'We shall not look upon his like again'

BJ Wilson was brought up in the London suburb of Edmonton, his passion for playing drums ignited at an early age when he first learned to play the snare drum in the local Boys' Brigade. Over the span of his career he managed to form a style all his own that drew on influences and musical likes that ranged from The Beatles and Bob Dylan to Tchaikovsky and the Mothers of Invention. Barrie Wilson was a drummer of formidable technique, subtlety, power and consistency – the last of these perhaps curious in a player so openly inspirational, who rarely played the same fill in the same place twice. To this day he remains one of the most underrated drummers in rock.

After talking his mother into buying him a drum kit, he practiced diligently at home and while in school played in two groups, gaining his first live-gig experiences playing school dances and youth clubs. His intensity and power were displayed early on as long-time friend and school band-mate Kenny White fondly recalled rehearsals at Wilson's home: "The volume he played at – it was loud . . . the only way any one of us could hear us play was by putting Barrie in a different room from us". The music bug had certainly bit and BJ was determined to make a career in music.

After leaving school and working briefly in a clothing factory, Wilson answered a local newspaper ad looking for a drummer. Once again, Kenny White remembers: "Barrie with his snare drum under his arm – still no case and his sticks in his pocket . . . he got the job". It was 1962 and, at the tender age of fifteen, Wilson was already a professional, filling the drummer's vacancy in The Paramounts.

The Paramounts' first British single was a cover of The Coasters' Poison Ivy: the song reached #35 in the UK. Along with Gary Brooker and Robin Trower, Wilson and the rest of The Paramounts worked the club circuit relentlessly while promoting the single, gaining the band extensive TV exposure. The band's repertoire featured R&B and Rock & Roll covers and they released four more singles between October 1963 and September 1965 before Brooker, looking to take on new musical directions, dissolved the group.

In September 1966, a mutual friend introduced Brooker to lyricist Keith Reid. The "Rock and Roll Story" has the meeting taking place as follows: "This is Keith. He writes words. This is Gary. He doesn't write words". Regardless of the story, a musical partnership was initiated and in quick order demos were recorded, management was hired and a recording contract was secured with Decca / Deram Records. Procol Harum was born. In the meantime, BJ continued to refine his craft while playing with other local bands.

At the height of flower power, in May 1967, A Whiter Shade Of Pale was released and embraced by audiences all over the world, racing to #1 and selling millions. Ensuing problems within the band caused a temporary break-up followed by the replacement of original guitarist Ray Royer with Robin Trower. At the same time, BJ Wilson was brought in on drums, succeeding Bobby Harrison. Wilson, already acquainted with Brooker and Trower, was quickly at ease and his skills were prominently featured on the first three albums, Procol Harum, Shine on Brightly, and A Salty Dog.

Homburg, the group's next single, was also a hit, (#6 UK, #34 US) and next to Pale would be the group's highest-charting release. Tracks such as A Salty Dog, Whisky Train and Simple Sister demonstrate the depth and skill of Wilson's playing. He had a knack for incorporating the hard-and-heavy side of his playing with his beautifully subtle, yet extremely intricate style. Wilson blended his diverse plethora of influences into a unique style that was vital for the "classical rock" Procol Harum sound. BJ also enjoyed playing Harum's bluesy, harder-edged material as well. BJ's drumming was used to propel the Brooker / Reid compositions, adding not only tangibles (bass drum, snare, cymbals, etc), but the much harder-to-attain intangible of "feel". Adding his singular brand of drumming, Wilson could breathe intensity and urgency into some songs while adding a soft touch of serenity and calmness to others.

From his ten Procol albums a few signature moments might be the breathtakingly dramatic entry in the title-track of A Salty Dog (1969), the manic cow-bell work-out on Whisky Train (from 1970's Home), or the moody punctuations in For Liquorice John (from 1973's Grand Hotel) which he ends with relentless 8s against the piano's 7-to-the-bar. Though Procol Harum generally eschewed complex time-signatures, Wilson's only solo on an official recording (in Power Failure from 1971's Broken Barricades) is taken in 5/4; built up with overdubs, it's disappointingly unrepresentative of his miraculous soloing in concert. But almost any track the band recorded with him bears witness to his imagination and elasticity, both as a featured musician and as an ensemble player.

