To all ABEL GANZ fans and friends. It is with great regret that we must inform you all that after an amazing run of [at least] eighteen years in #abelganz [a life sentence!!!] our dear friend and band-mate Davie Mitchell’s time with the band is drawing to a close.
When #abelganz was reborn at the turn of the millennium, and we were on the hunt for a lead guitar player, there was only ever one contender really. Davie was right at the very top of our wish list because we were not interested in simply finding a ‘gunslinger’ type player – we wanted something much more than that and we got it with him.
It is no understatement to say that since Davie joined Abel Ganz both the sound and direction that the band has developed has been in no small part down to his pivotal contributions – for not only is Davie an outstanding guitar player he is also a fantastic composer and contributor who thinks about ‘the song’ first and foremost and the guitar second!
Fortunately for us, Davie has recently completed recording all his guitar parts for our new, forthcoming record and, as usual, his contributions are nothing less than stellar. We are so grateful that he is leaving us with yet more great music from him!
We know, too, that for many fans and friends of the band, Davie has become a firm favorite and he is sure to be missed by all of you as well. In that regard – he has not quite gone yet!!!! Please join with us, if you can, in giving him the very best send-off possible at this year’s Prog Before Xmas event. This will be Davie’s last performance with the band and so now is also a ‘farewell’ gig for him.
As some of you may know – life has thrown many ups and downs at Davie. We are all so delighted for him that a new opportunity has presented itself that will shortly begin an exciting new chapter in his life. Although we ourselves will, of course, all miss him terribly, we wish him nothing less than great health, great happiness, and great good fortune.
Love from us all!!!!
So, when I heard that this album was finally getting the ‘Definitive Edition’ treatment I knew immediately that it was going to be an essential purchase. It didn’t matter that I had the original MSI CD, which had somehow reversed the cover so that it was black on white instead of white on black, nor that I had the Cyclops reissue from 2002 which had also included various demos: here was a triple CD release which was finally going to provide everything any Twelfth Night fan could wish for. Originally recorded in 1982, to this day it remains one of my very favourite albums, which will always appear in any Top Ten list. Listening to it again, more than 35 years after it was originally recorded, it still sets a benchmark to which many bands aspire, but few will ever achieve.
For those progheads who have somehow missed this band (I know I did at the time, much to my later disgust), Twelfth Night were the band that should have had the success of Marillion at least, and if Geoff hadn’t decided to become a church minister who knows what they might have achieved. But back in the early Eighties, the band had just been reduced to a four-piece with the departure of keyboard player Rick Battersby (who returned after the album had been recorded). This left Geoff Mann (vocals), Clive Mitten (bass/classical guitar/keyboards), Andy Revell (electric and acoustic guitars) and Brian Devoil (drums). The recording process took a year, as the band decided to shift the attention away from some more commercial elements and dropped some numbers and rewrote others. The result was a progressive rock masterpiece.
The album starts with the second longest song, in “We Are Sane”. Gentle held-down keyboards with Geoff singing falsetto and in the background there are the sounds of children playing and a radio being tuned. Gradually Geoff sings lower, the keyboards come down and the sense of menace starts to appear. Percussion starts not with Brian on drums but on typewriter as “Reports flop into the in trays”. Even from very early on in the album it becomes apparent that Twelfth Night just weren’t like any other prog band that was around at the time, or since. Prog bands often today are likened to Genesis/Marillion/IQ but rarely to TN. “We Are Sane” is about a Big Brother society where individuals are controlled by a small box they plug into their brains each day. The music swirls and changes, being beautiful and refreshing, or rocking and dramatic, as the need arises. There is a spoken word passage; all tricks utilised to make the song unusual and classic.
Following that is the more laid back “Human Being” which not only contains one of my favourite lyrics in any song (“If every time we tell a lie a little fairy dies, they must be building death camps in the garden”) but also a powerful bass solo which has to be one of the best bass riffs ever. “This City” again starts slowly, with children in the background and in some ways is almost Floydian except with far more menace and emotion from the Mann. It is stark and barren, with Geoff in total control. Next up is a small instrumental “World Without End” which acts as a gentle keyboard bridge into the title cut. It may only be four minutes long, but this keyboard dominated piece is one of their more powerful and thought provoking, all with no guitar! Given the current climate this song seems even more poignant “If the unthinkable should happen, and you hear the sirens call, Well you can always find some shelter behind a door against the wall, Don’t make me laugh!!”
This also gives way to an instrumental, “The Poet Sniffs A Flower” which features acoustic guitar and keys in gentle harmony until the drums kick in and they are off and racing, as they lead into the longest track on the album, the one with which Geoff will always be associated, “Creep Show”. It starts gently enough, and we are invited into the creep show to see the exhibits (as in “Karn Evil 9”, but here with an even more damning indictment on society). It is gentle, lulling and simple, or dramatic, rocking and complex. It can be a breaking voice, pure melody or a spoken statement of fact: whichever way you look at it this is one of the most important prog songs ever.
