Procol Harum - Greatest Hits [Metro]

Track Listings

1. Whiter Shade of Pale

2. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence

3. Something Following Me

4. Mabel

5. Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of)

6. Conquistador

7. Kaleidoscope

8. Salad Days (Are Here Again)

9. Repent Walpurgis

10. Homburg

11. Quite Rightly So

12. Shine on Brightly

13. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)

14. In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence

15. Salty Dog

16. Devil Came from Kansas

17. Boredom

18. Whisky Train

19. Whaling Stories

Tracks:

Conquistador
A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Simple Sister
Whisky Train
A Salty Dog
Shine On Brightly
Whaling Stories
Power Failure
Boredom
Homburg
In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence
Repent Walpurgis

Customer Reviews:

Your Introduction to Procol Harum.......2007-06-04

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song that refuses to die, no matter how many retro-themed movies it appears in and I am willing to bet that most people assume that Procol Harum (the song's originators) were a one-hit wonder of the 1960s. That isn't really true. Procol Harum started off with a delicious "Ray Charles meets JS Bach" vibe but matured into one of Great Britain's best art rock bands. They never over-indulged in meaningless virtuosity or psychedelic excess, preferring instead to create mostly tastefully arranged moody classics. That's probably why they never enjoyed the vast commercial success of later prog rock bands.

The songs here are drawn from their first few LPs and are sequenced so that the more accessible material comes first. Like most art rock bands, Procol Harum seems to have prided themselves on creating a diverse songbook, and the variety unfortunately gives this short anthology an unfocused feel. This was also a problem with Procol Harum's original studio releases. Personally, the variety suits me just fine but you might not like the idea of a Greatest Hits CD that you can't listen to straight through. The production values are especially stunning considering these songs are close to 40 years old.

Hopefully, this CD will encourage you to seek out more of what this fine band had to offer in their early years. I strongly encourage you to track down a copy of "A Salty Dog" as it's hands-down the best album the band recorded as well as one of the most beautiful rock LPs of the late 1960s.

Talented musicians and out of the ordinary lyrics, but is this the greatest hits?.......2006-06-22

To me Procol Harum was "Whiter Shade of Pale" or "Salty Dog." That was pretty much my familiarity with the band, but I started to realize that I rarely ignored those songs when they came on the radio. With this collection, I found an extremely talented band that seems to have found a very interesting niche for itself. Between Robin Trower's soaring guitar work and Gary Brooker's powerful vocals and arrangements, I found myself thoroughly intrigued by the quality of Procol Harum's talent and the interesting lyrical bent of Keith Reid. ("Simple sister, got whooping cough, got to burn her toys") Musically this band can stand with any of their contemporaries, with every instrument played well whether it is the blues rock of "Whiskey Train" or the classically influenced "Conquistador." This is definitely a band that I am going to spend a bit more time investigating their back catalogue. That being said, this seems to me to be only a sampler and probably not a good representation of the band's true best. Some of the tracks seem a bit truncated and while I'm no expert on Procol Harum I would assume that the band has few longer pieces that should be represented.

needs more than a dash of Trower.......2005-07-21

One purpose to releasing a 'Greatest Hits' collection is to generate the listeners interest in purchasing other productions by the artist. That was my goal in purchasing this collection by Procol Harum. Nevermind that the album would have been better titled 'The Best Of', since Procol Harum only scored three charting songs in the US ('A Whiter Shade of Pale', which reached number 5 in July of 1967, 'Homburg' at number 34 four months later, and 'Conquistador' at number 16 in 1972), and five in their UK homeland ('A Whiter Shade...' not once, but twice, in '67 [when it reached #1] and in a 1972 stereo version [#13], 'Homburg', 'Conquistador', and 'Pandora's Box', which ironically is not included in this 'Greatest Hits' compilation). Like most progressive rock bands, the magic of Procol Harum supposedly lies in their long-form pieces, not in pandering to Top 40 success.

It is instructive to note that the arrangement of the songs offered on 'Greatest Hits' is not chronological. In fact, the final three songs on the disc are some of the earliest tracks the band produced. I would speculate that the producer, Bob Garcia, arranged these tracks according to their perceived quality and popularity, since the opening six tracks are clearly where the meat of the album resides. 'Greatest Hits' is squarely focused on the first 5 years of the band's output, offering 4 tracks from 1967's 'Procol Harum', and two each from 1968's 'Shine On Brightly', 1969's 'A Salty Dog', 1970's 'Home', and 1971's 'Broken Barricades'. Pretty democratic for a bunch of English socialists!

