Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale 

PH on stage | PH on record | PH in print | BtP features | What's new | Interact with BtP | For sale | Site search | Home

A pile of papers I was going through ...

The history of Procol in print


Three sections to this page, so do scroll down to explore. In each category, articles are compiled in inverse chronological order. If you have articles not listed below, please send them to us.


Articles containing a chronological survey

2016 Italian Classic Rock
2006 The biography of Procol Harum, by their Italian tour-promoter
200? A French biography of Procol Harum
2003 The biography of Procol Harum, from Eagle Rock, their new record-label
2002 Scaruffi's online history of Procol Harum
2001 Programme note from the Procol Harum / Hallι orchestra concert
2001 The prestigious Grove's Dictionary of Music
2000 A Procol Harum 'biography' that can be found at Amazon.com
2000 Full length biography of Procol Harum in Claes Johansen's book, Beyond the Pale
2000 Jerry Lucky in 20th Century Rock and Roll: Progressive Rock
2000 Programme note from the Procol Harum / The New London Sinfonia concert
1999 So Sixties!: unexpected parallel between C19th painter Gustave Moreau and Procol Harum.
1999 Procol Harum and the British Psychedelic trip – From Record Collector September 1999
1999 A close encounter between Peter Solley and Procol Harum in 1967 – from Record Collector December 1999
1999 Rock Hound ... brief survey of Procol's work, and the influence of the Shangri-las
1997 The Repertoire re-releases have excellent liner-notes by Chris Welch
1997 Virgin Encyclopaedia of Sixties Music has star ratings for all the albums to date
199? A flawed history of Procol Harum and Robin Trower
1995  Salty Dogs and Rotten Worms – Mojo review of all the PH albums ... so far
1992 "Matthew Fisher is much more like the way people think I am. Actually, I'm pretty light-hearted ...": a  good Keith Reid interview from 1992
1991 Superb liner notes to the Zoo compilation album, by John Mendelssohn
1989 Goldmine article about the Great Lost Procol Harum album
1989 Goldmine article about Robin Trower: Magic Fingers
1989 Q Magazine Procol Harum on record with 76 other musicians, 'not dicking about'
1987 Good liner notes to a PH compilation album, by Jim Bickhart
1986 From the book Stairway to Heaven – the Spiritual Roots of Rock 'N' Roll,
1983 The Paramounts: their history, from the Whiter Shades of R&B LP insert
1983 Good, illustrated article from The History of Rock
1982 Record Collector No 39: a chronological retrospective
1981 A personal history of PH and the Paramounts from a fanzine, Gorilla Beat
1981 Slightly flawed history of the band from The Great Rock and Pop Nostalgia Book
1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide assesses the first ten Procol Harum albums
1979 A good article from an Italian book about British music
1978 from Rocket: a good survey of the first ten years of Procol Harum
1977 Procol Harum entry from the 'NME' Book of Rock
1977 PH at Mid-Hudson Civic Centre ... from Poughkeepsie Journal
1977 'A Whiter Shade of Pale and Beyond': retrospective from Super Rock
1976 Nine Years Before the Mast: band history from Street Life magazine
1976 Three-part history from ZigZag magazine: No 60, May, No 61, June, No 62, July
1975 Band history from the Procol's Ninth tour programme by Chris Briggs
1975 Rick Wakeman and Procol Harum aren't talking these days: Rolling Stone May 8
1974 'Procol Harum: They Got Elegance' Mark David Schwartz in Hit Parader
1974 A short survey article that may have been record-company blurb announcing Exotic Birds
1973 PH retrospective from Stereo Review
1972 ZigZag interview dealing with the history of Robin Trower and PH
1972 Syracuse New Times: very opinionated review of the band's career up to Edmonton
1971-ish press report on the arrival of Dave Ball and Alan Cartwright
1971 Rolling Stone 'Procol Harum and the Facts of Life'
1971 Keith Reid interviewed in Beat Instrumental: The Purpose of Being Procol ...  
1970s The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll
1970 Chrysalis tour-programme, mis-spellings and all
1967–68 PH excerpts from NME: weekly through the band's first year
1967 PH talk to Newsweek about poverty and forthcoming success
1963 onwards Paramounts press from the NME
   
