CLIVE NOLAN & OLIVER WAKEMAN – Dark Fables (2021)
Cherry Red Records is releasing today CLIVE NOLAN & OLIVER WAKEMAN collaboration album ”Dark Fables” containing over 30 minutes of music conceived for the abandoned “Frankenstein” album which would have joined the duo’s “Jabberwocky” (1999) and “Hound Of The Baskervilles” (2002) collaborations.
The material of unreleased third album “Frankenstein” is finally released now. As with the previous LP’s, “Dark Fables” features the duo’s virtuosic keyboard playing with sublime performances from vocalists Paul Manzi (The Sweet, Arena), Andy Sears (Twelfth Night), Charlotte Dickerson, guitarists Karl Groom (Threshold), Gordon Giltrap, David Mark Pearce (Oliver Wakeman Band) and more.
”Dark Fables” is almost like a musical fairytale with bombastic keyboard based symphonic rock and a very impressive line-up where the singers and the musicians are really great and very skilled. The music is a mix between the bands they usually are playing in: ARENA, PENDRAGON, YES, and add some LANDMARQ, MAGNUM, AYREON, etc.
Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena) and Oliver Wakeman (YES, Strawbs) first combined their considerable keyboard and compositional talents to create the two aforementioned rock opera/concept albums in 1999 and 2002.
They begin to work on a third LP in the mid-2000’s, but never was finished. The set also includes unused pieces from their “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” album “The Man Called Sherlock”, which was the original version of the “Overture”, and “221B”, inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ famous address in Baker Street.
In addition, the release also features Rick Wakeman narrating the “Jabberwocky Poem” in full, a perfect way to round off the twists and turns of another captivating Nolan/Wakeman project.
Peter Pracownik was the creative behind the original “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” artwork 20 years ago and has employed his talents again for the sleeve of “Dark Fables”.
Highly Recommended
01 – The Overture
02 – I’d Give You Everything
03 – The Mirror
04 – Elizabeth
05 – Why Do You Hate Me?
06 – The Wedding Approaches
07 – Time Passes
08 – A Descent into Madness
09 – 221B
10 – The Man Called Sherlock
11 – The Baker Street Irregulars
12 – The Jabberwocky
Clive Nolan (keyboards)
Oliver Wakeman (keyboards)
David Mark Peace (guitar)
Karl Groom (guitar)
Gordon Giltrap (guitar)
Tim Nunes (violin)
Andy Sears (vocals)
Paul Manzi (vocals)
Charlotte Dickerson (vocals)
Rick Wakeman (vocals)
BUY
www.cherryred.co.uk/product/clive-nolan-oliver-wakeman-dark-fables/
