Their music was a particularly majestic hybrid. Keith Reids expansive, highly cinematic lyrics crowned an instantly identifiable sound. Strong R n B influences were integrated with classical themes. Gary Brookers blue-eyed soul vocals were accompanied by a hallmark dual keyboard sound (a Steinway grand piano and a Hammond organ), bluesy guitar playing, rock-inspired percussion and melodic bass lines, forming the essence of a uniquely British ensemble. Salvo, in association with Fly Records, have enlisted the assistance of songwriters and band mainstays Gary Brooker and Keith Reid in presenting the Procol Harums early albums as a part of their meticulously produced 40th Anniversary Series. Procols classic recordings are to be collated chronologically for the first time accompanied by copious bonus tracks - including previously unreleased masters - and generous, highly detailed booklets. A wonderful album that built on the lavish promise of their first two singles, which werent originally included, and proved very influential in its own right, Procol Harums eponymous long-playing debut is here augmented by the inclusion of the timeless A Whiter Shade of Pale, the follow-up smash Homburg and a variety of rare and previously unreleased cuts selected by Gary Brooker. If any song can be said to encapsulate an era - to immediately conjure up the sights, sounds and smells of a particular time - then A Whiter Shade Of Pale is surely that song. For a whole generation AWSOP remains the emblematic anthem of that Summer of Love. And even now, 40 years on, the song remains a haunting tale of mystery and imagination. Thanks to the extraordinary success of AWSOP, the recording of the album had to be staggered, slotted in between a hectic round of one-nighters all over the UK. And when it hit No.5 in the US during the summer of 1967, transatlantic travel had to be factored in too. After such an interrupted gestation it would not have been at all surprising if the LP had lacked continuity, but in fact Procol Harum is a remarkably cohesive record. The foundations for a whole school of specifically English rock music were laid by AWSOP and by the tracks on this album. Even the albu