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Written by: Keith Reid, Gary Brooker
Produced by: Denny Cordell
Released: June '67 on A&M
Charts: 12 weeks
Top spot: No. 5

A somber hymn supported by an organ theme straight out of Bach ("Air on the G String," from the "Suite No. 3 in D Major"), Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale" was unlike anything on the radio in 1967. It was also the only track recorded by the initial lineup of Procol Harum, which...

Procol Harum has undergone some changes since its "Whiter Shade," "Repent Walpurgis" and "Salty Dog" days. Gone is Matthew Fisher, whose Brahmsed and Bach-ed organ playing was the back-bone of the Procol Harum sound from the outset. Throughout Harum's first three albums Fisher's role lessened more each time—on the last effort he even competed with strings and horns. Chris Copping has replaced...

To fans of the group, Procol Harum's history has been like this: an excellent first album, Procol Harum, a shaky and very uneven second album, Shine On Brightly, and then a very good and completely self-assured third LP, A Salty Dog. When Matthew Fisher then left the group, the question for many was whether his departure would jeopardize Procol Harum's distinctive piano-organ sound. In a way it...

You can't deny Procol Harum their important place in rock's scheme of things. They were the first to bring together the energy and mood of American rhythm and blues and the intensive bigness of European romantic music. At their height, they were as mysterious and as powerful as any artist, black or white (I thought at the time that "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was Percy Sledge's follow-up to "When a...