Exotic Birds and Fruit is Procol Harum getting their hands dirty again. Released in 1974, it followed the plush, orchestra-draped Grand Hotel — and deliberately went the other way: no orchestra, no gilding, just five musicians in a room playing hard. Behind a sumptuous seventeenth-century still life of a cover sits their grittiest album of the decade, and one that hides a couple of the finest songs of their later years. It is the most underrated record in the Procol Harum catalogue.

The short version

Exotic Birds and Fruit (1974) is Procol Harum’s seventh studio album, recorded at AIR Studios in London with producer Chris Thomas. The band is now a settled five-piece: Gary Brooker on piano and vocals, Mick Grabham on guitar, Chris Copping restored to the organ, Alan Cartwright on bass and B.J. Wilson on drums, with Keith Reid writing every word and Brooker every note. After the lavish orchestral sweep of Grand Hotel, this one strips the strings away almost entirely and lets Copping’s organ do the symphonic work — the result is tougher, darker and more direct. It reached number eighty-six in America, and is best known for As Strong as Samson, a bleak, gorgeous highlight of the band’s whole career.

After the Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel had been Procol Harum at their most opulent: full orchestra, choir, the works. It was a hard act to follow, and rather than try, the band did the opposite. The sleeve notes to Exotic Birds and Fruit announced a stripped-down, back-to-basics record — which is not quite true, since Brooker’s writing is as intricate as ever, but the intent was real. There is no orchestra here beyond a single string arrangement, and the grandeur that remains comes from Chris Copping’s organ, at last free to be the lead instrument again now that Alan Cartwright had taken over the bass. This was also the most stable Procol Harum had been in years: the same five men who made Grand Hotel, working fast and playing hard. Even the cover carried the joke — a lush, gilded still life of birds and fruit, painted some three centuries earlier by the Hungarian artist Jakob Bogdani, wrapped around the least decorous music they had made in years.

The sound

This is a heavier, grittier Procol Harum than the one most people remember, but it never stops sounding like them. Gary Brooker’s piano and worn, soulful voice are still the anchor, and Keith Reid’s words are as dense and allusive as ever. What changes is the frame: Mick Grabham’s guitar bites harder, B.J. Wilson’s drumming is relentless, and Chris Copping’s organ carries all the sweep an orchestra would once have supplied — warmer and more soulful than Matthew Fisher’s old baroque style, and all the better for it. The mood is dark and rather sardonic throughout. There are moments of real beauty, but they arrive without velvet cushions.

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The songs

Nothing But the Truth opens hard and fast, one of the heaviest things they had recorded in years, lifted by the album’s only string arrangement. Beyond the Pale follows, a captivating stomp with a distinctly Eastern European swing to it. Then comes As Strong as Samson, and the album stops being merely good: a slow, aching, deeply melancholy song about a world that has lost its way, with B.J. Cole’s pedal steel guitar sighing behind Brooker’s vocal and what many hold to be the finest organ solo Chris Copping ever played. Many fans rank it among the band’s greatest recordings. The Idol closes the first side in stately, mournful fashion. Side two is more scattered: The Thin End of the Wedge is eerie and cinematic; Monsieur R. Monde rocks hard; Fresh Fruit is a slight novelty; Butterfly Boys is a sardonic swipe at somebody; and the lovely New Lamps for Old brings the record home with the old Procol grace intact.

Reception and legacy

Exotic Birds and Fruit has always lived in the shadow of Grand Hotel, and reviews have been mixed ever since — some find it uneven, the second side weaker than the first, the production a little blunt. But it has a devoted following, and a strong case is regularly made for it: plenty of listeners call it the most complete album of Procol Harum’s later career, the best thing they did outside the classic run of their first three records, and a few prefer it outright to its glossier predecessor. What is not in dispute is the strength of its best moments, and As Strong as Samson in particular has grown into one of the band’s most cherished songs. It stands as the last of the great Procol Harum albums before the run began winding down.

The verdict

Exotic Birds and Fruit is not the place to begin — A Salty Dog comes first, and Grand Hotel probably second. But it is the album to reach for once you know you like this band, and the one most likely to reward you for going deeper. It is tough, dark, unfussy and confident, with a first side that stands with anything in their catalogue and a closing song of real beauty. Yes, a couple of tracks are makeweights. But As Strong as Samson alone justifies the record, and the whole thing has an unpretentious grit that has aged far better than anyone expected. A hidden gem, and overdue for rediscovery.

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