Twelfth Night-Smiling At Grief (1982)

One of the quintessential early neo-progressive bands is Twelfth Night, formed in 1978. They anticipated all the other bands that revived the baroque symphonic/progressive rock that was fading away at the time. Twelfth Night actually began as a unique blend of art rock and new wave, but unlike their synth-pop and pop-rock contemporaries, they were decidedly less commercial in their pop influences, emphasizing a more complex sound that undeniably makes them progressive. Although even today few agree on what their debut album was for many it's their iconic "Fact and Fiction" and for others their cassette release "Smiling at Grief" we'll consider the latter as their supposed first official recording, which was originally self-produced and financed by the band. In this first recording, Twelfth Night consisted of Geoff Man (vocals), Andy Revell (guitar), Rick Battersby (keyboards), Clive Mitten (bass, guitars, and keyboards), and Brian Devoll (drums). Although, as we mentioned at the beginning of this post, Twelfth Night are the main forerunners of the progressive revival known as neo-progressive, this demo/cassette still shows that stylistically they are quite far removed from that subgenre. There is a wide range of influences here, from the new wave of "Three Dancers" to funk-tinged experiments like "Fur Helene Part II", and early versions of classics such as "Puppets" and "Painted By Numbers", in which their singer still seems to be searching for his distinctive vocal style, often getting lost in meaningless meanderings. Despite being oriented towards sounds close to electro pop and new wave, this is undoubtedly a good starting point to understand the musical roots of this iconic cult band.