HOME

By the time this fourth album came out, Procol was concentrating mainly their efforts on the US and Continental Europe, (as the UK were mostly ignoring the group) and Matthew Fisher (not a great fan of touring) had simply left the group, although he was still being their producer(until half the sessions). With Fisher gone, one would expect the organ maybe disappearing completely from Procol's music, but such was not the case: Chris Copping, another ex-Paramounts will come in on bass and will also double on the organ, actually making this instrument much more present than on the previous A Salty Dog. One of the most striking features, outside a relatively harder sound (Trower being ever more confidant) are the very depressing lyrics that Keith Reid provided for this album. Most are about death and doom, although it turns out that this was mostly incidental. Another feature is that the album has much more of a focus than its predecessor.

Home is a very much more even album than its predecessor, and the highlights are also brighter than on ASD. Again based on an artwork from Reid's wife (the third is four albums), but this one being rather disputable in its good taste, the gatefold album displays some of the chosen lyrics (but strangely not all tracks) and a picture of the quartet. A very hard Trower-penned Whiskey Train starts off the album a bit surprisingly, but clearly coming just after are Dead Man's Dreamis one of the many highlight of the album, with the equally doomed About To Die, making the backbone of the first side of the album. Both tracks are among the very best of Procol's career.

The second side also holds two major tracks: The Barnyard Story (where Copping plays a Harmonium) and the grandiose Whaling Story with its almost 8-min length and full dramatic suspense. Along with the side-long suit in SOB, Whaling Story is the most ambitious track that Procol wrote and the tracks works wonders live, in studio or in its magnificent orchestral arrangements. Other good tracks are Nothing I didn't know and Piggy Pig Pig (another Trower track), while Still There'll be More is a wink to the previous album's great track, but it is not living up to its promise.

With this album, Procol will end its collaboration with Decca (Regal Zonophone was one of their sub-label which had mostly gathered Salvation Army music before integrating Procol's catalogue), and they will move to a more "prog" label, Chrysalys, but clearly their better days were about to end soon. Yet another great album, from Procol, I prefer this one to its predecessor, but combining both albums to make a single disc would've made one of the best album ever. But I am doing some wishful thinking here.