WSOP - why did Fisher use percussion in such a legato piece?

[Jon May]

It's not really noticeable to me in recordings 🤔

[Paul Harrison]

The usual drawbar setting for this song is 68 8600 000 with percussion On, Soft, Slow, Second; vibrato off; Leslie slow.

 

I've played this many times, and the percussion makes a subtle but significant difference. Note that the Hammond organ's "touch response" percussion only triggers on detached notes, and when you play in a legato way as Matthew Fisher mostly does in this song, the percussion doesn't sound on every note but does add a punch to the beginning of phrases and other detached notes; for example, on the very first note of the organ solo at the start of the song.

 

Fisher played a Hammond M100 on the original 1967 recording. In this case, he plays fairly legato throughout, and the percussion is not very prominent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA

 

Here's a live performance from 2004 with him playing it on a Hammond B3. He still plays the organ solo (at the start and between the verses) mostly legato, but he plays the backing part (behind the vocal during the verses) more detached, and the percussion is more prominent here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQyFixb54JU

 

Note also that the second harmonic (often favoured by British players; e.g., Brian Auger's 88 8330 000 with percussion On, Soft, Fast, Second; vibrato C3; Leslie stop) doesn't jump out as much as the third harmonic does (e.g., as in the classic Jimmy Smith jazz setting 88 8000 000 with percussion On, Soft, Fast or Slow, Third; vibrato C3; Leslie stop).

 

BTW the full title is "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and is usually abbreviated "AWSOP".

[Shamanzarek]

 Lack of foldback in the upper octave of Hammond spinet organs wasn't likely known to be an issue at the time. On the chorus of AWSOP Fisher plays the same chords in the top two octaves which intentionally or not has the effect of compensating for lack of foldback creating a fuller sound. Both hands in the upper octaves can be seen very briefly here. Can be better seen on much later live versions when he played a Hammond console:

In this instrumental mix the notes with Percussion sounding can be heard more distinctly. The Percussion seems to be most prominent in the same part of the verse each time around and mostly not heard in the rest of the song.