I was inspired to track down an affordable copy of a compilation of Procol's best after seeing a Musikladen performance of 'Simple Sister' in which the band really cooked, especially lead guitarist Robin Trower. The studio version of that track is offered here, and while it's certainly enjoyable, the band never seems to catch fire on this track the way they did for German TV. The studio version is too formulaic. Nevertheless, the live 1972 version of 'Conquistador' does cook, as does 'Whiskey Train', with a great lead guitar foundation laid down by Trower. The title tracks from the band's 1968 and 1969 albums, 'Shine On Brightly' and 'A Salty Dog' follow, both airing the band's trademark 'classical, epic' mode. I'm much more fond of this band when they're laying down merciless rock and roll, and while the second track, 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', is an undeniable masterpiece, I can only take so much of that dirge-like tempo. The longest track, 'Whaling Stories' at 7:07 takes that tempo to the extreme. Unfortunately, none of the remaining tracks on the disc ever get back to the ragged edge of 'Simple Sister' and 'Whiskey Train'.

The liner notes for 'Greatest Hits' state that Patricia Sullivan remastered these tracks at A&M studios, and while most of the disc sounds fine, it is listed as an AAD recording, two of the tracks are in mono ('Homburg' and 'In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence', which is so 'British' it may strain your sensibilities anyway), and 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' is the 1972 "reprocessed stereo" version, which means fake stereo. So the remastering leaves something to be desired as well.

While this album hasn't completely darkened my interest in Procol Harum, I am convinced I need to find a collection more centered on Robin Trower's metallic contributions to their legacy. Any suggestions?

The Best Of Procol Harum At A&M.......2005-06-27

This compilation combines the best cuts from Procol Harum's A&M years. There are several standouts here, including, especially, the band's big hit, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." Some people say that this song is about the Canterbury Tales, others claim its lyrics describe the consequences of excessive self-indulgence, but in my view, both interpretations are equally valid; in fact, the latter is why I look at photos of my favorite female celebrities to help me resist the temptation to do anything that could harm me in any way. Only lyricist Keith Reid knows for certain what "A Salty Dog" is about. Any fan of progressive rock should own this one.

A&M Great Work.......2003-07-20

I think that this cd is pretty cool i haven't heard it all but im sure it's great i bought this cd only because i heard the song A Whiter Shade Of Pale and it's a great tune i love it But i don't know why other people think that the label didnt do a good job but i don't know what other's think but i think the cd is olrite, I like it so far but just as long as it's not a jazz cd because then i would be dissapointed, But Procol Harum sounds like Steppenwolf and that's cool just as long as it sounds like any other artist i know, So that's olrite, But they also sound like David Bowie now David Bowie is great so i think that Procol Harum is cool.

Average customer rating:

A Phlat compilation of Greatest Hits
Great Music - But a Bit Dated
This is Getting Ridiculous...
slightly disappointing best of
BACK TO THE FUTURE

Procol Harum - Greatest Hits [Metro]
Procol Harum
Manufacturer: Metro Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000050X2B
Release Date: 2000-12-19

Tracks:

Whiter Shade of Pale
She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
Something Following Me
Mabel
Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of)
Conquistador
Kaleidoscope
Salad Days (Are Here Again)
Repent Walpurgis
Homburg
Quite Rightly So
Shine on Brightly
Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence
Salty Dog
Devil Came from Kansas
Boredom
Whisky Train
Whaling Stories

Customer Reviews:

A Phlat compilation of Greatest Hits.......2007-01-20

This Greatest Hits Album of Procol Harum has not impressed me. All the songs are there, but are really two-dimensional. Its as if they had been cut from some demo tracts and are devoid of PH's lead ins, background sounds, and depth. I got this album almost principally for their great song Conquistidor and was really dispointed with it - no big horn, no orchestra sound. It may be the band didn't leave great cuts behind after disbanding, but that's pretty hard to believe. You will certainly hear all the greatest hits, but if you are after great sounding album look somewhere else.

Great Music - But a Bit Dated.......2006-01-23

I remember seeing Procol Harum at the Fillmore East when they were at their prime. It was during the height of psychadelia, and they blew the audience away. Their mixture of classical, jazz, and pop, along with lyrics that were beautiful but cryptic were perfect.

