Procol Harum

Procol Harum is arguably probably the most successful “accidental” group creation — that’s, a music group originally assembled to make use of the achievement of an archive created within the studio room — in the annals of progressive rock and roll. With “A Whiter Tone of Pale” a monster strike right from the package, the music group progressed from a studio room ensemble right into a effective live work, their music constructed around an eclectic mixture of blues-based rock and roll riffs and grand traditional themes. With vocalist/pianist Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid offering the band’s entire repertory, their music progressed in decidedly linear style, the only main surprises from the regular lineup adjustments that added a fresh instrumental voice towards the proceedings. At their many available, as on “A Whiter Color of Pale” and “Conquistador,” these were probably one of the most well-known of intensifying rock and roll rings, their singles outselling all competitors, and their many ambitious record tracks still possess a strong pursuing. Procol Harum’s root base and roots are as convoluted as its achievement — specifically between 1967 and 1973 — was pronounced. Pianist Gary Brooker (b. May 29, 1945, Southend, Essex, Britain) acquired formed an organization at school known as the Paramounts at age group 14, with guitarist Robin Trower (b. Mar. 9, 1945, Southend, Essex) and bassist Chris Copping (b. Aug. 29, 1945, Southend, Essex), with vocalist Bob Scott and drummer Mick Brownlee. After attaining a certain amount of achievement at local youngsters night clubs and dances covering set up rock and roll & roll strikes, Brooker overran the vocalist place in the departed Scott, as well as the group continuing working following its associates graduated — by 1962, these were performing formidable addresses of American R&B, and got a residency on the Tones Membership in Southend. Brownlee exited the music group in early 1963 and was changed by Barry J. (B.J.) Wilson (b. Mar. 18, 1947, Southend, Essex), who auditioned after responding to an advertisement in Melody Machine. Nine months afterwards, in Sept of 1963, bassist Chris Copping opted from the professional music artists’ corps to wait Leicester College or university, and he was changed by Diz Derrick. The next month, the Paramounts’ demonstration record, comprising covers from the Coasters’ “Poison Ivy” and Bobby Bland’s “Further on Up the street,” got them an audition at EMI. This led to them being authorized to the Parlophone label, making use of their maker, Ron Richards, the documenting manager most widely known for his a long time of use the Hollies. The Paramounts’ initial one, “Poison Ivy,” released in January of 1964, reached amount 35 over the United kingdom graphs. The group also got a significant endorsement in the Rolling Rocks, with whom they’d done the television display Give thanks to Your Lucky Superstars, who known as the Paramounts a common British R&B music group. Unfortunately, none from the group’s following Parlophone singles on the next 1 . 5 years found any graph achievement, and by middle-1966, the Paramounts have been decreased to serving being a support music group for popsters Sandy Shaw and Chris Andrews. In Sept of 1966, the Paramounts proceeded to go their separate methods; Derrick from the business, Trower and Wilson to gigs with additional rings, and, most fortuitously, Gary Brooker determining to build up his career being a songwriter. This led Brooker right into a relationship with lyricist Keith Reid (b. Oct. 19, 1945), whom he fulfilled through a shared acquaintance, R&B impresario Man Stevens. With the springtime of 1967, that they had a significant body of tracks prepared and started buying music group to try out them. An ad in Melody Manufacturer led to the forming of a music group initially known as the Pinewoods, with Brooker as pianist/vocalist, Matthew Fisher (b. Mar. 7, 1946, Croydon, Surrey) on body organ, Ray Royer (b. Oct. 8, 1945) on acoustic guitar, Dave Knights (b. June 28, 1945, London) on bass, and Bobby Harrison (b. June 28, 1943, London) on drums. Their 1st documenting, made by Denny Cordell, was of a bit of surreal Reid poetry known as “A Whiter Color of Pale,” which Brooker arranged to music loosely produced from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air flow on the G String from your Collection No. 3 in D main. By enough time this documenting was prepared for launch, the Pinewoods have been rechristened Procol Harum, a name produced, as alternate tales inform it, either from Stevens’ cat’s delivery certificate, Procol Harun, or the Latin “procul” for “definately not these exact things” (hey, it had been the middle-’60s, and either can be done). In early Might of 1967, the group performed “A Whiter Tone of Pale” on the Speakeasy Membership in London, while Cordell