What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

February 2000

February 29:

For those who still believe that Obie Clayton was Matthew Fisher pseudonymously, this little surprising codicil, with its significant hat-tipping to Keith Reid, will probably not make you revise your opinion … (thanks, Gordon)

Added a Brooker sleeve to the Brooker sleeves page

Claes Johansen's biography of Procol Harum, Beyond the Pale, arrived in my mailbox here in Norway today.

Had to go to my mother-in-law's birthday, so time for only a little reading. Without doubt Claes confirms what Gary told me last August, that the number of musicians playing in the Paramounts at one time or another far exceeded those listed so far in Jonas's excellent Family tree. This book is bound to be interesting reading for all Procol Harum fans. Now shipping from Amazon UK, and Amazon USA is taking orders and will be shipping very shortly.

By following these links, you can order the book from Amazon USA, or from Amazon UK.

February 28:

Added more information about Brooker activities down under (thanks, Greg)

Added an illustration to this Bobby Harrison interview

February 27:

Palers have just three days to vote Barrie Wilson into a high position in another poll: Modern Drummer is polling opinion about top drummers … it would be fine to see BJ recognised there, as he recently was at Classic Rock. To vote, please click here (instructions are here). We suggest using the form 'BJ Wilson' as that is the way he is most-often written on records, and voting him in the Rock and R&B categories. The poll closes on March 1 so if you intend to vote please do so very soon!

Added a Mojo review of Claes Johansen's Procol biography (thanks, Frans)

February 26:

Added a compilation of preliminary reports of the Fresh Fruit Meet and Greet (thanks, Greg, Chris C and a pseudonymous antipodean Paler). In particular, this report contains a request from Gary Brooker for anyone who has a recording of his lost composition, '2006', to get in touch.

Added another Danish AWSoP to our list of PH covers: search for 'quite intolerable' (thanks, Lars & Niels-Erik)

February 25:

Added a page containing some sample pictures from Claes Johansen's biography of Procol Harum: to see the rest, you can now order the book from the publishers, or from Amazon USA, or from Amazon UK.

Prize copies of the book, won in our recent competitions, have now left on their long journey to the lucky winners.

February 24:

Many nations have written new, non-English words for Procol Harum songs: it has to be admitted that the Finns do it rather well. Have a look at the Finnish A Salty Dog (thanks, Rainer)

February 23:

Added a fine review of Within Our House (thanks, Ross)

Anyone still not got this fine Brooker solo album or heard the most recent Brooker / Reid song? Order it from the Shine On fanclub here
Or you can order it from Amazon by following these links: Amazon USA or Amazon UK

February 22:

Added a further page of black-and white Procol portraits - focusing this time on the band's main 70s fretsters - from a private collection (thanks, WRES2345)

February 21:

Added another page of personal reminiscence: Gary Brooker, Johann Strauss, and some fossilised mushrooms (thanks, Beverly)

German radio will broadcast a new Gary Brooker interview soon: more detail here (thanks, Steffen).

February 20:

Added an answer to yesterday's question about Procol Harum shows at Santa Monica, and corrected a mistaken date (thanks, Frans)

Bad news for completists (or good news, depending on your bank balance): go to the bottom of our Strange Fruit page for news of a variant CD insert (thanks, Sue)

Bad news for anyone who wanted to see Gary Brooker on the next Ringo tour. Or good news for anyone who wanted Gary Brooker not to do the next Ringo tour so that he could contemplate some Procol activity instead (thanks, Marvin)

Good news for anyone who wants an astonishingly cheap Something Magic CD: go to the bottom of our For Sale page, and also have a browse about there too.

February 19:

Added a great review of a 1975 Procol gig at Santa Monica (thanks, Joan)

Please have a look at the review of PH at Santa Monica, and see if you are able to answer the question about Fanny (thanks, Michael)

Tomorrow the Antipodean Palers celebrate down under with Gary Brooker and Chris Copping (lucky blighters!)

February 18:

Added a page assessing the career so far of the great Larry Adler, who plays on Your Own Choice (thanks, Joan)

Refreshed two pages with illustrations here and here (thanks, davelee)

February 17:

Added the dates of this year's European and British Rhythm Kings tours, with Gary Brooker and Graham Broad (thanks, Diane)

Ringo Starr's all new 3CD box Anthology And 10 Year Anniversary will be released in a few days. The boxset includes four All Starr recordings featuring Gary Brooker. See details and order from Amazon here.

