Procol Harum 8-Disc Anthology Arrives

In early March, Esoteric Recordings/Cherry Red Records announced the March 23 release of an official limited-edition boxed set celebrating 50 years of Britain’s Procol Harum: Still There’ll Be More: An Anthology 1967-2017. The eight-disc set comprises five CDs and three DVDs, of which the first three discs draw upon the key tracks from Procol Harum’s career. Disc four features the band’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl on September 21, 1973 (with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Roger Wagner Chorale), while disc five features a previously unreleased concert at the Bournemouth Winter Gardens on March 17, 1976.

Order it here.

Of the DVD content, which features over three-and-a-half hours of footage, mostly previously unreleased, disc six begins with a performance of “A Whiter Shade of Pale” on the BBC TV show Top of the Pops from December 1967 before moving to the archives of the German Beat Club series. All of the band’s surviving performances for the show are here, including the entire never-broadcast raw video footage of the band’s Beat Club Workshop studio concert from 1971, minus the visual gimmickry of the actual broadcast, revealing the pure performance on DVD for the first time. Disc seven features the entire 65- minute recording session of a performance for the German Musikladen series in October 1973, most of which was never shown on television. Disc eight features more BBC TV performances, including a rendition of “Pandora’s Box” from Top of the Pops in September 1975 and the band’s set for the Sight and Sound In Concert series in March 1977.

Watch a trailer for the collection

A very early photo of Procol Harum (from their Facebook page)

Related: The story behind “A Whiter Shade of Pale”

This remastered set also features a 68-page hardcover book with an essay by Patrick Humphries and a lengthy in-depth commentary on the performances by Procol Harum authority Roland Clare. The book also includes many previously unseen photographs and memorabilia from pianist-singer Gary Brooker’s private collection. Still There’ll Be More also includes a reproduction poster from a Procol Harum concert (featuring support from Vivian Stanshall) in 1976.

Also released is a 2-CD edition.

Watch Gary Brooker talk about the new collection