''Jabberwocky'' is a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

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 (1986–present), Shadowland (1992–presen ...

and

Oliver Wakeman Oliver Wakeman (born 26 February 1972) is an English musician, rock keyboardist and composer, best known as a member of Yes (band), Yes from 2008 to 2011, having filled the role of keyboardist previously held by his father, Rick Wakeman. Biograp ...

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

''Tales by Gaslight''. This also included ''Dark Fables'', an album of previously unreleased songs plus the original recording of Rick Wakeman 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 and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

. It is organised as a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

, 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 the

Divina Commedia The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

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 is an English singer and musician, best known by his stage name as Bob Catley. He is the lead singer of the British rock band Magnum. He is also a solo artist. Biography Early years (1947–1972) Born in Aldershot on ...

as The Boy *

Tracy Hitchings Tracy Hitchings (11 October 1962 – December 2022) was an English musician, and 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 artist ...

as The Girl
James Plumridge
as The Jabberwock * Paul Allison as The Tree *

Pete Gee Pete or Petes or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Pete (given name) * Pete (nickname) * Pete (surname) Fictional characters * Pete (Disney), a cartoon character in the ''Mickey Mouse'' universe * Pete the Pup (a.k.a. 'Petey'), a characte ...

Fretless Bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

Keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

- Keyboards * Ian Salmon -

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

& Bass *

Peter Banks Peter William Brockbanks (15 July 1947 – 7 March 2013), known professionally as Peter Banks, was a British guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. He was the original guitarist in the rock band Yes, and also the Syn, Flash, and Empire. ...

- Guitars *

Jon Jeary Threshold may refer to: * Threshold (architecture), the sill of a door Literature * ''Threshold'' (1990 novel), a science fiction novel by Chris and Janet Morris * ''Threshold'' (Sara Douglass novel), a fantasy novel * ''Threshold'' (Palmer ...

Acoustic Guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Tony Fernandez -

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

- The

Narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

* Michelle Young,

Michelle Gulrajani Michelle may refer to: People *Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottish w ...

, Suzanne Chenery, Tracy Hitchings, Sian Roberts,

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

, 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, Gou ...

, John Mitchell, Tina Riley & Clive Nolan - The

Choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

Additional personnel

* David Mark Pearce - additional guitar on "The Burgundy Rose" (2021 remaster only)

Technical

* 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. His production and mixing credits are mainly with progressive and power metal bands. M ...

Producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and

Engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

* Matt Goodluck - Design & Layour *

- Artwork

References

External links

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