Given all of the horrors and complexity that has gone on before, the only way to end the album was with a gentle number that gave the listener the chance to reflect. “Love Song” is pure and delicate, as Geoff sings about the power of love and what it can achieve. It is a song of restrained emotion here in the studio, which became an outpouring when performed in concert. It builds and builds in tempo, on from the acoustic guitar to a more powerful prog rock number and to put it simply, out of all of the many thousands of songs I have heard over the years, this is my number one.
Of course, that was where the original album ended, 49 minutes of brilliance. But here we have now been treated to a great deal more. Disc one is subtitled “Studio: 1982”, and contains all of the songs from Revolution Studios, where the album had been recorded. This includes the original version of “Human Being” (called “Being Human”) plus a small interlude which linked to “East Of Eden”. This is one of the band’s most powerful stomping rock numbers (and was the song they performed on the David Essex Showcase!) and had originally been destined for the album but was instead released as a single along with “Eleanor Rigby”, which is also included.
That leads us into Disc Two, “Live: 1983-2012”, which includes live versions of all the tracks from the album, with three different singers (Geoff, Andy Sears and Mark Spencer). Some of these versions have previously been released on other albums, while there are also songs that are appearing for the first time. Of course the version of “Love Song” was taken From ‘Live and Let Live’, recorded at Geoff’s final gigs with the bands – the emotion is palpable, and I can remember playing this when it was first put out on CD and sitting there crying in front of the speakers, it had that much of an impact on me. Of all the other versions the one that I must mention is “Fact and Fiction”, recorded in 2012. By this time the line-up was Brian Devoil, Clive Mitten, Andy Revell, Dean Baker (keyboards, Galahad) and Mark Spencer (vocals, guitar, ex-Lahost and ex-Galahad, although now he is back with them again!). This absolutely belts along and I must confess that I never thought that it could sound anything like this, and it takes the number to a brand new level.
The CD closes with the 1982 demos that were first released as part of the 2002 Cyclops reissue. These start with “Constant (Fact and Fiction)”, which has nothing in common with “Fact and Fiction” and sounds like Geoff and Clive and a drum machine and is interesting but has to be taken as a work in progress, and was never developed any further. “Fistful Of Bubbles” shows the band experimenting with an almost reggae style in the chorus, and much more in the way of emotional guitar and is interesting but again was a work in progress. To the fan it has to be “Leader” that is by far the more interesting demo, as this is a song that had musically built out of a number called “Afghan Red” and would in turn become “Fact And Fiction”. The verse is musically almost the same, with some of the final lyrics, and it is fascinating. “Dancing In The Dream” is a poptastic keyboard led song that is fun and is a song I have found myself singing. It reminds me of Men Without Hats and I wonder if a finished version of this had been released as a single what would have happened? The very last song is a previously unreleased demo of the closing section of “Creepshow”, here titled “Creepshow (After The Bomb Drops)” which contains quite different lyrics, and ties is much more closely with “Fact and Fiction”.
The last CD is called “Covers and Interpretations: 1983 – 2018”. A special mention should be made here of Galahad, as at different times Dean Baker, Mark Spencer and Roy Keyworth were all members of Twelfth Night, and all appear on the second disc. On this last disc Galahad are credited once (but that is actually only Dean and Stu Nicholson with Brian Devoil on bongos), but Dean, Mark and Lee Abraham between them perform on another 7 songs on the CD, which shows just how important they have been to the later story of Twelfth Night. The majority of songs here are previously unreleased, and those involved have generally allowed their imagination to run riot.
A special mention here must be made of Mark Spencer’s totally solo recording of “We Are Sane”. I wasn’t too sure of the opening section as It felt that it was actually too quiet, but he captures the angst and emotion vocally on “The poster on the billboard”, and when he cranks into the guitars for the second section it is then that the initial quietness makes so much sense. I must confess to have never being a huge fan of Pendragon’s take on “Human Being”, which originally appeared on ‘Mannerisms’, as Peter Gee never really captured the presence of Clive Mitten, but it is great seeing it made more widely available again. Another person who appeared on ‘Mannerisms’ was Alan Reed, who performed “Love Song”, which also didn’t really work for me. But this time Mark Spencer provides the keyboards and arrangement, and it is performed as duet by Alan and Kim Seviour. This is easily the best version I have heard outside Twelfth Night or Geoff Mann, and is definitely well worth hearing. The final word, as if there could ever have been any doubt, belongs to the Mann. Recorded in 1992, and originally released on ‘Recorded Delivery’, the album closes with “Fact and Fiction” and “Love Song” recorded by Eh! Geoff Mann Band.
