Gary Brooker never meant to still be doing this. “I didn’t expect to be here,” he says, eyes twinkling like someone who absolutely did. But here he is, Procol Harum box set in hand (Still There’ll Be More: 1967–2017), still dignified, still British, and still the voice behind one of the most haunting hits of the 20th century.
“I always looked at it as a great gift,” he says of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” “It always feels fresh to me. More so now, maybe. It still fits. It still has an effect—even on people who weren’t born when it came out.”
The box set includes live shows from the Hollywood Bowl in 1973 and the Bournemouth Winter Gardens in 1976, showcasing Procol at their orchestral peak—because if any band was born to play with violins and timpani, it’s these guys. “We don’t fit into one box at all,” Brooker says. “The best box for us is always the Procol Harum box.”
That refusal to conform may have cost them at times. “It can fit either all of the boxes or none of them,” Brooker admits. “And when you don’t fit, some people don’t know where to put you. But we live with it.”
What started as a baroque rock project turned into something far stranger and more enduring. Even the titles tell you they knew what they were doing: A Salty Dog, Shine on Brightly, The Devil Came from Kansas—which, by the way, got a revival a few years ago when Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Cat Stevens covered it. “He must’ve liked it,” Brooker says with a grin. “People always shouted out for ‘Kansas’ back in the day.”
The band did officially “retire” in 1977, but like any good rock act, that didn’t last. “We re-emerged in 1992 and just kept going,” Brooker says. “Nobody in this band has been in it less than ten years.” Not bad for a group whose first single was released during the Summer of Love.
Brooker, the lone remaining original member, is already thinking ahead. “The 2017 album gave us more inspiration. We thought, ‘Let’s do this more often.’” So don’t expect a whimpering fadeout. “We’re all going forward,” he says. “Not going anywhere else.”
Listen to the interview above and then check out a classic below.
