AWSoP on The Boat that Rocked

Charlie Allison for BtP

A Whiter Shade of Pale is featured in the new Richard Curtis film, The Boat that Rocked, which was released (and seen by your correspondent) on  1 April 2009; see here.

It tells the tale of UK pirate radio in the 'Summer of Love' and features many of the excellent comic actors seen in previous Curtis films like Love Actually and Notting Hill, though not Hugh Grant on this occasion.  Philip Seymour Hoffman plays an American disc jockey 'The Count' (certainly a reference to Emperor Rosko methinks), alongside other ‘fun-loving’ characters Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost and Bill Nighy.    

AWSoP is on the  soundtrack album (see here for track-listing)  but do check out its brief visual appearance at 10 seconds into the first movie trailer – (not on the new one). Blink and you’ll miss it spinning on the turntable! You’ll have to click high quality to read the label: here

The current trailer (no AWSoP) is here and, for different jokes (and again no AWSoP), see the previous international trailer here.

In the actual film AWSoP is played for about two minutes and its length is actually commented on.  It plays over certain dramatic, one could even say titanic, scenes towards the end of the movie.

Although not as perfectly scripted & constructed compared with previous Curtis films, The Baot that Rocked still portrays the chaos and anarchy of this period of change in a polarised British society (young v old)  and delivers a few genuine belly laughs along the way.  The music is also fantastic!

More Procol Harum on the silver screen