''Jabberwocky'' is a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

album released in 1999 by British keyboardists

Clive Nolan Clive Nolan (born 30 June 1961) is a British musician, composer and producer who has played a prominent role in the development of progressive rock. He has been the regular keyboard player in Pendragon (band), Pendragon (1986–present), Shadowla ...

and

Oliver Wakeman Oliver Wakeman (born 26 February 1972) is an English musician, rock keyboardist and composer. He was a member of Yes from 2009 to 2011, filling the role of keyboardist previously held by his father, Rick Wakeman. Biography Oliver is the first ...

. It was the first of two albums released by the duo. In 2021 it was remastered along with ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' as part of the

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

''Tales by Gaslight''. This also included ''Dark Fables'', an album of previously unreleased songs plus the original recording of

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

reading the poem "Jabberwocky". The remastering process added two guitar solos, one on each album, that had been planned for the original recordings but overlooked. When consulted on the artwork for box set, ''Jabberwocky'' cover artist

Rodney Matthews Rodney Matthews (born 6 July 1945) is a British illustrator and conceptual designer of fantasy and science-fiction. Career Trained at the West of England College of Art, Matthews worked in advertising for Plastic Dog Graphics before turning ...

pointed out that the image had been reversed on the original album cover, booklet and poster, so the correct orientation was restored on the box set version.

Plot

The album is based on the homonymous poem by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

. It is organised as a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

, with four singers taking the main roles of The Boy, The Girl, The Jabberwock and The Tree, plus a narrator who reads excerpts of the original poem and a choir that sings fragments taken from

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

Divina Commedia The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest wor ...

Track listing

All songs written by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman. #Overture – 5:57 #Coming to Town – 2:55 #Dangerous World – 6:54 #The Forest – 4:22 #A Glimmer of Light – 2:42 #Shadows – 4:19 #Enlightenment – 5:23 #Dancing Water – 4:12 #The Burgundy Rose – 3:55 #The Mission – 4:32 #Call to Arms – 6:37 #Finale – 1:50

Personnel

Bob Catley Robert Adrian Catley (born 11 September 1947) is an English singer. He is the lead singer of the hard rock band Magnum and is also active as a solo artist. Biography Early years (1947–1972) Born in Aldershot on 11 September 1947, Catl ...

as The Boy *

Tracy Hitchings Tracy Hitchings (11 October 1962 – 10 December 2022) was an English musician and the former lead vocalist for the progressive rock band Landmarq. Her musical credits spanned from 1989 to 2022 with many notable sessions with various bands and ...

as The Girl * James Plumridge as The Jabberwock * Paul Allison as The Tree * Pete Gee – Fretless Bass *

– Keyboards *

– Keyboards * Ian Salmon – Guitar & Bass *

Peter Banks Peter William Brockbanks (15 July 1947 – 7 March 2013), known professionally as Peter Banks, was an English guitarist. He was the original guitarist in the rock bands Yes (band), Yes, Flash (band), Flash, and Empire; he was also a guitarist f ...

– Guitars *

Jon Jeary Threshold may refer to: Science Biology * Threshold (reference value) * Absolute threshold * Absolute threshold of hearing * Action potential * Aerobic threshold * Anaerobic threshold * Dark adaptation threshold * Epidemic threshold * Flicke ...

– Acoustic Guitar * Tony Fernandez – Drums *

– The Narrator * Michelle Young, Michelle Gulrajani, Suzanne Chenery, Tracy Hitchings, Sian Roberts,

John Jowitt John Jowitt is a British bass guitarist known for his work with several neo-prog bands such as Ark, IQ, Arena, Jadis and Frost*, as well as filling in for Trevor Bolder in Uriah Heep in 2013. He has been awarded the British Classic Rock Socie ...

, Dave Wagstaffe, Donald Morrison,

Ian Gould Ian James Gould (born 19 August 1957) is an English former first-class cricketer and a former member of the ICC Elite Panel of cricket umpires. He previously also served as the chairman of English football club Burnham FC. In April 2019, Go ...

, John Mitchell, Tina Riley & Clive Nolan – The Choir ;Additional personnel *

David Mark Pearce David Mark Pearce (born 23 May 1972) is a British guitarist, songwriter, sound engineer and record producer. History A native of Penzance (Cornwall, UK), David Mark Pearce began playing the guitar in earnest at the age of 15 after first learn ...

– additional guitar on "The Burgundy Rose" (2021 remaster only) ;Production * Clive Nolan &

Karl Groom Karl Groom is a British guitarist and record producer. He is best known as a founding and the only constant member of the progressive metal band Threshold (band), Threshold. His production and mixing credits are mainly with progressive and power ...

– producers and engineers * Matt Goodluck – design and layout *

– artwork

References

External links

Jabberwocky
at progarchives.com {{Authority control 1999 albums Progressive rock albums by British artists 1990s concept albums Albums with cover art by Rodney Matthews Adaptations of works by Lewis Carroll Jabberwocky