Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

Procol Harum's first year in the NME

Poll laurels: 9 December 1967

These excerpts from New Musical Express, kindly selected for 'Beyond the Pale' by Yan Friis, show poll-successes for A Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harum and Gary Brooker: but it was never to be the same again.

Front page: Full page advertisement for 4 Philips and 4 Fontana albums (including Scott Walker, Joan Baez, Manfred Mann, Dusty Springfield and Country Joe & The Fish).

Main feature headlines:

MEET A BEE GEE - No 3 Nick Logan meets the guitarist who's played in 29 groups! ... VINCE MELOUNEY

WE'RE NOT A FIVE-HEADED MONSTER SAYS HIS SATANIC MAJESTY MICK by Keith Altham

DAVE CLARK'S NEW PENTHOUSE PAD

Tipped for charts by Derek Johnson:

The Small Faces, Tin Soldier
Bobbie Gentry, Okolona River Bottom Band

NME Top 5:

1 (3) Hello, Goodbye, Beatles
2 (1) Let The Heartache Begin, Long John Baldry
3 (2) Everybody Knows, Dave Clark Five
4 (8) Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Gene Pitney
5 (6) If The Whole World Stopped Loving, Val Doonican

Procol related excerpts from New Musical Express Poll Supplement:

BRITISH VOCAL GROUP
1	Beatles	9769 (votes)
2	Rolling Stones	3420
3	Hollies	2244
15	Procol Harum	426

BEST NEW GROUP
1	Bee Gees	5978
2	Traffic	5063
3	Tremeloes	4937
4	Procol Harum	4505

NEW DISC SINGER
1	Engelbert Humperdinck	7765
2	Long John Baldry	4987
3	Anita Harris	3210
7	Gary Brooker	2001

BEST BRITISH DISC THIS YEAR
1	Procol Harum A Whiter Shade Of Pale	5000
2	Beatles All You Need Is Love	3823
3	Bee Gees Massachusetts	2736

... Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pale a definite Best British Disc winner.

New Group

... Credit to the Tremeloes big comeback is their 3^rd place, with Procol Harum slipping into 4^th above Jimi Hendrix (who seems to appear in every section! - actually only NINE!)...

New Singer

... It is interesting to see that lead singers of groups occupied the lower 7^th to 10^th places - Gary Brooker, Dave Davies, Peter Frampton and Robin Gibb.

Best British Disc

Best British Disc title was won easily by the Procol Harum's dreamy near-classical A Whiter Shade of Pale, a disc which won them International honours with their first release.

Cable from PROCOL HARUM

DB58 10.15 London T 26

New Musical Express 15 Long Acre WC2

SINCEREST THANKS TO ALL CONCERNED FOR MAKING A WHITER SHADE OF PALE TOP BRITISH SINGLE OF 1967

= PROCOL HARUM + 1

(Procol Harum is also one of many artists mentioned in EMI's half page congratulations ad. They are also mentioned in Decca's ad, thanks to A Whiter Shade Of Pale.)

Box Tops' The Letter / Neon Rainbow album reviewed by Allen Evans:

It includes the wistful sounds of A Whiter Shade of Pale.