Three articles about Procol Harum in a nutshell

Paramounts – various pieces about the roots of Procol Harum

1963 A Paramounts scrapbook kept by Barrie Wilson's sister, Pam

 

  

Interviews, features and so forth

2021 Gary Brooker talks to Goldmine again
2020 Gary Brooker Q&A in the UK's Daily Mail (!)
2018 Gary Brooker interviewed in Shindig!
2018 Gary Brooker interviewed in Prog
2017 Bach to the future: why A Whiter Shade of Pale has endured
2017 Brief Brooker interview in Billboard
2016 Gary Brooker in Corriere della Sera (promising a new album)
2016 Gary Brooker interviewed about his finances, in the UK's Sunday Telegraph newspaper
2014 Procol Harum seem poised to reclaim their rightful place alongside Pink Floyd in the great British progressive rock pantheon: The Independent
2014 Gary Brooker interviewed in Rolling Stone
2014 2014 pre-show US Brooker interview, particularly looking at AWSoP
2014 Gary Brooker interview: last man standing on the phantom ship
2013 Record Collector feature about Grand Hotel
2012 The Lefsetz Letter on Robin Trower
2011 Good(ish) AWSoP article in the Sydney Morning Herald
2010 A survey of Procol Harum in Edmonton
2010 Gary Brooker talks to Goldmine
2010 Gary Brooker talks to The Examiner
2010 Gary Brooker: significant interview with Songfacts about songwriting and much more
2010 Gary Brooker talks to the Edmonton Sun
2010 Gary Brooker talks to Best Classic Bands
2010

Gary Brooker talks to Atlantic City Weekly

2010

May: Keith Reid, interviewed by Dmitry M Epstein

2010

June: Gary Brooker on Kate Bush, in Uncut
2009

Keith Reid: significant interview with Songfacts about songwriting and much more

2009

May: Gary Brooker question-and-answer session in Record Collector

2009

May: Keith Reid at The Huffington Post

2009

April: 'Talking lyrics with Procol Harum's Keith Reid', from Goldmine

2009

April: A Whiter Shade of Pale is most-played record of past 75 years: here, here and here

2009

Daily Express: 'a song that paled into significance': others similar here, here and here

2008

Keith Reid interviewed in The Argotist Online about songwriting

2007

Swedish interview about The Keith Reid Project

2007

'Get Bach to where you once belonged': Guardian Unlimited, 9 November 2007

2007

Gary Brooker in the UK's Word magazine
2007 Crassly ineffectual BBC Radio Manchester interview with Gary Brooker

2006

April: Procol on the Mojo cover-disc

2005

March, Marcus Dunk in The Daily Express

2005

May: Procol Harum, the progenitors of prog-rock with their orchestral dιbut single [sic]

2005

The lawsuit regarding authorship of A Whiter Shade of Pale ... many articles

2004

'Greatest psychedelic singles' in Record Collector

2004

Why Matthew Fisher left Procol Harum from an Italian newspaper

2004

December: the UK's Radio Caroline interviews Gary Brooker about his entire career

2003

Article in The Montreal Gazette the day Procol Harum plays in the same city in their 2003 tour

2003

Time Out (New York edition) just before the first Procol NY gigs

2003

Gary Brooker interviewed in The Daily Record, Morris County, New Jersey

2003

 11 March: Gary Brooker interviewed in Italy about the new album

2003

Gary Brooker interview from Long Island Press

2003

Gary Brooker interview from Sweden's Musikermagasinet

2003

Gary Brooker interview on Spanish Radio ... explains why R Trower is not on The Well's on Fire

2003

The script of the phone interview for the Washington Times

2003

The July edition of Twentieth Century Guitar with live pictures, Whitehorn and Brooker interviews

2003

July: Italian news articles (translated into English) from Il Tempo and Il Messagero

