Procol Harum were incapable of writing anything normal. Somehow, even being produced by the old-school trad.’ness of Leiber & Stoller, re-newly hot from doing that Stealers Wheel “Stuck In The Middle With You” thing, didn’t stop "Pandora's Box" being a record which seems to exist in the same semi-world as the Rochdale fairies (which are real, by the way). There’s an uncomfortable spookiness about it: even trad Jerry & Mike were onboard with making things sound shivvery. But more than anything, of course, it’s the words in Procol Harum songs which are always super-mysterious, and we could hire a country cottage for a weekend retreat, drink absinthe (never tried it, sounds good) and discuss them into the night (shall we do that?).
We shared a taxi with their words-man Keith Reid once, and I tried to ask him what “And though I know the lifeguard’s brave / There is no-one for him to save” meant. He paused for a week, then shrugged. I cornered him later (this was at a Matthew Sweet gig, by the way…) and asked him again: no joy. We tried to give our “Pandora’s Box” that same kinda uneasy queasiness… don’t know if it worked (did it?). There’s a bit of “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” going on in “Five O’Clock Shadow” on the “Think Bubble” record but, really, one way or another, there’s quite a bit of Procol-quoting all through Pooh Sticks stuff, especially from "A Salty Dog" and this one.
"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.
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