LIVE AND LET LIVE

While neo-prog was just emerging in the middle of the 80's, TWELFTH NIGHT had already released two live opus. The second one, "Live and Let Live" is named after its catalog reference, TN007. The number inspired a pun with "Live and Let Die", the first James Bond movie starring Roger Moore (and Paul McCartney & Wings' cult title track).

This release marks Geoff Mann's departure from the band, as it captures his very last shows with TWELFTH NIGHT at the legendary Marquee club in London. The album initially included only the 6 first tracks, recorded 4th November 1983, except "We Are Sane", recorded 5th November 1983. The 1993 reissue added three bonus tracks, recorded 5th November 1983. The least we can say is that the vocalist delivers here an emotional and stunning performance. Mann is even more theatrical than on "Fact and Fiction"!

Let's talk about the novelties first. Opening like some kind of somber ritual, "The Ceiling Speaks" is a powerful neo-prog track with a gothic feel and epic moments. Great, although not as varied as "We Are Sane". The instrumental "The End Of The Endless Majority" is touching and beautiful, with Andy Revell's delicate and spacey guitar play. Contrarily to these two previously unreleased tracks, "Sequences" was already featured in "Live at the Target", however only in an instrumental version. The vocals were added after, which is pretty rather unusual, and the song has been shortened to 16 minutes. The result tastes a little different with Geoff Mann's protest and smooth singing, but still very nice. Now included as a bonus track on "Fact and Fiction", "East Of Eden" is quite rageous and even possesses metallic accents at times. The other songs all come from "Fact and Fiction", which means they're very good too. Their live rendition offers a reasonable amount of emphasis, like "Love Song", extended to 8 minutes, while staying faithful to the studio version.

The only negative points I would mention is the quality, not always perfect, and the spoken introductions at the beginning of most songs. Nonetheless, I'm not too fan of the narrative interludes in general, they tend to break the ambiance for me.

That said, "Live and Let Die" is simply one of the best neo-progressive live records - even for those who don't like neo-prog - and TWELFTH NIGHT's most successful album. The last piece of the holy trilogy, with "Live at the Target" and "Fact and Fiction". Great for newcomers too.

An unique signer says his farewell to an incredibly creative band. The end of an era...