PROCOL HARUM [AKA: A WHITER SHADE OF PALE]

Innovative? Absolutely. Talented? Without a doubt. Interesting? Mostly. Well crafted? Well... no, not really. Some songs are absolutely fantastic, Whiter Shade of Pale, She Wandered Through the Garden Fence, Repent Walpurgis for example. Others are mediocre, Conquistador, Kaleidoscope, Cerdes for example. Others still seem downright out of place, Something Following Me, Mabel and Good Captiain Clack. The other two songs I haven't mentioned A Christmas Camel and Salad Days I feel fall somewhere between the fantastic and mediocre songs here, although they aren't bad they don't have that little extra something that the others do. In a way, they feel like they were trying to emulate and re-create some of the majesty in their stronger songs but they just come off as inferior.

I'm not going to go into the importance of this album, on which it would have to be rated higher, that being said, as it stands as an album, it ranges from some breathtaking melodies to an absolute mess (Mabel). I don't think the album is without it's merits, it has some incredibly strong music but the parts are greater than the whole here and some absolute masterpieces are brought down by other songs giving the album a very mixed feel.