What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

March 1999

March 31:

Hermann Braunschmidt writes to BtP: Procol Harum Beat Club Workshop 1971, re-transmission
The broadcasting station is N3, the starting time 1 April 0.05 German time. There will be a re-transmission on Friday 2 April  at 4.05. This information may be useful for fans in the eastern parts of Europe. As far as we know N3 can be received there by satellite.

Which Harum song is the most 'bewitched'? Answer here, if you search (inevitably!) for 'Procul' (thanks, Sam)

Added a link to a picture of Matthew Fisher (far right) the night of the recent Brooker bash at Guildford ... full story here (thanks, Joan)

Added a cover (at last!) of Whisky Train to our huge PH covers page (thanks, António)

Added a graphic and a request for information to one of our Isle of Wight pages (thanks, Miguel)

Completists will rush to the new Lonnie Donegan CD, Muleskinner Blues, which features Gary Brooker (thanks, António)

Sorry no new pages tonight. Please bear with all these off-site links and refreshed 'old' pages, while we deal with our storage problems : we are confident of a speedy solution to this.

March 30: Happy Birthday Dave Ball (1950)!

Added another revealing interview, as yet unbroadcast: Antonio Costa Barbé talks to guitarist Dave Ball about Procol Harum and beyond (thanks, Antonio)

The Mammoth Task: Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express of 31 years ago today by Yan Friis: Brooker and Reid win Britain's international song of the year award for A Whiter Shade Of Pale.

'And the Ceiling Flew Away': the Brookers' hairdresser reports from the Ringo All-Starr Band concert at Fort Lauderdale on 27 March (thanks, Beverly)

Thanks to everyone who has written in about the problem of the corrupted pages : we are looking into various ways of relieving pressure on the server.

March 29:

Thanks to Joan May, most of the BtP Guestbook has now been restored. Read it here, or sign it here.

Added the 1968 Rolling Stone review of Shine On Brightly with a late '98 commentary thereon (thanks again, Joan)

March 28:

Sorry Palers, the update of BtP was delayed several hours today. The reason is connected with the year 2000 problems for computers. Due to the European change to summer daylight saving time tonight, Webmasters has been warned not to do uploads during midnight or the actual clock adjustment hour (0200). This applies for all European time-zones. Too technical for the webmasters at BtP to understand. But better safe than sorry, so today's upload was delayed accordingly. Let's hope this is the only problem BtP will experience due to the year 2000 computer problem.

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1970 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Home continues to haunt the US album chart, against stiff competition, and PH are well-received at the UK's Isle of Wight pop festival.

March 27:

Added a review of the Ronson Memorial CD containing the only legitimate solo AWSoP voice / piano Brooker rendering (thanks, davelee)

March 26:

'I come not to bury the worm, but to praise it.'

Before you read tonight's offering, please get your copy of Something Magic ready to play ... loudly! Then you may proceed to the thoughtful, playful, and above all open-minded re-appraisal of Something Magic (many thanks, Bert)

March 25:

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1970 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: the band are booked to play important festivals both sides of the Atlantic, and some ecstatic reaction to Home, which charts in the USA.

March 24:

Added Bobby Harrison's account of his time with Procol Harum: 'I must have been on three-quarters of the first album ... the only money that I ever had has been from A Whiter Shade of Pale which basically was the only track I didn't play on.'

Added a link to a site with Gary / Ringo photos and stuff (thanks, Marvin)

March 23:

The Mammoth Task: Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express of 31 years ago today by Yan Friis: Quite Rightly So reviewed, as the British charts decline.

Added a nice whimsy about Brooker and Baseball (thanks, Beverly)

March 22:

Added They Are Keeping Us Buried, a translation of an article from the Argentinean magazine Pelo, about 1972 (thanks, Jose)

Added an interesting graphic to our page of record-label blunders (thanks, the Unknown Paler)

March 21:

'Beyond the Pale' chats with Bobby Harrison about the Solid Silver album that we reviewed earlier

Please have a proper look at yesterday's 'Swimming Against the Tide': the link has now been corrected ... and by way of consolation we have sent an autographed acetate of Stoke Poges to every single Paler (except the article's author) who has written in to advise us of our mistake (sorry, Yan)!

March 20:

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1970 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Procol Harum well received in concert and on vinyl as Home is released.

March 19:

Added a nice, illustrated account of a close encounter with 'Gary from Purple Harum' (thanks, Terry)

March 18:

The great BJ Wilson was born on this day in 1947. Play your favourite tracks while you pay a mental visit to his memorial in Oregon (thanks, John and Linda)

You might like to read our Guestbook or leave a message in it.

