Procol Harum • Secrets of the Hive •
The Best of Procol Harum [Salvo]
Prog-rock tends to get a bum rap for being pretentious and musically
sterile, but those criticisms rarely apply to genre pioneers Procol Harum.
As first generation prog purveyors, the musicians had previously cut their
teeth playing R&B, and those roots remained strong throughout Procol's early
output, particularly in Gary Brooker's wailing, melancholy vocals and piano,
and in the gritty gravitas of Matthew Fisher's Hammond organ. The music, by
turns raw and grandiose, kept Keith Reid's complex, enigmatic lyrics – which
were occasionally overblown, but more often poetic and evocative – firmly
grounded in human emotion and melodic accessibility.
Despite some debatable programming choices (e.g. substituting an OK live
version of A Salty Dog in lieu of the subtly magnificent studio
original, and an overemphasis on the reunited band's recent output), the 2CD
UK anthology Secrets of the Hive does a good job of distilling Procol
Harum's salient qualities. While many of the '70s bands they helped to spawn
now sound hopelessly dated, Procol's best work – eg the bittersweet ballad
Homburg, the fierce orch-metal Simple Sister and the
classic-rock staple A Whiter Shade of Pale – retains a beguiling
blend of ambition and earthiness.
Scott Schinder