Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale 

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What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

March 2009


March 31: Happy Birthday Henry Spinetti (1951)

Procol Harum in Concert download: click here: a brief connectivity problem has been corrected by the company that hosts the soundfiles. To our knowledge the concert is also available from play.com, amazon UK, itunes and cdon.com, but in most cases in lower bitrate resolution. The version including all of Gary's introductions etc will, to our knowledge, not be available elsewhere.

Added a fascinating and historic article (mostly, it seems, an interview with Bobby Harrison) from Record Mirror (thanks, Anvil; thanks, Kenneth)

It confirms the brilliant research by Marcus Gray about the identity and history of the Procol Harum cat (see here) and also shows how very early in the band's career Gary and Keith were apparently regarded as 'first among equals' by other band members. Intriguing to read Mathew Fisher's reported drug-opinions too, and to hear Ray Royer speaking from inside his trousers (his own trousers, that is).


March 30: Happy Birthday Dave Ball (1950)

 Added an illustration and publication dates for a Procol Harum compilation album (thanks, Per)

Added extra information here (thanks, Per)


March 29:

Added an editorial response and a fan's letter about the omission of BJ Wilson from a recent poll of drummers (thanks, Dan)
 


March 28: RIP Reg Isidore

Added tracklisting and illustrations for a hitherto-unlogged Procol Harum compilation from 1989 (thanks, Per)


March 27: Happy Birthday Matt Pegg (1971)  Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in sixteen weeks' time

Added a page about the arrangements Matt and Procol Harum have to make for the current recordings (thanks, Matt and Josh)


March 26: Procol Harum studio news: 'The recording of the first song is progressing well, and there are plans to continue the process with two more. 2009 may be the year of the revisited album – except for the Ledreborg DVD
but 2010 should bring a new album if plans go to thing (spoonerism intended)'.
(thanks, Chris)

Added a page about Line Records' Gary Brooker triple-CD box set (thanks, Per)


March 25:

Added illustrations to two reviews of A Salty Dog (thanks, Anvil)

Treat yourself to a nice Hammond demo (thanks, Kjell Tore)

Coming soon, a very early Procol interview in which the six members of Procol Harum
– Harrison, Knights, Brooker, Fisher, Royer and Reid –
are described in brief character sketches.

So, who is which? Use your skill and judgment to match the names above with the characteristics below,
and when you read the 1967 article in a few days' time you'll see the answers

 

a lot of belief in himself can be very erratic a very boring person
exasperatingly childish at times made a very strong impact seems apart from everything somehow

March 24:

In five days' time Procol Harum's second Ledreborg orchestral concert – currently available on audio CD, and scheduled for release on DVD – will be available as an audio download (two different versions) from 'Beyond the Pale': details here and here (thanks, Chris)

This means that currently-available Procol downloads are the two Ledreborg versions, and the Italian One Eye to the Future album. We understand that One Eye ... will remain available only until the next Procol download (no details available yet) comes online ... so get it while you can.


March 23:

Added a 2009 song (Brooker/Reid) to this index page  


March 22:

Added an illustrated page giving food for thought about the running order of the Exotic Birds and Fruit album (thanks Per)

The 1962 Brooker / Trower / Copping / Brownlee acetate eBay auction closes today


March 21:

Added more shots of Procol Harum in Norway, 1974 (thanks, Ragnar)

Don't forget the Paramounts Poison Ivy 1962 acetate eBay auction closes tomorrow

Pre-orders are rolling in to the BtP store for the two re-mastered Procol re-issues including Understandably Blue (1967) and A Robe of Silk (1968): we'll be sending these out to you as soon as stocks reach us from Salvo Records (hoping to beat Amazon!)

For the past two months BtP has run a nationality-counter that logs the number of individual computers that log on to this 'What's New' page (which we reckon to be the page most likely to be read by real Procol fans, rather than casual enquirers surfing in from a Google search or similar).

