Mid-80s Procol ... a Belgian view

HUMO Number 2377, 27 March 1986

Wilfried van Damme writes to 'Beyond the Pale' from Ghent as follows ...

HUMO (Belgian TV Guide) published an article on the whereabouts and present activities of musicians and bands which were famous in recent decades, especially the sixties, I think, but that are hardly heard-of these days (unfortunately, I do not know the title, nor the author's name – I only have the PH section.)

It says on AWSoP that it ...

" ... has been covered by practically everybody, from the Canadian Horn Ensemble [Dutch: Canadese Hoornblazers] to country & western heroes like Willie Nelson. Much to the satisfaction of Obscure Figures who got away with the dough, and much to the regret and anger of Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, and JS Bach, the authors of the song".

It continues by saying that PH made ten albums ...

"... of which especially the magisterial A Salty Dog has stood the ravages of time".

On Keith Reid:

"Keith Reid became the manager of such talents as Frankie Miller, Mickey Jupp and Robin Trower, musicians whose careers never really got started. For that reason, Reid (38) has taken up writing plays recently, and confides to everyone his dissatisfaction with the rock music business: 'And what I hate most of all, are those bores that keep moaning about the good old times'".

On Gary Brooker it says something about his single (No More) Fear of Flying [which, incidentally, was a small hit in the Netherlands], concerts with orchestras in Germany and Poland, and that he's living on a small farm in Surrey, living on the revenues of 'a local bar' he has bought.

The article from which this material appears to have been derived