PRODIGAL STRANGER

"Prodigal Stranger" is the 10th full-length studio album by UK rock act Procol Harum. It´s the first album by the band since "Something Magic (1977)".

I haven´t yet listened to the last couple of albums from the seventies by Procol Harum, so I can´t compare "Prodigal Stranger" to how they sounded. What I can say about "Prodigal Stranger" is that the music on this 51:56 minute long album is very safe maintream adult oriented pop/ rock. I always know, that if it´s music my parents might enjoy, there´s something terribly wrong with it ( I mean my father´s idea of good music is something in the vein of Richard Clayderman, so it doesn´t get much worse than that right?). Well this is just that kind of album. From looking on the lineup it looked really great though as both Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, Keith Reid and Robin Trower are a part of that lineup. Getting through the album was not a very pleasant experience though. Seldom have I heard anything this tame. There are no adventurous ideas or interesting playing on the album. Just some professionally composed and played mainstream pop/ rock songs. Very well suited for an adult audience with no idea or interest in what progressive music is all about. Man I´m sure my parents would love this.

The production is very time typical. Especially the hidious snare drum sound which has got so much chorus effect applied to it that it sounds like it was recorded in an empty concert venue. There are some really awful female backing choirs on the album too which I do not enjoy one bit.

"Prodigal Stranger" is a a below standard release by Procol Harum. Thankfully I didn´t expect much from this release. A 1.5 - 2 star rating is all I can give. This album suddenly made me feel very young. So I guess it did do something good for me.