What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

November 30: One hundred and ninety-nine days until Procol Harum and the Hallé Orchestra play Manchester UK

Added some further detail about Matthew Fisher's widespread chart success in Greece (thanks, George)

Added a brief message from 'The German voice of AWSoP' (thanks, Buddy)

November 29: Two hundred days until Procol Harum and the Hallé Orchestra play Manchester UK (thanks, Charlie)

It's Hallélujah time again!

Added a page announcing the next Procol Harum concert, an amazingly prestigious gig in the finest new concert-hall in Britain, with one of the most celebrated orchestras in the world.

November 28:

'From a funeral to a wedding to a dream ...'

Added a very interesting article about a royal performance of AWSoP ... about parallels between antecedents of Procol Harum and Abba ... and about the Brooker / Reid musical ... (thanks, Jonas)

Added some detail to this Fisher review (thanks, Joan)

November 27:

Added the second episode of the illuminating retrospective about Procol Harum, dealing with the Paramounts and AWSoP (thanks, Phil)

November 26:

'Chris played a solo ... that I'm sure gave the entire room goosebumps ...'

Added a page about a great new album on which Chris Copping plays keyboards and bass ... download an organ solo or two ... enjoy it all ... (thanks, Mark)

Re-read our recent page about the Brooker / Copping 2000 Procol Harum track that had its world première at the Palers' Convention (thanks, Gary + Chris)

November 25: 

Added another seasonal epistle from a Paler to Santa (thanks, Beverly)

BtP had a query: 'Is the Official Double CD of the Palers' Band still available? Rumour has it that it sold out. I hope not, as I'd love to reserve a copy. Please advise.'

Please be aware that there is no truth whatever in this rumour, and continuing online orders for the album are most welcome (thanks, Matt)

November 24:

Added the introductory episode of an illuminating retrospective about Procol Harum, prompted by the TransAtlantic cover of In Held ('Twas) In I (thanks, Phil)

November 23:

Added the setlist for an enormous, 24-song concert from 1975 (thanks, Bonzo)

November 22:

'Duality of the nature? Strangeness of existence?'

Added a new, Polish review of the Procol Harum Millennium Gig at Guildford (thanks, Mirek and Mac)

November 21: BtP is moving. After more than three years' happy relationship, BtP will now move from Swedish Connection to a server company in the USA. We have been very happy with the services provided by SC, and hope and expect the new provider will be equally reliable. This move, which is needed to provide you with the ability to have your own yourname@procolharum.com among other things, is intended to be unnoticeable to visitors. But if you experience any problems connecting to BtP the next few days, this may be the reason.

Added illustrations to numerous pages, specially here and here (thanks, Jonas) to say nothing of here and here and here (thanks, all)

Upgraded last night's Rock Anthems transcript, ousting an unwholesome innuendo from our ill-considered reference to Bonnie Tyler, adding some detail about the Eros film (thanks, Sam) and appending a warm codicil (thanks, Mike)

November 20:

Added a complete transcript of yesterday's Rock Anthems interview with Brooker / Fisher / Reid, from the UK's ITV … no real surprises, except for Bert Saraco!

Thanks to everyone so far who has ordered Nothing But The Sea Between Us, the Palers' Band souvenir CD. To hear sound-clips, and order online, visit this page. Each copy will contribute author-royalties to Brooker, Fisher, Trower and Reid. Buying this 2CD will also directly support the work of BtP in promoting the cause of Procol Harum. This is not a CD of the Procol Harum concert, but of the recital by twenty Procoholics, at which Franky Brooker reported that Gary was 'touched to tears' listening to his music. The recording also includes Gary's own track, with his kind permission.

November 19: UK viewers, set the controls for 10pm tonight … Brooker and Fisher and AWSoP

"The problem is to differentiate between a concept album and a thematic album."

Added an article whose author attempts to do exactly that, in relation to the Procol oeuvre (thanks, James)

November 18:

Added the broadcast time and date for Brooker / Fisher's AWSoP (thanks, Henry): UK viewers, set the controls for Sunday night …

Added two brief reports on the recent No Stiletto Shoes gigs at Southend (thanks, Richard and Jonathan)

Nice to see that there are now 350 Palers listed at the Procol fans' page. If you'd like to add your name to that list please use the form here

November 17: We didn't succeed in the poll for best music site. But thanks for trying! If you click on the DotMusic banner above, you'll see those five that managed to get to the shortlist.

Added a page containing the liner notes for the Official Palers' Band Double CD, Nothing But The Sea Between Us.

To hear sound-clips, and order online, visit this page. Each copy will contribute author-royalties to Brooker, Fisher, Trower and Reid. Buying this 2CD will also directly support the work of BtP in promoting the cause of Procol Harum.

This is not a CD of the Procol Harum concert, but of the recital by twenty Procoholics, at which Franky Brooker reported that Gary was 'touched to tears' listening to his music. The recording also includes Gary's own track, with his kind permission.

November 16: The DotMusic poll (see above) ends Thursday 16 November. Have you voted?

