There is a question about Procol Harum regarding the band's later years that has often been posed both by amazon reviewers AND by participants in the popular Procol Harum online forum, The Beanstalk. That question regards the legitimacy of the band calling itself Procol Harum when today, in 2007, only one original member remains.
Well, to me, that would depend on which member. However, since the member in question is founder Gary Brooker, who together with the still-collaborating poet-in-residence Keith Reid form the heart and soul of the group, I'd have to say that there is no reason at all not to continue calling the band Procol Harum. Yes, oldtimers miss BJ Wilson, Robin Trower, and Matthew Fisher but there have been other shifts of personnel in the past without the question of legitimacy arising.
One More Time finds a band in transition doing a live album with a crop of relative rookies backing Brooker and the returning Fisher on thirteen songs that span the band's career. And that forces me to address another frequent complaint, that is, that the band doesn't sound exactly like it used to. Of course it doesn't. They are playing the same songs, but since each musician has his own idiosyncracies, they either add to your enjoyment or lessen it according to your taste. Guitarist Geoff Whitehorn comes in for much criticism I guess for not sounding like Trower. I'd say that though that is true, over time he has grown into his role quite well. It is the distinctive voice and piano of Gary Brooker, however, that does remain the same and is the touchstone of the band's continuing popularity.
Like another reviewer, I'll give this more stars than it deserves just because its Procol Harum. There is a lot to like though at times you will feel cognitive dissonance due to missed or added notes. But then a live album has never been about sounding exactly like a studio record. What would be the point?
My favorites here are a nicely done Grand Hotel, a pounding The Devil Came From Kansas, A Salty Dog, and the epic Repent Walpurgis which here features some nice added flourishes which sort of make up for the lack of Trower's stinging chops and Fisher's stately solemnity.
I have known for some time that One More Time was on the market, but the first time I ever saw it in a store was when I bought it the other day. This is one for the completeists. Other fans of Procol Harum who do not yet own all of their studio albums are encouraged to buy and digest those first (especially the fairly recent The Well's On Fire which features a much-improved Geoff Whitehorn on guitar) before tackling this.
...............or 40% of it anyway; when PH reunited in 1990 for the somewhat less-than-stellar "Prodigal Stranger," it did give us renewed faith that we'd be seeing snd hearing Procol Harum again. But no, the band quickly developed into something for a franchise for Gary Brooker: himself, an organist, a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. And true, Procol's original organist, Matthew Fisher DID both play on the cd and "mix" it. But please don't sully your memories of hearing that great live version of "Conquistador" on AM - yes, AM - radio in 1972 by comparing the 1972 Procol Harum by this 2002..."edition" of them. The guitarist on this thing might be..."good" if he didn't insist on playing parts on songs that weren't necessary or even pleasant to listen to. For instance, the opening track, "Bringing Home The Bacon": when the piano and drums do that great - original - "dah-DAH-da" riff, Whitehorn places a kind of Keith Richards-esque "5th resolving to first" riff right after it, making it sound absolutely comical. The rest of the cd sounds like, in all honesty, a "reunion-for-the-bucks" kind of thing. I know this cd was originally available thru Gary Brooker's own private "Gazza" label (I bought MY copy from there), but I'm just wondering why he chose to release this tired-sounding thing, instead of a sort of two-cd set of the GREAT reunion gig at Redhill in 1997, when the original members of Procol Harum sounded and played with the exuberance of almost being timewarped directly from the seventies. I've seen and heard it, and it's a JOY to behold. But until Gary Brooker decides to release IT, you might as well be a "Procol Harum Completionist," and purchase this cd. Despite my less than glowing opinion of it, it's still infinitely superior to any of the "J LO/synthesizer" dreck that radio inflicts on you right now...
With all due respect, this is the best live Procol we have available. Most fans came away with mixed feelings after Prodigal Stranger, with its strange FM radio sound. In essence, the album was over-baked in production. When we hear these same tracks stripped-down and live, they take on a whole new feel. They rock! We should be greatful that this gig is now widely available. It provides us with a snapshot of the band on a good night from an under-represented period. A fine effort by one of rock's greats. Thanks to Friday Music.
Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact Us