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“A&M; Classics: Procol Harum.” A&M.; The British band wears better than you might expect on this 12-track compilation, which contains 55 minutes and 18 seconds of music. The 1967 hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale” retains a timeless power that transcends nostalgia, and some of the songs that in vague memory seem merely pretentious come back strong in the vivid CD sound. Procol pulls off its grandiosity with the sheer bravado of its symphonic sound, plus the wit lurking in Keith Reid’s lyrics of myth and madness. Robin Trower’s fierce guitar work charges the bluesier cuts, while Gary Brooker’s gloriously supple, soulful voice lends a special dimension to the powerfully evocative atmospheres of seafaring yarns like “A Salty Dog” and “Whaling Stories.” ***