larryspict4

Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

Contributed to BtP by Larry Pennisi

Chris Copping on bass at a New York college in 1970.

Gary and Keith at a rehearsal. This is a common picture and I've seen others in the series from other photographic angles from time to time. Though hard to see, the piano Gary is playing looks as if it were dredged up from someone's 1930's basement.

Though tacky and tattered ... it still must have been glorious to sit in and listen to the men shape the sound we have come to know and love so very much.

And below that ... the standard press shot of the band 1971–72.

Matthew Fisher in costume in 1967. His highly decorative organ machinations are thoughtful, emotional in their execution and technically adept; yet remain uncontrived, as opposed to the excesses that some of his contemporaries indulged in. With maybe only Keith Emerson as an exception, rock keyboard playing was in its infancy at that time, making even more obvious the wealth of talent and imagination in the fertile mind of Matthew Fisher.

From Crawdaddy No.12: Dave Knights, BJ and Robin Trower in the foreground. This was from a set of pictures which accompanied the magazine's review of the very first barrier-breaking Procol album.

Robin was using a Gibson SG series guitar at this point. It offered a smaller violin-shaped body and most often came in a mahogany finish. Not many people seem to use them anymore ...

This is a photo taken during the Broken Barricades period. The picture was used in a magazine advert where all the band members' faces were blotted out. This is obviously the 'before' version of the picture …

From the insert pages of the Repertoire re-release of Shine On Brightly ... a great smiling group shot in ghostly green hue.

Gary at Central Park in 1972 with the re-energised five-piece Procol Harum

Index for Larry Pennisi's pictures

Procol Harum

Beyond the Pale

Procol Harum pictures: 4

Contributed to BtP by Larry Pennisi

Beyond
the Pale