Along with being the most physically exhausting of instruments to play, the drums are perhaps the toughest instrument for a musician to change styles on. However, Wilson could effortlessly change gears to suit the mood, whether enhancing or punctuating the vocals or getting a song off to a flying start: he had no difficulty with either. The Procol Harum style and evolution demanded a lot of the drummer, and Wilson always delivered. The band employed some complex rhythms and timings, Wilson executing flawlessly every time.

Wilson's skills were respected not only by his band-mates, but amongst fellow-musicians. When Jimmy Page was looking for a drummer in late 1968, his first choice was Wilson. Page's vision for Led Zeppelin was not only a heavy rock sound but also one that adopted different styles and softer moments. Page knew many of England's premier drummers from his extensive work as a session musician but felt no other was as qualified as BJ to pull it off. Wilson's commitment and admiration for Procol Harum caused him to turn down the offer. It spoke volumes for his character and loyalty. In latter years he would confide to long-time Procol associate Diane Rolph that "no other music could touch that of Procol Harum's."

Another "Rock and Roll Story" that has since passed on to legendary status and is further evidence of the respect Wilson had from his peers, is the making of Joe Cocker's #1 hit With A Little Help From My Friends. As the story has it, the festivities in the recording studio had distracted many of the musicians from performing, not to mention what it did to their timing. Traffic's Jim Capaldi had a reputed thirty takes under his belt before Wilson came in to save the day and laid down the solid drumming anchor the song needed, showcasing his powerful, jackhammer-style of playing. In later years, he would play in Joe Cocker's touring band as well.

In the meantime, Procol Harum had managed to build a solid fan base and had become a steady attraction on the live circuit, selling out venues around the world. October 1968 saw Procol Harum playing the highly-regarded Fillmore East at the bottom of the bill. Barely a year later, they would return as headliners.

Attempting to marry Rock and Roll with symphonic arrangements is by no means an easy task. Procol Harum succeeded where many others had failed (The Nice, Spooky Tooth and Deep Purple's Concerto For Group and Orchestra). Although the band's first on-record effort with classical players came with A Salty Dog, the summer of 1969 saw their first full-scale collaboration with a live orchestra. While touring Canada they stopped to perform at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. The small town's quaint surroundings and small stage environment were the perfect setting, adding a surreal feel to the proceedings. Procol Harum performed In Held 'Twas In I and A Salty Dog to a very appreciative audience. The seed was planted in their collective minds for future orchestral creations. BJ in particular enjoyed the unique challenges presented to him as timekeeper and the intricate difficulties in playing with an orchestra. Once again his adaptability and flexibility allowed him to successfully pull it off.

In November 1971, Procol Harum traveled to Canada once again. This time it was to perform with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The performance was recorded and released in 1972 as Live in Concert. The most commercially-successful track from the album was the exquisite Conquistador which reached #16 in the US and #22 in the UK. The landmark album was another milestone for the band and especially for Wilson. Once again, as a drummer he was posed the unique problem of keeping "communal time" with a full-scale orchestra and an accompanying twenty-voice choir. Some of the most adept and precise musicians in the world belong to orchestras where incredible time-keeping is a must. Once again, Wilson pulled it off and his impeccable performance in particular drew rave reviews. A listen to Conquistador displays BJ's impeccable timing, power and finesse. In concert, BJ could be, quite simply, a powerhouse. Wilson himself noted about his playing, "I like to be rude when I play the drums. I put all the energy I have into playing". A perfect example was live renditions of Power Failure. Showcasing Wilson, the song allowed him to explode behind the kit, leaving all in attendance in awe of his power, speed, resilience and dexterity.

