Win the Friday Music Procol remasters

For our Fab Autumn Competition, we asked competitors to read 26 statements, each corresponding to one Procoloid song released by Friday Music in their Rock Remasters series.

Collecting the alphabetical letters corresponding to the six FALSE statements, they rearranged them to form a well-known English word. Given the emphasis on the word 'Friday' throughout the instructions (and the substitution of 'Robinson Crusoe' for 'Jack Robinson' as well) it was no surprise that FRIDAY was the answer we needed.

We had a great tide of entries, and they went on slips of paper into BtP's trusty Homburg. Sadly only nine could come out as prizewinners on this occasion, and they were impartially determined by a passing Glamorous Assistant (thanks, Imogen) – see illustration.

Accordingly BtP is sending copies of Grand Hotel (with live bonus track) to Solvej Hansen (Denmark), Iwona Wlaz (Poland), and Jeff Levine (America); copies of Exotic Birds and Fruit (with sensational studio Blue Danube as a bonus!) to Dave Knight (UK), Peter Cohen (UK) and Urszula Puszka (Poland); and copies of the fine Within our House, by the Gary Brooker Ensemble, to Rick Royston (America), Dave Pettit (America) and Michael Wilson (South Africa).

The correct answers may be read below: commiserations to the people whose solution was 'differently correct' ... we thought 'fairly' was a pretty good guess ... just not quite good enough!

Amd many thanks indeed to Joe at Friday Music for providing these excellent prizes for the delight of people who visit 'Beyond the Pale'.

 

The statements about the remastered tracks ... were they true or false?
a	Holding On: the opening words, 'Zika nor nama ... hesah', were recently revealed to be simply a mocking anagram of 'Shh! Amazing anoraks!'	Untrue ... for one thing, where would the G come from ?
b	A Salty Dog: the Latin version includes the words animadvertis verba mea	True
c	A Souvenir of London: the song was allegedly inspired by an item of tourist merchandise	True ... a pencil
d	Monsieur R Monde: this song was demoed in 1967, so Fisher and Trower can be heard on the Exotic Birds version in 1974	False reasoning ... Copping and Grabham are the musicians we hear
e	Bringing Home the Bacon: the song has been described as a 'comically vitriolic critique of infant corpulence'	Fanciful, but true
f	Beyond the Pale: Mick Grabham plays a pair of hammers on this track	Not so ... it was BJ
g	Butterfly Boys: Chrysalis found out that the lyric here alluded to them, and wanted it changed to 'Government Boys'	Amazing, but true
h	Drunk Again: Spencer Zahn's illustration in the Grand Hotel series shows a hand holding a stemmed glass	Bet you hadn't seen that photo before! (thanks, Gary)
i	Fires (Which Burnt Brightly): the arrangement features Christine Legrange on guest vocal	Completely untrue ... spelling does matter!
j	For Liquorice John: the man whose death this song commemorates was wont to call Gary Brooker 'Liquorice John Death'	True
k	Fresh Fruit: a comedy song, Gary Brooker once claimed.	True
l	Grand Hotel: Gary once asserted, on stage, that this song originated when 'I went to bed with Keith Reid one night'	True that this is what he said; probably not true that it happened
m	A Whiter Shade of Pale: 'If music be the food of love', from this song, is a direct quotation from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night	Absolutely!
n	New Lamps For Old; the text appears to refer to Aladdin	True
o	Nothing But the Truth: the song is heralded on Exotic Birds with Mick Grabham's spoken 'Is it on, Tommy?'	True
p	Robert's Box: you can hear 'Aloha' being sung in the backing of the final verse	True enough
q	The Idol: Gary Brooker reports that he layered three electric pianos on this song	True, but can you hear 'em?
r	Within our House: oddly enough the song-title is not replicated on the album spine, which reads 'Whipping our Horse'	Fatuous nonsense
s	Toujours l'Amour is a song about a cocktail	True
t	TV Ceasar: the song contains Brooker's parody of the vocal mannerisms of Sir David Frost	Hilariously true
u	As Strong as Samson: the song features a guest musician who has recorded with Fran Glendining from The Palers' Project	True: BJ Cole
v	A Rum Tale: the song contains a threat of arson	True ... 'I'll burn down the town'
w	The Thin End of the Wedge: 'wedge' is occasionally used as back-slang for 'Jew', formed the same way that 'yob' is derived from 'boy'.	True ... albeit of doubtful relevance to the song
x	The Long Goodbye: the song rhymes 'station' with 'desolation'	No question
y	Without a Doubt : originally entitled 'The Poet', it was scheduled for a 45 rpm picture sleeve single backed with A Robe of Silk (careful !)	A pack of nonsense from a BtP April Fool page
z	The Blue Danube was once a rare Procol 45 rpm 'B' side	True, and a very tasty collectable it is too.