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Abacus Comments:- Andy Waller: Another of Electra Macleod's recorded output, and definitely less cringeworthy than The Cunning Man. Choirs of Mellotrons sing, cymbals swish and keyboards entwine the song, boa-like. The music wouldn't have been out of place on Skan or one of the other early tapes, but Electra's vocals sit a lot more easily with the music this time
Versions:
Afghan Comments:Versions:- written 198?; unknown if this was even recorded
Afghan Red Comments:- Brian Devoil: "Afghan Red has a sort of vague concept because it was written about the time of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, and the music had a very 'pretty people' theme to it that got totally destroyed by the bass and drums and that's sort of vaguely related to what really happened. And it sounded like a good title."
- Clive Mitten: "Think of a reason afterwards!"
- Brian Devoil: "There's only one track in our entire history that's been written one way and has always been played that way, and that's Afghan Red. We've taken off the intro but the actual theme is as it was first written..."
- Jerry: One of my favourite early TN tracks. The band must have liked it too, since they played as late as 1983, and part of it in the instrumental Oldies Medley in 1985.
Versions:- recorded late 1980, released on Twelfth Night (a.k.a. Early Material, a.k.a. The Electra Tape)
After Office Hours Effectively, the second part (a long part, almost all) of East To West. Versions:- written in 1980, one or two live recordings from 1980 exist
After The Eclipse Comments:- Andy Waller: Presaged by an extended, hypnotic keyboard section, it alternates from a deliberate, thoughtful opening to a shimmering, driven mid-section and back again. Instrumental excellence in the classic TN style.
Versions:- written in 1980, recorded 1981-01 for release on Live At The Target
Art & Illusion This song began its life as Power And Illusion, and at one or two live performances, the chorus sounds like Power Is Illusion. The lyrics changed somewhat, and the song became Art And Illusion. Standard Twelfth Night policy was that the singer writes the lyrics. This song is the only occurance in the band's history of the singer recording lyrics that were written by someone else. Versions:- recorded live 1983-11 at Geoff's farewell gigs, released on Geoff Mann - Recorded Delivery [lyrics]
- recorded 1984 with Andy Sears on vocals, released on Art And Illusion [lyrics]
Aspidentropy A medley of Keep The Aspidistra Flying and Entropy, as performed live after both songs were dropped off the live set in their full length. Versions:- recorded live 1983-11 at Geoff's farewell gigs, released on Geoff Mann - Recorded Delivery
Aspidentropy / Three Dancers Medley Comments:- Mark Hughes: The pairing of Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Entropy was tried out. Attempts were made to also incorporate a very slowed down portion of Three Dancers, which, in my opinion, worked very well, but probably resulted in a piece with too many tempo changes to make it any use as an encore number.
Versions:- combination of Aspidentropy and Three Dancers, probably 1982
Aspidistra
Barriers Comments:- Andy Waller: Played only once live, a surprise instrumental opener at the Dominion 20.7.84, a not particularly auspicious rendition as it was plagued by gruesome sound problems. Shortly after this debut the band announced its retirement from active duty.
- Brian Devoil:: Barriers we were never over-enamoured with - it was originally a vocal piece anyway, and we feel we have better and newer material to play.
- Andy Waller: That's rather harsh on the piece in my opinion. I suspect it fell foul to the changing priorities and musical direction of the band, falling as it did in the old-school prog/pomp camp as opposed to the pop-rock format soon to the fore.
Versions:- performed live 1984-07-20, of which an audience recording exists
Battle Of Budapest, The Previous name of the long piece of music that eventually evolved into Entropy.
Blondon Fair Comments:- Andy Waller: A song "all about the 'orrible things what people do to each other", to quote Clive. Originally starting off life as Not On The Map, and mutating via a brief lifetime as Deep In The Heartland, this was classic TN and should have appeared on the Virgin album. In the sleevenotes, Andy Revell claims: "One of my favourites... a direct and faithful representation of our ideas." Due to its lyrical content, the band dropped this from their live set in the only overseas gig, in Marburg, Germany.
- Brian Devoil: We felt [Blondon Fair] might be a little sensitive to play as an unknown and established band in Germany ('Don't mention the war!' and all that).
Versions:- recorded 1986, released on Take A Look and Collectors Item
Blue Powder Monkey Comments:- Andy Waller: Pawns in an adult game, the young boys who were employed to refill maritime cannons of yesteryear, and, er, 'light the fuse', didn't have much of a life. Still, had they known they would have such a spiffing tune written about their misfortune they could have perhaps borne their fate a little better. One of the best Sears songs, achieving the blend that would satisfy the musical palates of proghead and fans of modern, more direct music alike. In its transition from live fave to vinyl artefact some of the more endearing qualities of stop-start time signatures, false endings and vocalisations were lost, but the recorded article was still fab!
Versions:- recorded 1986, released on Twelfth Night (a.k.a. The Virgin Album)
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