Here are the countries, listed in descending order of Procoholics-per-head of population: Denmark 1,473; Norway 426; United Kingdom 3,815; Sweden 392; Switzerland 311; Finland 154; Oman 80; Netherlands 271; Bahamas 5; Germany 1,004; Italy 687; America 3,480; Austria 88; Ireland 42; Canada 295; Belgium 81; Iceland 2; Australia 129; Spain 193; Puerto Rico 13; France 193; Bahrain 2; Venezuela 59; Slovenia 4; Poland 68; Uruguay 6; Croatia 6; Argentina 53; New Zealand 5; Portugal 12; Swaziland 1; Peru 23; Estonia 1; Chile 12; Japan 72; Costa Rica 2; Brazil 61; Czech Republic 3; Israel 2; Lebanon 1; Greece 2; Slovakia 1; South Africa 5; Hungary 1; Serbia 1; Turkey 7; Malaysia 2; Cote D'Ivoire 1; Romania 1; Ukraine 2; Russian Federation 5; Indonesia 7; Mexico 2; Thailand 1; India 1.

Note that someone who visits this page seven times in a week, from their home PC, scores once only on the counter. These eight weeks' outcome is shown in the diagram, right.

Numbers of individual computers accessing this page
in the past eight weeks from various countries


Any surprises here? Let us know.


March 20: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in seventeen weeks' time

'Kaleidoscope, Salad Days, and Good Captain Clack ... none of these songs are terrible'

Added a review of a now-deleted Procol Harum re-issue

... and here's a link to the brand new reissue which contains one Procol Harum recording from 1967 that has never surfaced before. 


March 19:

Don't forget the Paramounts Poison Ivy 1962 acetate eBay auction

Added two gig snippets ... one here (thanks, Serge)  and one here (thanks, Chris Copping)

Added a reel-to-reel snippet here (thanks, Bill)

Paler Sev Lewkowicz writes to BtP: 'I have joined a club where you get to remix Peter Gabriel-associated songs, and have done a remix of Games Without Frontiers. If you have a moment please follow the link and give it a listen. I'm not sure whether you can vote on it if you aren't a member, but if you can, please do!'


March 18: Birth of Barrie James Wilson (1947)

The Paramounts Poison Ivy 1962 acetate eBay auction is going strong (good luck, all bidders)

Alternatively, would you like to help the 'Children with Leukaemia' charity by acquiring a guitar signed by Brooker, Clapton and Rutherford? Added some Norfolk news, sent in by several correspondents (thanks, all)

Amended this page about Procol Harum's 10.5th album

Corrected a Portuguese infelicity here (thanks, Teresa) 


March 17:

Added another page to the AWSuit index  (thanks, Thomas)

A Procol-fan/drummer writes from Germany (having driven, twice, to the Netherlands to find an early copy of the Live at Ledreborg CD): 'I totally agree with Rob Barnes's critique (below, 4 March); there's only one thing I would like to mention: I never was a fan of Mark Brzezicki, but to my great surprise on this record his drumming fits perfectly to every song! BJ wouldn't have done a better job!


March 16: Procol Harum were in the studio yesterday, and 'it went very well' according to manager Chris Cooke, addressing fans via the Procol e-mail list (join here). Procol 'expect to be back there very soon'.

The Paramounts Poison Ivy 1962 acetate eBay auction is now under way: first-ever recording by Brooker, Trower, Copping and Brownlee (good luck, all bidders)

Updated BtP's 'For Sale' page to include the two new Salvo remaster/reissue CDs, Procol Harum and Shine on Brightly – pre-order now for April delivery

Added a first glimpse of the first Salvo reissue, of Procol Harum 1967, with its surprising cover, and a highly-coveted rarity among its eleven bonus-tracks (thanks, Chas)

Added a first glimpse of the second Salvo reissue, of Shine on Brightly, with a highly-intriguing rarity among its eleven bonus-tracks (thanks, Chas)

 


Ides of March:

   Added a page containing pictures of Gary, Josh and Mark from Procol Harum, contributing to the writing and recording of a song on Friday 13 March, for charity.

The page includes links to allow you to hear the piece, and download it ... and of course to make your contribution to the Red Nose Day charitable appeal.

 


March 14:

Added another Procol Harum setlist  (thanks, Evan)

Read some comments about the youthful Fisher at this show 


March 13: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in eighteen weeks' time

Added a page of good photographs from Procol Harum's first-ever visit to Norway, with the Dave Ball line-up (thanks, Ragnar)

Three members of Procol Harum will be on the BBC raising money for the UK's Comic Relief today for Red Nose Day ... link here ... Gary and co plan to write and record a new song.

