Procol Harum's first year in the NME

Living up to the reputation: 30 December 1967

These excerpts from New Musical Express, kindly selected for 'Beyond the Pale' by Yan Friis, Procol Harum offering a gnomic outlook for 1968, and evidently feeling the pressure of their still-strong reputation.

Front page: Pictures of the NME chart-points Top Tenners for 1967, headed by winner Engelbert Humperdinck.

Main feature headlines:

GEORGIE REACHES THE POINT OF NO RETURN by Nick Logan

1968 WILL SEE BETTER THINGS FROM THE BEACH BOYS and their new LP really proves it! by Keith Altham

Tipped for charts by Derek Johnson:
Herman's Hermits: I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving
Spencer Davis Group: Mr Second Class

NME Top 5
1 (1) Hello, Goodbye, Beatles
2 (8) Magical Mystery Tour (EPs), Beatles
3 (2) If The Whole World Stopped Lovin', Val Doonican
4 (5) I'm Coming Home, Tom Jones
5 (6) Careless Hands, Des O'Connor

News pages:

In small column called POPLINERS

... Procol Harum flies to France on Sunday to star in New Year's Eve pop gala in Marseilles ...

(And a preview on the yearly NME Points Championship based on the weekly charts, 30 points for a week at No 1, 29 points for a week at No 2 and down to 1 point for No 30.)

Swing into 1968 with some WISHFUL THINKING? as the stars give their hopes and resolutions for the New Year

(excerpt)

PROCOL HARUM

RESOLUTION - We resolve to dissolve.

HOPE - We hope that by this time next year we have been able to play to all the people who want to see us. We also hope to be able to live up to all the fantastic claims some people have made about us.

CAT'S WHISKERS AWARDS FOR 1967

by the Alley Cat

(excerpt)

PROCOL HARUM - Whiter Shade of Pale undoubtedly the year's best single...

Read more from the first year of Procol press