What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

April 30:  Procol Harum play Äänekoski in twelve weeks' time

Added the result of some head-scratching to the page about some films and a Procol cupboard (thanks, Ben)

Added a link to the page about Procol Harum's upcoming DVD, by which you can sample the new material and the 1974 bonus tracks (thanks, Gary)

April 29:

Added pictures from Matt Pegg's German tour (thanks, Big Mike; thanks, Kristina)
 

April 28:

Added a first glimpse of the third Salvo reissue, of A Salty Dog, with some great live items, and two non-studio cuts, among its bonus-tracks (thanks, Chas)

Added a first glimpse of the fourth Salvo reissue, of Home, with a couple of bonus-tracks (thanks, Chas)

April 27:

Added a page about Henry Scott-Irvine's live broadcast from last night, Psychedelia, Toilet Paper, Marriage, Death and Litigation, about A Whiter Shade of Pale

April 26:

Added a useful response to this Salvo reissue review (thanks, Fred)

In which connection, added two comments to this page about lyrical variants

You might like to re-read this old, yet relevant page.

Tonight: Henry Scott-Irvine entertains for 60 minutes about A Whiter Shade of Pale, from 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm GMT, live on London's excellent Resonance FM (listen online): Psychedelia, Toilet Paper, Marriage, Death and Litigation. As well as lots of related music, interview-clips from the song's writers, and comments by celebs from politics and the Arts, he will be re-broadcasting the 1967 Radio London clip by which the world first heard Procol Harum.

April 25:

Added something a bit dreamlike about some films and a Procol cupboard (thanks, Ben)

Removed from this page some Procol merchandise items that have recently sold out.

April 24: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in twelve weeks' time

Added a nice letter published lately in a Scottish newspaper (thanks, Charlie)

Added a note of answers (both correct and 'differently correct') and winners in the Salvo freebies competition (press 'refresh' on your browser when you get there)

April 23:  Procol Harum play Äänekoski in thirteen weeks' time

' ... I can see myself armed with a bottle of Rioja hiding in the back room singing my heart out to the "Gary-oke" backing tracks ...'

Added a review of the first two Salvo Procol re-issues (thanks, Richard)

Corrected a track-list blunder here (thanks, Chris)

The BtP competition, to win Salvo reissue albums, closes at Midnight GMT at the end of 23 April

April 22:

Added a flawed history of Procol Harum and Robin Trower 

The BtP competition, to win the  Salvo reissue albums, closes at Midnight GMT at the end of 23 April
 

April 21:

Added a page about The Boat that Rocked (thanks, Charlie)

Added a sound-clip to our page about the great Salvo reissue of Shine on Brightly ... hear Gary, Matthew, Robin, BJ and Dave tackling A Robe of Silk ... order the CD here

April 20:

BtP's Salvo Procol reissues all sold out, but we have a fresh batch to send out now: find the recordings here and here and order online for immediate despatch.

Added recording and touring news for Procol Harum's fine bass-player (thanks, Matt)

'For One Night Illegally': here's a link to an excellent, revelatory and intriguing Radio 4 documentary about the history of bootlegs ... available online to 'listen again', and well worth it (thank you, Linda)

BtP e-mail problems: our internet hosting provider is having major problems with their spam-blocking software. The result is that all mails to any @procolharum.com mail address has been deleted (and an error-message returned to the sender). As a temporary solution, we have asked our provider to disable the spam filtering. While this will most likely open a tidal wave of spam mails for us, it will also enable incoming mails.  If you have mailed Jens or Roland anytime over the last two or three days, and not received a reply, please re-send, as your mails have most certainly been lost. Sorry for any inconvenience, but there was nothing the BtP webmasters could have done to prevent this.

Re. the Salvo reissue freebies competition, no mails have been lost: we had taken precautions, and your many entries have been received at other addresses ... keep them coming!

April 19:

Added a competition, running until 23 April 2009, a simple bit of fun giving you the chance to win one or other of the two new Procol Harum reissue albums (many thanks, Salvo Records)

The liner notes on these albums were written by Henry Scott-Irvine, the maker of the as-yet unseen feature-film about A Whiter Shade of Pale, who tells us that he will be 'broadcasting positive energy' about the famous record next Sunday, 26 April 2009, from 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm GMT, live on London's excellent Resonance FM (listen online): the programme is called Psychedelia, Toilet Paper, Marriage, Death and Litigation ... sounds unmissable! 'A Whiter Shade of Pale: Pyschedelia, Toilet Paper, Marriage, Death and Litigation', 19:30 – 20:30 GMT on London's Resonance FM (listen online); writer/presenter/producer: Henry Scott-Irvine (thanks, Henry)

April 18:

'Rarely has a song proven so troublesome'

Added a British newspaper's response to the most-played record in the UK since 1934 story (thanks, Charlie)

