Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

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The Ghosts of A Whiter Shade of Pale

Shindig promo for Henry Scott-Irvine's fine book


This photo-filled hardback book is available now at the Procol online store and at the special BFI-NFT ‘PROCOL HARUM FILM NIGHT’
– a celebrity evening on Saturday 3 November from 6– 8pm at the BFI South Bank London. Tickets at
http://bfi.org.uk  or 44 (0) 207 928 3232.
Book signings afterwards.
Click here to pre-order your signed book
 from the Procol store.


Martin Scorsese: The Salty Dog!

The eagerly awaited new book that unravels the complex tale of Procol Harum, rolled out with a BFI event containing unseen Harum film and TV footage.

It's official and you read it here first. Procol Harum biographer Henry Scott-Irvine's Omnibus Press publication The Ghosts of a Whiter Shade of Pale has an exclusive from Scorsese, who describes his love of Procol Harum and their great lyrics. In particular he singles out A Salty Dog.

Led Zep's Jimmy Page concurs, "It's their masterpiece", adding that Procol's BJ Wilson was his "first choice" for the Led Zeppelin drum stool. "BJ Wilson? There was nobody to touch him," says Page. "He almost orchestrated with his drumming - with his uniqueness on the kit. There was nobody in the world that could drum like [the late] BJ Wilson. And that's simply it."

Filmmaker Sir Alan Parker provides the book's introduction and recollects The Commitments which featured A Whiter Shade of Pale as a narrative motif. He also talks about his choice of Gary Brooker as a co-star for his movie Evita. "I think he's up there with Percy Sledge. I am amazed as to why he isn't seen as the greatest singer in the world. The guy could sing literally anything."

Elton John and Bernie Taupin mention Pale and its 1967 Top 10 follow-up Homburg. They were both 'like a Dali painting,' says Elton. 'And words by Cocteau,' adds lyric writer Taupin.

The Who's Pete Townshend goes on to cite Shine on Brightly as being 'a real heavy influence on Tommy'  while author [the late] Douglas Adams describes Grand Hotel ...

 

 

Extract from a two-page illustrated preview of THE GHOSTS OF A WHITER SHADE OF PALE (Nov.) by Henry Scott-Irvine in the new SHINDIG! magazine.

 

Caption: Gary Brooker invents the sit down and play earnest pianist look, The Constitution Hall, Washington DC, 1969

 

 

Click here to pre-order your signed copy from the online Procol store

  Problems at present ... not available from Amazon in the USA

Pre-order it from
Amazon UK

More about this book  

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