Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

PH on stage | PH on record | PH in print | BtP features | What's new | Interact with BtP | For sale | Site search | Home

The Palers' Band / The Palers' Project

Fans play the music of Procol Harum

Origins and outings
The Palers' Band is the name that has come to refer to a group founded by Jens and Roland at 'Beyond the Pale' [hence the name!] to provide an opportunity for fans to play Procol Harum music to each other – primarily at conventions organised by the website – in order to while away the waiting before Procol Harum themselves take the stage. A pool of players takes turns to perform Procol material, or numbers from the solo repertoire of Procol members.

International in constitution, the Palers' Band to date has performed seven times at BtP's private parties and once in public [BB King's Blues Club, Hollywood, California]. It has included some 73 individuals [listed below] and it plays with limited rehearsal – but with much e-mail consultation with the webmasters beforehand. It's open to players and singers of all ages and capacities, and the performances have ranged from the entirely 'informal' to the definitely inspiring. Caution is thrown to the winds: for example, the Palers' Band has performed the whole of The Worm and the Tree to Procol Harum themselves, as well as tackling In Held 'Twas in I in their presence with a circulating line-up of 23 players.

Clearly there's no attempt whatever at pretending to be the proper Procol Harum, as some other fans'-bands do … our emphasis is solely on enjoying the richness of the Procol repertoire, in the context of fun, mutual respect, and a lack of ego-tripping! 

Recordings

See the foot of the page for information about the Palers' Project, which is a studio collective playing polished and exciting, often innovative, arrangements of favourite Procol songs and rarities. These have had some interesting airplay in the USA and supported Gary Brooker during the Procol Harum Fortieth Anniversary celebrations in London, July 2007: setlist here

 

We formerly had audience recordings of the Palers' Band – a more rough-and-ready, live-action affair, for sale in the BtP shop, but they have long since sold out.

September 2000
Guildford, UK

24 songs and personnel listed here (inc. one Gary Brooker performance); the band included Procol's own Dave Ball.

May 2001
Kristiansand, Norway

13 songs and personnel listed here

June 2001
Manchester, UK

27 songs and personnel listed here (inc. two Procol Harum performances)

July 2003
Hollywood, USA

32 songs and personnel listed here (inc. five Procol Harum performances)

August 2006
Lejre, Denmark

 30 songs and personnel listed here and here (inc. three Procol Harum performances, one song with GB guesting with the Palers' Band, and one song with the whole of Procol joining The Palers onstage mid-song)

July 2007
St John's, Smith Square, London

 16 songs and personnel listed here (no song hitherto performed by the Palers' Band). The band again included Procol's own Dave Ball.

A Double CD of the Palers' Band, September 2000, was available from BtP … including one track by Gary Brooker
A CD of the Palers' Band, May 2001, was available from BtP … including one bonus track from 1973
A double CD of the Palers' Band, June 2001, was available from BtP … including one track by Procol Harum

 

Repertoire
So far the Palers' Band has played 88 different songs at BtP conventions ... see the table below ... amounting to over 141 performances [at Hollywood, 8 songs (marked *) were played twice; it would be more performances again, and more different songs, if we included the public show on 27 July 2003]. Note that there is a smattering of Brooker, Fisher and Trower solo pieces in here, as well as two covers of Procoloid significance, and one very standard Standard ...

Heard at
1 celebration

A Robe of Silk [Brooker / Reid]
A Souvenir of London [Brooker / Reid]
All This and More [Brooker / Reid]
Alpha [Brooker / Reid]
An Old English Dream [Brooker / Reid]
As Strong as Samson [Brooker / Reid]
Brickyard Blues [Toussaint]
Bridge of Sighs [Trower]
Bringing Home the Bacon [Brooker / Reid]
Broken Barricades [Brooker / Reid]
Cerdes (Outside the Gates of) [Brooker / Reid]
Crucifiction Lane [Trower / Reid]
Drunk Again [Brooker / Reid]
Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) [Brooker / Reid]
For Liquorice John [Brooker / Reid]
Ghost Train [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]
Give It a Try [Fisher]
Good Captain Clack [Brooker / Reid]
Grand Hotel [Brooker / Reid]
Happy Birthday to You [Hill / Hill]
Hard to be Sure [Fisher]
In Held 'Twas in I (complete) [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]
In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence [Brooker / Reid]
Into the Flood [Brooker / Reid / Noble]
Learn to Fly [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]
Lime Street Blues [Brooker / Reid]
Long Gone Geek [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]
Luskus Delph [Brooker / Reid]
Mabel [Brooker / Reid]
Memorial Drive [Trower / Reid]
Not Her Fault [Fisher]
Nothing That I Didn't Know [Brooker / Reid]
Perpetual Motion [Brooker / Reid]
Piggy Pig Pig [Brooker / Reid]
Pilgrims Progress [Fisher / Reid]
Poison Ivy [Leiber / Stoller]
Repent Walpurgis [Fisher]
Robert's Box [Brooker / Reid]
Seem to Have the Blues (Most all of the Time) [Brooker / Reid]
Simple Sister [Brooker / Reid]
So Far Behind * [Brooker / Reid]
Something Following Me [Brooker / Reid]
Something Magic [Brooker / Reid]
Taking the Time [Brooker / Reid]
The Devil Came from Kansas [Brooker / Reid]
The Emperor's New Clothes [Brooker / Reid]
The Final Thrust [Brooker / Reid]
The Long Goodbye [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]
The Milk of Human Kindness [Brooker / Reid]
The Truth Won't Fade Away [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]
The Unquiet Zone [Brooker / Reid]
The Worm and the Tree (complete) [Brooker / Reid]
Whisky Train [Trower / Reid]
Your Own Choice [Brooker / Reid]

