Review Summary: Overall high quality, with a large amount of beautiful moments. And then you have a horrible moment.
Procol Harum started out as a psychedelic rock band, who gained fame with their single "A Whiter Shade of Pale" in 1967, which would eventually sell over 10 million copies. The same year they released their self titled debut album. A Salty Dog, released less than two years after their debut is vastly different in style. This album featured a more diverse and mature sound in many ways, and leaned much more towards the newly developed progressive rock genre. I feel Procol Harum is quite underrated, because they are together with The Moody Blues responsible for creating the first prog rock tinged albums (proto-prog that is). A Salty Dog represents a successful attempt at recording pretty complex rock music without getting too serious like later prog bands would.
Kicking off the album with the title track, the band showcases their great skill of making an epic song, despite being under five minutes long. The song is very contrasted, differing between the quiet/gentle verses and the powerful and strikingly beautiful chorus, with wonderful vocal performances. In between most of the songs, strong blues associated songs are placed. The Devil Came From Kansas, Crucifiction Lane and Juicy John Pink are all placed in the blues catagory, with quite strongly distorted guitars and slow tempo. Unfortunately, Juicy John Pink comes off as a *** song, to be frank. Its production is extremely weak, and it sounds like it was recorded inside a trashcan in a garage. The two other are kinda good, but they too aren't as great as the other songs on the album.
Beside those, almost all songs are very noteworthy and sticks in your head. Most of these dare to be beautiful, and one of the most important reasons for this is the fact that an orchestra is strongly featured like it is in the title track. Wreck of the Hesperus leaves the strongest impression on me, because of the insanely memorable and stunning instrumental parts in between the verses. Here, the orchestra gives all they can, with beautiful violin lines that might just leave a tear in your eye, especially near the end when I want to stand up and salute as the boat sinks to the ocean floor. Too Much Between Us is also another strong number. It might not tick on the first listen, but it definitely will after that. Contrary to Wreck of the Hesperus, this song doesn't have an orchestra in it, neither is it epic, but it's charming and peaceful instead.
One doesn't have to be a prog rock fan at all to enjoy this. It's very easy to sit down and listen to the entire album in one go, and it won't be a forgettable experience. No songs will bore you except Boredom (just kidding) and Juicy John Pink (totally serious). Only one song reaches the five minute mark, but it's not needed here because of the focused songwriting and their ability to make epic songs very easily. I recommend this album to most music fans out there, except for maybe die hard metal fans.
