Okay that's enough fun for now. There's work to be done! Back we go into the garden. Come on now: there'll be time to play later...
Album title: Home
Artist: Procol Harum
Nationality: English
Label: Polydor
Chronology: Fourth
Grade: A
Landmark value: Probably none really; PH were more or less ignored by the prog movement after that song. Whether this influenced any upcoming prog band or not I can’t say.
Tracklisting: Whiskey Train/ The Dead Man’s Dream/Still There’ll Be More/Nothing That I Didn’t Know/About to Die/Barynard Story/Piggy Pig Pig/Whaling Stories/Your Own Choice
Comments: Fans of the band, or those more knowledgeable about prog, may be scratching their heads and wondering “What about
A Salty Dog, released in 1969?” To that I say, well, I can’t review every album in every year released by every band, which is my way of saying oops I forgot. But it is true; not so much about ‘69, which we’ve left well behind, with the addendum of Can’s debut shoehorned in, and I’m not doing that again, spoil my carefully-planned out layout, but about all years. As we get deeper into the seventies I will have to pick and choose what albums to feature or I’ll be here forever. So while ASD may have been a great album, I missed it out. Get over it. This was their next.
Now, I do admit to some trepidation before beginning, as I see that PH were planning to “return to the r&b style of their previous band, the Paramounts,” and had replaced departed members with people from that band, so that this could be the first PH album that sounds less proggy than I would hope. Indeed, looking at the titles of the songs, well, they just don’t look prog-worthy, do they? But we’ll see. It kicks off with “Whisky Train”, and my fears are, at least for this song, realised, as this is very much a blues/hard-rock track with little prog of any note in it at all. More like Cream or Steppenwolf than Van der Graaf or Yes. Sigh. Decent song, but very basic and simple, and very guitar-driven. The longest track on it is just over seven minutes, which is a far cry from the seventeen-minute epic on
Shining Brightly, the last of theirs I reviewed here.
“The Dead Man’s Dream” does at least have a piano opening, a slower song with Hammond backing which does give me some hope that maybe the opener was an aberration. Much better. In fact, in total contrast to “Whisky Train”, this seems to have very little guitar in it. Very dark and doom-laden, with the vocal at times spoken rather than sung, but it works very well. This is a massive improvement. And “Still There’ll Be More”, they promise, and they’re right; while it’s a little more of a nod back to the opener there’s still enough proggy good stuff about it to make it a far better track, with some quite exuberant piano and now you can hear Robin Trower’s guitar, but it’s not taking off like it did originally. Nice kind of acoustic ballad in “Nothing I Didn’t Already Know”, with a kind of country feel, some beautiful organ which almost reminds me of AWSOP and some nice piano.
Well after a small bump in the road it seems like we’re on track again, sorry for the somewhat mixed metaphor. Despite my worry, initially confirmed by the opening track, this is turning out to be yet another near-perfect Procol Harum album, and “About to Die” just raises that already high bar with a mixture of grinding, punchy blues, soul and prog, including some powerful organ work from Chris Copping, and then the tracks that worried me begin. “Barnyard Story”, rather oddly (and somewhat comfortingly) opens on an acoustic piano, and seems to be a ballad, while “Piggy Pig Pig” has a Beatles feel about it but still sounds proggy enough to satisfy me, quite an ominous tone to it, some crazy guitar from Trower, really excellent.
That longest track I mentioned then is next, and at just over seven minutes it’s hardly an epic, but “Whaling Stories” (continuing somewhat the animal theme explored in the last two tracks) does a very good job keeping up the high standard this album has set for itself since track two. More lush organ, rippling piano, hard guitar and a kind of semi-ballad I guess, actually I feel there’s quite a VDGG idea here, as it gets a little frenetic and the organ and guitar combo certainly drive that, though you can’t discount Brooker’s manic vocal at times. The album closes on “Your Own Choice”, which is a nice piano driven mid-paced song with a strong country feel to it.
Favourite track(s): Everything except
Whisky Train
Least favourite track(s): Whisky Train
Overall impression: Much better than I had feared it would be; the opener made my heart sink, but thankfully it was only a blip and this is once again another great Procul Harum album, continuing the almost unbroken line of superb releases from them since their debut. Yes, I know; but of the ones I’ve heard. I’m sure
A Salty Dog is just as good. It’s getting to the point now where I’m just expecting a high score for a PH album, and so far have not been disappointed. Long may it continue!
Personal Rating: 
Legacy Rating: 
Final Rating: 