TWELFTH NIGHT

Fact And Fiction: The Definitive Edition TWELFTH NIGHT

FACT AND FICTION LEFT AN INDELIBLE STAMP ON PROGRESSIVE MUSIC.

Twelfth Night’s finest hour, make no mistake.

Of all the albums that emerged during that so-called second wave of progressive music, the one that gave rise to Marillion, Pallas, Solstice, Pendragon et al, Twelfth Night’s 1982 release Fact And Fiction still holds a revered place in the hearts of many a prog fan lucky enough to have witnessed the bands from the era in their prime.

It was the Reading quintet’s first studio vinyl release, preceded by a handful of cassettes, the last of which, Smiling

At Grief, received a lavish makeover earlier this year, as well as the celebrated 1981 vinyl album Live At The Target (along with the band’s 1982 seven-inch, East Of Eden/Eleanor Rigby, the first TN material this writer ever acquired).

Fact And Fiction elevated Twelfth Night to near mythical status at the time, even while Marillion were snaring themselves a deal with EMI. Even today, its epic tracks We

Are Sane and Creepshow stand proud as two of the finest examples of how younger groups were reinventing prog in the 80s, while the likes of Human Being, This City and the emotive

Love Song showed a band unafraid to bring more contemporary influences to the table – a move that saw Twelfth Night dubbed ‘Punk Floyd’ at the time.

This version of Fact And Fiction, dubbed quite correctly The Definitive Edition, originally saw the light of day in 2018, and boasts no less than 31 extra tracks. Now available on the band’s own Twelfth Night label and featuring new artwork, it contains the original album with bonus material, including that cover of Eleanor Rigby; a mixture of live renditions dating between 1983 and 2012; and 1982 demos. Plus a disc of ‘covers and interpretations’, on which former lead vocalist Mark Spencer shines on We Are Sane; Alan Reed and Kim Seviour’s

Love Song is lent more poignancy given the personal troubles the latter has endured recently; peers Pendragon bring a sprightly energy to Human Being and Tim Bowness exposes the frailty of This City.

History shows that Fact And Fiction is the ultimate Twelfth Night studio release from the ultimate Twelfth Night line-up, not least because much-loved vocalist, the late Geoff Mann, took his leave less than a year after its release. Only the electrifying The Ceiling Speaks and epic Sequences (from 1983’s Live And Let Live) along with the 1988 recording of The

Collector – by the Battersby, Devoil, Mann, Mitten, Revell line-up – and a new take on Love Song, offer tantalising glimpses of what might have been had he stuck around.

Despite the ensuing feeling that circumstances conspired against the band in their later years, with Fact And Fiction Twelfth Night left an indelible stamp on progressive music.