Were the Paramounts somehow turning into Procol Harum, via experiments like Freedom?
No, no, Freedom was just a Brooker thing, his choice, though they all liked Charlie Mingus at the time. That’s not why the Paramounts split up. I don’t know why that was, but lots of bands did around that time. No, with Procol you did have three guys who had played together for years, but they were suddenly playing a totally different kind of music. I don’t know if they felt like a continuation of the Paramounts: but there was still that obvious tightness. Barrie’s thrashing-about style developed and developed as soon as he got into Procol. There’s a classic difference between being a drummer and being a rock and roll drummer. A rock and roll drummer needs to keep a solid beat, rock-steady on snare work and high hat, his bass drum tight, not smashing about on his cymbals. It takes years of playing very simple music in clubs to be able to do that and Barrie was very good at it. But in Procol Barrie was given his head, as far as I can see. Gary may have had it sewn up in terms of the son