Heard at
2 celebrations

A Christmas Camel * [Brooker / Reid]  
A Rum Tale  [Brooker / Reid]  
Barnyard Story  [Brooker / Reid]  
Beyond the Pale * [Brooker / Reid]  
Boredom [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]  
Conquistador  [Brooker / Reid]  
Fool's Gold * [Brooker / Reid]  
Holding On  [Brooker / Reid]  
Juicy John Pink  [Trower / Reid]  
Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)  [Brooker / Reid]  
Mr Krupp  [Reid]  
Nothing but the Truth [Brooker / Reid]  
Pandora's Box  [Brooker / Reid]  
Separation [Fisher]  
She Wandered Through the Garden Fence  [Brooker / Reid]  
The Dead Man's Dream  [Brooker / Reid]  
The Thin End of the Wedge [Brooker / Reid]  
This Old Dog [Brooker / Reid]  
Too Much Between Us [Brooker  / Trower / Reid]  
Toujours l'Amour * [Brooker / Reid]  
Trick of the Night [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]  
Wish me Well [Brooker / Reid]  
Wreck of the Hesperus * [Fisher / Reid]  

Heard at
3 celebrations

A Salty Dog  [Brooker / Reid]  
A Whiter Shade of Pale  [Brooker / Reid]  
Homburg [Brooker / Reid]  
Kaleidoscope [Brooker / Reid]  
One Eye on the Future * [Brooker / Reid]  
Quite Rightly So  [Brooker / Fisher / Reid]  
Salad Days (Are Here Again) [Brooker / Reid]  
Shine on Brightly [Brooker / Reid]  
Whaling Stories [Brooker / Reid]  

Heard at
4 celebrations

Rambling On [Brooker / Reid]  
Still There'll Be More * [Brooker / Reid]  

Heard at
5 or 6 celebrations

 (nothing)

 

Special guests!
At the various parties, organised by the website, we have also had guest performances of A Rum Tale [by Gary Brooker, 2000] and Pilgrim's Progress [ending] and The Dead Man's Dream [Procol Harum 2001], A Rum Tale, The Emperor's New Clothes, Echoes in the Night, Juicy John Pink, and Green Onions [Procol Harum 2003] and A Rum Tale, Skip Softly [My Moonbeams], Bringing Home the Bacon [Procol Harum, 2006]. It's a strange thrill for the Palers' Band to have Procol in their own audience [sometimes filming us!] and occasionally getting up to play on our own gear – or indeed joining us as the chorus in Whaling Stories; or [as at Domus Felix 2006] having Gary Brooker get up and sing with the Palers as his backing band. 

Palers' Band personnel

The Palers' Band has played Guildford (2000), Kristiansand and Manchester (2001) Hollywood USA (2003), Lejre in Denmark (2006) and St John's Smith Square (2007) as follows. Players marked with an asterisk (*) also played as The Palers' Project who (reinforced by special guest Geoff Whitehorn) opened for Gary Brooker and Guests in London on 21 July 2007 (setlist here)

Who? From? 2000 2001 2001 2003 2006 2007 Gigs

Roland Clare *

UK

Guild

Krist

Manch

LA

Lejre

London

6

Jens Anders Ravnaas *

Norway

Guild

Krist

Manch

LA

Lejre

London

6

Peter Clare*

UK

Guild

Krist

Manch

 

Lejre

London

5

Linda Clare

UK

Guild

Krist

Manch

 

Lejre

 

4

Tito Davila

USA

Guild

 

 

LA

Lejre

London

4

Richard Beck

USA

Guild

 

Manch

LA

Lejre

 

4

Jeff Levine

USA

 

 

Manch

LA

Lejre

London

4

Don Milione*

USA

 

 

Manch

LA

Lejre

London

4

Allen Edelist*

USA

 

 

Manch

LA

Lejre

London

4

George Lovell

Scotland / Canada

 

 

 

LA

Lejre

London

3

Sam Cameron

UK

Guild

Krist

Manch

 

 

 

3

Marvin Chassman

USA

 

 

 

LA

Lejre

London

3

Larry Pennisi

USA

Guild

 

Manch

 

Lejre

 

3

Jeremy Gilien*

USA

 

 

 

LA

Lejre

London

3

Gary Shepard*

USA

 

 

 

LA

Lejre

London

3

Stephen Wallace*

Australia

Guild

 

 

 

 

London

2

Søren Borello

Denmark

 

 

 

 

Lejre

London

2

Wolfgang Lieke

Germany

Guild

 

Manch

 

 

 

2

Antonio Costa Barbé*

Italy

Guild

 

 

 

 

London

2

Hans Tammes

Netherlands

 

 

Manch

 

Lejre

 

2

Torjus Ravnaas

Norway

 

Krist

 

 

Lejre

 

2

Leif-Otto Eriksen

Norway

 

Krist

Manch

 

 

 

2

Bjørn Jensen*

Norway

 

 

 

 

Lejre

London

2

Andrè Romkes*

Norway

 

 

 

 

Lejre

London

2

Ian Hockley*

Oman

 

 

 

 

Lejre

London

2

Dave Knight*

UK

 

 

Manch

 

 

London

2

Dave Ball

UK

Guild

 

 

 

 

London

2

Tony Sadowski

USA

 

 

Manch

LA

 

 

2

Greg Panfile

USA

Guild

 

Manch

 

 

 

2