Procol Harum's NME coverage ...

23 + 30 January; 8, 15, 22 + 29 May 1971

These excerpts from New Musical Express, kindly selected for 'Beyond the Pale' by Yan Friis, show the start of the Procol re-release industry, while the band tours with Curved Air, plays in Finland, records the famous WPLJ set ... and Gary Brooker votes for Matthew Fisher in a poll.

January 23, 1971
Front page: photo captions on Ian Anderson, Mixtures and Johnny Johnson.

Tipped for charts by Derek Johnson:
Baby Jump, Mungo Jerry
Forget Me Not, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
Santa Lija, Engelbert Humperdinck
Right Wheel, Left Hammer, Sham, The Tremeloes

NME Top 5:
1. ( 1) Grandad, Clive Dunn
2. ( 3) Ride A White Swan, T. Rex
3. ( 2) When I'm Dead And Gone, McGuinness Flint
4. ( 5) I'll Be There, Jackson Five
5. ( 9) (Blame It On The) Pony Express, Johnny Johnson & Bandwagon
5. (11) Apeman, The Kinks

TOP 5 LPs
1. ( 2) Andy Williams's Greatest Hits, Andy Williams
2. ( 1) Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel
3. ( 4) Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin
4. ( 3) Motown Chartbusters Vol. 4, Various Artists
5. ( 5) All Things Must Pass, George Harrison

News pages:
MOVE AND PROCOL ON BUDGET-PRICE ALBUMS

(excerpt)
Release of the first supplement in the Fly label's new budget-price series Flyback has been postponed until March 5. The four albums involved include The Best Of T. Rex, full details of which have already been reported in the NME. The other three LP releases are:

THE BIG ONES including tracks by Joe Cocker, Move, Procol Harum, T. Rex etc.

THE BEST OF MOVE ...

THE BEST OF PROCOL HARUM including Homburg, A Salty Dog, Pilgrim's Progress, Shine On Brightly and She Wandered Through The Garden Fence.

NME January 30, 1971

Front page: Photo-captions on Cliff Richard, Eric Burdon, Bee Gees and Neil Diamond

Tipped for charts by Derek Johnson:
Walking, C.C.S.
Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival
The Song We Used To Sing, Desmond Dekker

NME Top 5:
1. (14) My Sweet Lord, George Harrison
2. ( 1) Grandad, Clive Dunn
3. ( 2) Ride A White Swan, T. Rex
4. (16) Push Bike Song, Mixtures
5. ( 5) Apeman, The Kinks

TOP 5 LPs
1. ( 5) All Things Must Pass, George Harrison
2. ( 2) Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel
3. ( 1) Andy Williams's Greatest Hits, Andy Williams
4. ( 4) Motown Chartbusters Vol. 4, Various Artists
5. ( 3) Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin

News pages:
Curved Air, Harum for concert tour

(excerpt)
CURVED AIR - which has just completed a concert tour with Black Sabbath - is lined for another British Concert tour in March. This time it will top the bill, with Procol Harum and Tir-Na-Nog as supporting attractions. And the maximum admission price throughout the tour will be 14s (70 p). Curved Air is also set for a major tour of the United States, which begins on March 22 and lasts for six weeks.

Concert dates are as follows: Blackburn King's Hall (March 4), Wolverhampton Civic Hall (8), Plymouth Guildhall (9), Bournemouth Winter Gardens (10), Leicester De Montfort Hall (12), Guildford Civic Hall (15) and Nottingham Albert Hall (16)....

Missing in action: NME March 6, 1971!!
That would be the issue with a review on The Best of Procol Harum as well as a review on the Curved Air / Procol Harum-tour.

This copy should be somewhere in my apartment (or down in the basement), but it might take some time before I find it. Until then, we might as well go on:

Yan later added, 'I found it (in my basement), and there was no mention of Procol Harum inside'.

NME, May 8, 1971

Front page: Photo-captions on Carlos Santana, Paul McCartney.

Tipped for the chart by Derek Johnson:

Hey Willie, The Hollies
Rags To Riches, Elvis Presley
Oh You Pretty Things, Peter Noone
The Banner Man, Blue Mink
Pay To The Piper, Chairmen Of The Board

NME Top 5:
1. ( 1) Double Barrel, Dave & Ansell Collins
2. ( 4) Knock Three Times, Dawn
3. ( 8) Brown Sugar, The Rolling Stones
4. ( 3) Hot Love, T. Rex
5. ( 8) It Don't Come Easy, Ringo Starr

(Just a funny little comment on Ringo: in Norway the single cover by mistake reads: I Don't Come Easy!)