The music, at its best, is still great. Unfortunately, some of their later material just doesn't seem to stand the test of time. If I were to do it over, I would probably get their first album, with that wonderful cover, instead of this greatest hits collection. However, this is CD is worth the money and nice selection from a classic rock group.

This is Getting Ridiculous..........2004-04-18

Why can't anyone compile a decent "Best Of" CD for this great band? Well, probably because most of these incompetent "record execs" have been raised on crap music, and don't know enough about Procol Harum to handle the task. The fact that no one seems to be able to put this band's 10 or 12 classic songs onto one disc makes it clear as to why the record biz is in trouble, and it's not from downloading. It's overpricing and bad staffing, pure and simple. The songs that are here are just fine, but this disc is lacking.

slightly disappointing best of.......2002-12-22

there's too much from the first album and not enough from the second, if you're going to have a 19 track anthology, i guess you shouldn't have about half of it come from the first record, as strong a record as it was nonwithstanding. i'd have liked to have seen skip softly my moonbeams, lime street blues,simple sister, grand hotel, and a long gone geek. i guess they couldn't put post 1970 recordings and there is a weird version of one of the very greatest procul harum tracks- the moving, stately, and just plain brilliant QUITE RIGHTLY SO. a whiter shade of pale and a salty dog are wonderful numbers, but this one belongs in the procul harum hierarchy as well. thgis band was one of the very earliest , and best art rock or classical rock bands, though they also delved into r and b type stuff, psychedelia, and much more. this collection is good, but it is incomplete. you'd probably be better off with a different best of, or, if you are a big procul harum fan, you might want to shell out for the 3 cd westside collection, which features many unreleased cuts, b-sides and alternative takes, as well as their first four albums- procul harum, shine on brightly, a salty dog, and home. this was one of the bands from england that , although commercially successful, somehow wound up being quite underrated. gary brooker and matthew fisher were excellent piano and organ players, and brooker's vocals are very effective. the band's lyricist keith reid's dylan influenced lyrics would perhaps be called by some, but i find them interesting, quirky, and distinctive. bassist david knights makes solid contributions, particularly on my aforementioned favorite track quite righly so, and drummer b.j. wilson was also good, in fact, he was jimmy page's original choice for that post in led zeppelin. fisher and wilson also played on joe cocker's debut with other noteworthy english rock players. and robin trower was a talented and intriguing guitarist who later went on to solo success. procul harum's music from the late 60's/early 70's remains interesting , enlightening, and fresh today.

BACK TO THE FUTURE.......2002-12-17

... I thought that anything that was compared, in signifcance, to the Guttenberg Press ought to be worthy of further investigation.

I had been a casual fan of Procol Harum during my youth (the 60's) but I was not overly familiar with their music. Although, I had always felt that their tunes 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' and 'Shine on Brightly' to be, perhaps, two of the finest examples 60's explorative rock. I must admit to never having owned a single disc of theirs. As a matter of fact, I do not believe that until very recently I had ever listened to one of Procol Harum's albums in it's entirety.

... I picked up this disc only to realize just how great a band they were. For the most part, this disc is utterly brilliant from beginning to end musically and lyrically. The scale of the sound, the sheer surrealistic brilliance of the lyrics and the extraordinary depth of emotions therein left be stunned, elated and emotionally electrified. This is, simply, one of the great bands of all time. A stellar example of what popular music can be but seldom is.

'Shine On'

Tracks:

Whiter Shade of Pale
She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
Something Following Me
Mabel
Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of)
Conquistador
Kaleidoscope
Salad Days (Are Here Again)
Repent Walpurgis
Homburg
Quite Rightly So
Shine on Brightly
Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence
Salty Dog
Devil Came from Kansas
Boredom
Whisky Train
Whaling Stories

Music Review:

Music Review

Music Review

1. Whiter Shade of Pale
2. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence
3. Something Following Me
4. Mabel
5. Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of)
6. Conquistador
7. Kaleidoscope
8. Salad Days (Are Here Again)
9. Repent Walpurgis
10. Homburg
11. Quite Rightly So
12. Shine on Brightly
13. Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
14. In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence
15. Salty Dog
16. Devil Came from Kansas
17. Boredom
18. Whisky Train
19. Whaling Stories