Twelfth Night Fact and Fiction 1982
What did I know about the album: Not much at all really, I'd hardly heard anything by the band previously and they were probably the neo-progressive rock band that I knew least about. It has been years since I've heard anything by IQ, Pallas or Pendragon from that era, but of course I've always been familiar with most of Marillion Fish era discography anyway.
Opinion: The album was quite different to what I expected it to sound like, I was kind of expecting a 1970s prog sound being revived as Marillion had done with the Gabriel era Genesis sound. Once started, I was immediately put off by the operatic whine of the lead singer, but once he settled down on the opening track the band's obvious talent opened up. First impressions were a strange amalgamation of a whole host of sounds and influences. In just the opening couple of tracks "We Are Sane" and "Human Being" I got bits and pieces of 1970s prog, a section similiar to classic Yes -the best on the album, a touch of Saga, a touch of Rush and even the future Marillion (who may have copied some bits here) but what most I noticed, especially on the opening track, were the then modern day New Romantic influences, subtle of course but they were there, truly making the band suitable for the neo-progressive label, rather than just recycling prog sounds of the 1970s. I also found tracks two and three to have a rockier feel about them and found the band very comfortable putting out this sound. I was intrigued to hear what the title track would be like and again the new romantics influence is very obvious on this song. "Creepshow" the longest song on the album wasn't the dramatic song I was expecting it to be at all. "Love Song" is a nice album closer though. Overall though it's a good album and worth a listen to anybody interested in 1980s prog, but not as good as early Marillion though.
7 out of 10
Footnote: This forum always has a lot of people either going on about classic prog from the 1970s and about modern post 1990s prog, seldom is their any real interest in its 1980s cousin.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eraser.time206
If you can't deal with the fact that there are 6+ billion people in the world and none of them think exactly the same that's not my problem. Just deal with it yourself or make actual conversation. This isn't a court and I'm not some poet or prophet that needs everything I say to be analytically critiqued.
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