What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

May 2000

May 31:

Added the setlist for a fine Copenhagen gig at which all but three tracks of Grand Hotel were played some while before the Grabham version of the album was recorded … (thanks, Sam)

Read about the Dave Ball version of Grand Hotel and look at the original cover-photo

May 30:

A 'pale' is a fence round a ghetto; so 'Beyond the Pale' means one thing if you're inside it, another if you're outside.

Added 'Inside, outside, find your own': a review of a great BtP CD, and a brief look at what 'Beyond the Pale' might have meant to Reid and Brooker …

May 29: Happy Birthday to Gary Brooker (1945)

Please enjoy this excellent Brooker interview, which has recently been restored to BtP following some disc-corruption (thanks, Niels-Erik)

Added three pictures of Leo Kottke on stage at a Procol Harum concert: and you can read more about the Kottke / Procol relationship here (thanks, Beverly)

The beautiful Keith Reid book, My Own Choice, can now be ordered from Amazon USA

May 28:

Added a very full interview with Chris Thomas from Mix magazine (thanks, Chris Michie)

May 27:

Added a setlist from Liverpool, 1977 (thanks, Jeremy)

Added an illustration to a great page about a great concert (thanks, Beverly)

Reminder: a simple plan that could help to promote and sustain the new millennium's great welling-up of interest in Procol Harum (thanks, davelee)

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May 26:

Added an account of the origins of two Gary Brooker solo tracks which were originally scheduled for an Eric Clapton album (thanks, Joan)

May 25:

Added the setlist for another superb and highly varied 1976 German gig: compare it with the one we published yesterday ...

The This Day in Rock button has been moved, to allow for more options

May 24:

Added the setlist for a superb and highly varied 1976 German gig (thanks, Alan)

Added a graphic to our Paramounts index page (thanks, Beverly)

May 23:

'Mr G is a genius of taste and understatement'

Added a principally unappreciative review of Procol Harum at Hammersmith, 1977: remember this glowing estimation of the same show? (thanks, Mirek)

UK fans: Gary Brooker and the Rhythm Kings have recorded a set for BBC Radio 2 to be broadcast on Thurs 25 May from 8.30 - 9.00 (thanks, Diane)

May 22:

Added some Fillmore East illustrations here and here and here (thanks, Karl)

Updated our page showing the huge range of countries from which BtP is visited

What Procol Harum 'masterpiece' ('marred only by a lousy guitar solo') was used on record by Deep Purple in mid/late 80s gigs? Answer here (thanks, Sam)

May 21:

Added a page of pictures of Procol Harum in action at the Felt Forum in 1974 (thanks, Beverly)

And why not get A Whiter Shade of Pale as the ringing tone on your Nokia mobile phone? 'Yourmobile' have it in two versions: Matthew's organ melody and Gary's song melody. Not exactly the same quality as the original recording, but fun. http://www.yourmobile.com (look for Whiter Shade of Pale by Procul Harum under Classic Rock)

May 20:

Added two Procol setlists from July 1969, from the Schaefer Music Festival at Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park: (thanks, Karl)

These are our earliest set-lists at BtP: has anyone got anything similar that we can add to the collection? Please let us know

We are glad to announce that Greg Panfile's Inferno can now be ordered through Amazon.

May 19:

A Whiter Shade of Pale … even from the toilet two doors away, the song was as beautiful as it was the first time I heard it.'

Added an extended, illustrated Australian review of Brooker in Brisbane, of the Copping 'Meet and Greet', and of what GB enjoyed most about being the lead singer of Jethro Tull (thanks, James)

May 18:

Added a commentary on the first Procol album, which pays appropriate attention to the words, 'influenced more from an internal muse gone mad than any amount of LSD' (thanks, Jason)

Added a link to the work of A Salty Dog's Ken Scott, of whom you can see an amusing picture here (thanks, Beverly)

Added some nice picture sleeves here (thanks, Beverly)

May 17:

Added a nice article about 'quiet Procol' at the time of the release of Broken Barricades (thanks, Joan)

Added some detail about Robin Trower's jacket as coveted by Barrie Wilson (thanks, Kenny and Diane)

May 16:

Gary and BJ play Great Balls of Fire during a power-cut … Keith won't schedule Repent Walpurgis ('too many casualties') … and a fan's bosonic trilling …

Added a page in which Procol Harum play Nashville and Atlanta, and win a life-long fan (thanks, David)

Added a page detailing a simple plan that could help to promote and sustain the new millennium's great welling-up of interest in Procol Harum (thanks, davelee)

May 15:

Added another compilation, this time from Australia (thanks, Peter)

Added a page about a US Rock station showing pictures of Matthew Fisher (and Archie) on their website (thanks, Matthew)

Added a promo photograph to this Obie Clayton page ... does it look like Matthew Fisher? (thanks, Michael)

May 14: Congratulations to Denmark on winning the Eurovision Song Contest!

