Notes
Fact And Fiction is the latest of the Twelfth Night original albums to be given the Definitive Edition treatment, and released by the excellent F2/Festival Music label. However, in a change to the previous releases, rather than augment the original LP with other tracks that featured in the band's live set at the time, this time there is more focus on the original tracks giving a glimpse of how they developed through the various processes of writing, rehearsing, demoing, recording, and finally being played live. In addition as a number of cover versions and re-workings already existed, new recordings were commissioned from band members, contemporaries and current artists to show how other artists interpreted the tracks, and these really complement the Twelfth Night versions, and bring out the true strength of the original songs. To accompany the CDs there are some extensive, sleeve notes written specially, including an extract from Michael Anthony's 'Words & Music' book that reviews Geoff's lyric writing in incisive detail. In addition there are never-before seen scans of some of Geoff's original handwritten lyrics and sketches, as well as new photos, etc. The content of the three CDs is: Disc One - Studio 1982, Disc Two - Live 1983-2012 and Demos 1982, Disc Three - Covers & Interpretations 1983-2018. Disc One includes all the recordings done at Revolution studios: the album, the single, and the original version of Human Being. For the first time it includes the sound of the 'locked doors of paradise' showing how Human Being was originally linked to East Of Eden. Disc Two includes a live version of each album track compiled from a number of different sources enabling you to hear how Geoff, Andy and Mark (and the rest of the band) interpreted the songs on stage. Several of these recordings are previously unreleased, most notably the three tracks recorded at Geoff's farewell shows in 1983. Although these songs were released on Live And Let Live, two of these versions are from the night not featured on that album, specially remixed for this release by Karl Groom. There are also as-they-were-played renditions of World Without End and Creepshow, the latter from 2012's Summers End show, described by Prog magazine's Jerry Ewing as "simply amazing!" And, as an encore, the guitar-based version of Fact And Fiction from A Night To Remember, recorded at the Barbican in December 2012. The live tracks are followed by the demos, recorded in the band's favourite local studio (where they recorded Blondon Fair for Virgin several years later). It was the time of the first affordable drum machines so to save time the band often used them when recording demos as was the case for three of the demos here, while Fistful Of Bubbles and Creepshow features the band playing live in the studio. Confusingly, the track called Leader (aka Utopia aka Live And Let Live) later became Fact And Fiction, while the song (Constant) Fact And Fiction was never developed further. And although Geoff is renowned for his intelligent, passionate lyrics, his great sense of humour was a most welcome element in those intensive days of writing, rehearsing and recording. This is nowhere more aptly portrayed than in the 'nonsense/stream of consciousness' lyrics' of Dancing In The Dream. For the first time the demo of Creepshow (closing section) has been added which starts with a completely different speech. Originally titled 'After The Bomb Drops', this was later replaced by the 'Nerve Centre, Mirror one'. As you will hear this early version references the 'haphazard planning for nuclear war', the theme that underpins the lyrics of Fact & Fiction.
