but to me it merely poetically suggests a rude awakening from self-absorbed complacency.
Well's On Fire represents a sweet return to the limelight for Procol Harum after years in the shadows. I recommend it to one and all.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rock For Grownups..., March 5, 2003

By	Lawrence of Suburbia (Pepperland) - See all my reviews

...and I mean that as a compliment.

Procol have managed to deliver an album of articulate lyrics (via Keith Reid) and dignified music (let's hear it for Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher)...although it suffers a bit from slightly generic production, it's a vast improvement from 1991's "Prodigal Stranger", with its leftover-80's sound. Only a couple of tracks qualify as filler ("Wall Street Blues" the main culprit), but in the main the material is the literate, R&B-meets-Bach that PH have uniquely provided. Their trademark worldweariness is leavened by compassion for the world today; the understated "Blink of an Eye" the best song about 9/11 I've heard. For old-school Procoloids, "Weisselklenzenacht" updates the spirit of "Repent Walpurgis", with organ straight out of "Whiter Shade of Pale" and guitar-driven, "Abbey Road" climax like "Roberts' Box". Perhaps the most moving number is "This World is Rich (for Stephen Maboe)", a stately Brooker/Reid meditation on poverty and misfortune. All in all, not an album for the children that buy pop CD's today, but for those that remember the era of (truly) classic rock...a breath of fresh air, or maybe a musical life-ring.