ALL THIS AND MORE... - A 4-DISC COMPENDIUM

There are awful lot of Procol Harum compilations, most of them on one disc. As far as I know, this is the biggest set and covers the whole career. But alas, the "4-Disc" promise in its subtitle is bound to raise disappointment. First, only about one and a half discs represent the studio material up to their breakup in the late 70's. The third disc is all live (a couple of live tracks on the second too, amidst newer studio material), and the fourth is a live DVD, compiled from various concerts from various years, approximately 3/4 dating from this Millennium. Sure the live disc includes more of the older stuff - and at least there are no double appearances of the same song, which is a positive note - but I still argue about the high portion of live stuff at the cost of deeper insight into the albums.

So, for all who would like to fill some possible gaps in the seventies output (for example I have never listened to Home, Broken Barricades or Exotic Birds and Fruit in their entirety) and who don't give a damn about their later phases will feel frustration with this compilation. The 70- page booklet is also very uncomfortable in that aim. I always expect to see clearly from which album each track is. Trying to find that information from the long texts dealing the band's history and the albums is too time-consuming. [By the way, the beginning of the essay is totally ridiculous, as it goes on and on for pages about the fame of 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'.]

Of course there are many great tracks, even the magnificent 'In Held Twas in I'! But one could expect much more lightening contents from this size of a set.