“I’m not exaggerating – everybody had it. We felt it would be cheating to make them buy it again”: It’s one of the biggest-selling singles of all time, but this proto-prog band left it off their debut album

In 1967 Procol Harum scored an all-time best-selling single with their debut release. But instead of milking A Whiter Shade Of Pale, their first album wove epic fantasies into a proto-prog classic. The late Gary Brooker told Prog about it in 2012.

Some bands feel that opening their career with a historically massive hit single will cast a shadow over the years to follow. But Gary Brooker, who co-wrote and sang A Whiter Shade Of Pale for Procol Harum, doesn’t feel that way. “I think anybody would be happy to have such a success,” he shrugs.

“Suddenly everything was available. It was only ever a dream to go to America at the beginning of 1967. I would imagine playing in San Francisco, but I didn’t really even know where San Francisco was! But within a few months, there we were. So it opened a lot of doors.”

As did Procol Harum, their first album, which laid some of the foundation stones of what was to become progressive or symphonic rock – even though Brooker thinks of it mostly as “modern blues for its time, often with a dark edge.” Recorded after the stratospheric success of A Whiter Shade Of Pale, its original tracklist did not include that one-off smash – and sales suffered. Wasn’t that a strange decision?

“I’d entirely agree with you – today,” says Brooker. “In fact, even a year later, I would have. But the point was, that had sold enormous numbers. I should think that everybody – I’m not exaggerating, everybody – had it. So we felt it would be cheating people to make them buy it again. That was our logic. It made perfect sense at the time.”

Various reissues over the years, and even of-the-time releases in other territories, have had the tracklisting augmented, often including the underrated follow-up single Homburg too. But the original first edition LP remains pure. “I have to cast my mind back,” says Brooker, “but I gave it a listen this morning and I heard a lot in it, considering...”

By ‘considering,’ he means the production. “You have to see through it – it’s disappointing. For some reason, it came out in mono. Which, as stereo had been around for a few years, is hard to believe! One can blame Denny Cordell, the producer, for that. And the four-track machine. So there are limitations, just in the sound of it.”

He continues: “It wasn’t typical. Neither were we. Where the world was at was ‘smiling beat bands’ and it certainly didn’t have that atmosphere. Probably just a year before, something like Frank Ifield had been number one. Procol Harum seemed very, very different. That’s how things felt. We were moodier. We were serious about it.”

Was it all long hair, drugs and Carnaby Street? Well, yes, it was!

He adds: “People generalise about ‘the 60s.’ It was 10 years. But ’67 was a landmark... things did change. Like the attitude of young bands creating the music. Was it all long hair, drugs and Carnaby Street? Well, yes, it was! It was part of life in that era.

“What we thought could work became different. The building blocks came from my influences of rock, blues, classical, everything – but when we were asked what ‘sort’ of music it was, we said, ‘Well, it’s our music.’ That was the only answer there was!

“‘Progressive’ rock was a title that was made up a couple of years later. I’m not sure who was the first to be actually called that. But it did involve a lot more movement and thought about the chords and the bass lines. And I think that’s evident from this album.”

Chris Roberts has written about music, films, and art for innumerable outlets. His new book The Velvet Underground is out April 4. He has also published books on Lou Reed, Elton John, the Gothic arts, Talk Talk, Kate Moss, Scarlett Johansson, Abba, Tom Jones and others. Among his interviewees over the years have been David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Bryan Ferry, Al Green, Tom Waits & Lou Reed. Born in North Wales, he lives in London.

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