Exotic Birds and Fruit

The Record Collector review by Steve Burniston

Seventh album provides a Procol peak [five stars]

This 1974 album is one of Procol Harum’s greatest achievements. It was characteristic of their confidence to open with the thunderous Nothing but the Truth, shaped by the band’s focused energy: the effect is exhilarating. Punctuated by excited shouts, the thrilling middle section increases the intensity before the band land back in the next verse with figure-skaters’ poise.

Such was Procol’s formidable creative depth, including Gary Brooker’s piano playing and Mick Grabham’s fluent guitar.

As Roland Clare’s excellent sleeve-notes discuss, Keith Reid’s lyrics were written in the context of the era’s social conflicts, and there are moments here that evoke those strange days. This includes As Strong as Samson, with its beautiful melody enriched by organist Chris Copping and BJ Wilson’s masterful drumming. Reid’s sombre picture of a damaged social fabric is forthright, though there is a defiant optimism in the concluding choral harmonies. Brooker’s compositional gifts provide Reid’s lyrics with a complementary sound spectrum, such as on The Idol’s pounding edginess or the taut complexity of Beyond the Pale. From left-field, Fresh Fruit is a rhythmic strut flavoured with whistles, marimbas, even barking.

The album is enduring quality is conclusively sealed by the yearning masterpiece New Lamps for Old; a moving finale shining with dignified emotional power. Esoteric’s re-issue is nicely garnished by two contemporaneous live concerts that showcase the band to find effect. As a bonus, the non-album B-side Drunk Again is a raucous delight, and there’s even a poster. However, it’s the original, magnificent album that deserves our fullest attention.
 

Procol Harum albums