TWELFTH NIGHT XII [AKA: THE VIRGIN ALBUM]

Gatot's one-star judgement sure looks lonely, but mostly I review this for the sake of teenage nostalgia. There was a time ('87) when I was a Marillion fan and actually knew nothing about Neo-Prog in general. 12th Night's live album was introduced by a friend, and some time later I bought this obscure-named (X? IIX? XII? - just 'Twelfth Night'? Ok, if you say so) album. As my Marillion LP's were already becoming overlistened to, I was delighted to find another band of that type. BTW, ratings here surprise me a little: 2,2 (5 ratings) for this and 4,75 (8 ratings) for Live And Let Live - a huge difference, but I didn't feel them that distant from each other, even with the different singers, Geoff Mann and Andy Sears. 'Sequences' was my favourite TN song but 'Take a Look' was close behind. It's a long closing track that changes its atmosphere several times.

What comes to side one, I agree with Gatot: I prefer Duran Duran's Rio! 'Jungle' could be one of the worst Duran songs, 'Pressure' as well. 'The Craft' is like Marillion's 'Jigsaw' without choruses and guitar solo. But on the 2nd side it gets whole lot better. 'Theatre' and 'Shame' are pretty good, energic 80's art rock songs with a fine sound. Short and dark-spirited 'This Is War' is a perfect bridge into the modern digital dystopia of 'Take a Look'. Otherwise gorgeous track just extends its climax too long - and that's where Sears' rascal-like voice gets annoying.

This represents a very short period in my prog history - soon I concentrated on Genesis and other 70's classics and got tired of Marillion and 12th Night. I still may listen to the highlights for that nostalgia, and then bury this in my LP pile for years again. So, not exactly recommended in the 21st century, but not one to avoid like plague either.