Procol Harum's second single

Three reviews from 1967

Homburg
There's very little to say about something beautiful while you are still bathing in its radiance and absorbing its being. How can you criticise a record whose words have not yet been learnt by heart and mind and understood? This is the follow-up you have all been waiting for. It is a sad song that sweeps over you like waves of energy and loneliness and life and "signposts that cease to sign," and so much more. An honest, incredible sound!

Homburg
This follow-up to Harum's No 1 could well have been titled A Paler Shade of White, because it's very similar to the group's first disc. The chordal structure is much the same -- and so is the fusion of contempary lyrics with a Bach-Handel fugal [sic] strain. But whereas the last one owed a lot to Air On A G String, this latest effort seems to lean heavily on Sheep May Safely Graze. The main melody line is taken by a clanking piano, with that spine-tingling organ playing a background role -- and the beat, emphasised by crashing cymbals, is more pronounced than before. It's another disc that gets right into your blood -- obviously a smash! (see here for the source of this snippet, and its comments on the B side ... thanks, Joan)

Homburg
The first time I heard this nearly two months ago I really couldn't see any close association with Whiter Shade ... though, of course, now listening to it properly and not in those odd circumstances it is clearly a close follow-up. And why not indeed? It is equally well done with lovely piano that you sometimes get on really good French instrumental records. I like the words on this much better than Whiter, probably because I could understand these rather bitter lyrics and I really never fully understood what Whiter was all about although as an atmosphere piece it couldn't be beaten. Obviously a lot of the novelty is lost but you will find this a well made record and worth having around, so buy it.