Procol Harum's first year in the NME

Procol Harum album for US: 12 August 1967

These excerpts from New Musical Express, kindly selected for 'Beyond the Pale' by Yan Friis, reflect the pro-US shift in the attentions of Procol's management, to the detriment of the UK following, and the start of the 'one-hit wonder' syndrome. Meanwhile personnel wrangles have a higher profile than the music itself.

NME TOP 3:

1 (2) San Francisco, Scott McKenzie
2 (1) All You Need Is Love, The Beatles
3 (4) I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Tom Jones

17 (14) A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procol Harum

And on Billboard:

7 (5) A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procol Harum

And on Derek Johnson’s singles review pages, you find this instrumental cover-version mentioned:

Raymond Lefevre Orchestra, A Whiter Shade Of Pale (Major Minor)

News pages:

Procol Row Is Over; single

Procol Harum announced on Wednesday that it had reached an amicable settlement with guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Bobby Harrison, ending the dispute which followed their departure from the group last month. Royer and Harrison – who will not be returning – had previously claimed unjustifiable sacking, and maintained the group was not entitled to use the name Procol Harum without them.

The Harum’s follow-up to A Whiter Shade of Pale will be released simultaneously throughout the Western hemisphere in the third week of September. The group’s first LP, simply titled Procol Harum, was issued in America this week – it will, however, be substantially altered for release in this country in October.

The label on which Procol’s follow-up will appear has not yet been revealed – neither has the new outlet for the Move, who are under the same management as Procol Harum. Both groups have left Deram and it is being widely speculated that their future outlet will be through EMI.

Tipped for the charts by Derek Johnson:

Beach Boys, Heroes And Villains
Aretha Franklin, Baby I Love You
Paul Jones, Thinkin’ Ain’t For Me

Read more from the first year of Procol press