HOMBURG & OTHER HATS: PROCOL HARUM'S BEST

Procol Harum was one of the bands in the early Proto-Prog movement, they introduced symphonic sounds to their music, with piano and organ in their music. This is the best of Procol Harum's "Greatest" or "Best" compilation, for those who don't intend to get all their albums this provides the most complete collection. I had earlier bought the 1996 A&M "Greatest Hits" (the second best collection) which I would recomend as a starter if you cannot get Homburg & Hats on CD. (it's hard to find). For serious Procol harum Fans I would recomend the excellent box sets available for this band: "The First Four" & "Three Classic Albums". I really appreciate the fact that this release filled up the disc (77.7 min) instead of the usual 45-55 min.

This disc has two tracks each from studio albums 1-4 & 7, three tracks from #6 (Grand Hotel) + one track each from studio albums 5, 8 & 9. It also has the two hit singles (Whiter Shade of Pale & Homburg) that were unfortunatly left off the first release. (WSofP was only included on the first album's U.S. issue) This was typical of the practice at the time (the Beatles didn't usually put their singles on their albums in the 60's), and this resulted in poor sales for Procol Harum's first. The first 7 tracks + "Conquistador" are from their 67-69 period in which Matthew Fisher's organ playing played a more prominant role in the music.

The best known of the songs are "Whiter Shade of Pale" & "Conquistador" as they were big hits in the U.S. & U.K., they are both excellent. "Homburg" and the instrumental "Repent Walpurgis" (instrumental) are my favorites on the album, with the heavy symphonic organ parts. The tracks are all good, with the other standouts being "Simple Sister", "Salty Dog", & "Grand Hotel". The track "Grand Hotel" is a very enjoyable re-visit to the elegant orrchestral based style more prominant on their first 3 albums.