smiling, and always at a distance from the rest of the band. To add still further insult to injury, Bill Eyden, the session drummer on ‘AWSOP’ then demanded pro-rata royalties for his contribution to the record. The whole thing seemed to be unravelling at an alarming rate – vocalist Gary Brooker was also ordered to take a week’s rest to deal with the stress of the scenario.


A YouTube scan will find that there’s actually two promo film clips available of ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’; the original, Peter Clifton-directed film incorporated contemporary imagery from the Vietnam war, and features a somewhat morose- looking original guitarist Ray Royer (great haircut, mind) and drummer Bobby Harrison. The inclusion of newsreel footage was enough to get it banned from broadcast on Top Of The Pops by then- producer Johnny Stewart, of course. The band did have another go at doing a promo


Matthew Fisher’s churchy Hammond organ motif, essentially a variation on the Bach ‘Air On A G String’ (which had then been popularised not only by French Jazzer Jacques Loussier in his Play Bach album, but also in the witty Hamlet cigar TV adverts) lays down a sound that set a blueprint for the organ as a lead instrument in progressive rock. However, it’s Keith Reid’s lyrics that set the seal on the performance; something of a Dylanesque vibe, heavy on seemingly random, but striking imagery and rich in allegorical poetry, it has retained a bulletproof aura that defies the decades since its original release.


Incredible as it may seem, however, Decca Records, the parent company to Deram, were not convinced, and didn’t want to release the single. Decca plugger Tony Hall sought to force the label’s hand by taking an acetate of the disc to Alan Keen, head of the pirate radio station Radio London, and promised them an exclusive first play of the track. Accordingly Radio London deejay Mark Roman then played the single for the first time on Monday April 17th at 4 PM. As a result, the station switchboard was jammed with callers wanting to know where they could get the record, and Decca pressed up thousands of copies, rush releasing the single worldwide on May 12th – the day the band made their live debut at London’s UFO club.


The single made its chart ascent to its eventual six week duration at #1 in June ’67, but, by the time the band were three weeks into their chart-topping tenure, an announcement was put out to the effect that they had severed ties with business manager Jonathan Weston. By mid-July, drummer Harrison and guitarist Royer were fired; apparently, they were simply not good enough for the band. Replacements were quickly hired from ex- Paramounts Robin Trower (guitar) and the superb drummer Barrie “B J” Wilson. In the bands’ promo pics, Royer especially always looked ill-at-ease, rarely (if ever)


55


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