2003

July: Arizona's Acoustic Storm radio show interviews Gary Brooker

2002

Keith Reid interview with uclaradio.com, text and sound files

2002

Gary Brooker interview the day of the cancelled Newcastle concert

2002

Matthew Fisher feature from Croydon Council publication

2002

Croydon Advertiser: 'Procol Harum are back'

2002

Gary Brooker briefly interviewed on Swedish TV: mentions the The Well's on Fire album

2001

Gary Brooker radio interview from 17 April 2001

2001

Matthew Fisher on AWSoP and his career

2001

Paler-power in action: Procol Harum fans bewail perceived snub

2001

Gary Brooker interview with uclaradio.com, text and sound files

2001

' ... time to reclaim PH as a great rock and pop band ...' : a fascinating website article

2001

Substantial Matthew Fisher interview with uclaradio.com, text and sound files

2001

Substantial Geoff Whitehorn interview with uclaradio.com, text and sound files

2001

Procol bits, and stuff about Southend, from the Vivian Stanshall biography, Ginger Geezer

2001

? Substantial Robin Trower interview printed in 20th Century Guitar

2000

March: good resumι of current interest in all things Procol, from Record Collector No 247

2000

BBC Radio 2 interviews Matthew Fisher (broadcast 25 March)

2000

Procol's first guitarist tells his story in the Brechin Advertiser

2000

Brooker and Fisher talk about AWSoP on London Weekend Television

2000

Brooker and Fisher talk about AWSoP on the '100 Greatest Hits' programme (broadcast 6 Jan 2001)

1999

January: Brooker in his own words, on German radio

1998

Bud Scoppa on 'Trower's Travails' in Guitar World

1998

Radio Azzurra talks to Chris Copping

1998

A few sentences from Gary Brooker in this pre-Guildford interview / feature

1998

Rock in and Around Croydon : some good bits about Matthew Fisher in particular

1998

A telephonic Gary Brooker interview, stylishly written by a lynch-pin of The Homburg Society

1997

Brooker piece in The Daily Telegraph

1997

Blundersome Vox piece entitled 'Missing in Action', with visual howler!

1997

Shine On interviews with Keith Reid and with Gary Brooker

1997

Many fascinating bits of Procol History in the Repertoire re-issues' Liner-Notes

1996

Progression interviews with Gary Brooker and Matt Pegg

1996

Progression assesses Procol Harum in the light of prog-rock

1996

'Procol Harum takes the uncommercial road': a Brooker Radio Azzurra interview

1996

Radio Azzurra interviews with Kellogs, Matthew Fisher, and Nicholas Dodd

1996

from Kaleidoscope Eyes: Psychedelic Music From the 1960s to the 1990s

1995

Gary Brooker interview from January's Record Collector

1995

From Mojo: a substantial Procol Harum feature and a piece about Matthew Fisher

1995

This young cat ... the original bearer of the great name?

1995

Newsday: mini-interview with Matthew Fisher

1995

Brief Gary Brooker interview from the UK's Today newspaper

1995

Gyldendal's Literary Calendar: tiny, but interesting: The Authors of Rock

1994

Musician magazine: substantial guitarists' interview, with Trower paragraphs

1993

Guitar magazine: substantial Robin Trower interview

1992

Frank Fedeli talks to Keith Reid, the band's lyricist, sage and historian

1992

Rather silly feature from Q magazine's Tom Hibbert

1992

Gary Brooker at the Midfyn Festival (transcript of interview)

1992

Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher in the UK's Daily Telegraph

1992

Matthew Fisher talks to Keyboard Review: Prodigal details and musicianly stuff

1992

Matthew Fisher interviewed on BBC Radio Merseyside

1992

Substantial Procol feature: intriguing statements from Brooker, Reid and Fisher

1992

Procol talk to France's Rapido (transcript of interview)

1991

Brooker interviewed for UIT: on Kate Bush, ballet, and the post-Prodigal album ...

