(On Twelfth Night’s Smiling at Grief – Revisted, TN003, 2022)
This Twelfth Night has lasted longer than the usual eight hours.
For over forty years this charged music has resisted trend, luck
And chance – in order to share their own food of love, on which
They first dined as teenagers, these musicians sought to master
Life’s madness and countermand circumstance. For theirs is a Play
Full of song, sense and humour, from an early rise around Reading,
In now reading their tale we see love -for both the future they dreamt
And for the sounds that inspired; their Genesis begat Bibles
Which their sainted Singer touched and embraced through
God’s glove. Geoff Mann, artist, lyricist, and devoted Priest
And believer now stokes resolution as his bandmates survive
His sad loss, to commerate his first collaborations with them
As a digital shift and CD case captures Smiling at Grief’s
Cassette album, and the songs stirred become oceans
That the Shakespearean twins might have crossed.
Both remix and re-make, this song-ship’s manned craft
Has fresh captains; from Prog Pop star Steven Wilson,
To Andy Tillson. Rob Reed, to Tim Bowness, Brian Hulse,
Mark Spencer, Dean Baker, Karl Groom, Simon Godfrey,
Each new crew member plays and prods each song’s seed.
Lee Abraham. Stuart Nicholson, Gareth Cole. and Paul Hodson,
Each contemporary and prog colleague adds additional keyboard
And guitar to underline what works best of all in these early
Spells sourced through music, from East of Eden to Creepshow
They spotlight and split that first star. East of Eden’s stringed
Squall under Wilson’s mix seems to spiral. It shines that more
Sharply within the mix he ‘de-murks,’ and Peter Jones’ This City
Soothes with the swell and shimmer he gives it, while early song
The Honeymoon is Over punk punches, as Mann the pure poet
Becomes boisterous by ripping both magazine and hair shirt.
Godfreys’ take on Creepshow growls deep as he Taurus taps
And sucks shadows from the surrounding dark like death’s dog;
One of Twelfth Night’s best tales, entirely seminal in its starting,
And revealing how song and drama were successfully staged
Within prog. Mann was his own Gabriel graced by devotion.
His shine and commitment to warnings on the institutions
Of fear we all face is themed in Puppets intro and take
Courtesy of Rob Reed and Mark Spencer, who continues
His own multi-roled playing in the specific spectacles
This group shaped. The music had and has such a sound,
Protected by Producer Brian Devoil. the band’s drummer
And defacto Director, running as he does site and show,
Alongside band biographer Andrew Wild, their take
On this anniversary album reveals how remix culture
Is not just about dance: now its glow. As the light that
Brned bright is wildly re-focused, heard in Wilson’s brush up
Against grief’s Three Dancers, where rhythms re-shimmer
As he artfully moves music on, while the song Makes No Sense
Is entirely remade by Hulse and Bowness, whose soft voice
Pushes pop to the surface of this caustic call to both reform
And belong. Twelfth Night once promised dreams which would
Endure across daylight. And so it proved in the Eighties,
Before insipient trend saw them trip, along with record label
Betrayal, Mann’s death, and advancing pressure saw their
Seared Second Act shortened and the programme shut
Or part ripped. But since then and thanks to Devoil’s
Graced devotion the name and the music has continued
To play and rehearse with a line of releases like this,
With every album remastered and with the definitive dream
Finding favour among performers and fans, the past’s kissed.
And the music plays on, in this album’s other mixes and versions,
And on the website, and online store, where what young men
Made continues to grow along with them and where, as you listen,
You see their growth and gain all the more. You see a much missed
Singer revived. And after their farewell show, further playing
In the theatre of your mind, or bedroom, headset or, phone,
There’s the line – that the CD booklet quotes, applying itself
To this music where; ‘sat like patience at a monument,
smiling at grief, was not this love indeed?’
Yes, it was. See it shine.
David Erdos, May 2nd 2022
TWELFTH NIGHT’s 1982 Smiling At Grief album was the first music released with new vocalist, Geoff Mann. With the 40th anniversary arriving in 2022, it was decided to celebrate Smiling At Grief by releasing a ‘brand-new’ version, by asking friends and peers to remix the album using the original master tracks.
The response was amazing as contributions were received from Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Peter Jones (Camel), Simon Godfrey (Tinyfish), Tim Bowness & Brian Hulse, Rob Reed (Magenta), Karl Groom (Threshold), Andy Tillison (The Tangent), Lee Abraham & Stu Nicholson, Dean Baker (Galahad), Gareth Cole (Fractal Mirror), Paul Hodson and Mark Spencer. Some are straight remixes, some enhanced with new instrumentation, and some have been radically reworked, to produce an album that will be treasured by all prog rock fans.
“This is easily my favourite period of Twelfth Night, when the band were reaching for some kind of new wave / progressive hybrid – and successfully so, they really captured something of that moment in time, both the past and the future. Even if these were meant to be quick and dirty demo recordings it’s been great to be given the chance to elevate the sonics a little (hopefully!)”
Steven Wilson – Feb 2022
https://twelfthnightuk.bandcamp.com/
https://twelfthnightuk.bandcamp.com/album/smiling-at-grief-revisited
Running to over 70 minutes the CD features the same 9 tracks as the LP version as well as 7 bonus tracks, including 2 more mixes by Steven Wilson. The booklet includes all the lyrics as well as original artwork by Geoff Mann.
Brian Devoil: drums, Clive Mitten: bass, keyboards, Geoff Mann: vocals, Andy Revell: guitar, Rick Battersby: keyboards
Track List – Contributing Artists
East Of Eden – Steven Wilson
This City – Peter Jones
The Honeymoon Is Over – Karl Groom
Creepshow – Simon Godfrey
Puppets (intro) – Mark Spencer
Puppets – Rob Reed
Three Dancers – Steven Wilson
Makes No Sense – Tim Bowness & Brian Hulse
Für Helene Part II – Dean Baker
Bonus Tracks
Puppets – Steven Wilson
The Honeymoon Is Over – Andy Tillison
Creepshow – Paul Hodson
Puppets – Rob Reed & Galahad
Three Dancers – Gareth Cole
Makes No Sense – Mark Spencer
East Of Eden extended – Steven Wilson
Smiling At Grief was written, arranged, performed and produced by Twelfth Night. Lyrics: Geoff Mann. Recorded at Woodcray Manor Farm Studios, Berkshire in November 1981 & released on cassette in 1982. TN003.
The CD is available from
https://twelfthnight.info/?cds=smiling-at-grief-revisited-on-cd
https://twelfthnightuk.bandcamp.com/album/smiling-at-grief-revisited