Released as a digipak, with a great booklet containing details of who played on what, now is the time to catch up on what is to my mind one of the very finest albums ever released. The total package is now some 3 ½ hours long, and every minute is a gem. If you are a Twelfth Night fan then this is simply indispensable, and if you have never come across them prior to this then you need to stop reading and jump over to the Twelfth Night site before this set is sold out. This is a limited edition single pressing, so when it’s gone it’s gone. I’m still taking it personally that they waited until I was on the other side of the world before they reformed and played some gigs, but until they decide to play again at a time when I am in the correct hemisphere this will keep returning to my player. Awesome.
It’s probably best to let singer and keyboard player John Paul Strauss describe the rationale behind this album. ‘During the time we were working on the most recent Ten Jinn release, ‘Sisyphus’, came the very sad news about the passing of David Bowie. At the time (though we were very busy with working on the album and dealing with the upcoming release in 2017) I suggested to the other Ten Jinn members that as soon as ‘Sisyphus’ was completed, we should record a David Bowie tribute record before preparing for live shows or recording the next Ten Jinn record, ‘Worlds (the Four Worlds of the Hopi)’. While I was very excited about the prospect of playing live again and getting on to ‘Worlds’ (I even completed the first draft of the score) I felt very strongly about taking this detour in order to pay my respects to an artist, who was probably the single most important influence in my development as a musician in general and vocalist in particular.
I can’t be the only person who never expected an album like this from Ten Jinn. Since their second album, 1999’s ‘As On A Darkling Plain’, they have cemented a reputation as one of the most interesting progressive rock bands around, so a Bowie tribute album isn’t exactly what one would expect. There haven’t been many progressive bands who have recorded whole albums of covers (Dream Theater of course taking it to the extreme by re-recording complete albums, often very well indeed), let alone of music that us so far away from what one would expect.
What I also found interesting was the track selection, as while of course there are many hits, there are also many missing which one may expect on a collection like this, such as ‘Ashes to Ashes’, ‘Space Oddity’, ‘Suffragette City’, ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘Young Americans’ etc. There is the feeling that here is a very personal collection, one that has a collective cohesiveness which works incredibly well. What I really enjoyed about the album is that although they have stayed close to the originals, they have also allowed themselves to put their own stamp on the songs. They have played it fairly straight, and consequently it has worked exactly as it was supposed to, namely as a tribute.
One of the real stand outs has to be ‘Dead Man Walking’, which originally featured on the 1997 album ‘Earthling’. While much focus will be on the wonderful acoustic guitars, funky percussion or superb vocals, what really makes this such an essential song is the wonderful fretless bass which adds so much class, warmth and emotion to it. Strauss’s vocals throughout are exemplary, and the whole band sound as if they have been performing Bowie songs their whole lives, such is the skill and joy they bring to this collection. This is a must for any lover of Bowie, as rarely is his material treated with such care.
They said it couldn’t be done. Not sure who “they” are but man it seemed far-fetched that we’d ever reconvene 3RDegree after our January 1997 breakup. Even though in late ’97 when no one was looking we actually recorded Marillion’s “That Time Of The Night (the short straw)” for a tribute album that never happened it felt like that ship had sailed. After that it was over except for some side projects involving no more than a few of us at a time. Anyway, the story is told in the inside of the album liner notes but when Robert, Rob & Pat met in December of 2005 and decided to reform the band, demos for new songs were then created, re-arranging of old songs never finished ensued and George was included a few months later so that by late 2006 we were recording what would be an album of the same name as a new RJP demo called “Narrow-Caster” which basically laid out exactly how the band would approach the next decade. Instead of going crazy trying to “make it” as they once did, they’d instead narrow in on the pockets of people who might like their type of music enabled by something that really took hold in the time they spent apart: the internet…and to a great extent: social media.
Anyway, you probably know the rest but joined our legion with 2012’s The Long Division or our latest Ones & Zeros albums. If you look at the “crossover prog” page on Progarchives.com you will see our 2008 album Narrow-Caster as one of the revolving “overlooked and obscure gems” and we kind of agree. We’ve put out better albums since (IMHO) but Narrow-Caster was a real bridge from where we were in the 90’s to who we’d become in the 10’s. It was our calling card for a bunch of years as we tried creating a name for ourselves by make friends in various places of the prog world be it radio, the festivals, review websites or with fans on line and at the shows. This would all pay off to our great surprise with our 2009 ProgDay invitation.
Narrow-Caster served us well but would be surpassed in popularity quite quickly with our subsequent releases. We’d love you to take a first-or another-look at our 2008 album that debuted in the merch room at NEARfest that year in jewel case form and then in December with our first “eco-wallet” that would be copied for every release after. This was the “blueprint” if you will, featured all over the CD sleeve.
For the occasion, we are throwing in-for a limited time-many of the demos members of the band made for other members of the band to hear of songs that made the album. Also, we’ve included some songs that never made the album in various states of “finished” and we threw in a one-time-only performance of the title track from our living room.