Enhanced our 'Common Words in Use' page, and added to the AWSoP in Dictionaries feature (thank you, Martin)

Greatly improved our search-engine (which is updated weekly) which you can use to discover untold gems among the 2000+ pages of 'Beyond the Pale'.

Do please consider trying out this useful facility before writing to the website with straightforward enquiries. We are pleased to answer questions, but we do really get a great quanitity of mail …

November 15:

At last added a page (including song-clips) to the BtP shop where you can now place your online order for the Official Double Palers' Band CD from the Guildford Convention, where twenty talented fans collaboratively presented 24 Procol songs. Franky Brooker reported that Gary was 'touched to tears' listening to his music being played on this occasion.

The recording also includes Gary's track, with his kind permission, and each copy will contribute author-royalties to Brooker, Fisher, Trower and Reid. Buying this 2CD will also directly support the work of BtP in promoting the cause of Procol Harum.

November 14:

'Procol continues to have to divide their time between the logistics of survival and the joy of creation'

Added a familiar-looking Procol piece from Circus, August 1971 (thanks, Marvin)

November 13: Have you done your voting to support Procol Harum in the box above? Every vote is needed! Note: there are two polls, one for BtP in the Dotmusic Awards, and one for AWSoP in the Norwegian survey.

"They didn’t have to grow up as most bands do because they had hit upon what it was they uniquely did right at the outset."

Added an amusing and thought-provoking memoir of the Palers' Convention, which reflects in particular on Dave Ball's excellent part in the proceedings (thanks, Richard)

November 12:

Added a fresh page of Guildford pictures, both of the Palers' Convention and of revellers in the Festival field (thanks, Beverly)

The 2-on-1 CD reissue of Matthew Fisher's first solo albums Journey's End and I'll Be There is now shipping. You can order this CD using our direct links from Amazon UK or from Amazon USA.

November 11: A while back we published some Spanish AWSoP words ... then another song with the same title ... now we unveil the Carlos Segarra version, another nother song with the same title ... see how this relates, or doesn't, to the foregoing Hispanic versions and to Keith Reid's original text (thanks, Martin)

Added a little more to our page about Procol's bass-player Laurence Cottle (thanks, Frans)

Corrected some information about recent bass-playing and multiple keyboarding activities on our Chris Copping page (thanks, Mark Hilton)

November 10:

Added a picture of Procol's bass-player Laurence Cottle, with some other information about his Brookereseque engagements (thanks, Frans and Hermann)

November 9:

'It felt like a complete throwback to the freshers' night at university … as an opportunity I think that this event was a bit wasted …'

Added an idiosyncratic account of a weekend's adventures in Guildford (thanks, John)

Also added a little information about Procol Harum in a photographic exhibition (thanks, Carol)

Have a look at the latest fab Procol rarity in the BtP shop.

November 8:

Added new material about the Procol connections of The Beatles, Acker Bilk, David Bowie, Gary Brooker II, Kate Bush, Eric Clapton, Fairport Convention, Flowerpot Men, Focus, Rory Gallagher, Genesis, Lieber and Stoller, Mountain, The Nazz, The Replacements and Van der Graaf Generator to September's edition of Sam Cameron's Procolpaedia (thanks, Sam)

November 7:

Added a page detailing a huge personal collection of AWSoP covers (thanks, Martin Awsop) which information has now been laboriously integrated into the BtP AWSoP covers page too.

And we have added even more translations to this page (thanks, Katina Choovanski)

November 6:

Gary Brooker in the Psychedelic News: 'The start of the next millennium happens from Jan 1st next year … so, in fact I'll get on with my second promise. I'm sure that we should play in America at the start of the next millennium, we will be there.' Visit this page to subscribe!

Added 'King For a New Age', a page hitherto available elsewhere, about Matthew Fisher and a gold record (thanks, Joan)

Added a link to an enviable page of Procoloid backstage passes: find a couple of samples here or find it on our miscellaneous index to Procol Harum pictures (thanks, Barry)

November 5:

A while back we published some Spanish AWSoP words ... now we unveil the Francisco Carreras version, another song with the same title ... see how it relates, or doesn't, to the foregoing Hispanic version and to Keith Reid's original text (thanks, Martin)

Added a picture to our Henry Spinetti page (thanks, Hermann)

Gary Brooker's very recent interview with Psychedelic News is published today: visit this page to subscribe (thanks, Steve) and please read the same website's fine BJ Wilson tribute if you haven't already done so.

November 4:

Added an interesting Guildford review of the main event, which comments particularly on the sound-balance. Was it like this for everyone? (thanks, Alan)

November 3:

Added a report on what we all missed by not getting over to Wednesday's Danish Procoholics' Convention (thanks, Niels-Erik)

November 2:

Added a list of the songs and dates from six Procol Harum appearances on German television: if you can amend or extend this information, please let us know.

November 1: Good wishes today for the Danish Procoholics' Convention

"De toutes vos compositions, quelle est votre préférée ?
Hmm … ‘The Worm and the Tree,' je pense."

Added a surprising Brooker interview from France's Best, dated March 1977 (thanks, Malène)

Corrected a witless typo here (thanks, Martin)