What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

February 28: Procol go into rehearsal for the London show and following tour

* Book your place at the Procol / Palers' party, 6 March *

February 27: Procol Harum play London in one week's time!

Added another in our series of short, musicianly reviews (thanks, Larry)

Added pictures of the new Procol concert poster to this Bloomsbury publicity page (thanks, Whistler)

February 26:

Added a brand new BtP interview with Josh Phillips, who will be playing Hammond with Procol Harum on the coming dates (thanks, Josh!)

Added a graphic to the booking page for Procol in Paris (thanks, One-Eye)

February 25:

Beyond the Pale' invites all Procol Harum fans to celebrate together before the London concert on 6 March, and afterwards with the band. There was a copious uptake yesterday!

*Click here to find out more, and book your place! Places are limited and uptake has been swift, so please don't delay*

We gather that there are not many seats left for the gig itself, so if you are planning to 'walk up' it would be a lot safer to book in advance.

Added a very interesting page, including a new photo from the Something Magic inner-sleeve shoot (thanks, Jay)

February 24:

Time for a Party!

'Beyond the Pale' invites all Procol Harum fans to celebrate together before the London concert on 6 March, and afterwards with the band. (Our venue is in the same building as the gig, a very short walk from Palers' Basecamp Hotel). Procol fans are the most sociable and engaging in the world, and if you haven't been to a fans' gathering before, you are Doubly Welcome!

It's always a pleasure to give credit where it's due ... we now know the identity of the photographer whose work adorns our pages about Chris Copping's shirt, Barrie Wilson's shirt, and the Something Magic album (thanks, Jay)

February 23:

Added another feature about Gary Brooker's forthcoming Tsunami Relief concert in Guildford Cathedral (thanks, Rob)

Lots of takers for the online booking for the Gary Brooker Ensemble gig in April. Enjoy this! It isn't available at any other site, and people who use it are enabled to collect their tickets at the door and sit in reserved seating with a good view. People who don't use it will take their chances in the unreserved seating in the 1,200-place Cathedral. (thanks, Paula) 

February 22:

Added a cancellation to this year's Procol Harum tour (thanks, Chris)

Added 'a Swedish Porno Movie' to this page of Procol film sitings (search for 'Meatball')

The London 'Basecamp' Hotel continues to fill with Procol fans, attending the London show on 6 March, who are looking for good quality accommodation at a special rate. It's not too late to come on board.

February 21:

Many thanks to Jonas in Stockholm for holding the fort magnificently while the regular BtP team was out of touch!

Who was? To find out, read this American article from 1973 (thanks, Marvin)

February 20: Procol Harum play London in two weeks' time

Added a 1993 Procol Harum setlist ... from a concert with a very unusual combination of players (thanks, Gusto)

February 19:

Added a ticket-scan to this page ... please send more for the 2005 series of concerts! (thanks, Carlo)

Added a graphic to this 1970 Brooker interview (thanks, Larry)

Added another in our series of short, musicianly reviews (thanks, Larry)

February 18:

Added a complete Bud Scoppa article (on Procol Harum, Repent Walpurgis, and Robin Trower) where we previously had only an excerpt (thanks, Marvin)

Added a nice, mint ticket to the 1970 scrapbook (thanks, Ray)

February 17:

Compare the above with this even earlier setlist from the same country

February 16:

"United they stood, divided, are they falling?"

Added a well-written and provocative double album-review of Procol Harum and Robin Trower in 1973 (thanks, Marvin)

Added a hitherto unknown, though wholly typical, early Procol picture: a black-and-white version of the Chinese clobber (thanks, Larry)

February 15:

Added a very informative article about The Black Album (thanks, Larry)

February 14:

(early morning, lots of snow, and this for breakfast:)
"Kory's bow bobbed across his cello strings during a fantastic cover of Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale."

Whose granddaughter sang to The Sound of Cello in Philadelphia, January 30th? Find out at She may have the voice of her step-grandmother‚ but she looks more like Julie Andrews

(regular midnight update:) Added an AWSoP piece from a recent Sunday paper (thanks, Charlie; thanks, Mike)

February 13:

(late evening) Tonight's "Sixties" show on Swedish national Television ended with Benny Andersson (of ABBA fame) talking about John Sebastian and Gary Brooker - with Gary playing on a screen behind him:
"It's incredible that these guys are still around, working, and enjoying themselves ... you'd like to get together with them, talk about their songs, play - form a band!"
(smiles)
"You can't have too many piano players in a band, though."

Perhaps he's afraid about the competion? Also on the show: An interview with Gary from just before "The well's on fire", and snippets of footage from two different Procol concerts. And remember: tomorrow you can see the show on the show's web page. Gary and Procol has the middle part, after Lovin' Spoonful and before local Swedish band Tages.

(canned dinner, in Sweden) OK, covers in Boston and San Antonio. But where do you get the real thing? Why, over here in BtP-hosting Sweden of course.

Tonight (Sunday at 8 p.m) the first part of the new series called "Sixties" will be shown on Swedish National Television. Benny Andersson (a local guy who once had a hit with a group called ABBA) talks about "his favorite groups, like Lovin' Spoonful and Procol Harum". The program will also feature an interview with Gary Brooker and vintage footage of Procol (supposedly Swedish Television archive material). All according to the show's web page - in Swedish only, but you'll find the names there easily. And from the 14 of February, you'll even be able to watch the show at that very same web page.
(thank you, Bengt, for the link!)

