THE WELL'S ON FIRE

The Well's on Fire is the 12th full-length studio album by UK rock act Procol Harum. That´s if you count The Long Goodbye (1996) as a Procol Harum album and not a Gary Brooker solo album. If you don´t The Well's on Fire is the 11th full-length studio album by Procol Harum. Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher and Keith Reid are the ususal suspects in the lineup while bassist Matthew Pegg ( Son of Dave Pegg from Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull) is the new boy in town.

The music style on the album is adult oriented pop/ rock. There´s a warmer sound on this album compared to the Prodigal Stranger (1991), but the music is still simple commercially accessible pop/ rock without many challenges or twists. Gary Brooker´s strong and distinct vocals are still the greatest asset in Procol Harum´s music. The instrumentation include lots of piano and organ in addition to guitar, bass and drums.

The Well's on Fire is another rather mediocre release by Procol Harum if you ask me. You´ll find well written compositions, professional musicianship and a professional production too, but you won´t find anything of a progressive nature here. The album is somewhat acceptable though and a 2.5 star rating is warranted. Procol Harum were never the most progressive rock act in the world, but they used to show great adventurism and be full of innovative ideas. Those days are unfortunately long gone.