Broken Barricades: Procol Harum

There's a catchy little song by Bloomington, Indiana's Gizmos that revolves around the immortal line:

"Progressive rock, progressive rock, really sucks don't it, don't it really suck?"

(And I'd give the songwriting credit if I had the lp here with me ... sorry about that, 'mos.)
While I don't wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, I sure have had my share of bad prog rock experiences, both listening and attempting to play it. Like the time I walked into an audition, also in Bloomington, and the band was in the midst of rehearsing Gentle Giant's "Knots" ... get a prog-head to play this track for you, to get the flavor of that experience. Or seeing Rush on their first major tour, opening for a disintegrating Rod Stewart and Faces. Geddy Lee screeching through an opening-act mix ... gives me a headache all over again, even after a couple of decades.

Sooooo, I hate seeing Procol Harum labeled a "progressive rock" band. That is largely a pejorative term in my lexicon. He said pedantically and priggishly. And I call myself a "writer" ...

And, while Procol did step out of bounds with the (prog-rock staple) lp-side-long "Tree and the Worm," that was only after they did it marvelously with "In Held 'Twas I." While the lyrics were sometimes opaque, that rarely stood in the way of the band putting over the material. In fact, lyricist Keith Reid only failed the band on the reunion album, The Prodigal Stranger, where he chiefly wrote about mundane subjects.

No, Procol--like that great two-keyboard band from North America--was a forceful rock and roll ensemble, one that more than held its own on passages of the Edmonton Symphony album where the ork lays out. They featured a distinctive and powerful guitarist, in Robin Trower, who knew when to back off and when to throw flames. Their drummer, Barrie (B.J.) Wilson, was innovative and subtle, making percussion an integral part of many songs' arrangements. (His death, as evidenced by the Wilson-less reunion album, marked the end of the band, so essential was he to the band's sound. Check out Joe Cocker's first album, also, for more evidence of Wilson as one of rock's premiere drummers.)

The first time I heard this album was on a pre-recorded cassette, in a Datsun 1600 convertible. Doing maybe 85. With the top down. Could a listening experience get more rock n' roll? Well, if it had been a T-Bird or Mustang, maybe ... Still, it was pretty damn rock n' roll.

So what if, in "Power Failure," it was impossible to tell Wilson's drums from the tires potholing on the heat-wracked northern Indiana blacktop? There isn't enough road noise in the world to diminish Trower's crunching opening chord to "Simple Sister." This was in the days when pre-recorded cassettes had all the dynamic range of a Speak and Spell, so it wasn't until I got a copy of the lp -- complete with die-cut cover -- that I was able to hear and appreciate the album's nuances. Broken Barricades grabbed me from the first, regardless, because of that power and authority that Procol Harum could conjure up.

Other than Salty Dog and the live Edmonton album*--both of which I played the grooves flat on--there wasn't another PH album that came close to digging its hooks in me like this one. Well, except maybe Home -- I liked "Still They'll Be More" so much I (inadvertently) copped a lot of its sound for this stupid song of mine, "The Border Police." Oh, and Shine On Brightly--that's a great lp, too.

And I say that as a huge fan of almost everything Procol did, with the definite exception of Side Two--the aforementioned "Worm" thing--of Something Magic.

Even more than Mott the Hoople, this was the group that made the piano sound right in rock and roll, post 50's. Nowhere did the piano hold its own with the electric guitar so well as on Broken Barricades' opener, the magnificent "Simple Sister." Wilson was all over this song, and, for his last appearance before going solo, Trower provides the blueprint for how guitar and strings ought to duke it out in the same song, without either sounding out of place. All well and good for "Whiter Shade…" and "Conquistador" … THIS is where Procol got everything right.

The early Moog on "Luskus Delph" enhances the arrangement, rather than being used as a noisemaker, as most of their contemporaries were doing (see the Monkees' "Star Collector"). "Playboy of the Mouth" sounds just the right amount of sleazy; "Song for a Dreamer" lays out Trower's career for the next decade; even Wilson's drum solo track enhances an album that serves as a showcase for everything the individual members of Procol could do.

Broken Barricades appeared to be the beginning of a powerful new sound for Procol Harum, a refinement of the more basic, guitar/piano-based material that dominated Home. Wasn't to be. Nothing against the return to the orchestral with Grand Hotel … there's just something great and unique about the way this album rocks.

* "Conquistador" was as unlikely a hit single, especially in the days of fidelity-impaired AM radio, as I can imagine, even more than "Whiter Shade of Pale." How did that ever become a hit in the U.S.?
Did A&M put a lot of promotional muscle behind that Live album? Or did deejays just take to the thing and break it, like they used to be able to do? And why wasn't "Simple Sister" a hit?
Why am I thinking about this?

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