(Procol Harum - if you named your band after a cat you'd have to be special too) I think the gods of top-40 were a fickle bunch in the 1960's. Proc
July 25, 2009

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(Procol Harum - if you named your band after a cat you'd have to be special too)

I think the gods of top-40 were a fickle bunch in the 1960's. Procol Harum had already established themselves as a unique and original band. Some say the forerunners of Art Rock (which, in retrospect is probably true - even though some Moody Blues aficionados would argue). In 1968, when A&M released this, their 3rd single, they issued "Quite Rightly So" as the A side and this track "In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence" as the B-side.

Neither side hit very well with the listeners or single buyers. Probably because the charts were a bit crowded with new and splashier singles. But still, Procol Harum always came out with something interesting, even if the marketplace was crowded.

I have found this song on various compilation albums, but very rarely have I heard this version. It is the single version, as issued by A&M, but for some reason a slower version is the one that shows up on most compilation albums. True, it's mono, and the stereo version is the slower one. But this version has much more energy and punch,possibly because it may be an earlier take. Just speculating.

At any rate, Procol Harum made a very big dent in the music scene from 1967 on.

And this was one of the reasons why.

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