Ball on 'Grand Hotel'

Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

Dave Ball on 'Grand Hotel'

... musical and pictorial traces ...

Dave Ball stayed with Procol for nearly two years. He left Procol while Grand Hotel was being recorded, and played (uncredited) on this album as well. (If you look at the Grand Hotel sleeve, and the portrait of the band in evening dress, you can see that Mick Grabham's head has been superimposed on Dave Ball's body). (Another head-transplant controversy here)

Around 1980 he played in a backing band for an Australian singer called Duffo. After he left Duffo's band he did a computer programming course and went to Australia, where he probably still lives. He had sort of given up playing at that time, and it's not known whether he plays anymore.

Dave Ball contacted 'Beyond the Pale' with this information

We had completed most of the Grand Hotel album by the time I left the band: I am fairly certain that most of the backing tracks are the same, though there were some new tracks (Liquorice John and TV Ceasar) done after my departure. The rest of the album we had been playing on tour prior to going into the studios.

Though Mick re-recorded all the solo work, I can be heard playing one of the recorders ('The Pahene Ensemble' was Gary's joke name, I think) that double the repeating line of the intro and refrains on Bringing Home The Bacon; and myself and Denny Brown the roadie (lovely chap) can be heard playing spoons on Souvenir of London (a skill that we learnt in the studio – on the day!).

As to the album sleeve, well it was an expensive shoot, at a hired mansion in Malibu (this house was used to film Rosemary's Baby I believe). It is most certainly my body. I have a set of original photographs from that day somewhere in storage in Australia. If you look carefully into the champagne glass on the back, you will see a reflection of the band – complete with my head! Any further proof of my body's appearance should be inferred from the height. I am 6 foot 4 inches tall, whereas Mick is ... well ... not. See the pictorial evidence here.

I am a Systems Programmer these days, working on IBM Mainframes. I recently [December 1997] moved to North Berwick, near Edinburgh, from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Funny old world isn't it!

Thanks, Dave for these messages

Fans will have to decide for themselves whether they can see Dave Ball's face or Mick Grabham's, refracted in the champagne-glass on the back sleeve of the album.