Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale 

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'Pandora's Box'

A Procoholic Double Review


This is the index-page for a unique Procoholics' double-act: Larry Pennisi presents 'The Secrets of the Hive' and Clyde 'AJ' Johnson contributes 'Extracting the Honey' … both being detailed and personal looks, from very different perspectives, at the Westside Pandora's Box album 

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The Secrets of the Hive
a pragmatic analysis of Pandora's Box
As seen from a lover's perspective 
by Larry Pennisi / Cerdes
Falling in love is never easy. Consciousness is altered in the most radical way. Judgment can be compromised; corridors rust. And so it was during those irenic days of the later 1960's, that I found myself hopelessly smitten, forever changed, transmogrified if you will, by the music of Procol Harum. It would be unrealistic for me to say that I am an unbiased accessory in these matters, but these can be, after all, matters of fact if one wishes them to be. In attempting to reach an internal dialectic over these past 30 or so years of dedicated excess, I find myself at the crossroads. Having been asked by BTP to construct a critique of the Pandora's Box Set, I solemnly pledge to set about this task as objectively as is possible under the aforementioned circumstances.
Extracting the Honey
A technical look at the Pandora's Box
set track-by-track 
by Clyde ‘AJ’ Johnson
Like Larry I will express my own bias at times but try and stick to why the Westside folks mixed it the way they did … letting the tracks roll, not bothering to fix the flaws, hiss or studio chatter less we lose the precious pearls they have uncovered for us. I will also try and put into layman’s terms how compressors, limiters and other tricks in the studio of yesterday and today work to bring a fossil over 30 years old to life. Westside did their best and in my opinion the RIGHT thing when extracting the HONEY from this HIVE.
Click on the links below to read the articles about the songs
Conquistador
Something Following Me
Cerdes (Outside the Gates of)
Kaleidoscope
Repent Walpurgis
Pandora's Box
(backing-track)
In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence
Wish Me Well (aka 'Gospel According to Matthew')
Alt. Repent Walpurgis
A Whiter Shade of Pale


More Westside info
Buy Westside CDs online
An album with a similar cover-photo
Buy Pandora's Box from Amazon USA


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