Music Review : Procol Harum - Reclaiming Their Place In History

Procol Harum have been in the news recently as a result of Matthew Fishers' victory in his court case claiming rights as one of the composers of A White Shade Of Pale. This is all very bizarre as the part he claims authorship to (the organ part) is a blatant rip-off of Bach's Air On A G-String. A somewhat bizarre and dangerous judgement in my opinion.

However, something much more important has been happening in the world of Procol Harum and that is the reissue of their complete back-catalogue by Salvo Records. Salvo are a relatively recent label and have already been responsible for excellent reissue campaigns for Slade and The Move. The latter, in particular, were one of the best of the British bands of the 1970's and Salvo are to be complimented for treating their catalogue with the respect and love it undoubtedly deserves. Next up will be Nazareth.

The first seven of Procol Harum's albums are now available and it is more than fair to say that they've been treated to the same exemplary standards. The huge success of A White Shade Of Pale in 1967 did them no favours as the end result appears that they've become one of the crucial bands that history has forgotten, they are so linked with that debut single.

They did seem to me at the time a little po-faced and serious but listening to the albums now suggest I was mistaking that for style and grandeur. What the albums do contain are a series of consistently excellent songs by pianist/vocalist Gary Brooker and his lyricis Keith Reid. They are all very well played by a superior bunch of musicians covering a wide range of styles and subject matters.

Outside of that song, many people may know Procol Harum as the band that Robin Trower used to play with. Over the first five albums, you can feel Trower's influence growing peaking on the excellent Broken Barricades. With hindsight, it's really no surprise that he chose that time to leave for a solo career. Equally, though, I doubt if the band with Trower could have made the live album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra or the studio album Grand Hotel which is possibly their masterpiece.

We've still to get the remainder of their Chrysalis years in the 1970's and there's a couple of more recent albums (including a reunion set with Trower) to come as well. In the meantime, you can either bask in the glory of their first seven albums or enjoy the reasonably priced box set that is due out shortly.

And Matthew Fisher has a sole composition credit on the debut album called Repent Walpurgis. It's all classical rip-offs too!