What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

May 1999

May 31:

Added the second (backstage) part to our review of Saturday's Rhythm Kings gig, plus lots of pictures (thanks Peter)

Added some more dates (including two Italian ones) to the list of Rhythm Kings' gigs

Do go and see them at Carlisle on Friday 4^th June!! Bookings there are apparently suffering from the fact that the Stones are playing in Edinburgh the same night

May 30:

Added a speedily-written BtP review of last night's opening gig by Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings feat. Gary Brooker.

Please send us reviews, pictures and souvenirs from other dates on this tour !

May 29: Happy Birthday (1945) to Gary Brooker!

The Rhythm Kings open their UK tour tonight

Added Gary's new CV ('resumé') hot from his office ... make sure you read the last sentence ... (thanks, Diane)

Added a celebratory poem (thanks, Beverly)

May 28:

Are the songs on A Salty Dog in a definitive order? Or could the running-sequence be improved?

Added a page recording the reel-to-reel re-scheduling of 'Procol's Citizen Kane', including some subtly different titles! (thanks, Larry)

Also added a generous CD discount offer exclusive to Palers (thanks, Francis)

May 27:

Added another fanware tee-shirt page (thanks, Richard). Please keep the fans' Procol tee-shirt designs rolling in!

We're sorry to have to advise British fans that Gary / Bill Wyman and co. will not be appearing on Chris Evans's TFI Friday programme on 28 May as previously reported. Gary was informed yesterday that the scheduled slot had fallen through. No reason has emerged: nothing suspicious about it, however ... just one of those things ...

Apologies once again if a faulty link prevented you from reading the most recent instalment of Yan's 'Swimming Against the Tide' feature

Please don't hesitate to let us know if you spot faulty links ... there can be all sorts of reasons for such breakdowns but we are always keen to put them right ... we do want the whole site to be as good as the band it represents!

May 26:

Previews begin tomorrow in London of a play by the UK's prime dramatist in which A Whiter Shade of Pale (and Bach's Air on a G String!) are significantly invoked. Full details and excerpt here (thanks, Sam)

Added an incomplete text for Gary Brooker / Keith Reid's Chasing the Chop (thanks, Mattias). Please mail us with additions or corrections.

May 25:

'Though nothing shows, someone knows ... '

Added a page of prime Procol history, concerning the secret diva who is the subject of the song Quite Rightly So (many thanks, Essra)

Gary Brooker started rehearsing with Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings yesterday for their forthcoming British tour. UK fans with television sets can catch the band, including Gary, on Chris Evans's TFI Friday programme on 28 May!

May 24:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1972 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Procol Harum introducing Mick Grabham ('a charming person'), triumphing at the Rainbow, wowing Copenhagen, and touring Britain.

Added more information to our page about Henry Spinetti (thanks, Mark)

If you are able to receive BBC Prime you will be interested to know that 'in the series Sounds of the 60s, the half-hour programme on Monday, May 24th at 22.30 CET will deal with the period 1967-68 "The Pop Boom" including The Foundations, PROCOL HARUM and the Bee Gees. BBC Prime is a TV cable channel, broadcasting mostly EastEnders, Ready Steady Cook, The Antiques Road Show, etc' (thanks, Axel)

May 23:

Added a page about a fan's fine design for a Procol Harum tee-shirt (thanks, Bert)

Please mail us if you have done something similar: perhaps we can assemble a fan-ware feature?

May 22:

'The music ... had this powerful quality of mystery to it, that seems to have been lost ...'

Added an illuminating BtP interview with Francis Monkman (of Curved Air fame, among many other ensembles) in which he reflects on Procol Harum, his 1975 invitation to join the band, and on numerous other aspects of our life, times and music ... not to mention his ravishing, radical new blues album (thanks, Francis)

By the way if you are planning to buy the Gary Brooker Ensemble's excellent Within our House, a little bird tells us that there are still copies of the original recording available from Gary himself; the Repertoire re-issue liner suggests that the original edition is sold out ... not yet, apparently!

May 21:

'Quem compartilhará esta xícara amarga. Deixe os cachorros selvagens os rasgarem, deixe os ventos gelados soprarem abaixo, enterre-os bem fundo.'

