Ah… the concept album, although
not actually invented by Progressive Rock
that must go down as the responsibility
of people like The Pretty Things with
‘S.F. Sorrow’, or The Who with ‘Tommy’
when they were called Rock Operas. Concept
albums suit the genre of Progressive Rock
so well, they were made for each other.
The story of the ‘Jabberwocky’ has been
set to music by two of Britain’s finest
rock musicians. Clive Nolan, the leader
of both Arena and Pendragon, who, although
well respected in the realms of rock,
has never quite reached the international
acclaim he should of done, and Oliver
Wakeman, who has obviously inherited all
father Rick’s skills, and then some. To
bring this project to reality, they have
surrounded themselves with some of the
finest musicians of their ilk including
Bob Catley, ex of Magnum, who plays the
part of the Jabberwocky’s adversary, ‘The
Boy’. Tracy Hitchings of Langmarq, whose
distinctively clear vocal style suits
the role of story telling, plays the love
interest that the lovers fight over. James
Plumridge relishes the part of the ‘Jabberwock’,
putting real venom and malice into his
voice. Paul Allison plays the part of
the ‘Magic Tree’ with Gandalf style wisdom,
and Rick Wakeman has been pulled into
to the Richard Burton role of narrator,
which he pulls off with great aplomb.
The four singers work together best in
the more frantic sections of the saga,
when they are all wrestling vocally to
get their part of the story over. Now,
where could you find four more talented
vocalists to play these whimsical parts?
However, no matter how good the vocals
are, it is the musicians that shine through,
telling their own story. Having both Nolan
and Wakeman as leaders of the project,
obviously leads the music to be very keyboard
orientated, but that doesn’t necessarily
mean that it doesn’t leave room for the
other musicians to sparkle - far from
it.
Tony Fernandez’ drum and percussion work
is superb, especially on ‘The Forrest’,
where the relentless tribal drum beats
are used to positive effect over a repetitive
choral chant that quite chills the blood
(it would make the perfect back drop to
any horror movie).
Pete Gee, Nolan’s band mate in Pendragon,
handles all the bass parts in the story,
often playing as a lead instrument along
with the keyboards or underpinning the
vocal sections and allowing them to tell
the story while keeping the music flowing.
But perhaps the real stroke of genius
was to bring in the original progressive
rock guitarist Peter Banks, the man who
set the benchmark for all others to be
judged by. Ex ‘Yes’, ‘Flash’, ‘Blodwyn
Pig’, ‘Empire’, and a startling solo career,
he laid down a couple of his distinctive
electric guitar solos on the two longest
tracks on the album ‘Dangerous World’
and the climax of ‘Call to Arms’, which
add great variation to the proceedings,
not to mention spine tingling excitement.
The music starts out perfectly with a
spoken introduction before we are acquainted
with all the recurring themes of the concept
during the ‘Overture’, before the story
telling starts in earnest. Each song opens
up like the next chapter in a book, leading
you through all the ups and downs of our
heroes and villains, and a bit like a
violent re-counting of Beauty and the
Beast, before taking us to its dramatic
conclusion and finale.
Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman are to
be applauded for this marvelous work,
especially for their own astounding keyboards,
which throughout this hour’s worth of
music twists from the pomp and glory of
the Hammond organ to the wailing of the
Moog Synthesizer, the subtlety of the
Harpsichord and Piano, not to mention
the words and music they penned.
The sixteen-page booklet you get with
this collection is worth the price alone.
It includes complete lyrics, pictures
of all the participants, and wondrous
artwork by Rodney Matthews. If you want
to know what a Jabberwock sounds like,
you will just have to buy the album.
I will leave you with the final verse
of Jabberwocky
“Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All minsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths out grabe”.
Now perhaps you can see why I am so impressed.
They managed to make head or tail of this,
let alone put together a whole concept
album.
I wonder if Jabberwocks like Dogs!
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