(evening in Boston) Well folks, just about now musical pranksters and accomplished musicians "Polygraph lounge" will come on stage at the Somerville Theatre in Boston and

"tell the story of Moby Dick through the Who, Procol Harum, and the theme to 'The Beverly Hillbillies'."

(hors d'ouevre) As you all know. Christiane Legrand sings on Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) from Grand Hotel. Legrand was one of the original members of Swingle Singers - official website at www.swinglesingers.com, where you can find pictures of her in the history section.

40 years on, The Swingle Singers still perform, though no original members are still in the group. A few days ago they wee in San Antonio, USA performing A Whiter Shade of Pale. And guess what? They still perform a Procol Harum song:

"The troupe further honored its '60s origins with effective arrangements of the Lennon-McCartney 'Because/You Never Give Me Your Money' and 'Blackbird/I Will' and Procul Harum's ... "

February 12:

(okay, since Bev asked, a light night snack:) "Salty dog" is (also) a song by seven-piece Irish punk-folk band Flogging Molly (Official website at www.floggingmolly.com). Have a look at their "Music" pages, and you'll find Salty Dog on an album called Swagger (and on a sold-out vinyl).

Sold out, perhaps, but the chefs beyond the Pale Smorgasbord Replacement Cornucopia have spared no pains to get you a taste of it: listen to it at www.bcworld.org/music/saltydog.mp3 (right-click to download). Not Procol - but Bon Appetit anyway. In due course, we'll bring you more main courses ...

(past midnight, the irregular update:) As you probably know, there are a few songs that are not covers, but share a Procol title: there's another Conquistador and several other songs called Kaleidoscope, for example.

But did you know that there's also another Salty Dog - not listed by our great webmasters (OGW) at the page above?

Ask me nicely, and you'll even get to devour it, here on the Special Treat Swedish Luxury Smorgasbord Replacement Weekend, where we're toiling 'round the clock in the kitchen to please the appetite of Procol fans 'round the globe...

(the regular update:) From the vaults of the BtP: a long interview with several guitarists, Robin Trower included (thanks, Marvin)

February 11:

Added a link to the A Whiter Shade of Pale covers page, and a Norwegian version called Som skygger i et speil, recorded by New Jordal Swingers (thanks, Martin)

To our Norwegian visitors: if one of you has the time to write down these words and mail them to BtP, it would be much appreciated.

Added another in our series of short, musicianly reviews (thanks, Larry)

For a few days now both the BtP webmasters will be away from their machines (in London / Sweden and Vietnam, to be precise). So we 'Replace the Cook', and leave you once again in the more-than capable hands of our good friend Jonas Söderström.

(Friday evening:) Replace the cook. Yes, the weekend substitute Swedish Beyond the Pale is back online!
Stay tuned for updates at midnight, and at irregular intervals, by your replacement cook...

February 10:  RIP Jimmy Smith

Added online booking for the Gary Brooker Ensemble gig in April. Enjoy this! It isn't available at any other site, and people who use it will be able to collect their tickets at the door and sit in reserved seating with a good view. People who don't use it will take their chances in the unreserved seating in the 1,200-place Cathedral. (thanks, Paula) 

February 9:

Obviously a description of The Long Goodbye, no?

NO! It's from a survey of Procol Harum's Old Testament from an Italian book about English music written in the punk era (grazie, Umberto; thank you, Martin)

February 8:

Added a report on the Brooker appearance on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, with plenty of screen-shots (thanks, Charlie)

You can now book tickets for the Gary Brooker Ensemble in April (thanks, Paula)

February 7:

Added an illustration near the foot of this page about a fab Procol rarity (thanks, Beverly)  

February 6: Procol Harum play London in four weeks' time : Gary Brooker on BBC2, 9 pm

Added another compilation album, having a misleading cover (thanks, Beverly)

Following from the item above, do you remember this early comparative table

February 5:

Added a couple of studio pictures from Gary Brooker's recent recording (thanks, Mark)

February 4:

Added first details of the Gary Brooker Ensemble's Tsunami Relief concert in April (thanks, Paula)

Please note that no-one has booking info for this at present. We will publish this and other details as soon as they are established.

Added news of some imminent popular exposure for The Commander on British TV (thanks, Mark)

Check out The Gary Brooker Ensemble in live concert, in an early BtP feature review

February 3: The Procol Harum concert in Haugesund, Norway, was sold out in less than three hours today! If you were lucky enough to get tickets, see here for discounted accommodation and get-together before the concert (thanks Bjorn)

Read this article too, and see two quite different uses that can be made of the same interview

Have a look at pictures of Procol Harum playing the city referred to in the first article above.

February 2:

Please let us have more ticket scans for this ever-growing feature!

February 1:

Added two more Procol dates to this spring's Norwegian tour (thanks Chris, thanks Bjorn, thanks Ottar)

Please note that Procol's London show has about 50 tickets left; Paris is almost sold out; Monaco is totally sold out.

The London 'Basecamp' Hotel continues to fill with Procol fans who are looking for good quality accommodation at a special rate.

Read what was new on this website in previous months