Oliver Wakeman and Clive Nolan are reunited after 20 years to issue a 3CD Box Set – Tales By Gaslight featuring remastered versions of their ‘future prog classics’ Jabberwocky and The Hound Of The Baskervilles along with a new disc Dark Fables.

The Tales By Gaslight box set will be comprised of 3CDs, each with a 16-page booklet and 3 individual Art prints of the three covers, and will be released by Burning Shed on 23^rd  April.

You can watch teaser video here:  https://youtu.be/_5Bt2_xBdYI

Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena) and Oliver Wakeman (Yes, Strawbs) first combined their considerable keyboard and compositional talents to create two rock concept albums.

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

The third disc in this package, features previously unreleased pieces that were intended to complete the trilogy. This third disc, Dark Fables, contains over 30 minutes of music conceived for the abandoned Frankenstein album.

Nolan and Wakeman also found pieces which were 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.

The first two albums featured a host of guest performances, which was unusual at the time, including narration by Wakeman’s father Rick and famed actor Robert Powell.  Former Yes guitarist, the late Peter Banks, Magnum vocalist Bob Catley and singer Tracy Hitchings appeared on both albums. Arjen Lucassen, of Ayreon fame, 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.

In keeping with the spirit of the two previous albums, the new recordings feature the talents of guests, with 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 Tales By Gaslight box set contains 3 CDs each with 16-page booklets including lyrics, previously unseen art work and many stories behind the creativity from both Wakeman and Nolan. The first 250 box sets will also include a 4^th limited edition numbered art print of the box set cover signed by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman.

Tales By Gaslight will be released by Burning Shed on 23^rd April.  

You can pre-order here:  https://burningshed.com/store/oliverwakeman