Procol Harum Album: “Exotic Birds and Fruit [Bonus Tracks]”

While Procol Harum's first four albums featuring Robin Trower get all the acclaim, I don't feel they really peaked until their 1973 album 'The Grand Hotel'. Their 1974 album, 'Exotic Birds & Fruit', vividly displays this maturity. Gary Brooker's vocals and the organ really soar in "As Strong as Sampson". This is not a one hit record though. It's full of a variety of great 'Procol' style music: "Nothing but the Truth" and "Beyond the Pale" are particularly good. Even though "The Idol" is repetitive I've grown to really like it. The remastering job is outstanding. The organ and vocals sound gorgeous. This is a fantastic album.

Procol Harum's 1974 release, "Exotic Birds And Fruit," is one of the group's finest albums. It may not boast any "hits," but diehard Harum fans know classic Harum songs when they hear them, and "Exotic Birds" contains many of them, such as the thumping "Nothing But The Truth," the drinking-song pastiche "Beyond The Pale," the fine melodies of "As Strong As Samson" (with one of Keith Reid's very best lyrics: "Ain't no use in preacher's preaching/When they don't know what they're teaching"), the spooky "The Thin Edge Of The Wedge," the playful "Fresh Fruit," and the rockin' "Butterfly Boys." The band, led by singer/pianist extraordinaire Gary Brooker, sound superb on this one. Thumbs up all the way on Procol Harum's "Exotic Birds And Fruit."

Whoever this Alan Niester is, his tarring and feathering of this Procol Harum album (CD) did not hold up then and does not hold up now. The man is quite frankly full of Shiite. I do not know what version of Exotic Bird and Fruit he was listening to but given what things were back then, I am sure something clouded his tastes at that particular moment in his own psychedelic time warp...

**************************************************************

Exotic Birds and Fruit: Procol Harum (Chrysalis CHT 1058): Alan Niester in Rolling Stone, 20 June 1974

Exotic Birds and Fruit is another slab of false majesty for which this band has become noted: elephantine, grandiose production, pretentious, empty lyrics and the sort of artistic posturing that would embarrass Ted Baxter.

Except for the bouncy Nothing but the Truth, every cut on the album has been heard at least twice already - and wasn't that interesting the first time around. The last sign of any vitality or originality in the band was heard on Broken Barricades; even the syphilitic attempts at humor attempted in Grand Hotel are now missing. Procol Harum is a perfect example of a band that has outlived its usefulness, and even staunch fans will undoubtedly be disappointed by this latest effort.

*************************************************************

This is a classic example of why it is so important to read a host of reviews and not any one from some supposed credible source in a rock magazine. Held true then, holds true now.

********************************************************************

********************************************************************

"More on" Alan Neister - several years later and still can't understand which album Niester was listening to or reviewing. I can usually walk away from differences in opinion on stuff I either like or do not, but not this time. This one is like confusing solid gold with pyrite and swearing to know the difference by writing a review about it in Rolling Stone!

Great remastering of a great album by a band that somehow has been been overlooked for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I saw the band playing this album at the Colston Hall in Bristol and it was unusual to be so moved by songs not heard before. PH is probably the most under-rated band in the world: this is a superb album.

Stand-outs are Strong as Sampson, The Idol (Mick Grabham's finest hour with PH), Beyond the Pale - in fact, all of it. The playing is, as ever, first-class, world class, and Brooker's straining urgent vocals never sounded better. Strong as Sampson even has BJ Cole on pedal steel, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when my old mate Mike Wedgwood was playing in Kiki Dee's band with him. This is majestic, well thought out, brilliantly played and important music. I cannot recommend highly enough, even if you loathe PH. B J Wilson was one of rock's best and most underrrated drummer, along with Rod De'Ath from Rory Gallagher's brilliant band, and here he gives a lesson in economical brilliance and power, not to mention timing.

And they're still at it. The Well's On Fire is another excellent album recorded only a few years back. And they're still fantastic live.

File under indispensible. As important as Air Cut by Curved Air (see my review).