One upon a time, a few years before the emergence of GENESIS-influenced neo-prog bands, a group of musicians wanted to explore new musical territories. Just after the departure of singer Electra McLeod, TWELFTH NIGHT was an instrumental unit, without a vocalist. They gave many concerts, two of them were recorded the 15th and 16th of January 1981, at the Target pub in their home town of Reading. Only four tracks were kept, mastered and released a month later as "Live at the Target".
As soon as you hear "Für Helene"'s enchanting introduction, you know you're in for something special. This opener is a powerful space rock piece, supported by Andy Revell's Hillage-esque guitar. Mindblowing! "After the eclipse" is what vocal-less neo-prog music should be. Driven by synthesizers, this track possesses a beautiful keyboard melody, accompanied by bass and guitar, alternating soft, touching and rocking passages. My personal favorite from the record.
With its mystical opening, the echoing neo-space-rock "East to West" sounds haunting, heroic and even a little gothic at times. Another good composition, with various atmospheres. In a similar vein, "Sequences" is longer but lacks a bit of coherency. Somehow uneven, the first third contains good and also some boring passages. A cool and mysterious atmospheric interlude then unveils a wild cosmic guitar solo, until this 20 minutes suite ends on a magical and melancholic tone.
The 2004 double CD definitive edition is strongly recommended, as it features 9 previously unreleased tracks from 1979-1981, for more than 70 minutes of music, still entirely instrumental. "Afghan Single" and "Für Helene I" are studio recordings, the rest being live material. The included booklet is also very nice and holds many informations and photos.
Give it a listen, even if you're allergic to neo-prog. Highly recommended to fans of Steve Hillage, Manuel Göttsching's "Inventions For Electric Guitar", space rock or... neo-prog.