Procol HarumBeyond
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In each of these fascinating articles journalist Yan Friis will present Procol Harum reportage - once the AWSoP bubble had burst - in the context of contemporary chart events. See also The Mammoth Task: Yan's extracts from the first 52 weeks of Procol press in the NME
Swimming Against the Tide:
Procol Harum press in the UK's |
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| Alarming decline in Procol press: the band seem to be monitored only by the laconic compiler of 'Tailpieces' | |
| The Brooker marriage and mysterious plans for Reid's contribution to a poetry album and book. | |
| Procol Harum scoring at the Fillmore when they were badly needed back home! | |
| Procol Harum shining and rampaging in Miami, but leaving a conspicuous gap in the NME poll. | |
| A late review for Shine On Brightly, and the welcome return of Procol Harum to play on British soil. | |
| A resurgence as Procol play on the radio and garner a fine reaction to the A Salty Dog single. | |
| Wonderful reaction to the A Salty Dog album, and a rare Procol cover released on 45 rpm. | |
| Fan-letter support for the band, who still come across 'puzzlingly' in a feature interview. | |
| A few Procol dates in the UK, US tours planned, and a little bit of Fisher-press. | |
| Procol Harum well received in concert and on vinyl as Home is released. | |
| The band are booked to play important festivals both sides of the Atlantic, and some ecstatic reaction to Home, which charts in the USA. | |
| Home continues to haunt the US album chart, against stiff competition, and PH are well-received at the UK's Isle of Wight pop festival. | |
| Press interest in Procol tails off after the Isle of Wight; later they appear on the Chrysalis roster. | |
| The start of the Procol re-release industry, as the band tours with Curved Air, plays in Finland, records the famous WPLJ set ... and Gary Brooker votes for Matthew Fisher in a poll. | |
| Release and chart success of Broken Barricades, several Trower-induced personnel changes ... but the non-return of Matthew Fisher. | |
| Big interviews with Reid and later with Brooker, but no review of the band's first headline gig at the QEH in London; meanwhile Trower gets a new group together. | |
| Plenty of tour dates but no reviews, a single live track released, and the first news of the Edmonton album in the pipeline. | |
| A bit of a skirmish in the letters page, more UK touring, and the re-release of early albums and singles. | |
| A re-released AWSoP prospers in the singles charts while the Live album attracts marvellous reviews | |
| 'Harum make it second time around' in the single and the album charts. | |
| Procol Harum continue to enjoy chart success, while the Rainbow Orchestral gig, and Grand Hotel, are announced; meanwhile Freedom suffer a critical hammering. | |
| Conquistador gathers chart-momentum in the UK too, but not a flicker of live activity from the band. | |
| Procol Harum introduce Mick Grabham ('a charming person'), triumph at the Rainbow, wow Copenhagen, and tour Britain. | |
| Grand Hotel hits the shops, and the band hit the spot in concert; meanwhile Robin Trower makes his solo début. | |
| A downbeat Brooker interview, the Robert's Box single reviewed (congas?), and paramilitary waltzing at the Felt Forum, while Grand Hotel puts the band in the US album charts for the very last time. | |
| Another concert cancelled and re-sceduled with Leo Sayer supporting, meanwhile A Souvenir Of London is released on single and banned by BBC | |
| Procol Harum wowing Brighton and announcing a big London gig, while Matthew Fisher brings out a 'mediocre' single with 'faulty' melody from his 'predominantly melancholy' solo album, and gives a revealing interview. | |
| A very long and plain-speaking assessment of a band 'endowed with every shade of virtue and good intentions – and a sense of strategic intelligence that is barely more than cretinous'. A new single (well-received) and a small tour (not so) precede the release of the new album. | |
| A Trower interview and a luke-warm concert review ... where the band nonetheless played four encores! | |
| Procol steal the show at Crystal Palace, and are 'best band' at the Reading Festival; Alan Cartwright delivers a fine solo, and BJ appears in his own right. But what happened to that orchestral TV special? | |
| Desolation in the pop charts ... but Procol Harum are received rapturously on their UK tour. | |
| Procol Harum closing the Rainbow and playing very occasionally while they record with Leiber and Stoller; meanwhile Mickey Jupp tells his tale. | |
| Procol release a new album, play a big gig, and attract grudging praise mixed with hostility from the critics. | |
| Pandora's Box assails the charts: meanwhile a mocking interviewer draws an unsurprisingly abrasive, if very revealing, performance from its authors; and there are mocking captions, and a mocking teaser. | |
| Procol play some much-needed British dates, but their 'half-hearted' single has pub-rock and the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody to contend with. | |
| The band opt not to top the bill at a dismal festival, loon with the great Vivian Stanshall, and are seemingly re-evaluated by NME, rather late in the day! | |
| AWSoP is rated significantly differently by the readership and the staff; Procol Harum gig on, but there's already a retrospective feel to their press coverage. | |
| The advent of Pete Solley, a live show and an impending BBC engagement. Otherwise it's Punk time, with the only Procol feature, 'life after death', relating to the Liquorice John sessions six years before! | |
| Brooker buys a pub before Procol's huge UK tour promoting Something Magic; Brooker, Reid and Copping are a bit unforthcoming in a big interview, and French fans clap along to The Worm and the Tree. | |
| PH postponing gigs, releasing an ill-received album and single, playing good live sets (though not the Jubilee show at Tower Bridge) and then losing their guitarist ... | |
| Procol existing only in the mind of Keith Reid, while Brooker, Copping (fleetingly) and Wilson (biggest disappointment of the evening) are heard only in the context of Reid's fine protegé, Frankie Miller. | |
| Talk of Gary Brooker 'of vestal virgins fame' who might be 'spinning in his grave' as various artists rehash the 'nonsensical lyrics' he made famous in a forgotten epoch. | |
| Procol split confirmed only by start of Brooker's solo career: he's still a 'cult figure' to his publicist, but damning reviewers consider the music of this 'friendly old ruminant' to be 'too tasteful by half'. | |
See also: The Mammoth Task: Yan's extracts from the first 52 weeks of Procol press in the NME
PH on stage | PH on record | PH in print | BtP features | What's new | Interact with BtP | For sale | Site search | Home |