''The Clockwork Fable'' is the sixth studio album by the English

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 ...

band

Gandalf's Fist Gandalf's Fist is an English band originally from Maryport, Cumbria, England. The band operates and records their own material from their headquarters currently located in South Norfolk. Their music is influenced by 1970s progressive/psychedeli ...

. Released on 1 May 2016, it is a three disc spanning rock-opera interspersed with a professionally acted

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

between the actual songs. Each disc of the record serves as an individual element of a traditional three-act structure.

Reception

Classic Rock Magazine ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

Geoff Barton Geoff Barton (born July 1955) is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine ''Kerrang!'' and was an editor of ''Sounds'' music magazine. He joined ''Sounds'' at the age of 19 after completing a journalism course at the London Col ...

wrote "a conceptional tour de force, it reduces

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 Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ''The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'' is a studio album by English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, released on 27 March 1975 by A&M Records. It is a concept album based on the stories and people of the King Arthur ...

to the level of a

Chas & Dave Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) were a British pop rock duo, formed in London by Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock. Hodges died in 2018. They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled ''rockney'' (a port ...

Cockney knees-up." in his review in issue 224, awarding it 9/10 Points.

Prog Magazine ''Prog'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to progressive rock music. The magazine is published 11 times a year by Future. It was launched in February 2009 and is based in London, publishing its 100th issue in August 2019. ''Prog'' ...

's Steve Pilkington writes " ..Imagine

The War Of The Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

if it had been tackled by

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electro ...

rather than

Jeff Wayne Jeffry Wayne (born 1 July 1943) is an American-British composer, musician and lyricist. In 1978, he released ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', his musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction novel ''The War of ...

and you’re halfway there. Indeed,

Arjen Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the ...

’s just one of the guests here, along with

Blaze Bayley Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke, 29 May 1963) is an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994 (and currently since 2010, following reunions in 2007 and 2009). He was also the lead singer of Ir ...

(

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), and prog-savvy actors

Mark Benton Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in ''Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'' and Martin Pond in '' Barbara''. Benton has also starred in the BBC One school-based ...

and Zach ‘

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’ Galligan. ..this is a career-defining, magical epic." Fireworks Magazine writes " ..lengthy progressive epics ..nothing short of stunning. ..If you love 70s prog with an eye for Jethro Tull,

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and the Pop leanings of

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

, the 80s update the likes of IQ,

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or Twelfth Night provided, or even the more pointed stabs of

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, you'll find them all here. As you will a slice of Prog Metal technicality and hefty helping of intrinsically British

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fret fury – and obviously the storytelling of War Of The Worlds. ..an album that genuinely deserves to be given the accolade of current and future classic. Conceptual, progressive rock, genuinely doesn't get better than this."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dean Marsh, except where noted. All Lead vocals by Dean Marsh, except where noted.

The Cast

;The Orchestra *Dean Marsh – 6 and 12 String Electric Guitars, Synths, Mandolin, Octave Mandola, and Bass *Luke Severn – Lead and Backing Vocals *Stefan Hepe – Drums, Percussion *Christopher Ewen – Bass Guitar with *Matt Stevens – Ambient Guitars *

Dave Oberlé Dave Oberlé (born 9 January 1953 in Farnborough, London, Farnborough, Kent, England) is percussionist and lead vocalist with the 1970s band Gryphon (band), Gryphon. After the band split up in 1977, Oberlé went on to help launch the heavy rock ma ...

- Bodhran and Tan-Tan *Nathan Madsen - Saxophone ;The Choir *Dean Marsh - sung words of "The Good People of Cogtopolis" *Luke Severn - sung words of "The Nightkeepers" *

- sung words of "Armistead" *

- sung words of "The Primarch" *

- sung words of "Pastor Simon" *Melissa Hollick - sung words of "Eve" *Dying Seed - background chants ;Voice Actors *

- as "The Lamplighter/Prison Guard/First Secretary" *

Zach Galligan Zachary Wolfe Galligan (born February 14, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Billy Peltzer in the comedy-horror films ''Gremlins'' (1984) and '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990). Early life and education Galligan was ...

- as "The Steam Ranger" *Tim Munro - as "The Tinker" *Alicia Marsh - as "Eve" * Paul Kavanagh - as "Pastor Simon" *Bill Fellows - as "Armistead/Nightkeeper Spy" *Paul Barnhill - as "The Primarch/Nightkeeper Breathren" *Christopher Ewen - as "The Boy" *Luke Severn - as "Second Secretary/another Nightkeeper Brethren" *You, The Listener - as "The Traveler"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clockwork Fable 2016 albums Gandalf's Fist albums