March 17:

Added ratings and sage commentary on all the Procol albums from the 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide (thanks, Peter)

March 16: RIP, Marius Muller

The Mammoth Task: Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express of 31 years ago today by Yan Friis: the promotional round for the new single; and Handel, as well as Bach, gets a Haroid name-check.

Ides of March:

Added more reviews from the Ringo tour: 17 February at the Beacon Theatre, New York (thanks, Tito), 21 February: Westbury Music Fair, Long Island and 28 February Park West, Chicago (thanks, Dave)

A plea from the webmasters: parts of the 'Beyond the Pale' Guestbook have been accidentally deleted. If anybody has copies of our Guestbook entries from January 1998 or earlier, please mail us.

March 14:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1970 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: a few Procol dates in the UK, US tours planned, and a little bit of Fisher-press.

March 13:

Added two titchy Q magazine reviews of Brooker solo albums; a new reggae cover of AWSoP; and some light on the Harophile behind The Sopranos (thanks, Joan, Sam, and Joan)

March 12:

Added a set of hitherto-unpublished Procol Harum photographs by a Grammy-award-winning photographer of Dylan, Beatles and Presley, who hung out with the band in the early Seventies (thanks, Rowland)

You can order superb, large black-and-white prints of these pictures: details on the page.

Robin Trower plays the Maritime Hall in SF tonight, supported by Puddle Junction and Stones Throw (Stones tribute band). Robin's musicians are Livingstone Brown (bass) and Alvino Bennett (drums) ... in the audience, one G Brooker late of Southend-on-Sea. A nice coincidence that the Ringo brigade were having a night off at the right time!

March 11:

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1969 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: fan-letter support for the band, who still come across 'puzzlingly' in a feature interview.

March 10:

Added a page about the imminent charity auction of a Keith Reid manuscript: more light on AWSoP variations (thanks, Julien, did you but know it)

Correction: in good faith BtP advised that the 29 May date on the Rhythm Kings' UK tour (Gary's birthday) was now sold out. We now learn that this is not so. Apologies to all.

March 9: Happy Birthday Robin Trower!

The Mammoth Task: Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express of 31 years ago today by Yan Friis: first news of Quite Rightly So – sans Fisher credit, incidentally; and Procol opening, to silence, for the Bee Gees in Germany!

Added a link, on our page about other Procol Harum websites, to the excellent Procol pages of Mirek Plodzik, a frequent and welcome contributor to our own endeavours: please visit!

March 8:

Spanning sessions as far apart as July 1968 and February 1970, Westside's A Salty Dog ... plus! is now our of the cupboard, albeit sans Stoke Poges and the Ur-Pandora. Yet prepare to read about 'Marc Almond Dog' ... prepare to hear Chris Copping! ... and prepare for the McGreggor experience ... as you study our track listing and liner notes for this curious and indispensable item.

March 7: Happy Birthday Matthew Fisher!

'I wanted to leave the band as early as July 1967, when it became obvious that I wasn’t going to get the credit I should've got for Whiter Shade Of Pale': added a significant NME statement from Matthew in 1973.

This week last year we ran a little series of Fisher pieces: Who wrote what in In Held ...; Sitting in an English Garden; Journey's End press advertisement and review; Fisher's 1994 gold disc; A Salty Dog Returns: variant covers; and testimonials from Brooker and from Reid

Did you know that you can get back to all the past monthly menus, from our What's New pages, by clicking here?

March 6:

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1969 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: wonderful reaction to the A Salty Dog album, and a rare Procol cover released on 45 rpm.

Added a smidgeon to the Kottke ding-dong, and a codicil to our page about sound at the Hollywood Bowl (thanks, David P)

March 5:

Added some good Brooker song-introductions to our compendium (thanks, Joan)

March 4: RIP, Dusty Springfield

It was a while in the writing, a while in the pipeline, then a long while forgotten about! It finally surfaces, however: the BtP report on an evening spent with Gary Brooker and Friends at Guildford ... and the new Procol Harum song.

March 3:

Swimming Against the Tide: more 1969 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: a resurgence as Procol play on the radio and garner a fine reaction to the A Salty Dog single.

Added some information about Matthew Fisher's uncredited piano-playing with Wishbone Ash (thanks, Joan)

March 2:

The Mammoth Task: Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express of 31 years ago today by Yan Friis: Procol Harum among poll-winning bands scheduled (perhaps) to play Wembley in May.

Added a review of some 'overblown greatness' from Gary Brooker in the context of 'an unashamed orgy of culturally encoded boomer nostalgia' (thanks, Larry + Ted)

March 1:

"You can't call, 'All hands on deck!' in a submarine ..."

Added a witty and perceptive review of Gary and the All Starrs at Westbury Music Fair (thanks, Bert)

Read the current month's what's new at this website

Read what was new at BtP in previous months