Twelfth Night - Original new-prog

When it comes to new-progressive, one immediately thinks of a handful of die-hards who, at the start of the Eighties, refused to accept that Genesis no longer had Peter Gabriel and his costumes, that Yes were singing "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", that Van der Graaf Generator had vanished into thin air... What better way to fill that void than by trying to imitate them? Cue pompous arrangements, grandiloquent keyboard solos, albums with songs running past the ten-minute mark, lyrics about minstrels and fairy tales.

Of course there's some truth to this stereotype - just think of the early IQ and Marillion, who seemed to be competing over who could blend in best with the sounds of "Foxtrot" - but it's equally true that progressive rock has for many years been the victim of fierce critical ostracism, with releases in this genre instantly branded as imitations or farces, even those that truly deserved praise and attention.

Of all the new-prog bands, Twelfth Night are the ones best suited to this kind of reappraisal, since there's no trace of imitation or emulation in their sound - only that spirit of exploration and uninhibited urge to communicate typical of true progressive rock from the Sixties and Seventies.

In 1978, Brian Devoil, Clive Mitten and Andy Revell formed a band that played long instrumentals built around the latter's guitar acrobatics, clearly a devotee of the fluidity and melodic sense of Jimmy Page. It's surprising that keyboards were relegated to a marginal role. The band's first mini-album (Twelfth Night or Electra Tape), released only on cassette in 1980 with the addition of singer Electra and keyboardist Rick Battersby, was already a fine attempt at presenting long compositions without unnecessary frills or baroque arrangements.

The singer left the group shortly afterward (the only official trace is a 7-inch single), and the band threw itself into a frenetic schedule of live shows, which earned it a following in town and the surrounding area; with this line-up the band released its first LP, Live At The Target, recorded without overdubs in a small club and made up of four long, highly evocative instrumentals. "Sequences", the track that fills the whole of side two, is the creative peak of the early Twelfth Night and already contains all the ingredients of the formula: tight rhythms, pared-down arrangements, melodicism. What's missing, though, is a great voice...

Young art student Geoff Mann, who had followed the band as a fan since their earliest gigs, was soon drawn into their stage productions, mainly painting backdrops and devising choreography to accompany the group's dreamy instrumentals; local magazines of the time carried his enthusiastic reviews of their shows. The friendship between the band and this volcanic artist turned into a fruitful partnership just as the group reached the peak of its local popularity. Twelfth Night were the only band from Reading invited to play the city's famous festival in 1981, and for the occasion Geoff made his debut as singer, in front of thirty thousand spectators. His strength came from an exceptional warmth, from a sharp, intelligent sense of humour, from an unusual sensitivity. The artistic meeting with the band proved explosive, and the most creative minds of the lot - Mann, Revell and Mitten - seemed to reach an almost idyllic understanding.

Despite objections from their record label, Twelfth Night put together a new, self-produced demo (now reissued on CD) of extraordinary quality, called Smiling At Grief. The band seems to have miraculously fused the lessons of new wave with the progressive tradition, and the result is there for all to hear in small masterpieces like "East Of Eden" and "Makes No Sense". It's extremely rare to find such chemistry within a band after just a few weeks of working together. And indeed, as the weeks turn into months, the promise turns into reality.

Fact And Fiction, released at the end of 1982, is the band's first proper album, and probably one of the finest progressive works of the Eighties. A record that's flawless from the first note to the last, enriched by striking artwork (designed by Mann himself) and unforgettable lyrics. "We Are Sane", "Creepshow" and "Love Song" are the key tracks, but the genius of Twelfth Night can also be heard in shorter pieces like "This City", with bass lines so essential and intense they could have escaped from a Cure album. Mann's vocal performance is astonishing: during the opening track, almost two minutes go by before you can work out what his normal voice actually sounds like, so versatile is his delivery. The spectres of the Cold War, the alienation of capitalist society, loneliness, madness - these are the themes explored with depth and emotion in the album's lyrics, which is also why it can be considered a kind of "Dark Side Of The Moon" for the Eighties.

For the first time the band found itself enjoying a degree of popularity, buoyed by the positive reviews garnered by Fact And Fiction. Geoff Mann is undoubtedly the only progressive frontman capable of rivalling Fish for the title of stage animal, and the shows grew increasingly packed and well-honed. The band, nonetheless, kept writing: meanwhile "Sequences" was given a memorable pacifist lyric, while another very long piece was written and performed live, "The Collector", in whose lyrics, penned by Mann, religiously inspired ideas make an appearance for the first time.

Twelfth Night were a step away from stardom - one well-crafted single and it would have been done. But Geoff's personality was too strong and too headstrong to accept the compromises of the music business, in which he had no interest whatsoever. So as not to hold back the other members, determined to leave no stone unturned in their bid to break through, Mann decided to leave the band at the end of the tour. For the farewell show, immortalised on the excellent Live And Let Live, his bandmates dedicated the instrumental "The End Of the Endless Majority" to him. The record also features interesting unreleased tracks like "The Ceiling Speaks", and you can really feel the engaging atmosphere of the gig, with the audience reciting along with the band the amusing monologues that precede the songs.

Without Mann, the story of Twelfth Night carried on without the success they'd hoped for: fine singer though he was, Andy Sears lacked the same charisma, and the mini-album Art And Illusion marked a halt in the band's creative progress. A major label showed interest in the group, but the album that followed (XII, released in 1986) can't be considered on a par with their past creative heights either. Shortly after, the band split up.

In the meantime Geoff had become a reverend, but he hadn't given up playing music (his solo output is rather interesting, especially the albums Psaml Enchanted Evening, I May Sing Grace and Second Chance).

In 1988, given the fans' continued demand, the band reunited in the studio with the Fact And Fiction line-up to record "The Collector" and a new version of "Love Song", later released on Collectors Item in 1991. No shows followed.

The final chapter in the Twelfth Night story is tied to a tragic event. Geoff Mann died of cancer in 1993. To pay tribute to him, the cream of the prog scene, led by their friends IQ, dedicated a tribute album to him, titled "Mannerisms", on which Twelfth Night themselves also reunited for a fine version of their own "Piccadilly Square".

Since then, the band's following has been kept alive mainly through internet forums and the tireless work of drummer Brian Devoil, who, spurred on by the fans' enthusiasm, periodically releases new CDs of archival recordings, pressed in tiny runs that sell out within minutes. On top of that, record labels keep reissuing remastered albums increasingly packed with bonus tracks. But there is also a proper official release, the two-CD collection Voices in The Night (2007), which does justice to the band's various sides and sheds some light on the years without releases. Indeed, it marks the first time that outtakes from the Martyn Watson era (late 80s) were made available.

Given the success of these releases, the band decided to reform for a handful of shows in 2007. Since then, for a small number of dates, the group has performed Fact And Fiction in full, along with some classics from their other albums, with the classic line-up and Andy Sears on vocals. From 2010, also thanks to the publication of a band biography called Play On (accompanied by a DVD packed with archival material), the band resumed live activity, but with a different line-up that unfortunately does not include Andy Revell, the driving force behind the Twelfth Night sound: Dean Baker, Clive Mitten, Roy Keyworth, Brian Devoil, Mark Spencer, Andy Sears. At the moment, the band does not appear to have any intention of releasing new material.

It would be worth starting precisely from an album like Fact And Fiction and from Twelfth Night's early-80s output to talk about progressive again without the usual lump of resentment and clichés...

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