organized for a discharge from the one on British Decca (London Information in the us), in the businesses’ Deram label. Ironically, Cordell’s onetime customers the Moody Blues had been about to use of an extended industrial tailspin on the same label with an identical, classically tinged couple of recordings, “Evenings in White Silk” and “Times of Long term Passed,” and between your two groupings and their discovery hits, Deram Information would be completely characterized being a intensifying rock and roll imprint. Cordell acquired also delivered a duplicate of “A Whiter Tone of Pale” to Radio London, among England’s legendary just offshore pirate r / c (they competed using the staid BBC, which experienced the state broadcast monopoly, and had been infinitely more precious by the teens and most rings), which performed the record. Not merely was Radio London deluged with listener demands for more has, but Deram instantly discovered itself with purchases for an archive not planned for discharge for another month — before May was fifty percent over, it had been pushed through to the timetable and rushed into shops. On the other hand, the prototypal Procol Harum produced their concert debut in London starting for Jimi Hendrix in the Saville Theatre on June 4, 1967. Four times later on, “A Whiter Color of Pale” reached the very best from the English graphs for the to begin a six-week work in the very best place, producing Procol Harum just the sixth saving act in the annals of United kingdom well-known music to attain the main i’m all over this its 1st release (not the Beatles do that). The next month, the record reached quantity five within the American graphs, with product sales in america increasing to over a million copies (and six million copies world-wide). All this appeared to bode well for the music group, except for the actual fact that it acquired only an individual melody in its repertory no true stage action — literal one-hit miracles. Exactly the same month which the record peaked in america, Royer and Harrison had been sacked and changed by Brooker’s previous Paramounts bandmates Robin Trower and B.J. Wilson on acoustic guitar and drums, respectively. The “genuine” Procol Harum music group was right now in place another solitary, “Homburg,” was duly documented. Similar to “A Whiter Color of Pale” in its shade of dark grandeur, this solitary, released in Oct of 1967 on EMI’s Regal Zonophone label, surely got to amount six over the United kingdom graphs. The group’s debut record, entitled Procol Harum, were able to reach amount 47 in the us during Oct of 1967, predicated on “A Whiter Tone of Pale” getting among its monitors (including the first edition of “Conquistador”) — but a English edition from the LP, released over there minus the hit, didn’t catch the attention of any significant product sales. The solitary “Homburg,” nevertheless, got no greater than quantity 34 in the us a month later on. On March 26, 1968, “A Whiter Color of Pale” earned the International Tune of the entire year award on the 13th Annual Ivor Novello Honours (type of the United kingdom exact carbon copy of the Grammys). The group’s newest one, “Quite Rightly Therefore,” however, just reached the quantity 50 place in Britain in April of this year. A fresh agreement for the group was guaranteed with A&M Information in the us (they continued to be on Regal Zonophone in Britain), and by November, another recording, Sparkle on Brightly, highlighted by an 18-minute epic entitled “In Held ‘Twas I,” was completed and in the shops, and increased to quantity 24 in the us but didn’t chart in Britain. Another month, these were playing the Miami Pop Event before 100,000 people, on the costs that included Chuck Berry, Canned High temperature, the blues edition of Fleetwood Macintosh, as well as the Turtles, amongst others. In March of 1969, David Knights and Matthew Fisher exited the lineup soon after finishing focus on the group’s brand-new record, A Salty Pet dog, preferring administration and production towards the executing side from the music business. Knights’ departure opened up just how for bassist Chris Copping to become listed on Procol Harum (hence re-creating the lineup from the Paramounts), playing bass and body organ. Another American tour adopted another month, and in June of 1969 A Salty Puppy was released. This record, regarded as by many to become the initial group’s best function, mixed high-energy blues and traditional influences on the grand range, and came back the music group towards the U.S. graphs at quantity 32, as the name music ascended the English graphs to quantity 44. The recording subsequently reached quantity 27 in Britain, the group’s 1st long-player to graph in their personal country. Regardless of the group’s moderate product sales in Britain and America, they continued to be among the popular intensifying rock and