A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM / THE WINTER'S TALE

After the release of 'Action Replay' the band hit the road again and also managed to secure a distribution deal with the Dutch label SI Records. The record sold so well that label boss Willebrord Elsing offered the band a three album deal. This was the first time that they had been given the luxury of being able to spend time writing something that would hopefully appeal to a wider audience, and as they were seen as an English band why not Shakespeare? Both of these albums were released in 1994, and they are often viewed as part of the same piece so it makes perfect sense for Angel Air to reissue these together as a double set. The band were by now working really well together, having again been gigging hard, with 'guest' keyboard player Lloyd George now very much a full member of the band.

These two albums were extremely complex, both lyrically and musically, but never lost the punch and power that RJ had built their reputation upon. Yes there were crunching guitars, but there was also delicate mandolin, and keyboards rising majestically above proceedings while the bass and drum interplay kept everyone nailed to the floor. I was lucky enough to hear (and indeed review) these albums all those years ago and now, as I did back then, can only wonder why these didn't lift the band into the heights that they undoubtedly deserved to be. They are a delight from start to finish and Lloyd's remastering has provided an additional crispness that allows the listener to just sit back and savour everything that is going on.

Two very English albums from a very English band (even the sonnets are true to the original concept with four quatrains followed by two rhyming couplets). Here they have been presented with some additional live songs taken from RJ's successful European tour, and are a worthy addition to any music lover's collection. Oh, can I just also mention that the booklet text is particularly fine??

The biggest flaw with these two albums from Red Jasper wasn't anything to do with the content - it's that they came out through SI Music, which meant that distribution to the band's UK homeland was patchy and when that label collapsed entirely the albums were left in limbo for a bit.

In the early 2010s, Angel Air swooped in to the rescue, putting out a clutch of Red Jasper reissues which put the bulk of their material back into circulation, heralding their 2015 reunion. This release combines their first two SI Music studio albums, which found them abandoning the more punkish influences shown on debut album Sting In the Tale and the live release Action Replay in favour of a folk/neo-prog blend which was distinct to them.

They're an apt pair to bring together, because they both take a certain amount of thematic inspiration from Shakespeare (though both albums riff on the sort of ideas and concerns Shakespeare dealt with in his plays rather than adapting their plots in a narrative fashion), and because they're a seasonal pair, with Midsummer Night's Dream bringing the warmth whilst Winter's Tale offers colder, spookier material. Between that and the way the two albums are intertwined - The Night Visitor is Part 3 of Dreamscape, the first two parts of which are on Midsummer Night's Dream, and the Sonnet trilogy winds between the two as well, there's these nods to a mysterious "Jean" in some song titles - it makes absolute sense to reissue these as a package.

I could wish that the presentation were a bit less cheap and cheerful and that the original album art were given a bit more prominence, but this is a quibble when you're getting material this good in a bargain release. It's a crying shame that these albums were somewhat overlooked on their original release; Red Jasper had the misfortune of rising a bit too late to catch the original neo-prog wave, a bit too soon to get enthusiastically embraced by the Internet prog fandom. Angel Air deserve our gratitude for making their work available again.