SOMETHING MAGIC

I continue my Procol Harum journey and for the first time after the live album am I absolutely content with what I hear. With this (unfortunatley last) record they took a big step towards a more pretentious progressive rock. That was perhaps not what their fans had expected, and by some strange reasons have the record got quite bad ratings even here. The time had past two years since quite enjoyable "Procol's Ninth" and now they were back with an amazing cover. The music couldn't be anything but progressive with a front cover like that. We can se an old time fashioned lady without head sitting on a boat deck with an aquarium flying with a fish in the sky. I love the picture. The record was released 1977. After that the band disbandet...

Gary Brooker sung and played piano, Chris Copping played bass, Mick Grabham played guitar, Keith Reid wrote, Barrie James Wilson drummed and Peter Solley played organ and synthesizers. I would guess Solley took a great part of the changing of the sound to the better. On this Procol Harum record the band suddenly sounds modern and true progressive. They playful synths I think is a big part. But the album isn't just new thinking. I also hear tunes that sound very old, like some nice classical gentlemen piano of past times.

Especially "Skating on thin ice" sounds old in the piano, and that track is also the album's best one. The sound is idyllic and the brass feels also unique and cool. This is actually one of the best Procol Harum songs I have heard(9/10). "Somethin magic"(8/10) is also wonderful. The song is very symphonic, in a way I miss on many PH records. "Strangers in space" is some form of space rock and now they managed to do that very well(8/10). I like the organs and the crazy but calm feeling the song gives me. "The worm and the tree" is true symphonic, sometimes you don't now that it is rock and the melodies are pleasant to take part in. The piano is very old time sounding. But I miss the singing sections on this long track. It's too much of a story being told. This symphony could have been so great but now it's just 7/10. "Wizard man"(7/10) is a short ut joyful little song with country feeling and I like the optimism. "The mark of the claw" has more of the welcome synthesizer and it's dramatic rock(8/10). I am sure that 4/5 is a fair grade to this album.

"Something Magic" completes Procol Harum's classic records and I think they stopped on top. If they had done more records like this I had been more content. This seems to be a gravely overlooked work by this otherwise sometimes vapid band. Recommended!