Gary Brooker on Swedish TV

17 October 2002

Jonas Söderström writes to BtP (17 October 2002)

A few snippets from the interview with Gary from Swedish national television tonight. (SVT TV2: GoKväll, 'Good Evening'). What was said? "Nothing that I didn't know," but nice anyway. Mostly about AWSoP, a brief outline of what Gary did "after the Procol years", and the information that the day after this interview (done in August), Gary was off to the south of France to write new material for a coming Procol Harum album)

There were some b/w footage of early Procol playing that might be Swedish television archive material; I did not recognize it, perhaps someone else will. I could add a few clips from that also, perhaps tomorrow.

Also, some pictures from Gary's solo appearance on Booster, Swedish rock programme from 1999. Could add a few more from that too.

Voice of Gary: "Someone called me up from a hotel room in China, because when they went up in the lift ... AWSoP was playing - not by Procol Harum, but a Chinese version." (The picture shows a 1967 cover of Bildjournalen, Swedish 60s pop magazine.)

"I got a telephone call from Bali yesterday, from a Swiss friend, because the orchestra in the hotel - all Balinese instruments! - were playing A Whiter Shade of Pale."

"Everybody takes it their own way. That's why we're still talking about it 35-years later." (About what AWSoP really means.)