Josh Phillips writes to BtP: 'We are going in cold (no song will exist before we start jamming) and expecting to have a song recorded and on air by 4 PM'

Click the logo (right) to find out how to support GB's charitable endeavours

 


March 12:

Added a review of Trower and Bruce at Karlsruhe (danke, Hans; thank you, Peter)
 

March 11:

Added a final page of photographs from a recent Robin Trower gig (thanks, Hans)

A Procol-fan/organist writes from Norway: I just downloaded One Eye to the Future, and that is amazing! Can't remember hearing them this tight ever, with beautiful details, twists, fill-ins and humour. No offence to Matthew's past playing (and certainly not his composing!), but Josh is truly amazing here.'


March 10:

Added a second full fan-review of Procol Harum in Concert with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and Choir (thanks, Charlie) 


March 9: Happy Birthday Robin Trower

Added a page about the imminent eBay sale of a rare Procol-related item (thanks, Mick)
You could soon be the owner of the first-ever studio recording made by Robin Trower, Gary Brooker, Chris Copping and Mick Brownlee

Added another (disturbing) instance to the AWSoP common-parlance page ... search for 'Women's Murder' (thanks, Barbara)


March 8:

Added a picture and a link to the Ledreborg DVD Page ... Amazon is claiming that 11 May will see its release, and you can pre-order.

Added a soundclip here, evidence of a second song to share words with Into the Flood and Gone Too Far
(thanks, Antònio)


March 7: Happy Birthday Matthew Fisher

Added a page recording a 2009 chart triumph for A Whiter Shade of Pale

Added news of two new Procol Harum CDs in the offing (thanks, Chris)


March 6: Procol Harum play Brønnøysund in nineteen weeks' time

'... the swirling maelstrom of guts and gore ...'

Added a first fan-review of Procol Harum in Concert with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and Choir (thanks, Richard)

Enjoy some concert-reviews by the same correspondent

Drumming and click-tracks ... interesting stuff here (thanks, Peter)


March 5:

Added some words, to this indispensible page, that will be handy for Procol fans visiting the Ukraine (thanks, Vladimir)

Greatly improved the two newest illustrations on this page (thanks, George)

Added a note about the Night of the Proms CD (thanks, Fred)


March 4:

Added an interesting illustration to this page (thanks, Koji)

Procol Harum's manager wrote as follows on 'The Beanstalk', the Procol Harum message-line (click here to join the chat):
'The band's on good form. Two days routining with a producer has been better than good. The studio is (in my opinion) totally Procol ... everyone's up for it ... we're not just working on the original albums and the best box set you're ever likely to hear (and see) ... in a week with a new audio CD available ... and with a new DVD (which I think you'll be very pleased with) due out within a couple of months ... I thought it pertinent to let people know that we're not resting ... ' [excerpted]

Rob Barnes writes to BtP:
' The Live at Ledreborg CD recording is simply superb in every respect. I have all the other 'live' recordings with which to compare, but this takes the band to another level. It's oft been said in the recent past that 'Gary's voice has never sounded better'. This time Gary's voice really has never sounded better. Everything about the album is sharp, tuneful and fresh. All those concerned with the performance and production deserve a hearty 'hurrah'. Bring on the DVD – and I think I'll have to find a way to wire my TV into the hi-fi.'


March 3:

Today's the sixth anniversary of the release of Procol Harum's last studio album, The Well's on Fire: so it's good to be able to reveal that the band are strongly rumoured to be going into the studio to record again, this month.

Meanwhile, added booklet-illustrations from the live Ledreborg CD, released yesterday – see if your own picture is there ...


March 2:

Today: release of the new Procol Harum CD! Click here to get it

Added a setlist/review of Trower, Bruce and Husband in Nijmegen (thanks, Frans)


March 1:

Added another Procol Harum setlist (thanks, Evan) 

More from Annie Lennox about Procol Harum here

Who will be the 700th member of the Procol Harum group on Facebook ?


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