Home Artist links Label link
Twelfth Night - Live And Let Live
| Artist: | Twelfth Night |
| Title: | Live And Let Live |
| Label: | Cyclops CYCL 050 |
| Length(s): | 76 minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 1997 |
| Month of review: | 06/1993 and 01/1997 |
Line up
Andy Revell - guitars
Geoff Mann - vocals
Brian Devoil - drums
Clive Mitten - bass
Rick Battersby - keyboards
Tracks
| 1) | The Ceiling Speaks | 8.26
|
| 2) | The End Of The Endless Majority | 3.18
|
| 3) | We Are Sane | 12.04
|
| 4) | Fact And Fiction | 5.27
|
| 5) | The Poet Sniffs A Flower | 4.03
|
| 6) | Sequences | 17.14
|
| 7) | Creepshow | 12.06
|
| 8) | East Of Eden | 5.14
|
| 9) | Love Song | 8.29
|
Summary
Twelfth Night is neo-progressive outfit of the same calibre as IQ, Marillion
and Pendragon, but is probably not as widely known. The reason for this
is probably that the band did exist for a far shorter period and also
that part of that period they were supposed to become the new Duran Duran
instead of playing their original version of progressive rock.
Here's my view on their live album, just released by Cyclops (after SI Music
did this in '93)
The music
Although the artwork is a little different (less information this time),
the music on the CD is exactly the same. We have here a CD that is
a hallmark in neo-progressive and in my opinion something that everybody
into progressive rock should have. Although some people might find fault
with the playing and there is no production, this is really live, the music
is so full of energy and passion, that it becomes hairraising. For instance,
the part of Sequences where we have "the station platforms full of
stretchered flesh and bone" (I think this imagery is from Erich Maria
Remarque's Im Westen Nichts Neues) is of exquisite beauty.
The singing of Geoff Mann lends most passion to the music, but he can also
be fun as for instance in his anti-political speech in We Are Sane
and his hilarious Cold War speech in Fact And Fiction. Religion is also
a very important subject with Twelfth Night (or more with Geoff Mann, who
left Twelfth Night, after the farewell concert found on this CD to become
a preacher. Later he found it possible to combine this with making music)
and thus the lyrics sometimes reflect this (The Ceiling Speaks, The Carpenter
to which he refers in Love Song, to name but a few), but Geoff Mann als
manages not to sound moralizing, but just plainly giving his opinion of
things, ridiculizing it somewhat and thus is able to bring over the message.
Conclusion
The music of the band is very energetic, not for nothing were they once
found on a sublabel of Roadrunner, but the music is very much in the
progressive vein and in no way comparable to the progressive metal of today
(I wish they were more comparable to Twelfth Night).
Anyway, you might think I'm biased here, because I like them so very much,
but hey with such good lyrics (same class as Fish, but more generalities
and less personal), an energetic combination of bass, drums, keyboards
and a very specific guitar sound and moreover the passion to make it sound
true make this one of the gems of the eighties and also something worth
having in the nineties.
Read my fingers: if you do not have it, GO GET IT.
© Jurriaan Hage