roll rings, capable of achieving even more middlebrow listeners who didn’t possess the tolerance for Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Ruler Crimson. Robin Trower’s flashy electric guitar quickly produced him the superstar of the group, just as much as vocalist/pianist Brooker, and he was regarded as within the same little league with Alvin Lee and a variety of past due-’60s/early-’70s Uk blues axemen. Matthew Fisher’s stately, cathedral-like body organ have been a seminal area of the band’s audio, juxtaposed with Trower’s blues-based riffing and Reid’s uncommon, darkly witty lyrics as voiced by Brooker. Pursuing Fisher’s departure, the group took on a far more straightforward rock and roll audio, but Trower’s using continued to be a major appeal to nearly all fans. “Whaling Tales” was a good example of quintessential Procol Harum, a variety of 19th hundred years oratorio that appears like it arrived of the Victorian-era cathedral, with fiery blues riffs blazing at its middle. And becoming soaked in Reid’s dark, eerie, regret-filled lyrics didn’t prevent “A Salty Puppy” from getting among the group’s most widely used songs. It had been annually before their following recording, Home, premiered, in June of 1970, ascending towards the American quantity 34 as well as the English 49 places. This marked the finish from the group’s agreement with Regal Zonophone/EMI, and upon the discharge of the following LP in July of 1971, these were right now on Chrysalis in Britain. Broken Barricades reached quantity 32 in the us and 41 in Britain, but it addittionally designated the departure of Robin Trower. The founding guitarist remaining that month and consequently organized his very own group (using a sound modeled along lines much like Jimi Hendrix), which got great achievement in America through the entire 1970s. Trower’s substitute, Dave Ball (b. Mar. 30, 1950), became a member of exactly the same month, as well as the lineup extended by one by adding Alan Cartwright on bass, which freed Chris Copping to concentrate full-time for the body organ. The group came back to something from the sound it got before Fisher’s departure, although Trower was a hardcore act to check out. It had been this edition from the music group that performed on November 18, 1971 inside a concert using the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as well as the DaCamera Performers in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada — the concert was a strong and expansive, richly orchestrated reconsideration of previous materials (though not really “A Whiter Color of Pale”) from your group’s repertory, and, released as the official live recording in 1972, became the group’s most effective LP launch, peaking at amount five and sketching in a large number of brand-new fans. In Britain, Procol Harum Live: In collaboration with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra just rose to amount 48 in-may of 1972, nonetheless it was contending using a reissue from the group’s debut record (retitled A Whiter Tone of Pale, using the one added) matched with A Salty Pet dog, which outperformed it significantly, achieving amount 26. An individual lifted in the live record, “Conquistador,” redone within a wealthy and dramatic edition, shot to amount 16 in the us and 22 in Britain that summer. Immediately after, the U.S. distributor from the debut record, London Information, got additional play from that record by re-releasing it having a sticker announcing the current presence of “the initial edition of “Conquistador.” Amid all this achievement, the group’s lineup once again was tossed into turmoil in Sept when Dave Ball remaining Procol Harum to become listed on Very long John Baldry’s music group. He was changed by Mick Grabham, previously from the rings Plastic Cent and Cochise. The band’s following record, Grand Resort, was a delightfully melodic and decadent collection (anticipating Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music in a few respects) that highlighted visitor support vocals by Christianne Legrand from the a cappella performing group the Swingle Performers. That record, their initial released on Chrysalis in the us in addition to Britain, peaked at quantity 21. Half a year later on, A&M released the very first compilation from the band’s materials, Greatest of Procol Harum, which just managed to get to quantity 131 within the graphs. The group’s following two albums, Incredible Birds and Fruits (Might 1974) and Procol’s Ninth (Sept 1975), the second option produced by rock and roll & move songsmiths Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, performed reasonably well, and “Pandora’s Package” from Procol’s Ninth became among their bigger strikes in England, increasing to quantity 16. July of 1976 noticed a departure along with a lateral change within the group’s lineup, as Alan Cartwright