What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

March 1998

March 31:

Westside Records have clarified the enigma of the stereo fakes, and a lot more detail has emerged about their upcoming 'PH ... plus' series: our page about these super-re-releases is now greatly expanded ... even some (disappointing!) news about MacGregor!

Dates are starting to emerge for the summer's European dates for the Ringo All Starr Band featuring Gary Brooker. Keep an eye on our Procol News page and mail us if you'd like to go to a gig as the 'Beyond the Pale' reviewer.

March 30:

Happy Birthday Dave Ball (48 today): why not re-read the page about Dave's Grand Hotel legacy?

Added a page about the Procol legacy of early guitarist and drummer Ray Royer and Bobby Harrison: it dilates tangentially on The Wee Small Hours of Sixpence.

Added a correction to the C3 / B3 Hammond page (thanks, Larry)

Procol Harum fans who visit this website: this now lists 95 'Procoholics' Please mail us to add your own name, town and state. Who will be Procol Harum friend number 100?

March 29:

Added an interesting survey, written specially for 'Beyond the Pale', of the many Procol associations of Southend's Mickey Jupp (Many thanks, Mikael!)

Also added a page about a very small Procol Harum mystery

March 28: ...

Added a couple of diagrams and a commentary contributed by Larry Pennisi, illustrating the Hammond B3 and C3 organs that are so often mentioned at this website (thanks again, Larry)

Added baffling and disappointing news from Westside Records, to which we shall add detail as and when we get it.

March 27:

Added yet more Procol Harum pictures from Larry Pennisi's archive (thanks again, Larry)

With help from his daughter, Julia Beatrice Harrison in Iceland, we have corrected errors in Bobby Harrison's birthday.

March 26:

Added a set-list from Hofstra University NY, 1977. Our set-lists section is looking a bit neglected at the moment. Why not send us some contributions?

Re-organised pictures on the Edmonton page and the Gary Brooker page, and added some text (kindly translated from Danish into English by Niels-Erik Mortensen) to the Delta Ballet page

March 25:

Added a page showing the organ melody from A Whiter Shade of Pale notated in ASCII text by its author, and comparing this with another unusual medium for musical scoring ...

Added seven more cover-versions of A Whiter Shade of Pale
 

March 24:

You've doubtless heard of 'Matthew Celestial Smith'; but who was 'Blind Cucumber' by any other name in the early years of Procol Harum?

March 23:

Who wrote Liquorice John's Everything I Do is Wrong? Mikael Werkelin shows that it was not Brooker and Reid (thank goodness!)

Added news of a Robin Trower gig: please mail us if you can review this for 'Beyond the Pale'. (Thanks, John Overall)

March 22:

Added some performance photographs taken at the London Barbican in 1996

Added some Brooker performance news

March 21:

Added a piece wondering where you were when you first heard crucial PH news (thanks, Kerry)

Updated the list of countries from which 'Beyond the Pale' has been visited: 66!

March 20:

Added an interview in which Matthew Fisher talks to Marcelo Pereira about why he didn't play on the Salty Dog single, what was wrong with his replacements in Procol Harum, which latter-day songs he enjoys playing, and his attitude to future Procol Harum recording projects.

March 19:

BJ again: some snapshots of him in action with Procol Harum at Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens concert-hall, 1975 (thanks, Axel and Peer)

March 18:

Our beloved BJ Wilson was born on this date in 1947: today added some images of him from Larry Pennisi's archive (thanks, Larry)

Read tributes a number of fans have written in the 'Beyond the Pale' guestbook, and add to them if you wish

March 17:

Was Home originally intended to be known by any other name? Added some interesting facts and pictures.

March 16:

Read some excerpts and view some photographs from the programme of the Brooker ballet, Delta (thanks, Axel)

Ides of March:

The entire Procol Harum album in stereo ... Royer / Harrison sessions ... Procol at the BBC ... Alpha ... 'Who will search for Holy Grail?' is a page about the future commercial release of highly-prized Procol Harum rarities. Some of it – Gospel According to Matthew ? – you will scarcely believe ...

March 14:

How come there was suddenly a stereo Homburg? Will Westside release the recent rarities CD separately? How did the Triple CD Boxed Anniversary Set sell?

Read the news from Westside

March 13:

Today, thanks to Keith Reid's help, we publish corrected words for the A Salty Dog album and for another 45 rpm B-side: we don't think you'll find equally authoritative texts anywhere else. Many thanks once more to Keith for his great help: keep watching as we upgrade our word-pages for successive albums at 'Beyond the Pale'.

March 12:

Many would argue that In Held 'Twas in I, which made such a magnificent climax to the Redhill concert, is Brooker / Fisher / Reid's finest composition to date. But who really wrote the various parts of that suite? (Thanks, Marcelo!)

Added recording news of Matthew Fisher: Conquistador and Sitting in an English Garden

March 11:

See a suitably hyperbolical press advertisement that accompanied the release of Matthew Fisher's Journey's End: Holy Ghost not pictured :-)

Added a baffling blunder to our page of writing-credit anomalies

March 10:

Added a review of Matthew Fisher's first solo album, Journey's End

March 9:

Added a link so that Fisher fans can read about his 1994 Gold Record

And thanks to Martin Clare for ringing up to remind us that today is the great Robin Trower's birthday: London's The Guardian newspaper has a 'Birthdays' feature whose nine luminaries today include 'Robin Trower, rock guitarist (Procol Harum), 53' [page 15, column 8] ... bang up-to-date!

March 8:

Added some information about variant covers for Matthew Fisher's A Salty Dog Returns solo album.

You should also visit Matthew's homepage. He updated it yesterday.

March 7: Happy Birthday, Matthew!

On Matthew's 52^nd birthday, we've added some nice assessments of his playing by Gary Brooker and by Keith Reid

March 6:

Added some more unusual Procol Harum pictures from Larry Pennisi's archive (thanks, Larry)

March 5:

Added the text of a Danish television interview in which Gary Brooker gives a little information about the origins of his ballet, Delta (thanks, Axel)

March 4:

Added an AWSoP 'dead sea scroll' kindly sent to 'Beyond the Pale' by Larry Pennisi.

And there is still no news about the rumoured new Procol Harum album. It is denied by Keith and more, yet the rumours will not die.

March 3:

Added a page for non-English versions of Procol Harum songs, and a scan of the sleeve of Il Tuo Diamante (thanks, Larry)

March 2:

'... music I can enjoy if I don't do it very often, but I wouldn't want to do it every day ...'
Added Radio Azzurra Novara's interview with Matthew Fisher: it touches on his songwriting methods, separation from Procol Harum, the recording of the Saw the Fire album, and future recording plans (thanks, Antonio)

March 1:

Added an article about the varieties of Hammond organs (Thanks, Dan Kerl)

Read what was new on this website in previous months