Procol Harum

Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Baroque rock, art-rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, symphorock, blues rock
Years active	1967–1977 1991–present
Labels	Regal Zonophone Records Reprise Records (US) A&M Records Chrysalis Records Deram Records
Associated acts	The Paramounts, Liquorice John Death
Website	ProcolHarum.com - 'Beyond the Pale' (Procol Harum's semi-official website)
Members
Gary Brooker Geoff Dunn Matt Pegg Josh Phillips Geoff Whitehorn Keith Reid
Past members
Dave Ball Dave Bronze Mark Brzezicki Alan Cartwright Chris Copping Matthew Fisher Mick Grabham Bobby Harrison David Knights Dee Murray Ray Royer Pete Solley Don Snow Robin Trower B.J. Wilson

Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, who contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale". Although noted for its baroque and classical influence, Procol Harum's music also embraces the blues, R&B and soul.

History

Origins

Based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, The Paramounts, led by Gary Brooker and Robin Trower and including Chris Copping and B.J. Wilson, scored a moderate British success in 1964, with their cover version of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Poison Ivy", which reached number 35 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] Unable to generate any follow-up success, the group disbanded in 1966.^[2]

The name

In April 1967, Brooker began working as a singer-songwriter and formed Procol Harum with non-Paramounts Keith Reid (poet), Hammond organist Matthew Fisher, guitarist Ray Royer and bassist David Knights.^[2] Guy Stevens, their original manager, named the band after a friend's Burmese cat.^[3] The name has been said to be Latin for "beyond these things", but the correct Latin translation of "beyond these things" is Procul His.^[4] Alternatively, the name has been translated as "of these far off things" (harum is in the feminine, genitive, plural). However, procul would not be followed by a genitive in Latin.^[5] The name of the band is frequently misspelt; often with Procul, Harem, both, or other variations.

Early years

At Olympic Studios, with session drummer (and non-Paramount) Bill Eyden, producer Denny Cordell, and sound engineer Keith Grant, the group recorded "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and it was released on 12 May 1967. With a structure reminiscent of Baroque music, a countermelody based on J.S. Bach's cantata no.140 by Fisher's Hammond organ, Brooker's soulful vocals and Reid's mysterious lyrics, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. It did almost as well in the United States, reaching #5.^[2] In Australia, it was #1 for many weeks, setting a record of 8 weeks in Melbourne.

After "A Whiter Shade of Pale" became a hit, the band set out to consolidate their studio success by touring; their live debut was opening for Jimi Hendrix in 1967.

The group's follow-up single, "Homburg", with a line-up change of former Paramounts B.J. Wilson on drums and Robin Trower on guitar, reached #6 in the UK, but was not a hit in the US. The album Procol Harum was recorded soon between the two hit singles, but was held back until early 1968. A series of singles charted lowly in the US and UK, though rarely both at the same time. A Salty Dog (1969) was popular among fans, and was their first album to sell well in the UK. The title track in particular gained a good deal of US FM radio airplay. However, Fisher, who produced this album, departed the band soon after its release.^[2]

The group would have many personnel changes,^[6] but their lineup for their first three albums was Brooker (piano and lead vocals), Trower (guitar and lead vocals), Fisher (organ and lead vocals), Knights (bass), Wilson (drums), and Reid (lyricist). Former Paramount Chris Copping joined on organ and bass in 1970, and from late 1972 until 1977, the group's guitarist was Mick Grabham.^[2] The group appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.^[7]

By 1971 the disparities in style became too great and after the release of their fifth album Broken Barricades, it saw the departure of Trower to form his own power trio band and him being replaced by Dave Ball.^[2]

Procol Harum returned to success on the record charts in the following years with a symphonic rock sound, often backed by symphony orchestras. At this they were one of the first groups to achieve success; Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra was a #5 gold album in the US in 1972, as well as reaching #48 in Britain. "Conquistador" (a track from their first album, re-charted for accompaniment by the Edmonton Symphony in 1971) was a hit single in 1972, getting to #16 in the US, whilst reaching #22 in the UK. Their follow-up album, Grand Hotel, did fairly well, reaching #21 on the US Billboard 200 in 1973.^[2]

Mid 1970s

In 1975 Procol Harum played the final night at the Rainbow Theatre in London.^[8] More personnel changes contributed to declining sales in the later part of the 1970s, with "Pandora's Box" being their final UK Top 20 hit in 1975.^[2] Its parent album, Procol's Ninth saw a reconnection with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who both produced and wrote with the band. The band finally broke up in 1977, after seeing Something Magic stall at #147 in the US Billboard 200 chart.^[8] They reunited for a single performance five months later, when "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") of the Best British Pop Single 1952–1977 at the BRIT Awards, part of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.

1990s: reformation

The band reformed in 1991 with Brooker, Fisher, Trower and Reid (Wilson had died in 1990), and released The Prodigal Stranger, but sales were modest.^[8] After the album's release, a new incarnation of the band, with Brooker and Fisher but not Trower, toured the US and the world for a few years in the first half of the 1990s.^[2]

In July 1997, fans arranged the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the success of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and invited the then inactive band to play a concert at Redhill. A direct result of the concert was the creation of the fan website "Beyond the Pale" in October 1997. Unusual for fan websites, 'Beyond the Pale' prides itself on being updated on a daily basis. Typical updates include the latest Procol Harum news, details of concerts from the 1970s and occasionally messages from the band.} The website also made fans aware of each other, and thus catalysed and sparked a new interest in the band. This then led to The Palers' Project, in which the fans got together to record four double CD albums of Procol Harum songs in novel arrangements, which in turn financed the website. The last of these albums was released in 2008.

