From Record Collector August 1999

Procol Harum: Home ... Plus! : Westside WESM 535 (77:33)

Review by Tim Jones

The fourth album from Gary Brooker, Robin Trower et al is thoroughly treated in an accompanying booklet, along with the nine bonus alternate takes. Of these, The Dead Man's Dream, a Midnight Cowboy-styled prog-rock downer, is the pick, being rendered in utterly chilling fashion (presaging BJH's Dark Now My Sky).

Other alternative album tracks are offered in instrumental form, the ad-libbed Still There Will Be More [sic] warmly overlaid with some great string widdling and rampant drums. Piggy Piggy Pig [sic], with its phased vocals, becomes a full-blown melodrama, reminiscent of early Peter Gabriel, and the menacing Whaling Stories, with its raking guitars and spotlight-grabbing vocals are transfigured by pompish drumming and organ rushes into proto-metal of the Sabbath ilk.

As for other numbers, About To Die is exceptional for its pulsing, tidal rock beat and heartfelt vocals, but none lets the side down.

A solid album and second-eleven.

Thanks to Tormod Ringvold

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