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COLLECTOR'S ITEM
Track List: The Ceiling Speaks (6.37), Deep In the Heartland (3.52), We Are Sane (10.21), Art and Illusion (3.46), First New Day (5.53), Take a Look (11.31), Last Song (4.26), Blondon Fair (6.04), The Collector
(19.02), Love Song (5.33).
Back in the early to mid-eighties a resurgence of progressive music, played by a new generation of musicians, was firmly based around the Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London and many of these are still
around.
Marillion (these days in a very different guise), IQ, Pallas and Pendragon were four of the big names there, while Jadis in those days was a popular support band - the other "big" band from the old Marquee days was Twelfth Night.
A history of the band is contained within the booklet that accompanies this album and it details the ups and downs of a career that saw them move from their earlier art rock performances with added strong social
commentaries from their
vocalist, the late Geoff Mann, through to the pretty boy, glam rock look that went with the later big musical production jobs - check out the photos to see the contrast between these two incarnations.
The band was originally formed in the late 70's by Andy Revell (guitar) and Brian Devoil (drums). They recruited Clive Mitten (bass & keyboards) and Rick Battersby (keyboards) and performed as a mainly
instrumental band for a time. Geoff Mann joined Twelfth Night in the summer of 1981 and his strong presence fronted the band until November 1983 when he left to pursue his own varied career. He was
quickly replaced by Andy Sears.
This version of 'Collector's Item' has a different track listing to the previously released one. Gone is the version of 'Sequences' that also appeared on 'Live and Let Live', and in its place are three
previously unavailable recordings - and the album opens with two of these, both recorded as a demo for CBS in the summer of '83...
'The Ceiling Speaks' was a band standard with rocking guitar work, featuring strong keyboard sections. As with many of Twelfth Night's compositions from this period, the pace and mood changes throughout the
number in sympathy with the intensely passionate vocal performance from the wonderful voice of Geoff Mann.
This song clearly charts Geoff's religious beliefs - feeling that he was keen to share, earning him the nickname of the Rockin' Reverend.
'Deep In the Heartland' is a more basic rocker which was a popular live track. This was a song that was reworked by the band several times and it appears in its final incarnation as 'Blondon Fair' on this album too.
'We Are Sane' is the epic that was probably one of Twelfth Night's most famous pieces and I can clearly recall seeing the band perform this at the Reading Festival in 1983 on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon.
The clever use of words here makes reading the lyrics essential to fully appreciate the number, but nevertheless this is a superbly crafted composition that shifts between arty performance, regular rocking and pompous full blown prog. A fabulous song.
'Art and Illusion' is a completely different kettle of fish. Andy Sears sings this fast moving rocker which is unique, the sleeve notes tell, in that he is singing words penned by Geoff.
Another high point in the career of Twelfth Night was 'First New Day', a song looking at the "more tragic diseases of mankind" and written and released prior to Band Aid.
In fact the band performed this for Wycombe Live Aid the following year (also appearing that day were Geoff Mann doing a solo set and LaHost, a young upcoming prog band of the time) and I can remember Andy Sears croaking during the chorus and remarking "Oh God, I need a drink ... my throat! Anyway reminiscences aside, this is an rich and atmospheric piece, strong on keyboards and synths and it still sounds great!
'Take a Look' has a generally harder edged sound with strong instrumental sectors contrasted against slower sections which feature classical guitar work, some lovely vocal harmonies and sparkling synth sounds.
A musical build up leads to the big ending and was that really over eleven minutes?
'Last Song' is the third of the newly added tracks, this originally appeared on the band's eponymous Virgin release. It's a fast paced rocking romp from beginning to end.
'Blondon Fair' is the track that grew from 'Deep In the Heartland', the first reincarnation came as the song was slowed down and set to new lyrics as 'Not on the Map'. After Andy Sears joined the band it
changed again into 'Blondon Fair' complete with a brand new set of words.
This is one of the big production numbers with some excellent guitar work bouncing upon the deep, rich synth support while Sears snarls and screams, ripping the vocal from his very heart.
'The Collector' is the last song that Twelfth Night wrote with Geoff and it saw its first performance in the summer of '83, shortly before he left the band.
However, it was not recorded until 1988 when this version was made especially for 'Collector' Item' with Clive Mitten producing and the engineering duties undertaken by Mark Spencer - the singer with LaHost. Geoff sounds great here and this song shows his full range from a gentle singing voice through to his "heavy metal" scream and the quirky spoken sections. Sensitive instrumentation complements his vocals and each of the musicians play an important part with strong performances from guitar, bass and keyboards.
The CD closes with another piece sung by Geoff, 'Love Song' was usually the final encore of the set.
This is a fabulous piece with uplifting synths and warm rich guitar work providing a backdrop to the simple vocal line. The instrumentation builds throughout, creating a spine tingling finale to the album.
I was pretty surprised when I first listened to this CD at how fresh the music sounded.
Most of the tracks on this album are strongly written and well played and still stand up in their own right today. This is an essential purchase for collector's of 80's prog, but it is also a window through which you can look upon the wide musical panorama that Twelfth Night covered through that decade. They were a great band and this comes as highly recommended.
Marisa 23rd January, 2002
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