All this and more at a new, Brazilian Procol Harum website (find our link to it here, and perhaps follow other links too, to explore some of our fellow-websites) (thanks, José)

May 20:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1972 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Conquistador gathers chart-momentum in the UK too, but not a flicker of live activity from the band.

May 19:

Added an AWSoP snippet from the London Times (thanks, Sam)

Added an enigmatic page ... click on a few links to figure out what's going on (thanks, Sam)

'Beyond the Pale' is considering running weekly polls as a way to interact with our visitors, and hopefully investigate some interesting facts about Procol Harum and their music. Below is a test poll for this feature. Please try it, and at the same time let us know if you think this is a good idea or not.

May 18:

Continuing yesterday's theme, have a look at some pictures of Dave Ball playing live in 1999 (thanks, Dave)

May 17: Norwegian National Day. Hurrah!

Here is the final proof that the cover picture for Grand Hotel was originally done before Mick Grabham joined Procol Harum (thanks Beverly)

Have another look at our page about Dave Ball's musical legacy on the Grand Hotel album

May 16:

Added a page relating to re-releases featuring the playing of Dave Ball (thanks, Miguel and Dave)

Added several AWSoP versions to our covers page: we now have 104 cover-versions of AWSoP listed!

Here's a link to a website with references and reviews about PH (look for the letter P) (thanks Miguel again)

May 15:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1972 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: Procol Harum continuing to enjoy chart success, while the Rainbow Orchestral gig, and Grand Hotel, are announced; meanwhile Freedom suffer a critical hammering.

May 14:

Added a little bit of Fisher-interview from 1995, touching interestingly on the resumption of his music-making with Gary Brooker (thanks, Joan)

May 13:

Added Joe Cocker's remarks about the influence of A Whiter Shade of Pale (thanks, Dietmar)

May 12:

Swimming Against the Tide: 1972 Procol Harum news in its chart context, kindly extracted for BtP from the New Musical Express by Yan Friis: 'Harum make it second time around' in the single and the album charts.

Apologies if a faulty link prevented you from reading the previous instalment of Yan's feature

May 11:

The Mammoth Task: the final tusk! Warmest thanks to Yan Friis for these 52 weeks of prime Procol lore: Yan's other huge project, Swimming Against the Tide, will of course continue to continue the story.

Procol Harum news in its chart context, extracted from the New Musical Express of 31 years ago today: Procol Harum put a characteristic end to their first NME year, as they pull out of a British show in order to fulfil engagements in the States.

May 10:

Added a variety of Procol Harum pictures from an extensive collection (thanks, Beverly)

May 9:

Added the Q magazine review of Procol Harum ... plus! (thanks, Joan)

Added to the 'what's it all about' AWSoP page (thanks, Luz)

May 8:

Regretfully added a statement from Gary's office about Procol Harum in Europe, 1999.

Here's a link to a website of interest to anyone who uses computers for audio purposes, or wants to burn CDs from cassettes, and so forth (thanks, Peter)

May 7:

Added a review and commentary about a Procol bootleg: we don't usually cover bootleg recordings but on this page we give our reasons for such anomaly (thanks, António A)

May 6:

Added a Paler's review of the new Westside Home ... plus! album (thanks, Fred)

Added another cover of Whisky Train (thanks, Joan)

May 5:

Added the track listing for Westside's newest PH exhumation, the brilliant Home ... plus! - [which contains another never-before-heard performance from the band ... maybe it should have been left that way?]

Added liner notes for the above.

May 4:

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: news of an important Procol engagement :-) !

Added a somewhat peculiar AWSoP cover: go here and search for Canadian Brass Champions (thanks Sam)

May 3:

Added the famously corrosive 1974 Rolling Stone review of Exotic Birds and Fruit with a very brief commentary thereon (thanks, Joan)

May 2:

Added the Geoff Whitehorn / Richard Amey interview from a recent Shine On: you can also re-read the 'Beyond the Pale' interview with Geoff Whitehorn, catch up on the Whitehorn solo albums, and visit the Geoff Whitehorn page at BtP

May 1:

Welcome aboard, Samuel Joseph Fowkes, born today ... Shine On proud grandmother, Diane!

Added another set of hitherto-unpublished Procol Harum photographs by Rowland Scherman, who hung out with the band in the early Seventies (thanks again, Rowland)

Added another article to the page that discusses the Latin 'meaning' of the name, Procol Harum (thanks, Sam)

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