The uncomprehending critic who dubbed Wilson 'an octopus in a hot bath' unwittingly bequeathed us a delightfully memorable and accurate encapsulation of his appeal in concert. To watch Barrie was as exciting as hearing him, though there was strangely little on view, since his drum stool crouched as low as it would go, and he was walled in by a seeming infinity of cymbals before, and a huge gong behind. Yet in concert footage, when the camera ventured stage left (he was generally installed opposite the piano, not centre-back like most drummers) one got a proper view of the tentacles at work, of his 'unmatched' stick-grip, unusual in rock; his head tilted down in a thunder of faraway concentration; his back arched for some delicate cymbal flourish; soulful, unexpected, discriminate.

His perpetual capacity for invention imbued even the most sedate Procol Harum songs with tension, menace perhaps, and he was an absolute master of understatement and contrast. He would drop out of the texture completely, letting Gary Brooker's piano handle the time-keeping, yet, as a telling cadence approached, he would underline it with a fusillade of unimaginably savage syncopation, often leaving some seemingly-vital beat unstated. This 'lead drumming' would elicit admiring smiles from his fellow players, and a whirlwind of flailing arms from percussive wannabes in the audience.

Being the drummer for such an innovative band as Procol Harum presented Wilson with challenges many other drummers don't have to contend with. It allowed him to innovate and experiment, two things Wilson loved about music and drumming. Diane recalls a conversation with BJ in England while he was visiting from Oregon to record on Gary Brooker's third solo album. Wilson cherished his days with Procol Harum, saying that he was given the opportunity to be inventive, and regretted that Procol Harum had disbanded, relating that he had not found any proper musical satisfaction since. BJ simply loved the incredible music that was made by Procol Harum, telling Diane that A Salty Dog was the most beautiful song he'd ever heard. Many would agree.

Wilson continued drumming for Procol Harum and was an integral part of their sound and a personnel mainstay until their final album, Something Magic in 1977. Wilson continued in the music business, working sessions with artists as diverse as Frankie Miller, Lou Reed (on the Berlin album) and even worked with some heavy metal bands.

Since he died at least four other worthy drummers have ventured on the Procol drum throne: the three that 'Beyond the Pale' has spoken to have hastened to acknowledge Barrie's inimitable artistry. Other celebrated drummers have sung his praises to us too, but none has succeeded in really pinning down the ingredients of his genius: Bob Siebenberg (Supertramp) remarked that he "didn't want to look the gypsy in the eye" and it is true that Barrie, without pretension or artifice, wove an indescribable magic in his drumming, and took us to percussive places no-one else had discovered.

BJ Wilson certainly wasn't flash. He simply let his drumming speak for itself. While other rock stars of the era made headlines with outlandish offstage behavior, Wilson was content on bettering himself as a drummer and shunned the "rock-star trip". His musical flair was immense, even teaching himself guitar and mandolin after finding out one of his all-time favorites, Levon Helm of The Band, was an accomplished player. Wilson's mandolin playing is featured on the Grand Hotel album.

Beyond that, he was always a professional who treated his craft seriously and his fans with respect. From all accounts, BJ's humor was an endearing characteristic to all those who came to know him. At an early press conference shortly after joining the group, his usual quick wit was flashed when he was asked whether he'd had any popularity as a performer before joining Procol Harum, to which he replied: "Was I unknown? Man, until I joined Procol Harum, my biggest engagement was the Marakesh corn exchange!"

Gary Brooker has said of their music, "We were playing alternative before Sgt. Pepper's". Indeed, they were. Over the years, Procol Harum and BJ Wilson have attained one of the most fiercely loyal and dedicated followings in rock. In the end, and more than thirty years later, his drum playing remains some of the most interesting ever recorded. His memory and his legend live on in the hearts of fans throughout the world.

I couldn't help but be moved by the genuine fondness that everyone has for BJ. After writing this, I wish I would have known him too, and definitely would have loved to see him play. We salute a unique musician, who possessed his instrument utterly, and was in turn, it seems, utterly possessed by it.

We shall not look upon his like again.

Another member of Rock and Roll Heaven

For more information on BJ Wilson go to http://www.procolharum.com/procolbj.htm or Procol Harum, please visit www.procolharum.com. A wonderful site, run by fans, for fans.