1991

Gary Brooker, KR, MF and RT interviews from promotional CD for The Prodigal Stranger

1991

Keith Reid interview, Chicago Tribune: comments on his own song-writing

1991

Gary Brooker : Turning Points from RCD

1990

Intriguing multi-part Brooker interview with Radio HSR, Copenhagen

1990

Short snippets from Bill Wyman's Stone Alone

1987

Gary Brooker -  Rock star who made a country retreat She magazine

1985

Where are they now? asks Rolling Stone

1984

Creem mentions PH as 'the Purple Horrors'

1983 (about):

excerpted Brooker interview (journalist unknown) + Joan May's comments

1983

Gary Brooker's chapter from George Martin's book, Making Music

1982

Phonogram press-release that heralded Brooker's Lead me to the Water

1980 (about)

Gary Brooker and the Parrot pub ... feature from She

1979

Brooker on Reid: 'He could have been dumb for all I knew' from Dutch radio.

1979

Music Week, April 1979: Brooker 'poleaxes' Poland

1979

No More Fear Of Pale: Gary Brooker promoting No More Fear of Flying

1978

Dave Ball, Procol Harum's 'vanished pop-star' according to the Sunday Express

1978

Home Again: Mick Grabham interview from Dιjΰ Vu

1978

Gary Brooker in Contemporary Keyboards (though Procol had split 14 months ago!)

1977

In Best magazine: Gary Brooker interviewed in Paris: TWaTT is his favourite composition so far

1977

Circus: PH have their tenth anniversary: will they have another?

1977

Pop Group Annual 1977

1977

Geoff Whitehorn, Player of the Month in Beat Instrumental 1977

1977

Paul Kendall's long interview with Keith Reid (ZigZag, April edition)

1977

Beat Magazine: Gary Brooker foresees a post-Magic double-album

1977

Good Times: a review of the last Old Testament Procol album

1976

New Musical Express a feature linking to several more Liquorice John Death pages

1976

Good Robin Trower feature from Rolling Stone

1976

Keith Reid becomes manager of Frankie Miller: in the NME

1976

Procol Chez Nous in Best Magazine, January 1976

1976

Extended Robin Trower feature from Street Life

1975

Robin Trower interview from Melody Maker

1975

Robin Trower – briefly mentions split with Brooker, working with Fisher

1975

Brief, unintentionally funny Brooker / Reid piece from the Daily Express

1975

Pretty inconsequential radio interview with Brooker / Reid by Allison Steele

1975

Scathing review of Procol at the London Palladium from The Times

1975

'Hardy Annuals': Brooker and Reid talk to the Evening Standard

1975

Interview with B J Wilson from Melody Maker

1975

Alcohol ... is replacing blood in the group's veins: personal, radical stuff from Best, October 1975

1974

Raves talks to Procol's 'Mona-Lisa mouthed poet' about Exotic Birds and Fruit

1974

Sounds talks to Chris Copping

1974

Cashbox superpraises Brooker, Reid and Procol

1974

Sounds talks to Mick Grabham
   1974 Star-Phoenix, from Saskatoon: feature / review of EBaF

1974

Tour dates: four autumnal British dates following a Scandinavian tour

1973

'Hotel of the past and future' : Keith Reid interview from Sounds
1973

Brooker and Reid about the Grand Hotel party and more, from The Robesonian

1973

Keith Reid talks to ZigZag ... 'the slightly invisible segment of PH'

1973

Keith Reid talks to BBC Radio 1 ...

1973

Manchester Evening News article about the imminent Grand Hotel

1973

Melody Maker talks to Keith Reid

1973

Melody Maker's confused but interesting Band Breakdown ... six Procolers interviewed

1973

Los Angeles Free Press, November 1973  

1973

Who loves Procol Harum?

1973 ?

Mick Grabham article, possibly from Sounds: Procol's Quiet Man

1973

Good Grand Hotel article from the May edition of Circus

1973

Procol after Trower, Trower after Procol: Grand Hotel and Twice Removed from Yesterday

1973

Interview with B J Wilson from Melody Maker

1973

Reid and Wilson talk to Disc about European orchestral tours etc

1973

Brooker and Reid talk to ABC TV

1973

Grand Hotel foreseen, with some UK tour-dates : source unknown

1973

Procol announce world tour (Sounds, 15 September)

