Procol Harum

Reissues

An uneven era revisited. As Procol Harum continue to plough their way through their extensive catalogue, we reach two albums from the mid-70s and one from the early 90s.

Grand Hotel (6/10), originally released in 1973, marked the debut of guitarist Mick Grabham. It’s a little unbalanced, as the Harum sought a coherent direction. Amusingly, A Souvenir Of London was banned by the BBC for mentioning venereal disease! This reissue comes with five extra tracks and a live DVD from November of the same year.

Exotic Birds And Fruit (7/10), the following year, highlighted a more basic approach. The band ditched using an orchestra, which had been an important part of their sound on the previous record, so it’s more resilient than its predecessor. This edition comes with two bonus CDs, one featuring a Radio One In Concert performance from March

’74 and the other recorded in Texas four months later.

After a 14-year gap, Procol Harum released The Prodigal Stranger (7/10) in 1991. This saw the reunion of original members Gary Brooker (piano/vocals), Robin Trower (guitar), Matthew Fisher (organ) and Keith Reid (lyrics). While not on the same level as the band’s early albums featuring these four, it shows they could still draw from past glories, yet make music relevant to a new era. This reissue, though, only has three extra tracks, including two demos.

There’s much to admire on this trio, even if they’re not genuine Procol classics.

malcolm Dome