Daily Record from Morristown, New Jersey • 87

Daily. Record, Morris Couoty, N.J., Sunday, May 11, 2003 3 in rmf) GUGU- 3 jjji Brooker performs in Asbury Park in 1272. FILE PHOTO xour, me band dusted off the rarelv wirf formed 1971 classic "Simple Sister.1 "We play it with a huge amount of respect for the earlier version," Brooker says, "but as Procol today It's 'Simple Sister Meanwhile, Brooker has been nourished by his forays outside of Procol, such as solo gigs and tours supporting Ringo Starr. "I find it very refreshing playing with Ringo or Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings or Eric Clapton," Brooker says. "Each one is a different kind of thing.

Ringo is all over. You're playing your own songs; you're also playing Pete Frampton or Jack Bruce or Ringo or The Beatles. It gives you a really broad outlook. "It's nice to be up there with the kingpins, delivering and really enjoying it. But, you know, when you come back to Procol, it's a lot harder.

(The Beatles') 'Yellow Submarine' is easier than (Procol's) 'Whaling Brooker adds with a laugh. i Procol Harum is scheduled to per- form at 6 tonight at the Bottom Line. 15 W. Fourth New York. Sold out.

Call: (212) 228-6380. Web: www.procol hanm.com fil 4 Aswsl "We booked up a studio and went in, wrote the stuff either a week before or while we were in there, so that we had something nice and fresh and current and exciting for us," Brooker says. "On our new album, we also played live. We've kind of, if you like, gone back to (Procol's 1967 song) 'Whiter Shade of Pale' with this recording, except we've used state-of-the-art technology in the actual recording of it. It's very much like 'Whiter Shade of In preparation for its current U.S.

drummer Simon Kirks and ei-Beatle 1939. Photo by kathy yoGtEsonG A 39 0 1 3 By MARK VOGER CELEBS WRITER THE LEGACY of Procol Harum is vast and formidable. "Whiter Shade of Pale," anyone? But founding keyboardist Gary Brooker says the newer members of the band weren't shaking in their boots while recording "The Well's on Fire" (Eagle), Procol's first studio-album in 12 years. "When it came to making a new record," Brooker says, "nobody had to think, 'Well, hang on, what was Procol like Or try and sort of fit into somebody's shoes." That's because this lineup of the 36-year-old British art-rockers has been in place for a decade. "In fact," Brooker says, "before we started recording, on the first day, I said, 'Look, you've done a great job up 'til now.

We've been playing Procol songs and they've come out well. But now, we're us. So you just play these new songs that we're gonna do. Just give it what you feel it "And because of a certain sort of mentality by then, they didn't go off on something that wouldn't fit. "On the other hand, it's kind of different.

It's kind of Procol-y, but it's up to date." Brooker and his fellow Procol long-timers organist Matthew Fisher and lyricist Keith Reid -have been working with the current lineup, which includes guitarist Geoff Whitehor'n, since 1993. "The thing is, we have been playing all that time," Brooker, 57, tells, CELEBS. "We'd been doing live We hadn't played United UUP States since '95, but we have been playing in Europe since then. So we kind of have our chops together and really molded in well as a band. "So the important thing about the band as it stands at the moment is that we've all had vast experience.

I mean, I've obviously had 35 years' experience with Procol, and Matthew's done that much as well, with a break. But we have been faithfully playing our repertoire. Everybody's become a Procol player." Yes, there was a lag between studio albums, but Procol did not over-prepare for "The Well's on Fire." ,1, I From left Brooker with lad Company rUnjo Starr, with whom he toured la.