A Hazy Shade of Winter song as "one of [Simon and Garfunkel's] best songs, and certainly one of the toughest and more rock-oriented". In 1987, the Bangles were approached to record a song for the soundtrack of the film "Less Than Zero". They chose to record a cover of "A Hazy Shade of Winter", which they had been performing live since at least as far back as March 1983. Their cover, simply titled "Hazy Shade of Winter", was a harder-edged rock song that removed most of the bridge section. The record, like the rest of the soundtrack album, was produced by Rick Rubin. After a
A Whiter Shade of Pale Shade of Pale" at Olympic Sound Studios in London, England. The recording was produced by Denny Cordell. Because they did not have a regular drummer, the drums were played by Bill Eyden, a session musician. The track was completed in two takes, with no subsequent overdubbing. A few days after the session, the band re-recorded the song with their newly recruited drummer, Bobby Harrison, at Advision Studios. This version was discarded, and one of the original mono recordings was chosen for release as the band's debut single. The B-side was "Lime Street Blues", another Brooker–Reid song, which the band recorded