TOP 5 LPs
1. ( 3) Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
2. ( 1) Motown Chartbusters Vol. 5, Various Artists
3. ( 2) Home Lovin' Man, Andy Williams
4. ( 4) Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel
5. ( 5) Songs Of Love And Hate, Leonard Cohen

30 top singers pick their favourite vocalists.
30 singers provide their personal Top 3 from which NME compile

Winner: Neil Young.
and
Runner-Up: John Lennon.
Gary Brooker is not one of the names taking part here, but he does get a couple of votes. Here are the ones who like him and their Top 3s:

Peter Gabriel (Genesis):
1. Nina Simone
2. Neil Young
3. Gary Brooker

Peter Hammill (Van Der Graaf Generator):
1. Neil Young
2. Grace Slick
3. Gary Brooker

AMERICA CALLING
By Nancy Lewis in New York
(excerpt)
... It's a rare occasion to hear any 'live' music on American radio stations, but New York's WPLJ (FM) is running a very successful series of concerts.

Such artists as Elton John, Taj Mahal, Sea Train, Butterfield Blues Band and, this past week, Procol Harum, have presented complete concerts, broadcast live. Taped versions are aired later on affiliated stations across the country. (see here)

Strange, isn't it, to think that nowadays the broadcasting of live music is a real novelty in America!

NME, May 15, 1971

Front page: Big pictures of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, smaller pics of Mick Jagger & Bianca Macias, Elton John and Graeme Edge (Moody Blues)

Tipped for the charts by Derek Johnson:
Can You Get It, Ashton, Gardner, Dyke and Co.
Warpath, Isley Brothers

NME Top 5:
1. ( 3) Brown Sugar, The Rolling Stones
2. ( 2) Knock Three Times, Dawn
3. ( 1) Double Barrel, Dave & Ansell Collins
4. ( 6) Mozart 40^th Symphony, Waldo de los Rios
5. ( 5) It Don't Come Easy, Ringo Starr

Top 5 LPs
1. ( 1) Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
2. ( 2) Motown Chartbusters Vol.5, Various Artists
3. ( 3) Home Lovin' Man, Andy Williams
4. ( 5) Songs Of Love And Hate, Leonard Cohen
5. ( 4) Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel

NME ask 34 guitarists to name their favourite three guitar-players. The winner is Eric Clapton, one point ahead of Jimi Hendrix. No mention of Robin Trower anywhere.

News pages:
(excerpt from snippet on rock festival in Finland)
... Procol Harum, Juicy Lucy, Fairport Convention and Mott The Hoople will also feature at the three-day Turku event (August 20-22), and the promoters hope to book another two British groups. Besides Canned Heat, John Lee Hooker will represent America. Groups will be playing non-stop for ten hours daily at the open-air site outside the city which attracted 30,000 fans last year ...

NME. May 22, 1971

Front page: Big photo of Keith Emerson, story with three photos on Mick Jagger and Bianca Macias' wedding in St. Tropez

Tipped for the charts by Derek Johnson:
Lady Rose, Mungo Jerry
Just My Imagination, The Temptations
Lay It On Me, Fair Weather
Lazybones, Jonathan King
Today, Dana

NME TOP 5:
1. ( 2) Knock Three Times, Dawn
2. ( 1) Brown Sugar, The Rolling Stones
3. ( 9) Indiana Wants Me, R. Dean Taylor
4. ( 3) Double Barrel, Dave & Ansell Collins
5. ( 4) Mozart 40^th Symphony, Waldo de los Rios

TOP 5 LPs
1. ( 1) Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
2. ( 3) Home Lovin' Man, Andy Williams
3. ( 2) Motown Chartbusters Vol. 5, Various Artists
4. ( 4) Songs Of Love And Hate, Leonard Cohen
5. ( 5) Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel

35 leading keyboard musicians pick the three keyboard players they rate most highly.

34 of them don't mention any Procols or ex-Procols. But one does.

Here's Gary Brooker's Top 3:

1. Allan Toussant [sic]
2. Matthew Fisher
3. Charlie Mingus

But the overall winner is Keith Emerson. Larry Young and Keith Jarrett tie 2^nd place.

The NME May 29, 1971 completes the musicians' poll, but there are no Procols mentioned neither in the bass-section nor in the drums-section. Yes, that's right, no BJ! And that is a mystery because NME really did ask some of the most respected drummers of that period.

Paul McCartney became top bassman, Jack Bruce runner-up.

Buddy Rich became top drummer, Ringo Starr runner-up.

Anyway, in the Poposcope-column the NME names some of the stars that have birthdays that week, quote:

Michael Rossi (Status Quo), 22, and Gary Brooker (Procol Harum), 26 on Saturday, Charlie Watts (Stones), 30 on Wednesday, and Anita Harris, 27 on Thursday.

There's even a small picture of ol' Gary:

Oh, and the front page features three photos of Ringo Starr from the filming of Cilla Black's TV special on Geilo, Norway.