Album review: CLIVE MITTEN – Tales From A Misspent Youth Vol.1

CLIVE MITTEN - Tales From A Misspent Youth Vol.1

Bumnote Records [Release date 28.01.22] www.twelfthnight.info

Do we really need more cover versions? Do we really need to hear another take on ‘Tubular Bells’?

There seems to be a trend, maybe as rock gets old, to revisit and occasionally reinterpret old glories. I suppose this recycling (and reflection) is inevitable and it has been given more impetus by Lockdown during the past couple of years. We are where we are.

Clive Mitten’s take on this sub-genre could easily have fallen into James Last plays Prog Rock territory. It is down to Mitten’s musicality and taste (evidenced on the impressive ‘Suite Cryptique’ and with the band Twelfth Night) that this double album is very listenable.

Unashamedly, this is Clive’s tribute to his musical heroes of the 1970s as he was, er, progressively inspired by the likes of Pink Floyd, Supertramp and Peter Gabriel/Genesis. These artists make up the core of this first volume, the first of what may well become a series.

There are two ways of approaching this task: you either go with the prog/rock standards or alternatively you dig out some of the genre’s obscurities (both bands and tunes) and give them a new lease of life.

This first outing goes with the former and staying pretty faithful to the originals although subtly different in places. For example, Mitten has rearranged the end of ‘Tubular Bells’ Part 1 and added variations to Part 2.

It’s a labour of love for sure, beautifully orchestrated and helpfully annotated by Clive in the liner notes, and could well become part of a definitive series of instrumental prog classics. ***1/2

Review by David Randall

Album review (Suite Cryptique)

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)