Big Dog 92-7 Music Guide

Greatest Hits [Metro]

RELEASE
December 12, 2000
LABEL
Metro
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Prog-Rock, British Psychedelia, Psychedelic, Art Rock

Album Review

The title's a bit of a misnomer, as Procol Harum were never a singles-oriented band after "A Whiter Shade of Pale" had finished its massive chart run. And even though this has their other late-'60s high and (usually) low single chart entries -- "Homburg," "Quite Rightly So," and "A Salty Dog" -- it lacks the early-'70s hit remake of "Conquistador" (though the original's here), as well as the British Top Twenty hit "Pandora's Box." If you're not fussy about designations, this is a good and lengthy (75-minute) survey of the highlights of the earliest and most interesting part of their career, with songs from their first four albums, all released in 1967-1970. It's expectedly heavy on the self-titled debut album, including all but three songs from Procol Harum, and then five songs from Shine on Brightly (the hugely popular title track among them), drawing lightly on A Salty Dog and Home. Song- and pop-oriented listeners may find this collection, with its focus on the shorter and more accessible tracks, shows the band to be a more listenable and enjoyable proposition than they remember.
Richie Unterberger, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. A 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. A Salty Dog
  16. The Devil Came from Kansas
  17. Boredom
  18. Whisky Train
  19. Whaling Stories