'The world is imperfect and unjust!'

A Christmas request ...

John Grayson of Shine On has just (December 1997) sent 'Beyond the Pale' this letter from Tomas Eimutis who lives at Taikos Prospektas 133-68, Klaipeda 5815, Lithuania.

Tomas's description of the dire state of affairs in his country made us wonder if any Western PH fans (having just bought lots of re-releases!) had spare copies of Procol CDs or records they would like to send him this Christmas?

Hello,

My name is Tomas. I'm a 23 years old (75-05-29). I'm Procol Harum fan from Lithuania.

I'm interested in Procol Harum for about five years. At the beginning I knew only CD The Prodigal Stranger and LP Procol's Ninth. Perhaps I look naive but The Prodigal Stranger is one of my favourite album of rock music.

Later I have Procol Harum '67, A Salty Dog, Shine On Brightly and Grand Hotel, it made quite a good impression too. That was four years ago.

At present, besides me and some of my friends nobody is interesting in such music. And there are no such CDs in the shops ... the world is imperfect and unjust. But the life makes us suffer this. And, in fact, the word 'life' makes me laugh as I think of our life ... we are only existing as beggars -- studying, working and expecting something to happen ... The living standard in Lithuania is very low ...

The musical life is at a stand point there too. It is nothing to say of the progressive rock etc. There is almost nobody to know the meaning of it. Some years ago people at least knew and went to the concerts of Deep Purple or Nazareth, but now this time has passed. When Ian Gillan has been giving a concert at our town he, among the other things, told that the historians, perhaps, will investigate after a hundred or two hundred years the second half of XX century, and then they will understand the meaning of the rock culture to the young people of that time...

Today such a generation is forming and growing to whom the word 'rock' will mean nothing.

Dear All, maybe, it would be possible to get more information about Procol Harum? I will be very grateful if you will get me an answer ...

Very best wishes

Tomas

You might notice that Tomas shares his birthday with Gary Brooker!

We're sure that he and his fellow beleaguered Lithuanian rock fans would be grateful for any communication from the West. Shine On has kindly started the ball rolling; now over to the Internet community ...