February 16:

Added a page about the artwork on the Grand Hotel album: worth visiting for the florid text and for the rare photo-outtake, interestingly depicting Reid and Brooker (thanks, Antonio; thanks, WRES2345)

Added a really good specimen to our AWSoP in common parlance page (thanks, Leo)

February 15:

Added a harsh account of life in Brezhnev's USSR, and of the redeeming discovery of the first Procol Harum album (thanks, Rouslan)

February 14: Happy Valentine's Day!

Added ten nice illustrations of Procol on stage in Germany in 1977 … we also have the setlist for this gig (thanks, Klaus und Hermann)

Celebrate Valentine's Day with Paler Sam Cameron's brand-new book, Playing the Love Market: info here, or order direct from Amazon!

February 13:

Added a fascinating page, written within the last few hours, and brimming with detail and insight about four aspects of Edmonton (thanks, Frans)

To help Palers find their way round Frans's many authoritative BtP contributions, created a Steensma index-page : enjoy it!

Claes Johansen's book Beyond the Pale is now in the warehouses: to order from Amazon USA just follow this link; and to order the book from Amazon UK follow this link. By ordering through these links you not only save time, but you also support BtP, helping us pay our telephone bills!

February 12:

'All songs now played at least once …'

Added a unique treat … plenty of revelations in Gary Brooker's autograph diary of the hectic events leading up to the Edmonton concert (big thanks, Gary!)

February 11:

Added some illustrations to our picture page about the 1971 Edmonton concert (thanks, GB!)

While you're there you might like to explore links to all the other Edmonton pieces on the website, in preparation for tomorrow's offering, an intimate Edmonton scoop that has just been delivered to BtP from the Commander himself.

Added more information about the Palers' meeting with Gary, at Chris Copping's abode, on 20 February (thanks, Steve). Please contact Steve urgently if you plan to be there.

February 10:

Added another in an occasional series that charts Procol Harum songs' influence on fans' lives: here's a second-generation AWSoP marriage and a profusion of Procol-inspired illustration (thanks, Cathy)

February 9:

Added a setlist from the Westbury Music Fair, 1995 (thanks, Phil)

February 8:

Added some excellent AWSoP news: London Weekend Television have just recorded a Brooker / Fisher duet performance of the famous Rock Anthem, and are set to interview Keith Reid about it as well (thanks, Diane)

Added some imminent live radio appearances to the foot of this page (thanks, Xyra)

Expanding our service of direct order links to Procol Harum items from Amazon, we will now provide links to both Amazon USA and Amazon UK. By ordering through these links you not only save time, but you also support the BtP website, and help us pay telephone bills and other running costs.

To order Claes Johansen's book Beyond the Pale from Amazon USA just follow this link; and to order the book from Amazon UK follow this link. BtP will gradually add proper ordering-links from all relevant places on the website.

February 7:

Added a set-list from Philadelphia, 1971 (thanks, Randy). If you look at the BtP set-list index you'll see we have three Philadelphia concerts recorded in 1971, which are interesting to compare: any help with the dating would be much appreciated: please mail us as usual.

If any Palers run their own websites and would like to include a link to 'Beyond the Pale', please have a look at our recreational page for trial banners, and help yourself to any that you like the look of.

February 6:

Added a great, personal account of a PH gig in Toronto, 1992 in which Gary forgets to push a crucial button (thanks, Anthony)

February 5:

Added a teeny page for a teeny AWSoP…for the grandparents of the original hippies who liked it (thanks, Niels-Erik)

Added good news to the foot of the Bamse page … AWSoP is on the No 1 album in Denmark (thanks, Flemming)

Added another example to our page of AWSoPpisms in common parlance, with a link to a nice lunar picture (thanks, Peter)

And the tour date for the Melbourne leg of the Australian British Rock Symphony tour has been changed (thanks Greg and Steve)

February 4:

Added good reviews of the last two Procol Harum releases from this month's Record Collector (thanks, Tormod)

February 3:

Added a page about the Palers' meeting with Gary on the Melbourne leg of the Australian British Rock Symphony tour (thanks, Steve)

Added Hugh Masekela's AWSoP to our page of Procol covers (thanks, Ken)

Many Palers have already ordered Claes Johansen's book Beyond the Pale from Amazon. Order your copy today … just follow this link

February 2:

Added a link to a magnificent new tribute-page about Barrie Wilson (thanks, Steve) from the very website where he was voted World's Top Rock Drummer last century

Added the very latest news from the publishers of the upcoming Procol biography (thanks, Mick)

February 1:

'Spuriouser and Spuriouser,' as Alice might have said …

The Obie Clayton / lost-Matthew-Fisher-album issue refuses to lie down: added A Doubting Thomas, who would be? (thanks, Kenneth)

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