Whiter Shade Of Pale - psych or prog?
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Forum Name: Proto-Prog and Prog-Related Lounge
Forum Description: Discuss bands and albums classified as Proto-Prog and Prog-Related
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27084
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Topic: Whiter Shade Of Pale - psych or prog?
Posted By: YouthfulTheTid
Subject: Whiter Shade Of Pale - psych or prog?
Date Posted: August 08 2006 at 06:47
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Most rock histories list Procol Harum's huge smash hit as typical of the psychedelic era (1967).
I think it should be rated as 'progressive' not psych - 1. It's keyboard-driven not guitar (unusual for rock bands in '67) 2. It's got a 'classical theme' and structure (2 years ahead of its time) 3. The lyrics are obscure and impenetrable (take a bow, Jon Anderson) What do others think? (Those who care enough to reply  )------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - prog may be great but it is also a complete myth |
Replies:
Posted By: earlyprog
Date Posted: August 08 2006 at 08:35
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I have never thought of it in psychedelic terms. It's far from the quintessential psycehedlic stuff Pink Floyd, Tomorrow and Kaleidoscope did in '67. It's typical of the early progressive movement for the reasons you list. The predominant keyboard would become a key element of early symphonic prog.
The Nice also implemented classical themes in rock in '67, but Procol Harum probably were the first and could even have inspired Emerson.
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Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: August 08 2006 at 09:10
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in 1967 i think most regarded it just as "pop music", we didn't know what it was as it sounded so different, the pop psychedaelia was being done by many groups including the Beatles, Hendrix, Cream, the Move, even Status Quo, and the San Francisco groups of course. "Whiter Shade" has been labelled Prog in retrospect.
what's the song all about.......?
"It was 'sixth member' Keith Reid who had the idea for the song, at a 'gathering' 'Some guy looked at a chick and said to her, 'You've gone a whiter shade of pale. That phrase stuck in my mind. It was a beautiful thing for someone to say. I wish I'd said it,' laughed Keith, while Gary put down his cup of coffee and struggled with a nose inhaler.
'I never understand when people say they don't understand it,' said Reid. '"We skipped the light fandango"'. That's straightforward. "Turned cartwheels across the floor." It seems very clear to me.' Nervously, I hazarded my own reading, the summation of my voluntary immersion in the world of A Whiter Shade of Pale, and much pondering on its significance. Is it about getting pissed and fancying the person opposite you? 'It's a story, a journey, seen from the point of view of a man character.' The song explores what it means to be wrecked, in more than one sense of the word. A nervous seducer sustains his courage with alcohol. As he becomes more drunk, his impressions of his unfamiliar partner become confused by stray thoughts, fragments of childhood reading and his own faint-hearted aspirations. The song's recurring metaphor is of maritime disaster, and a parallel is drawn between romantic conquest and the allure and peril of the sea. The hero is a callow juvenile, far happier with a book than risking the emotional bruising of relationships. This ambivalence is underscored by frequent allusions to nausea." http://www.procolharum.com/awsop_lotgs.htm - http://www.procolharum.com/awsop_lotgs.htm
-------------  Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: August 11 2006 at 07:29
Unwise and misleading to categorise on the basis of what we think now, rather than that used when the single was originally released. Surely you should use the terminology of then not now. BTW it strikes me your criteria just about apply to all recordings of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana................  |
YouthfulTheTid wrote:Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: August 11 2006 at 07:40
Especially Ray Manzarek's version, which I find excellent. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: August 11 2006 at 08:25
I was about to quote that as well. I always thought the lyrics were "impenetrable" until I read this, then it all seems so obvious. There are some other verses relating to the maritime theme which were cut out of the single release, they're on the Web if you hunt around.
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Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: August 13 2006 at 02:06
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It was in that mythical land in the late sixties we like to call "proto-prog." It wasn't QUITE prog, but it was on the way.
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: August 13 2006 at 02:15
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None, it's the link between Psyche and Prog, also known as Proto Prog.
If this sub-genre has sense is for this band, has a lot of Psychedelic and Prog elements (Very close to Symphonic) but more advanced than Psyche and still not totally developed to be included in Symph.
Oops, seems Rileydog has mentioned Proto Prog a couple minutes ago.
 Iván ------------- 
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Posted By: Dr4Wazo
Date Posted: August 13 2006 at 22:42
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friggen hippie music nothing more! just kiddin... but not prog!  ------------- 
"Mëem Otsilennhetëe Dros Sun Surra Steuhn Do Nansei" |
Posted By: Intruder
Date Posted: August 14 2006 at 04:21
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Groovy number from a groovy record....is it prog? Who cares! ------------- I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there..... |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: November 07 2006 at 06:38
| Absolutely prog. And what about A salty dog ? Isn't it prog ? |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: November 07 2006 at 15:45
Yep.
 The over-categorization/ghettoization of music is almost entirely subjective, silly and anal-retentive, IMO.  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: November 07 2006 at 15:55
| I wouldn't really call it Prog. An influence maybe, but nothing more. A great song and album anyway! |