The Material saves Harums

Dagens Nyheter (The Daily News) 28 August 1967

From Dagens Nyheters' (The Daily News') special correspondent: Gothenburg, Sunday.

Procul Harum, the English "jack-in-the-box"-group that sold 3 million copies of the first record of their career, played their Scandinavian first night at Liseberg concert hall in Gothenburg Sunday evening.

That the group should meet the inhumanely high expectations of the pop audience after A Whiter Shade of Pale is of course absurd. To a large extent, Procol Harum is still a group in the making.

The quintet took the stage in Peter Pan-dresses: short cape, eel-tight trousers and knee-high boots. The group's singer, Gary Brooker, is also a pianist and moreover they introduce an organist - an unusual combination. The group's music has an unusual sound and shows definite influences from baroque music, Bach and especially Bob Dylan.

The melodies are long, sentimental things with heavy chords. Gary Brooker is a very mediocre singer, and the group succeeded best in an instrumental number: juicy, beautiful, peculiar. The group's melodic material is their main asset. Without it, Procul Harum is one of many bands.

Before the main event, the audience got to see a film about milking of cows, listen to one of Sweden's comedy-acts, the Malmoe trio Gonks, see a cartoon movie, listen to a leathery and unimaginative cacophony from Harlem Kiddies and experience the happiness in watching a self-styled fakir from Denmark nail his tongue to a board.

Björn Lundholm

Many thanks to Jonas Söderström who found this and translated it into English for BtP