What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

July 1999

July 31:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1975 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Pandora's Box assails the charts: meanwhile a mocking interviewer draws an unsurprisingly abrasive, if very revealing, performance from its authors; and there are mocking captions, and a mocking teaser.

July 30:

Added a test version of The 'Beyond the Pale' Search Engine, and explained the case of the corrupted Beanstalk

July 29:

Added scans and text from a UK 1977 tour programme

July 28:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1975 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Procol release a new album, play a big gig, and attract grudging praise mixed with hostility from the critics.

July 27:

Extremely good news for all Procol Harum fans: Claes Johansen's biography of Procol Harum is to be published in October in the UK ... try to guess the title (which has a certain inevitability) before you click here for full details (thanks, Claes)

Added little 8-track illustrations to pages here and here (thanks, Larry)

July 26:

In response to a perceived challenge on the Procol mail-list, we present a paranoid rhapsody about Procol Cryptonyms, exploring how the names of band-members have been encoded in the songs down the years (for Richard)

July 25:

Added a lavishly-illustrated page to bring all Palers up-to-date with the recent Daltrey / Brooker Rock Symphony escapade (thanks, Diane; thanks, GB)

July 24:

Added a slight page about the bottom right-hand corner of the obverse of the first Procol album's cover

July 23:

Added an excellent review of one of the opening shows of the Prodigal Stranger tour in 1991; an interesting contrast with this and this from the same era (thanks, Joan)

July 22:

Added some good information to our page about the late Lord Sutch, sometime musical ally of Matthew Fisher (thanks, Joan)

July 21:

Update a few hours late today because Jens was at a BB King concert, and arrived home late. King opened the set with Let the good Times Roll ... I think I've heard that one before :-) ... it was a very good concert, but I wish it had been Gary Brooker and friends opening their act with that tune.

Swimming Against the Tide: 1975 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Procol Harum closing the Rainbow and playing very occasionally while they record with Leiber and Stoller; meanwhile Mickey Jupp tells his tale.

July 20:

As we wait for Procol Harum to be included in the Hall of Fame, we nonetheless celebrate the fact that Gary Brooker has been inducted to the Rock Walk

July 19:

'I look back on the Redhill weekend with quite a lot of regret.'

It's now two years since we commemorated what may have been the the last great Procol occasion of the century: so please enjoy reading about it again, and revisiting the BtP anniversary contributions.

Then please leave a message at 'Still There'll Be More', if you'd like to see the band play live again. Nothing's better left unsaid, after all.

Refreshed a couple of unrelated pages with illustrations: enjoy re-reading here, here and here too (thanks, davelee)

July 18:

' ... the synthesised strings used at various junctures are weak and virtually made redundant by the production – so removing that symphonic quality so often prevalent in the band’s overall sound ...'

Added a review of Procol's Ninth that contains quite a number of astonishing judgments ... draw your own conclusions!

July 17:

Added a good page of European Procol Harum 45 picture-sleeves (thanks, Thierry)

July 16:

Added news of a very exciting cover: this time we proudly present a recorded cover version of In Held 'Twas In I (thanks, Mark)

July 15:

Added a page concerning Al Hemberger, another of the Imponderable Strangers (thanks, Al)

July 14:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1974 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: desolation in the pop charts ... but Procol Harum are received rapturously on their UK tour.

July 13:

Congratulations on their thirty-first wedding-anniversary to Gary and Franky Brooker, and also, by coincidence, to Diane and John Rolph of Shine On, who were married on the same day!

Added a celebratory poem from a previous occasion (thanks, Beverly)

And Carol Bellantoni has solved the mystery: when did Robin Trower play the Schaeffer Music festival?

July 12:

The Procol Harum maillist is back. (thanks Bill, we missed it)

A Whiter Shade of Pale named the most important song of 1967 by Record Collector

July 11:

Many Palers write to BtP because they think the maillist is out of order. We at BtP agree, the server must be down. BtP is not involved in the managing of the maillist, however, and can do nothing about it. Let's hope Bill Hammell can get this sorted out asap. It's very easy to see that the Palers miss the list.

Added a review of an unusual and haunting album by a band who have repeatedly asked Procol Harum to come and play as their guests in the USA

July 10:

Added a good page of photographs of Robin Trower in the 70s (thanks, Alan)

July 9:

Added a puzzling 1969 Rolling Stone review of A Salty Dog, with a typically complete, well-illustrated and tightly-reasoned 1999 commentary thereon (thanks, Joan)

July 8:

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1974 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Procol steal the show at Crystal Palace and are 'best band' at the Reading Festival: meanwhile Alan Cartwright delivers a fine solo and BJ makes a rare appearance in his own right. But what happened to that orchestral TV special?

July 7:

Added a brief but informative and very revealing review of the first-ever Procol Harum orchestral concert: read about the gig at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario: what the boys played, what the boys wore ... there's even a very rare photo (more great work, Alan!)

July 6:

It was thirty years ago today ... and nobody knew much about it ... until now ...

Added excerpted highlights from the programme for the first-ever Procol Harum orchestral concert: Repent Walpurgis and Stoke Poges on the same bill as In Held ... (great work, Alan!)

July 5:

Added a very interesting feature touching on Procol's European orchestral tours following the release of the Grand Hotel album: Keith and BJ contribute (thanks, Sam)

July 4:

Added a revealing 'Where are they now?' feature from a 1985 Rolling Stone (thanks, Beverly)

And speaking of Beverly: here is a link to the website for Procol Hairum, Beverly's hair salon ... highly recommended by both Gary Brooker and webmaster Jens.

July 3:

Added a page dealing with Matthew Fisher's recent concert at the Albert Hall, London! (thanks, Mike, Beverly, Diane)

July 2:

Swimming Against the Tide: further 1974 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: a Trower interview and a luke-warm concert review ... where the band nonetheless played four encores!

July 1:

'... Procol hasn't really reunited yet in the 90s ...'

Added an interesting article, Who is Procol Harum?, adapted and expanded from a recent posting on the Procol message list (thanks, Joan)

Read what was new on this website in previous months