still left the music group and Chris Copping had taken over on bass, while Pete Solley became a member of as keyboard participant. By this time around, the band’s string acquired go out, as everyone appeared to know. A fresh recording, Something Magic, hardly scraped the U.S. graphs in Apr of 1977, as well as the music group split up carrying out a last tour along with a farewell concert at New York’s Academy of Music on, may 15, 1977. Just five months afterwards, the music group was back jointly for the one-off functionality of “A Whiter Tone of Pale,” which acquired taken on the life of its separate in the group — the melody was called joint champion (alongside “Bohemian Rhapsody”) of the greatest British Pop Solitary 1952-1977, in the Britannia Honours to tag Queen Elizabeth II’s Metallic Jubilee, as well as the music group performed it live in the honours ceremony. Aside from Trower, Gary Brooker was probably the most effective and visible of most ex-Procol Harum associates, releasing three single albums between 1979 and 1985. FORGET ABOUT Fear of Traveling (1979) on Chrysalis, made by George Martin, seduced the most interest, but Lead Me towards the Drinking water (1982) on Mercury acquired some notable visitor performers, including Eric Clapton and Phil Collins, while Echoes in the night time (1985) was co-produced by Brooker’s previous bandmate Matthew Fisher. Through the past due ’80s, nevertheless, Brooker experienced turned to composing orchestral music, principally ballet materials, but this didn’t quit him from arriving like a visitor at among the annual Fairport Convention reunions (Procol Harum and Fairport got played some essential early gigs jointly) at Cropredy, Oxfordshire, in August of 1990 to sing “A Whiter Tone of Pale.” Still, Procol Harum got faded through the consciousness from the music globe by the finish from the 1980s. The loss of life of B.J. Wilson in 1990 proceeded to go largely unreported, towards the chagrin of several followers, and it appeared as if the group was a shut book. After that, in August of 1991, Brooker re-formed Procol Harum with Trower, Fisher, Reid, and drummer Tag Brzezicki. An recording, Prodigal Stranger, was documented and released, and an 11-town tour of THE UNITED STATES occurred in Sept of 1991. Although this lineup didn’t last — Trower and business, after all, had been pushing 50 at that time — Brooker provided a new edition of Procol Harum jointly, within the guise of himself, guitarist Geoffrey Whitehorn, keyboardman Don Snow, and Brzezicki on drums; this group toured america in 1992. Invited by Fairport Convention, Procol Harum performed the Cropredy Music Event in 1995 and toured the U.S. as well as the U.K. They continued to be inactive for quite some time afterwards. A 30th wedding anniversary show was performed in Surrey, and an open-air concert at New London Sinfonia in 2000. A live Dvd and blu-ray made an appearance in 2002, accompanied by a brand-new studio room record a year afterwards. Entitled The Well’s burning, the music group highlighted Brooker, Fisher, Geoff Whitehorn (electric guitar), Matt Pegg (bass), and Tag Brzezicki (drums); Roger Taylor guested on support vocals. They performed festival gigs within the U.S., and documented the sound/video bundle Live in the Union Chapel in London. Fisher remaining the music group in 2004. The next 12 months, Josh Phillips overran the Hammond body organ seat he vacated, departing Brooker the only real primary member. This edition of the group do sporadic high-profile gigs on the next 12 years, playing independently or with symphony orchestras around European countries. In addition they underwent another employees modification as Geoff Dunn changed Brzezicki on drums. This year 2010, apart from carrying out at several celebrations, Procol Harum toured the U.S. as openers for Jethro Tull. In 2012, after becoming nominated for the Stone Hall of Popularity — and failing woefully to enter — they toured the U.S. once again, this time simply because openers for Yes. On the far side of the fish-pond, their profile continued to be high; they performed many orchestral concerts in addition to band-only concerts. In 2017, Procol Harum celebrated the start of their 50th calendar year by playing a sold-out orchestral concert on the Royal Event Hall. Through the 1st fifty percent of the display, Brooker dropped (this is the 3rd such event since 2007) and wounded his mind and right hands. Undaunted, he came back — adorned in bandages — to try out the next half. Procol Harum also released their 1st record of brand-new studio room materials in 13 years. Novum was made by Dennis Weinrich and constructed and blended by Mo Hausler. Written collectively, basically two songs provided lyrics from Pete Dark brown (well-known for his work with Cream and Graham Connection). Novum premiered by Eagle Rock and roll Entertainment in Apr.