Procul [sic] Harum - warm and quiet

Expressen, 28 August 1967

Procul Harum - warm and quiet Gothenburg (Expressen)

Procul Harum - world famous through the 2.5 million-seller A Whiter Shade of Pale met the Swedish audience for the first time yesterday evening.

Gary Brooker, 22, Mathew Fisher, 21, Robin Troyer [sic], 22, Dave Knights 22 and Barrie Wilson, 20, liked both Liseberg, Sweden, and the audience - it gave a good response.

Without a warm contact with the audience, Procul Harum can't work. For a while, the contact within the band wasn't especially warm. The result: two defecting musicians. The guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Barry Harrisson scrammed straight away. Replacement: Robin Troyer and Barry Wilson.

They'll come to Stockholm on Tuesday. Thursday, Stockholmers will have a chance to listen to the pop world's most quiet bringers of happiness right now.

Expressen's opinion is...

...that Procul Harum is a pleasant musical acquaintance.

...that they're everything but a hard-swinging band. Instead, they're a band with unusual musical musical qualities.

...that Procul Harum should avoid fast tunes - the weak percussion and bass doesn't have the strength for those...

...that the organ/piano-sound is nice, solid and festive

...that warm-up act Gonks - Malmoe-kids with a feeling for music - should refrain from clownery. It's a pity...

...that warm-up act number two Harlem Kiddies still is Scandinavia's coolest soul group. There's a yankee behind the drums, too...

...that you easily can bring your granddad to a Procul Harum gig. He will surely buy the first record of his life the day after.

Claes Hanning

Actually, granddad probably came - some 25 years later. During the Stockholm Circus concert of the Prodigal Stranger tour, a young person shouted "Welcome back!" to the band. "Came with dad?" Gary replied, an then added "... probably came with granddad".

Procol did play in Stockholm in 1967 too - on the first of September. The Daily News was still not pleased ...

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