Fifty years and counting, Procol Harum are still going strong, thrilling and inspiring rock audiences around the world.

You could not be blamed for thinking that, with the monumental success of Procol’s first smash hit, the band just stopped there, like so many others. But even the recently-awarded accolade of ‘most-played single of the past seventy-five years’ has not quelled their drive to go forward.

Recent years have seen a selection of re-mastered albums and new live releases. 2014 brought a double CD, Inside/Outside, celebrating over forty years of studio and live recordings. …Some Long Road… was the fourth in a series of download-only live albums, recorded on the 2012 US tour. Procol continue to tour in many territories, and are considering options on three continents at the moment.

In recent years Procol have released ten re-mastered CD albums, plus the 2CD anthology Secrets of the Hive (all generally available in Europe, and sourceable on import); their DVDs In Concert with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and Live at The Union Chapel have been widely acclaimed. There’s also a special 4-disc CD/DVD box-set compendium – aptly titled All This and More – featuring 68 of the band’s many unique compositions: this prompted Classic Rock magazine to note that ‘it’s small wonder The Who’s Tommy and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody can be traced to Procol’s influence’. It could be termed a plethora of Procol.

The quality of writing and performance has remained Procol Harum’s gold standard through gradually-mutating line-ups: each participating musician has kept the band searching for, and reaching, new and exciting heights, preventing Procol from resting on their considerable laurels. The band has been in the studio when other commitments have allowed, and this year schedules more work towards a new album.