1973

Raves review of Journey's End with revealing Fisher insights

1973

New York Times on Robin Trower's Twice Removed from Yesterday

1973

A revealing interview with Matthew Fisher in NME

1972

Return of Procol : post-Edmonton feature in Melody Maker

1972

A very misleading Press Release from Gibson and Stromberg

1972

Procol Harum, Swiss music, yodeling and the planned rock opera ... all in one snippet

1972

Dave Ball interview in Melody Maker

1972

Creem magazine talks to Reid and Brooker before the Santa Monica gigs

1972

Brooker and Reid talk to The Daily Planet, April/May 1972

1972-ish

Pelo magazine, from Argentina. 'They are keeping us buried,' Brooker says ...

1972

 Good Hit Parader interview with Brooker, Copping and a very revealing Reid

1972

 'Procol back on the pedestal' : Procol interview in Sounds

1972

 Los Angeles Times: 'an album to respect, enjoy from Harum'

1972

Interview with Mrs Violet Brooker about herself and her son
         1972

The Boston Globe: first gold album for Procol Harum

1972

 Jim Girard in The Scene, Vol 3 No 57,

1972

 Good Melody Maker interview with Brooker, 'The Harum Globetrotter'

1972

 The Great Speckled Bird: Edmonton review with some good background comment

1972

 Procol Harum and The Amateur Ork: from Rolling Stone # 116, 31 August

1972

 PH tour dates '... their first-ever major British concert tour later this month'

1972

 Procol Harum Reconsidered from December's Rock ('Of Changes, Pickles and the Grand Hotel')

1971

 The Octopus and the Hot Bath: BJ Wilson and his wondrous flailing limbs

1971

 BJ Wilson interview with Melody Maker

1971

 Keith Reid interview with The Boston Globe

1971

 Keith Reid interview with Melody Maker

1971

 Article from Rock in which the band speak of Reid, Dylan and The Band

1971

 The Problematic Career of Procol Harum from Circus, August 1971

1971

 French Rock and Folk: long and fascinating piece on 'cursed' Procol

1971

 Three leading songwriters: Sounds looks at Keith Reid, Bernie Taupin and Robert Hunter

1971

Very substantial and entertaining interview with Brooker, Reid and Wilson from 1971

1971

 On the Road with Procol Harum: UCLA Daily Bruin

1971

 Gary Brooker talks to NME about line-up changes, festivals, venues ...

1971

 All about Edmonton from Melody Maker

1971

 Around & About Procol Harum, the 'streetcorner prodigies': from Rock

1970

 French Rock and Folk: Reid on Fisher's departure, pre-Home PH at 4 am

1970

 'An English Music': from Australia's Go-Set music paper: good on the words!

1970

 Tony Norman talks to Keith Reid
1970 An assessment of the band's prowess and promise

1970

 'Procol Harum, Band of Changes': from Circus

1970

Disc and Music Echo, 11 April: Harum are home again – and won’t stay in the shade

1970

 Brooker talks to Record Mirror about arrival of Copping, and about Reid the organist: 'Me and My Music'

1970

Procol Harum about to play San Bernadino
1970

'Where is Procol Harum?' from the Oakland (CA) Tribune, 30 August

1970

 'Quite Rightly So' or 'Coming to terms with PH': Bud Scoppa in Crawdaddy Magazine

1970

 Melody Maker: Ritchie Yorke reports that PH are 'best group in the world right now'

1970

 Brooker talks to Melody Maker after PH play at the Isle of Wight Festival

1970

 BJ Wilson ... 'player of the month' in Beat Instrumental

1969

 Bristol Evening Post including brief words from Denny Cordell

1969

How much did Procol charge to play in 1969? Read all about it

1969

Article from Camden NJ ... about the Brooker/Reid Broadway musical

1969

Psychedelic out! Procol interview from Cincinnati ... 'plans are vague'!