Heard on NPR ('National Public Radio' in America) on Wednesday afternoon, 15 April:
Q: What is the most frequently played music in public places in Britain of the last seventy-five years?
A: A Whiter Shade of Pale
To quote the programme loosely,  "Not The White Cliffs of Dover, not White Christmas" (thanks, Janet)

April 17: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in thirteen weeks' time

Added a very good Procol feature from the UK's Daily Express newspaper (thanks, Jeff, Pia, and all in the 'Procol Radar Fraternity')

Added an American response to the same story (thanks, Sam)

April 16:  Procol Harum play Äänekoski in fourteen weeks' time

Added the words of a hitherto unknown Brooker / Reid song from 1967, now available on the great Salvo reissue of Procol Harum ('hitherto unknown' unless you heard Gary Brooker perform it at BtP's Procol Rarum concert in London, July 2007, of course). There's a brief sound-clip – Procol Harum with orchestra, 1967 – here and here ... imagine if this had been the direction taken by 'The Black Album' ...

Resolved an error on the printed Ragnarock box set (thanks, Thor-Rune)

April 15:

More excellent news ... added a summer 2009 festival gig for Procol Harum (thanks, Chris)

All the pre-ordered Salvo Procol reissues have now been sent out to from BtP UK to Procol Harum fans all over the world. Find the recordings here and here and order online for immediate despatch.

First impressions from BtP: the sound on these recordings really is exceptionally good. The numerous bonus tracks include hitherto-unheard material: fascinating to hear Wilson and Trower's contributions to A Robe of Silk (complete with key-changes), the acoustic guitar on In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence, and Gary Brooker singing with strings and woodwinds (orchestration and conducting by Tony Visconti) in July 1967.

April 14:

"... great and unsought honour ..."

Added an excellent piece of news ... guess what has been the most-played record in the UK since 1934? (thanks, all)

Interesting to compare this with a page from five years ago

GB did an afternoon interview BBC Radio 2 and was on Radio 4's PM programme at 17.55. BtP missed both, thanks to the Bank Holiday sunshine.
Keith Reid was in the BBC News Channel studio (brokered by BtP) for their 20:50 spot but the guilty verdict in the Phil Spector trial meant there was 'rolling news and all the other stories were dropped' (thanks, Angie)

April 13:

Added a page of Rock memorabilia, including some Procol Harum material (thanks, Anon)

Arriving soon at BtP ... the first two Salvo Procol reissues ... pre-order now (here and here) for despatch to you the day they reach us

April 12:

Added a page containing reviews of the four Regal Zonophone albums ... containing many interesting comments about the musical and lyrical influences

April 11:

Added another very revealing early piece (illustrated) about Procol Harum from Record Mirror (thanks, Anvil)

April 10: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in fourteen weeks' time 

  Added a note about the Boat that Rocked (the new Richard Curtis comedy) (thanks, Charlie)

Added a Ragnarock note (thanks, Per)

April 9:

 Added two illustrations to the foot of this page (thanks, Per)

Added some good Japanese work here (thanks, Per)

April 8:

Added a 1967 Keith Reid interview from Record Mirror ... as promised on 25 March below (thanks, Anvil)

Arriving soon at BtP ... the first two Salvo Procol reissues ... pre-order now (here and here) for despatch to you the day they reach us

Over 800 members of the Procol Harum group on Facebook
 

April 7:

Added scans to two pages about Procol Harum compilation albums, here and here, the latter being particularly notable (thanks, Per)

April 6:

Continuing this year's unprecedented run of new items for the Procol Harum fan – added news of a forthcoming triple-disc Norwegian release featuring most of the 1974 line-up 

Added two missing names to this page (thanks, Stefano)

April 5:

 Added a page of pictures of Robin Trower and Jack Bruce on stage in February 2009 (thanks, Peter)

April 4: RIP Michael Cox / Matthew Ellis / Obie Clayton ... interesting obituary here, BtP pages start here

Added scans to two pages about Procol Harum compilation albums, here and here (thanks, Per)

April 3: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in fifteen weeks' time

Added an update to this page about a Brooker charity-auction item

Click here to see Nicholas Clare (Palers' Band 2001) on Sky News making a stand in London yesterday (in a tent, in a brown hat)

April 2:

Added an index page for Salvo Records' eagerly-anticipated Procol remasterings/reissues

Added an entry here for Procol reissues from Friday / Repertoire / Salvo / Westside

Added more Home re-issues to this page (thanks, Per)
 

April Fools' Day: Happy Birthday Belberg Quevorkian (19711)

Procol Harum in Concert download: click here for a third download option that will be of interest to completists or those on a tight budget

Procol Harum studio-visits ...an interesting proposal here

Read what was new on this website in previous months