Procol Harum: Grand Hotel

YOU CAN'T DENY Procol Harum their important place in rock's scheme of things. They were the first to bring together the energy and mood of American rhythm and blues and the intensive bigness of European romantic music. At their height, they were as mysterious and as powerful as any artist, black or white (I thought at the time that 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' was Percy Sledge's follow-up to 'When A Man Loves A Woman' until I was told it was some English guy stealing from Bach). Their first and third albums, Procol Harum (just reissued by A&M as A Whiter Shade of Pale) and A Salty Dog contain some of the most stirring moments in popular music.