SMILING AT GRIEF...LIVE

Seems like this WAS an excellent live show but on this recording it's hidden behind an awful mix and poor sound quality. Very unfortunate since there are precious few live recordings with Geoff Mann on vocals. Whatever you do, don't dismiss TN's live act from this time period based on this recording. Live and Let Live suffers none of the above technical problems and showcases TN at their creative peak. 3 stars for what this recording could have been but as it is, definitely non-essential.

This is a soundboard recording from the Smiling At Grief tour, and very much captures Twelfth Night as a band still trying to adjust from the shift from being an all-instrumental group to incorporating a vocalist. Geoff Mann does a decent job as the new boy, but the set list is clearly still being refined and developed, and the concert unfortunately suffers from a few technical hitches (such as Brian Devoil's snare drum giving out) which means they aren't at their best.

The mix is off at points as well - the major offender here being the version of Sequences, where Geoff's vocals too often overpower the instrumental backing. Still, it's interesting to see how deftly Geoff was able to create a really memorable lyric to go with what had previously been an instrumental number. (Oh, and the best guitar solo on Creepshow - that jagged, nightmarish one after Geoff yells "Amandaaaaaaaaa-ahahahaha!" - is almost inaudible in the mix here, which is nigh-unforgivable.)

This set is now available as the bonus disc on the Definitive Edition of Smiling At Grief, and that's perhaps the best way to appreciate it; it certainly doesn't outshine the demo tape, but it does offer a fun look at the material and is an interesting look at the band's evolutionary process.