Smiling At Grief
releases:
| format | date | label | country | time | | I | MC | 1982-01 | Twelfth Night Records TN-003 | UK | 41:29 | | II | CD | 1997 | MSI Distribution | France | 63:42 |
tracks:
| I | 1 | East Of Eden | 3:29 | | 2 | This City | 3:13 | | 3 | The Honeymoon Is Over | 2:35 | | 4 | Creepshow | 10:13 | | 5 | Puppets (Intro) | 1:25 | | 6 | Puppets | 2:50 | | 7 | Three Dancers | 2:54 | | 8 | Makes No Sense | 4:02 | | 9 | Für Helene Part II | 10:48 |
| | | II | 1 | East Of Eden | 3:29 | | 2 | This City | 3:13 | | 3 | The Honeymoon Is Over | 2:35 | | 4 | Creepshow | 10:13 | | 5 | Puppets (Intro) | 1:25 | | 6 | Puppets | 2:50 | | 7 | Three Dancers | 2:54 | | 8 | Makes No Sense | 4:02 | | 9 | Für Helene Part II | 10:48 | | 10 | Kindergarten | 3:05 | | 11 | Midnight (poem) | 0:51 | | 12 | Keep The Aspidistra Flying | 9:40 | | 13 | Convenient Blindness | 3:27 | | 14 | Makes No Sense (instrumental) | 5:10 |
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musicians:
| Rick Battersby | keyboards (tracks 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13) | | Brian Devoil | drums and percussion | | Geoff Mann | vocals | | Clive Mitten | keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6), acoustic guitar (track 14), bass | | Andy Revell | lead guitar |
Credits
All tracks written, arranged, performed, and produced by Twelfth Night.
Recorded at Woodcray Manor Farm Studios, Berkshire, England, November 1981. Engineered by Nick Horne.
Artwork by Geoff Mann.
Credits for the CD release: Original illustrations by Geoff Mann. Layout for the CD by Peter Labrow. Executive producer: Andy Labrow. Project co-ordinator: Brian Devoil.Info
These are the first studio recordings with the band's old friend Geoff Mann on vocals. He was asked to join the band during the Summer of 1981. He had his debut performance (as a regular singer - he had been on stage with the band before, but as a guest singer) at the Reading festival in August. The success of the Live At The Target LP had led to a publishing deal with Neptune Music. With their backing, the band decided to record to demo several new songs that were written with Geoff. According to Brian, "some of [these] were intended as possible singles". The band were experimenting with shorter songs, consisting of one or a few ideas, instead of compositions of strings of ideas.
The recordings were done in two batches, at Woodcray Manor Farm Studios - then the band's "favourite studio deep" (Brian, in the CD booklet). In the time between those two, Rick decided to leave the band. This is why he is playing keyboards on only part of the tracks. Instead of trying to find a replacement for Rick, Clive doubled on keyboards. (After the recording of the Fact And Fiction LP, Rick re-joined the band.) "East Of Eden"
Writing shorter songs with vocals also implied verses and choruses, although this song includes a few verses, and only a chorus in the end. A rocking song, definitely not your average single... "This City"
Geoff liked to write about the dark sides, the dirty sides of mankind. This is a slow song, building up towards the cry of a human being trapped in this world, this city. "The Honeymoon Is Over"
While the band started to write shorter pieces, I don't have any proof they played a song like this on stage. This is probably my least favourite TN song. It's aggressive, fierce, rocking. "Creepshow"
And among the shorter songs, here's the first version of one of their epics, one of their classics. It's much like the version on Fact And Fiction, but the "and so, ladies and gentlemen" monologue. "Puppets"
Fat sounds, throbbing and pumping, and Geoff's dark lyrics. When played live, it was much lighter, almost laid-back. I don't know why they cut it in two (the intro is on side one, the rest on side two), but I guess it was to get both sides at equal length. "Three Dancers"
The lyrics share a point of view on life with those of Puppets. It seems there was a bit of an argument on the words "nihilistic dance". An attempt to write singles? Geoff: "...basically more for the feet than the mind..." "Makes No Sense"
A wonderful, slow, and melancholic song. I wonder if they ever played it live. "Für Helene Part II"
Since it was very unlikely that the song would ever be performed live again and it was never properly recorded in a studio, the band decided to record Für Helene Part II, the same way it was played as on the Skan tape, ie. Brian on drums, Andy on guitar, and Clive on bass. So, no keyboards! Release
After the recordings, the band suddenly realized they had an album's worth of music. Smiling At Grief was released as a cassette only. Brian Devoil, in the CD booklet: "Prior to going into the studio, we had no plans to record a new album. We had, after all, only released our previous one, Live At The Target, only nine months before." But with a whole album worth of music, the band waited for the opportunity to release it as a single album. Neptune Music heard about the release of Smiling At Grief only by reading a Melody Maker review. They then threatened the band to have the sales discontinued. They showed more interest in the commercial side of the band than the musical one. The band decided to get out of the deal as quickly as possible. Despite it being only a cassette release, it became a successful album, advertised at gigs and through the fan club. Re-release
It was time for a new re-issue of some TN material, and Brian let Smiling At Grief be the winner. Having five different publishing deals already, he decided to let MSI have it. Bonus tracks were added, of course. Something which should have been done with the Fact And Fiction and Live At The Target releases, too... News as of February 2001 is that MSI have gone bust. Obviously, if you don't have one of the MSI releases and see it in the shops - get it, as it might be your last chance. Bonus Tracks
For the CD re-issue, Brian selected some songs that were written in the same era. Kindergarten, however, was already played in January of 1979, at the Midsummer Night gig at Reading University, Reading, England (G-008), with a guest appearance by Geoff on vocals. Geoff's poem Midnight was also performed at that night, as an intro to East To West. The versions included here were recorded during a (single?) rehearsal session. Convenient Blindness and Kindergarten fit in the style presented on this album. I don't know why they were not recorded for the original release, in favour of some other tracks that did make it.
At last, Keep The Aspidistra Flying has been released! I never heard the Painting By Numbers bit (few lines as an intro), though. Artwork
Geoff did the artwork for the cassette, and the separate lyric sheets. Note the front cover man's nipple, which is the same moon as on The Electra Tape, The First 7" Album, and Live At The Target. | The drawing from the lyrics sheets accompanying Puppets, by Geoff Mann. |  |
 | Another drawing by Geoff Mann, included in the CD booklet next to Convenient Blindness. |
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