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DARK SECRETS: Procol harum - The Real Truth

“I don’t feel like we were trying to do a new Cream”: Legendary guitarist Robin Trower on the ’80s supergroup he created with Jack Bruce

In 1981, Robin Trower got together with former Sly And The Family Stone drummer Bill Lowden and former Cream frontman Jack Bruce and made one delicious blues-rock sandwich

MusicRadar

“We didn’t really talk to them. I don't think they liked us, and we didn't really like them that much either”: The time the Eagles opened for a legendary British prog rock band – and hated it

When country rock met prog, it was never going to end well

Louder

“To keep a standard up so long is an achievement. This album crowns that. Now people can play something other than A Whiter Shade Of Pale!” Procol Harum didn’t expect 50th anniversary album Novum to be their last

When Procol Harum released 50th anniversary album Novum in 2017, vocalist Gary Brooker and lyricist Pete Brown made it clear they weren’t expecting it to be their last

Louder

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Strange Fruit: The forgotten British psychedelic bands whose records might help pay off your mortgage

Britain's Swinging 60s gave birth to a deluge of bands lost to the mists of time – but today their releases are worth a small fortune

Louder

Gary Brooker brought back to life on unique version of A Whiter Shade of Pale on Think Loud 4 Parkinson’s charity record

New charity album ‘Think Loud 4 Parkinson’s’ contains a unique version of Procol Harum’s 1967 number one ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ along with Leo Sayer’s cover of The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’ set to the music of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’.

BANG Premier

“Turn the lights off, put the music on, close your eyes and start to have a waking dream… it might even inspire people to create movies that could be scored with this music”: John Carpenter’s second career in prog

The cult movie director started composing his own soundtracks out of necessity. Eventually he returned to his first love of music to create the Lost Themes album series, and began touring too

Louder

“A Rolls Royce appeared to pick me up for Top Of The Pops. I asked who booked it; the driver said, ‘Your manager.’ We sacked him and I took the bus”: The convoluted story of Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale

In May 1967, the band’s debut single changed the musical world. Nearly six decades later it’s developed a long and protracted legacy

Louder

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“The world was all smiling beat bands. We were moodier. We were serious about it”: The limitations and strange decisions of Procol Harum’s landmark debut album

Gary Brooker called it modern blues – but however you tag it, the proto-prog follow-up to blockbuster single A Whiter Shade Of Pale was everything he’d wanted it to be, almost

Louder

“I have struggled with this decision but realize I cannot continue touring at this time”: Robin Trower cancels North American tour due to health concerns

While the guitar legend was forced to cancel his upcoming tour due to imminent major surgery, he's hopeful that he will return to the stage in the future

Guitar World

"I'd had forty-four jobs. I knew this was my one and only shot": How Ian Hunter and Mott The Hoople got their riot started

Before they became 70s chart stars and (later) a beloved heritage act, Mott The Hoople were a wilder, more dangerous proposition – as their incendiary debut album proved

Louder

“A Whiter Shade Of Pale hit people’s ears and rang some sort of bell… it’s always been a great mystery why it did that”: The life and times of Gary Brooker

Procol Harum singer’s first-ever song was one of the biggest hits imaginable, but he enjoyed many more career highs with and without the band that made his name

Louder

"Robin Trower taps into the ethereal magic that made Jimi Hendrix's playing so forward-thinking": Procol Harum's tribute to the departed shines on Broken Barricades

1971’s Broken Barricades was Procol Harum's last with guitarist Robin Trower. Despite – or perhaps because of - this, it’s one of their most guitar-led

Louder

Watch Procol Harum play a majestic version of A Whiter Shade Of Pale in the Biba Department Store in London in 1973

The Midnight Special has delivered the goods again

Louder

“As boldly baroque as anything The Moody Blues or The Nice had at that point constructed… but perhaps it hasn’t aged gracefully”: Procul Harum’s vinyl reissue of Shine On Brightly is still fascinating

Robin Trower’s dazzling contributions feel like they’re coming from another room on their second album, as they try to work out who they are

Louder

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The Guardian - UK

Peter Solley obituary

Other lives: Rock musician who played keyboards and piano, including with Procol Harum, before moving into record production

Louder

“We couldn’t get a deal for Jethro Tull. The one person interested would only sign them if they dropped the flute player”: How Chrysalis rose from a booking agency to a leading prog record label

Chris Wright operated a business model that was more like a balancing act, with jail as the penalty for toppling - but Procol Harum, Trevor Rabin, Gentle Giant and others benefited from the approach

The Independent UK

House Of Cards and Midsomer Murders composer Jim Parker dies aged 88

Parker collaborated with talent including comedian Victoria Wood and rock band Procol Harum.

Louder

Procol Harum: The epic story of A Whiter Shade Of Pale

More than half a century ago Procol Harum recorded the unlikeliest, best-selling, most bitterly-contested drug anthem of all time

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Louder

Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid dead at 76

The death of Keith Reid, who co-wrote Procol Harum's classic A Whiter Shade Of Pale, has been confirmed by the band

MusicRadar

Procol Harum pay tribute to A Whiter Shade of Pale lyricist Keith Reid, who has died aged 76

Reid also wrote the words to John Farnham’s 1986 hit You’re The Voice

The Independent UK

‘Imaginative’ Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid dies aged 76

Reid wrote the words to A Whiter Shade Of Pale, which won a Brit award and reached number one in the UK charts.

The Guardian - UK

Keith Reid, lyricist for Procol Harum, dies aged 76

Songwriter behind psychedelic 1960s masterpiece A Whiter Shade of Pale had been receiving cancer treatment for two years

Daily Mirror

Procol Harum's Keith Reid dies 'suddenly' while undergoing cancer treatment

Procol Harum have confirmed the death of their lyricist Keith Reid after receiving treatment "for the last couple of years" following a cancer diagnosis

Liverpool Echo

Celebrity deaths 2022: Queen Elizabeth II, Robbie Coltrane and other stars we have lost

The ECHO remembers some of the treasured stars and notable people we lost over the past 12 months

The Guardian - UK

The right word for the wrong way

Brief letters: German vocabulary | Russia’s UN role | Procol Harum | Devil’s tunes | Supermarket swap

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