Oh ya, saw the film a few times...had no idea that was BJ though.  Next time I'll pay some attention to the drums instead of my wife dressed as Magenta 

Indeed, a great drummer and in some ways, Procol's best kept secret, though BJW was often asked to join other groups

"Mr Wilson...Herr Wilson"   

Exactly my thoughts.

Just read on BJ's wiki page that he turned down an offer from Page & Plant to join Led Zep so Bonham got the spot instead.  Now that would have been an interesting alternative universe in rock history 

So then maybe Wilson was asked even before they went to hear Plant back when they were asking Reid to sing...?

That's the way I've always heard the story too...maybe the wiki page is wrong and it was just Page or maybe Page & Jones that invited BJ to join before Plant/Bonham entered the picture?

Er..that clears it all up....?

;)

Wonder where the band would have ended up had Terry Reid joined and also Wilson....what would Zep have sounded like..? Certainly nothing like what they came to be.

I bet the live version of Moby Dick wouldn't have been 12+ minutes long 

Always thought of him as being close to Mitch Mitchell's styles. Hardly a secret weapon though; that was the very underutilized Robin Trower. One of rock's finest guitarists kept in the background.

BJ Wilson was indeed considered by Page but I doubt he would have been really suitable; he already had his thing with Procol whereas Zeppelin were breaking new ground.

That's a good point.  Trower's exit from Procol reminds me a lot of Hackett's exit from Genesis.  He just outgrew his role in the band, was writing too many songs they wouldn't use and it was inevitable.  Though I wouldn't consider Trower one of rock's finest guitarists in the early days of Procol, I think he developed his skills and confidence over those first few albums and left when the time (and his abilities) were ready 

The.Crimson.King wrote:   Though I wouldn't consider Trower one of rock's finest guitarists in the early days of Procol, I think he developed his skills and confidence over those first few albums and left when the time (and his abilities) were ready

And that's too bad...but I guess they're one of those, "sum is greater than the individual parts" bands, though I consider Gary Brooker one of the greatest voices in rock history 

Ya, no BJ or Trower...no wonder Fisher won his 2009 copyright lawsuit vs Brooker/Reid and was awarded 40% royalty ownership from that day forward 

It's actually very interesting.  The story goes that Brooker came up with the chords, Reid wrote the words, and both Fisher and Brooker traded organ & piano solos in the original 10 minute long version of the song.  They drastically reduced the length and decided to keep Fisher's organ solos and dump Brooker's piano solos.  I would say it's not unusual that someone who plays a solo doesn't get a songwriting credit, but in this case, the organ intro and solo lines are such an integral part of the song that it's not a normal situation.  Anyway, Fisher stayed in the band until Trower left then bailed because of years of frustration over feeling slighted on the AWSoP credit and he hated Trower's replacement, Dave Ball 

Oops...you're correct he left after A Salty Dog and Trower after Broken Barricades...I misread Fisher's wiki page 

Although no longer involved directly in recording and touring, Fisher continued as a producer for the group. After Trower left in 1971 for a solo career, he briefly rejoined the band, with bandmate  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Copping" rel="nofollow - Chris Copping  moving full-time onto bass. He was unhappy with the financial situation of the band, and with Trower's replacement, Dave Ball, and so left again, this time acrimoniously, to become a full-time producer for CBS.

thanks, that clarifies things quite a bit.  I just read and interview where he referred to joining and quitting several times.  Your information is of the sort one cannot get by just reading the album credits.  For instance, though he joined after Broken Barricades, he was gone by the time of the live album.  So he was likely part of the band that toured with David Ball.  BTW, love Ball's guitar solo on the live version of "Conquistador".  

 

Tull and Procol have a bit of a similar early history in many ways

 

Their main composer (Ian and Gary) had a band which got left out (one in Blackpool and the other in Southend On Sea) , when they got big in London with a different line-up.

Of course Brooker's original band came in directly to reform the band after the mega-hit of WSoP, while Anderson's Blackpool acolytes came in gradually to replace the first Tull line-up (once Abrahams, Cornick and Bunker had left), with only Barre as not part of their pre-Tull band.

 

However as Procol's original line-up of the first album started disintegrating, the quality of the band's output also diminished (I never cared for post-BB albums, except for the Edmonton thing, which celebrates mostly the first line-up). While Tull's actually gave better albums every time (save maybe Benefit, which I find weaker), until perfection hit them with TAAB...  Then for mysterious reasons, they never managed to go back to ankle-height of TAAB afterwards.

 

This to say that I hold both bands' first album line-up in higher sympathy, regardless whether their replacement were better musicians or not.

 

Nope, not the way I meant it: Pre-Procol's friends got to record the first album, bumping out Rover & Harrison.... It's as they gradually disappeared/quit (Fisher, Knights, Copping & Trower) that Procol got worse.

 

However, unlike Tull, who had only Anderson on the debut album by TAAB time (72) , Procol still had Brooker, Reid, Wilson, Copping (returning as KB instead of bass) and Fisher (returning at production spot) at the Grand Hotel album (73) 

Start here as this is the album made me sit and listen. I cannot believe I had managed to miss PH and their wonderful albums and BJ Wilson. Essential listening.