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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and I enjoyed British rockers Procol Harum's fourth studio album, 1970's Home.
Procol Harum is best known for their sublime 1967 hit "Whiter Shade of Pale." After they recorded that song, but before they recorded their first album, they nearly immediately had a lineup change, bringing in drummer B.J. Wilson and guitarist Robin Trower, who would remain in the band until 1971, after which he left to form his own band. There were multiple lineup changes over the years, and they had their biggest post-"Whiter Shade of Pale" from 1967 to 1971, during which time they released six studio albums.
Home is a nice mix of blues rock and early prog rock. It reminds me a lot of early '70s Traffic, perhaps because lead singer Gary Brooker's voice is reminiscent of Steve Winwood's. The album reached #34 on the Billboard album chart and #24 on the UK album chart, their highest-charting album in their native land. None of the singles from the album charted in either country.
The band continued to put out albums until the late '70s and had another hit with 1972's "Conquistador," which hit #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 in Australia, and #7 in Canada. They broke up in late 1977, but then re-formed in the early '90s and have put out four studio albums since then, most recently in 2017.
Home is not available on Spotify, but someone made a YouTube playlist with all the songs on the album (though not all are the album versions of the songs), so I embedded that below.
Favorite Song on Side 1: "Whiskey Train"
The album kicks off with a blistering blues-based rocker that borders on Southern rock. Trower has a nice, heavy repeating riff throughout the song.
Favorite Song on Side 2: "Your Own Choice"
The last song on the album is a nice Traffic-esque post-psychedelic pop rock song.
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