LIVE AT THE TARGET

The late 70s was in some ways more bizarre than what occurred in the music world within the decade prior. While rock and roll had morphed into all kinds of experimental branches including the hugely prolific progressive rock world, it didn't take long for established paradigms to gel and create distinct subgenera that would loosely define entire slivers of prog and how other bands that jumped into the scene would structure their compositions. However once the punk scene unfolded it completely shattered the status quo into a gazillion splinters from which the prog world would never quite recover but perhaps its greatest contribution to the music world was that it gave permission for new styles of music to mix and meld with the elements that came before.

While prog may have diminished in overall popularity, prog traits were being implemented in all kinds of ways. Post-punk was adopting Krautrock surreality as heard by bands like Chrome. Heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden and Saxon were borrowing the fantasy themes that were once relegated to prog alone and improvisation, jazz and classical features were popping up all over the place such as new wave, no wave and post-punk as well. Even the Talking Heads implemented spastic avant-prog touches and a plethora of crossover prog emerged as well as pop bands that once contained prog musicians such as Asia, the new Genesis, Peter Gabriel and the updated versions of King Crimson and Yes.

However, some bands that were up and coming in the 80s did things the other way around. While the 80s saw the decline of the 70s prog scene, it did see a revival of sort in the form of the synthesizer based neo-progressive rock that took the symphonic offerings of 70s Genesis and Camel, the space rock elements of Pink Floyd and a touch of more electric bands like Van Der Graaf Generator and The Enid. TWELFTH NIGHT relaunched prog in an unmistakable 80s style with updated digital synthesizers replacing Moogs and mellotrons, less emphasis on conceptual albums and outlandish lengthy compositions that excelled in ethereal otherworldliness that focused more on fantasy worlds that provided escapism.

One of the first bands to initiate the neo-prog scene was England's own TWELFTH NIGHT that took its name after the Shakespeare play and followed the updated playbook of mixing and melding elements of the past music scene with the present only in this case, the exact opposite of the post-punk explosion. The band was formed in 1978 when guitarist Andy Reveal and drummer Brian Devoil found common ground with an interest in the symphonic brand of 70s prog which they brought up to date with newer 80s technology. While starting out as the rather uninspiring Andy Reveil Band, they quickly changed the moniker to TWELFTH NIGHT and in the ensuing decades has become associated as one of the very first neo-prog bands that kick started a whole new generation of progressive rock.

While starting out as an instrumental band, TWELFTH NIGHT released a few demos but decided they really wanted a vocalist. After advertising in Melody Magazine they found promise in an American singer named Electra MacLeod who added lyrics to priorly crafted instrumentals and sang on the second cassette album titled "Early Material" or simply "Second Tape Album." Unfortunately things didn't work out so well so the band found itself without a vocalist for live gigs. Having been accustomed to instrumental only compositions, TWELFTH NIGHT continued forth without a vocalist and released their first album in the form of LIVE AT THE TARGET which finds this sophisticated synthesized music being performed in a pub setting. Now why don't this play this kind of stuff in the pubs in the US?

TWELFTH NIGHT have earned the Foghat effect within the neo-prog universe in the fact that this debut LIVE album has become legendary and somewhat eclipses their studio albums that follow. While the production isn't absolutely perfect due to its rather tenuous venue setting, the music on this one is pure magic with five stunning tracks that take all the progressive influences of Genesis and Pink Floyd amongst others and mix and meld them into stunning works of art that sound very much like they were construed in the 80s without sounding one bit cheesy. By this time the band had become a quartet with Clive Mitten joining in for bass, keyboards and classical guitar and Rick Battersby as keyboardist. Devoil plays drums and Reveal handles both electric and acoustic guitars.

LIVE AT THE TARGET is quite the stunning piece of early neo-prog and one of the few examples in the entire sub that eschews the almost ubiquitous emotional tugs delivered through dramatic lyrics and theatrical performances. Despite this vocaless experience TWELFTH NIGHT does establish a new paradigm that would launch the entire neo-prog scene in that it crafts carefully construed compositions that have a solidly composed form with heavy emphasis on clean melodic guitar solos and multiple keyboards runs that provide a multitude of counterpoints. There are also elements of funk grooves and hard rock guitar outbursts especially towards the end of performance with the album's highlight "Sequences." The compositions are quite dramatic in how they meander through different mood building suites despite not being listed as such.

This LIVE album came from the tour that put TWELFTH NIGHT on the map at least in the inner circles of the prog world that never abandoned the ideals of what the genre had to offer and on this tour the band would play at some of the biggest venues such as the Marquee Club in London. This particular album was recorded over a two day period on 15 and 16 of January 1981 at THE TARGET in Reading, England (the band's home turf) and delivered such strong performances that this is the gig that prompted Pinnacle Records market the band to both sides of the spectrum including the heavy metal world as well as the more psychedelic space rock world as both moods can be experienced within its run. LIVE AT THE TARGET is an excellent launching pad of the entire neo-prog universe that would soon be followed by bands like Marillion, Pendragon, Quasar and more. A deluxe edition reissue almost doubles the playing time with nine extra tracks.