For copyright reasons Zwilight Tone isn’t actually called The Twilight Zone although that is actually what it is – an album inspired by the band’s favourite episodes of the classic series. The result is a folk/soft rock/prog/sci-fi concept album if you can get your head around that. You might need some background on Ivan Campo – I certainly did. Adam Shaw, Ben Atha and Will Rogers hail from Preston and named themselves after the Spanish footballer. The fifteen tracks include four short instrumentals, interludes really, also taking titles from the show. My favourite was It’s A Good Life which was pinched later by Star Trek and which scared me rigid when I first read the story by Jerome Bixby and which still gives me shudders. Ivan Campo don’t include it on Zwilight Tone so enough of my pointless reminiscing.
Musically, Zwilight Tone is rich and complex and I expected to see a long list of session musicians drafted in but no. The three principals played it all themselves which is pretty impressive. The record opens with an instrumental, ‘Next Stop…”, which begins with a deep rumbling and then goes all proggy, rather unexpectedly. The first song, ‘And When The Sky Was Opened’ is rather more acoustic and then comes my favourite track, ‘The Passerby’. Don’t ask me why; sure it has a couple of great hooks but that’s not all. It’s one of those songs that you might want to study but shouldn’t because much of its appeal lies in its mystery.
I tried to find someone to compare Ivan Campo to and after some discussion we agreed on early Strawbs – the combination of an acoustic foundation with complex instrumental decoration. The band themselves say that they are influenced by The Beatles and single out ‘Obsolete Man’ as an example. I can hear something of that influence in ‘Eye Of The Beholder’ too and there are elements of northern jauntiness in ‘Long Live Walter Jameson’. They also reckon that there are bits of Roy Orbison in there somewhere but, honestly, I can’t hear it.
The record is released in digital form and on vinyl which is a sign of the times I suppose, but however you obtain it I’m sure that it will provide plenty of listening pleasure until you depart from The Twilight Zone.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ website; https://www.facebook.com/ivancampo.net
‘And When The Sky Was Opened’ – official video:
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