This offer is good only for CD purchase. There will be no download-only Narrow-Caster 10th Anniversary edition, however you will receive the download of the album proper and the bonus tracks in download form with your CD purchase.
For those of you who have the album already and would like the bonus tracks, please do one of two things. Send us an email or message on Facebook, Tweet or whatever with a photo of your Narrow-Caster CD (preferably with you holding it, smiling, fully-clothed) and then we’ll know you bought it already and we’ll send you a link to the bonus disk.
WHAT’S ON THE BONUS DISK?
1. A Capella open
This is a strange experiment Patrick recorded with various melodies from the album. Almost an overture of sorts.
2. Narrow-Caster (live in the living room 4/11/09)
This is a spirited version of the song (faster) with bass, drums, piano and vocals featuring Dan D’Elia on drums along with RJP and George. You may hear Eric Pseja on cowbell too!
3. Apophenia (George Demo)
4. Doesn’t Quite Belong (Demo)
A pretty acoustic number we played at our ’07 Reunion Concerts and recorded for the album but never finished.
5. It Works (George Demo)
6. Home In The Clouds (The Future Doesn’t Need You early version)
This is a song we played live in ’07 and was from ’96. By this point it was in it’s 2nd melodic incarnation with the third featured on our new album Ones & Zeros: vol. 0. It was called “Home In The Clouds” in the first two versions.
7. Heaven Is (Cautionary Tale early version)
A 90’s era demo recording of just drums, rough vocal and keyboards to get the idea down of the song “Heaven Is” which later became “Cautionary Tale”.
8. Live With This Forever (Robert Demo)
An 90’s era demo
9. The Art Of Being Alone
This is a mixed and “finished” version of another pretty number we played in ’07 at our Reunion Concerts. It was “released” on a one-time-only EP we named SNEAK PEAKS.
10. Scenery (Patrick Demo)
11. Narrow-Caster (Robert Demo)
12. The Last Gasp (Patrick Demo)
13. Scenery (A Capella reprise)
Just a little idea Pat had to call back to “Scenery”.
OUR LAST CONCERT OF THE YEAR
THIS THURSDAY
at The Waiting Room
Rahway, NJ
Robert Richardson of Cell 15 8:00
3RDegree 9:00
FREE ADMISSION
Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly recently announced the release of ‘Friendship’, their brand new studio album, due out on November 9th, 2018. Following the release of 2017’s ‘On Her Journey To The Sun’, as well as 2018’s retrospective 5CD collection ‘Rumbling Box’, the band masterminded by former Beardfish frontman & current Big Big Train member Rikard Sjöblom.
Today a video for the track ‘Ghost of Vanity’ has been launched and you can watch that here:
Rikard comments: ”A song that really just came to me all at once while I was strumming away on my guitar one day, lyrics and all. I kept singing ‘I don’t want no part in this’ over and over at first and then started partake in. Well, vanity is something I’ve never been a big fan of but one way or another we’re all slaves to it. I think most people, especially teenagers and young adults strive to live up to unrealistic expectations from TV-commercials or the superficial parts of showbiz. I remember when I was a kid and thought everything they said on TV was true, or at least didn’t reflect too much about whether thinking about what it was I didn’t want to it was real or not. No matter how much we try to not care about how cool or pretty or rich we are, I think it gets to us. The ghost of vanity is always present and I guess it takes a lot of reflecting over your own identity and a lot of courage to try to be yourself. I admire those who truly are.”
The album will be available as a limited CD Digipak & gatefold 2LP + CD (both including 3 bonus tracks) as well as digital download. Pre-order now here: https://Gungfly.lnk.to/Friendship
The full track-listing is as follows:
1.Ghost of Vanity
2.Friendship
3.They Fade
4.A Treehouse in a Glade
5.Stone Cold
6.If You Fall, Pt. 2
7.Crown of Leaves
8.Slow Dancer (Bonus Track)
9.Past Generation (Bonus Track)
10.Friendship (Utopian Radio Edit) (Bonus Track)
Rikard comments of the musical direction: “Musically, what can I say? This is prog rock, but I want to be free to move in whatever direction the music wants to go and I happily go exploring where it wants to take me. Even though there are a few softer songs and sections, most of the album turned out to be a rocker; a collection of hard rock songs with lots of tricky parts, some heavier moments and some downright jazzy elements too!”
Rikard Sjöblom is perhaps best known as the multi-instrumentalist frontman of Beardfish, who established themselves as one of the most consistently brilliant modern-day progressive rock bands over the course of eight studio albums. In recent years, he has also become known for his work with English progressive collective Big Big Train, playing live with them as well as performing on their most recent studio album ‘The Second Brightest Star’ as well as the new live album ‘Merchants of Light’.
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