Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman announce Tales By Gaslight box set

(Image credit: Clive Nolan/Oliver Wakeman)

Prog keyboardists Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman will release a new 3CD box set, Tales By Gaslight, on April 23 by Burning Shed. The pair have released an atmospheric trailer video for the new release, which you can watch below.

Tales By Gaslight will feature remastered versions of their ‘future prog classics’ Jabberwocky and The Hound Of The Baskervilles along with a brand new disc Dark Fables as well as a 16-page booklet and 3 individual art prints of the three covers. Dark Fables features previously unreleased pieces that were intended to complete the trilogy and over 30 minutes of music conceived for the abandoned Frankenstein album and unused from The Hound of The Baskervilles. These include The Man Called Sherlock which was the original version of the Overture and 221B, inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ famous address.

Nolan and Wakeman first released Jabberwocky in 1999, based on the famous Lewis Carroll poem. It was followed in 2002 by The Hound of The Baskervilles, inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novel penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The project was always intended to be a trilogy of musical interpretations of literary classics, but an album inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was shelved because of a lack of record company funding.

The first two albums featured a host of guest performances, including narration by Wakeman’s father Rick and actor Robert Powell. Former Yes guitarist, the late Peter Banks, Magnum vocalist Bob Catley and singer Tracy Hitchings appeared on both albums. Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen lent his talent to The Hound of the Baskervilles along with members from the bands IQ and Threshold. The unique artwork was created by Rodney Matthews for the original Jabberwocky release. Peter Pracownik was the creativity behind The Hound of The Baskervilles artwork 20 years ago and has returned to this trilogy by lending his talents to the new Dark Fables artwork.

The new recordings feature the talents of, amongst others Gordon Giltrap, Paul Manzi (Arena, Oliver Wakeman Band, Sweet), Andy Sears (Twelfth Night) and David Mark Pearce (Oliver Wakeman Band). Also included is an original reading of the Jabberwocky poem by Rick Wakeman.

The first 250 box sets will also include a 4th limited edition numbered art print of the box set cover signed by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman.

Pre-order Tales By Gaslight.

Artists

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.