2000 and beyond

In late 1999, Brooker promised that "Procol will play in 2000", and in September the band played an open air gig with the New London Sinfonia in Guildford.

In 2000, Procol Harum received some attention after the song "In Held Twas in I", appeared on Transatlantic's debut album.

Since 2001 the band (Brooker, Fisher, Geoff Whitehorn (guitar), Matt Pegg, bass and Mark Brzezicki, drums] has made several tours of mostly Europe, but also Japan and the US. A 2001 concert in Copenhagen was released on DVD in 2002. In 2003, the band released the album The Well's on Fire. A December 2003 concert in London, with much of the material from that album, was released on DVD in 2004: Live at the Union Chapel. Fisher left Procol Harum in 2004.

The band resumed a limited touring schedule in 2005, with Josh Phillips replacing Fisher on Hammond, leaving Brooker as the only original performing member. In June 2006 they played at the Isle of Wight Festival. In August 2006 Procol Harum played two outdoor concerts with the Danish Radio Orchestra at Ledreborg Castle in Denmark, which were tele-recorded. An hour long edit of the show was broadcast on Christmas morning, 2008 on Danish Channel DR2 and the full concert was issued on DVD on 11 May 2009 (with six extra tracks from a Danish TV recording of the band from 1974).

Later in 2006 they played in Switzerland, Norway and Denmark, but with Geoff Dunn replacing Brzezicki on drums, because the latter's other band Casbah Club was touring with The Who.^[9] However, Dunn ended up replacing Brzezicki for the band's European tour in 2007. Recording from the Italian concerts were later released as the One Eye to the Future – Live in Italy 2007 album. Procol Harum also played an orchestral concert in Sweden on 30 June. They performed with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra at the outdoor opera venue Dalhalla, near Rattvik.

On 20 July and 21 July 2007, fans arranged the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the success of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and invited the band to play. This took the form of two concerts at St John's, Smith Square in London. 20 July saw Procol Harum play a mixture of songs from their early days through to the début of a couple of new songs, "Sister Mary" and "Missing Persons". The following night 'Gary Brooker and Guests' performed a fixture of obscure songs by Brooker-Reid that had either never been recorded, never been performed live before or were significantly different from the version they recorded. Support act was The Palers' Project in which Procol guitarist Geoff Whitehorn also played.

Although there was no Procol Harum activity in 2008, their manager, Chris Cooke, used the 'Beyond the Pale' web site to announce plans for a live DVD and a new album in 2009, as well as festival concerts in Norway on 17 July and Finland on 23 July.^[10] Just before the latter concert, Brooker fell off a pile of road-side logs in Finland and broke several ribs. The show went ahead but he was unable to sing properly, and many of the songs were performed either as instrumentals or sung by others in the band. In October 2009, with Brooker fully recovered, the band performed four concerts  — in Hagen (Germany), Drammen (Norway), Moscow and St Petersburg. All This and More, a four disc retrospective (three CDs and a DVD with historical notes) was released in the autumn of 2009, and Salvo also issued all of the band's previous albums as remastered CDs with extra tracks, some never previously heard.

They played a string of US (and Toronto) concert dates in June 2010, mostly opening for Jethro Tull. On July 22 Procol again headlined at the Keitelejazz Festival in Äänekoski, Finland - the venue where the band performed with an injured Brooker in 2009. They described this loyal Finnish audience as "the best in the world" and played a unique three-verse version of A Whiter Shade of Pale with a guitar solo from Geoff Whitehorn. 48 hours later Procol were invited to give a free concert at the courtyard of the Palace of the Province of Bergamo in Italy. In August 2010 they appeared in Bad Krozingen in Germany and a Rock Legends event at the Dolina Charlotty Amphitheater in Poland. After a Halloween gig in Leamington Spa (their first in the UK for 3 years) the band returns to North America for bookings in early November, including a return orchestral event with The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on November 9. They go to Tallinn, Estonia on 18 November and five further concerts with the Danish Radio Orchestra have been announced in Denmark in January 2011.

Authorship lawsuit

In July 2009, Matthew Fisher won a British court judgment awarding him 40% of the music royalties from 2005 onwards for 1967's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," which had previously gone 50% to Brooker for the music and 50% to Reid for the lyrics.^[11]

Influences in popular culture

The band's unusual name has inspired references in modern popular culture. The asteroid 14024 Procol Harum is named after the band. The orchid Procol Harum, a hybridisation of Cymbidium Mighty Sensation with Cymbidium Electric Ladyland, is also named after the band.^[12]

There are many corruptions of the phrase A Whiter Shade of Pale in the press. These are extensively listed at here. There is also a rose of that name.^[13]

The second book in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker Trilogy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel", from Procol Harum's album of the same name.^[14][15]

Discography

Studio albums

• Procol Harum (1967)
• Shine on Brightly (1968)
• A Salty Dog (1969)
• Home (1970)
• Broken Barricades (1971)
• Grand Hotel (1973)
• Exotic Birds and Fruit (1974)
• Procol's Ninth (1975)
• Something Magic (1977)
• The Prodigal Stranger (1992)
• The Long Goodbye (1995)
• Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About (1997; as Liquorice John Death)
• The Well's on Fire (2003)^[2]

References

• Johansen, Claes (2000). Beyond the Pale. SAF Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0946719284. 

External links

• ClassicBands.com - 'Procol Harum'
• ProcolHarum.com - 'Beyond the Pale' (Procol Harum's semi-official website)
• Procol Harum on A&M Records
• Procol Harum at Allmusic - Bruce Eder's history of the band
• TrowerPower.com - Robin Trower's official site
• MatthewFisher.com - Matthew Fisher's Homepage