1969

Germany's Musik Express on 'Procol Harum's comeback' ... includes photo of Fisher on guitar

1969

 'AWSoP blots out those examination blues': Procol play to students in Manchester

1969

 'Shining on Brightly' by John Mendelson in Crawdaddy Magazine

1969

Beat Instrumental on Procol's return from USA to UK

1969

 Procol Harum Set to Re-Conquer Britain: BJ Wilson interview from Top Pops

1969

 Brooker talks to Melody Maker just before A Salty Dog comes out

1969

 Brooker talks to the Daily Mail just before A Salty Dog comes out

1969

 An article about Procol Harum in Jersey City from 1969

1969

 Brooker talks to Rome's Off-Side about returning to England from America

1968

Bravo magazine ... Procol Harum's likes and dislikes

1968

San Antonio: Procol ... should stay with their own 'thing'

1968

Procol subverts press for high-minded US university festival investigating origins of rock
1968

Procol Harum Rocketed to Top of Music World according to the Ottawa Journal

1968 'Sound of Harum is Sophisticated', says Tampa Tribune

1968

 Much pleasure, some pain and a can of paraffin: Procol play free in Croydon

1968

Bizarre Procol 'revelations' about sex, drugs, and jurisprudence from Norway's Popnytt publication

1968

Disc and Music Echo with Nielson's ice-cream: a card neatly summarising the PH predicament

1968

Gary Brooker in Beat Instrumental about religion, co-writing with Fisher, and image

1968

Daily Mirror article about Procol Harum's split from Tony Secunda's management
1968 Matthew Fisher gives a somewhat downbeat interview to Melody Maker

1968

Robin Trower in Beat Instrumental on his early impressions of joining Procol Harum
1967 'The Harum Shuffle': the UK's Rave writes about the second Procol line-up
1967 'Procol Split Up ... ': the UK's Melody Maker announces the second Procol line-up

1967

 A very early piece plugging A Whiter Shade of Pale

1967

 Reid and Brooker ('strange, dreamy' / 'robust and stocky') talk to the UK's Rave

1967

 Interview with Robin Trower and B J Wilson from New Musical Express
1967

'Procol Harum: They Improvise' – Record World, 11 November 1967

1967

 Five pieces about the first public performance of the Trower / Wilson line-up

1967

 Pictures and text from Holland's Muziek Express

1967

 Procol Harum briefly mentioned in Rolling Stone #1

1967

 Two brief encounters of Procol Harum and 'King Jimi' Hendrix

1967

 Three snippet-reviews of Homburg

1967

 Disc and Music Echo: front-page AWSoP success for Procol Harum, with colour picture

1967

 Disc and Music Echo: front-page Homburg news for Procol Harum, with colour picture

1967

Is Homburg like AWSoP? Melody Maker's band comments, sauf Gary

1967

 Hit Parader takes seriously the band's tongue-in-cheek self-assessment

1967

Disc ... revealing and provocative article about Procol's putative second single

1967

 Disc and Music Echo: Fisher to make instrumental solo-album

1967

Record Mirror Procol Harum (after the re-shuffle)

1967

Record Mirror: fascinating comments from the early Procol line-up

1967

Keith Reid interview from Record Mirror

1967

Denny Cordell talks about Procol Harum in Beat Instrumental

1967

 The Army's 'In-Show' finds out from Gary Brooker what Homburg is all about

1967

Harum scarum right to top! Melody Maker, May 1967

1967

 Paul Williams's famous PH album feature from Crawdaddy Magazine

 

 

 


Letters to various Editors

 

2009 to the Dundee Courier – 'Time for a Dundee return'
1998 to Goldmine magazine – 'A whiter shade of clarifications'
1998 to Record Collector – 'missing' Paramounts tracks
1998 to Discoveries – about Robin's Last Stand
1997 to Mojo 47 about AWSoP authorship
1996 to Goldmine magazine – + a barrage of views from AOL re. Walpurgis, drummers etc
1996 to Vintage Guitar magazine – about B J Wilson
1991 to Goldmine magazine – a tribute to B J Wilson
1975 Various letters responding to bad reviews of the last Rainbow Theatre Concert
1973 Matthew Fisher (twice) and another MM reader about AWSoP credits

See also Concert Reviews, Procol on the Net, Features, and many album Press Notices

 


PH on stage | PH on record | PH in print | BtP features | What's new | Interact with BtP | For sale | Site search | Home