"I'm making more money from the short time I had with Procol than I did while I was actually in the band."

Procol's first guitarist tells his story, how he turned down The Troggs for PH, even though 'there was never any fun and larking about' : a good read, this, specially between the lines! (thanks, Charlie)

Added a link to a thrilling new Procol spelling-mistake and another to something very peculiar about dogs, perhaps

NB UK TV watchers: another outing for AWSoP this evening: Channel 4 are showing The Net … closing credits some time around 11 pm

May 13:

Added a page elucidating the Hollywood Bowl feedback problem by means of an epistolary dialogue between two interested parties (thanks, Scott and David)

Added a great picture to our original page about the Meet and Greet Down Under (thanks, Chris and Vicki)

May 12:

International Procol Harum Day ! (see here). Today is the anniversary of the 1967 release of A Whiter Shade of Pale: why not have a look at BtP's register of online fans and send a suitably Procoholic greeting to a neighbour?

Read all about A Whiter Shade of Pale, the masterpiece that started it all: lots of links from this page, which you might enjoy exploring …

Added another fine example to our page of common parlances involving the phrase 'Whiter Shade of Pale' (thanks, Axel)

Added yet another cover to the AWSoP covers page ('Nova') (thanks, Jonny)

May 11:

Added a final fascinating page from Procol's former tape-op, Chris Michie: Procol Harum at Air Studios: an unique insight into the band's recording practice (thanks, Chris: great series!)

May 10:

Added a nice illustrated report on The Rhythm Kings in Kaiserslautern (thanks, Hans)

International Procol Harum Day (see here) is imminent. Please have a look at BtP's register of online fans and see which of your Procoholic neighbours you're going to want to contact … or add yourself to the list if you are not already there.

May 9:

Added some intriguing news of GB's new project, and a very recent setlist from the Rhythm Kings' tour (thanks, Frans)

Have you got your 'Lifebelt' Procol Harum badge? View and order this tasty item here (thanks, John)

May 8:

Added another page from Procol's former tape-op, Chris Michie: Air Studios and recording practice: a nice techie tour of the state of the art (thanks, Chris)

May 7:

Added a brief account of Gary Brooker's solo AWSoP, just played on BBC2 … where he also sang the number which may have been 'the main inspiration behind Procol Harum' according to this Robin Trower interview (thanks, Beverly, for the latter)

Added some changes to the Rhythm Kings' UK dates: good news for Bristolians! (thanks, Diane)

May 6:

"Once I stood upon a lamp-post …"

Added some more good examples of rhymney ... otosis ... mondegreen ... (thanks, Dan)

Added a heading for our earliest picture of Alan Cartwright, who was planning a post-Paramounts pre-Procol band with Barrie Wilson (sorry we overlooked this before!) (thanks, Diane and Kenny)

Added some good news about progress on Keith Reid's book (thanks, Joe)

UK persons: get your VCR ready for Gary Brooker (and the Rhythmical Monarchs) on Jools Holland's Later on BBC 2 at a quarter to midnight this evening (Saturday)

May 5:

Added another page from Procol's former tape-op, Chris Michie: Exotic Birds and Fruit: full and very interesting notes on the recording of the songs (thanks, Chris)

May 4:

Added a summary of the contents of the new Shine On

Added some new Copping recording detail to the foot of this page (thanks, Stewart)

Added some details about the instruments in the recently-unveiled colour shots of the Trower / Fisher line-up (thanks, Larry and Randy)

Added a clipping about the new Brookerless Ringo tour (thanks, John)

Added a link to this video-clip of Gary Brooker singing All You need is Love (thanks, Sam)

Added hints of two AWSoP covers ('Last' and 'Mohawk') to this page (thanks, Jonny)

Added a link to this Paramounts page .. not all quite accurate! (thanks, Peter)

May 3:

Added another page from Procol's former tape-op, Chris Michie, who can actually be heard on Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs: read his notes on recording with Trower (thanks, Chris)

Added the Michie review of the King Curtis album containing his celebrated AWSoP cover (search for 'Curtis') (thanks, Chris)

Added an illustration to this setlist (the famous 'anti-ANTI-semitic song' occasion) (thanks, Marvin)

May 2:

Added a page describing the pilgrimage to Hamburg to hear the Rhythm Kings and meet their pianist!

May 1:

Added another page from Procol's former tape-op, Chris Michie: Grand Hotel: brief notes on the recording of the songs, with some good lateral links to explore (thanks, Chris)

Added an illustration to the Procol's Ninth page (thanks, John)

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