OSCILLATIONS: HOME by Procol Harum

This is the fourth album (1970) by England's Procol Harum, and its first without organist Matthew Fisher.  A quick scan of the lyrics reveals an album filled with death,  disease,  despair,  suicide,  and apocalypse,  not exactly pop fodder.  With a single listen,  the title HOME implies a welcome finality,  and one that,  unlike the dogma of various religions,  does not present hidden truths.  To my mind this is perhaps the finest "pop" album to use the theme of one's mortality to darken an entire LP.  While some of the music here may seem too light or melodic to deal with such subject matter,  it really works,  especially when one finds oneself humming the chorus of the especially grim "Still There'll Be More",  which features a vengeful god as the protagonist: I'll blacken your Christmas/ and piss on your door/You'll cry out for mercy/ but still there'll be more. "Nothing That I Didn't Know" is a haunting tale of human suffering that offers a surviver's perspective mired in guilt.  Strangely enough,  the album begins with  a celebration of excess,  the guitar fueled "Whiskey Train" and ends with "You're Own Choice",  a track that embraces doubt,  possibility,  and finality,  perhaps the only positive moment on HOME.  Check it out.