His Love: Geoff Mann’s Art, Music and Faith

To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the passing of our dear friend, Geoff Mann, this February, his official biography will be published later this year. His Love: Geoff Mann’s Art, Music and Faith has been written by Andrew Wild, author of many books including the Twelfth Night biography Play On. Like several of Andrew’s other books it will be published by SonicBond.

Often irreverent, never compromising, Geoff Mann was many things: artist, musician, poet, playwright, vicar, husband, father, friend. Geoff packed more into his thirty-six years than most do in three-score and ten, releasing fifteen albums, performing hundreds of concerts, exhibiting his art at ten galleries, caring for his family and church members.

This official biography – written with the full support and blessing of the Mann family – takes a fresh and detailed look at Geoff’s life, from his childhood in Manchester through student years in Reading, his three years as a professional artist, the two tumultuous years with Twelfth Night, his solo work, The Bond, Eh! Geoff Mann Band and collaborations with Marc Catley and Clive Nolan.

His Love will be a limited-edition 160-page hardback book with sixteen pages of photographs, mostly unseen outside friends’ scrapbooks and family photograph albums.

Everyone who places a pre-order will also receive a new ‘Best of Geoff’ CD, which will include our favourite tracks from his post-Twelfth Night albums, a couple of TN rarities, and some recently discovered solo demos which have never been heard publicly before. Also included, and published for the first time, is Geoff’s final artistic endeavour: a striking series of poems written in hospital which face his terminal illness head-on.

This is a very special book, which we feel sure will appeal not just to all Twelfth Night fans, but also more widely as it charts the life of a truly remarkable man.

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Geoff Mann had a short but busy life. He met all of Twelfth Night when they were students at the University of Reading. But as they built a reputation as a live instrumental band, Geoff was a full-time artist, enjoying several exhibitions between 1978 and 1981. His two years in Twelfth Night culminated in legendary farewell shows at London’s Marquee, in November 1983, released as the Live And Let Live album.

His Love includes Geoff’s own reflections on his reasons to leave on the cusp of success. ‘Like those puzzles in comics where you join up the dots to make a picture,’ Geoff wrote, ‘personal desires and ambitions come together in a way that is not so much new as previously unrealised. All of a sudden-ah! Decisions, decisions. So what was wrong? …’

Between 1984 and 1986, Geoff recorded and released three solo albums, appeared in two gospel musicals, and wrote a play which was produced in London and Edinburgh. In parallel with ordination training to become a minister, Geoff formed The Bond and released two albums. He became Rev. Geoff Mann in 1989 and, in addition to his parish duties, he toured extensively with Eh! Geoff Mann Band, releasing two very well-regarded albums, as well as another solo release and projects with Marc Catley and Clive Nolan.

‘Life with Geoff was hugely entertaining with never a dull moment,’ Jane Mann recalls. ‘He was an incurable romantic, had a ludicrous sense of humour and no respect for office or position. He used to talk about us having ‘gallons of children’. He used to make me home-made cards for birthdays and anniversaries (which despite his appalling memory he never forgot) with the most dreadful puns on them. I’ve still got them all. A picture of a golf club with “Fore” was presented to me on our fourth wedding anniversary. I didn’t get it, not being a golfer. Once, when assembling the boys’ new bunk beds, I went upstairs to discover him lying on the floor. When I asked what he was doing, he showed me the instructions: “Lay flat on floor” it said.’

His Love
All of the pain you will pass through, the lies you will see bought and sold,
Will never destroy His love in you, the Spirit of life that the grave cannot hold,
His love is a strong place to stand on, His love causes blindness to see,
His love it is pure it is holy, His love is forgiving and free,
I’m grateful for His love, so grateful for His love,
Undeserved for me

A Mirror Of Dreams – Andrew Wild

The Progressive Rock Revival 1981 to 1983

Please note this is a PRE-ORDER – for UK CUSTOMERS ONLY and will not be shipping until 21^st June 2024.

All non-UK customers should order from Bandcamp where the correct postage will be applied. https://twelfthnightuk.bandcamp.com/merch/a-mirror-of-dreams-pre-order

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‘A Mirror Of Dreams’ is the first of two books which provide the definitive account of the intertwined stories of the six bands which led the progressive rock revival in the 1980s: Marillion, IQ, Pallas, Pendragon, Solstice and Twelfth Night.

As well as covering the formative years of these bands, especially in 1978, 1979 and 1980, the book covers the years 1981 to 1983 in great detail. It includes a chapter about the Reading Festival in 1983 at which all six bands performed or attended. There are also chapters covering home demos, fanzines and a history of The Marquee Club: the venue where all of these bands made such an impact.

The period from 1981 to 1983 was an exciting time for us in Twelfth Night as it began with the recording of the ‘Live At The Target’ album and ended with Geoff’s farewell gigs at the Marquee released as the ‘Live And Let Live’ album. In between there were two more albums, nearly 150 gigs, a TV appearance with David Essex, and both our appearances as the Reading Festival. 

‘A Mirror Of Dreams’ will be published by Kingmaker Publishing. It has been edited by Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton and includes a 2,000-word foreword by Prog magazine’s editor Jerry Ewing. The book features over 200 photographs and illustrations, many of which have either been previously unpublished or are very rare.

All pre-orders received by 31 May will make the purchaser eligible to attend a free book launch / Q&A event to be held in London later this year attended by the author, Greg and some of the musicians interviewed in the book.

The second volume, due for publication in 2025, will cover the years 1984 to 1989.

Greg Spawton comments: “This is a book which I have long wanted to see written. It’s the story of how, in the early 1980s, a number of rock bands ignored the naysayers and fashioned a second coming for the much-maligned and misunderstood genre of progressive rock.”

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For this book Andy Wild interviewed over 85 musicians and other participants in the 1980s progressive scene. These included…

From Marillion: Steve Rothery, Diz Minnitt, Mick Pointer, Brian Jelleyman, Ian Moseley, Mark Kelly, Neil Cockle, Pete Trewavas

From IQ: Martin Orford, Mike Holmes, Peter Nicholls, John Jowitt, Paul Cook, Paul Menel, Tim Esau

From Pallas: Euan Lowson, Graeme Murray, Mike Stobbie, Alan Reed, Niall Mathewson, Ronnie Brown

From Pendragon: Nick Barrett, Clive Nolan, Peter Gee, Fudge Smith, John Barnfield, James Colah, Julian Baker, Mat Anderson, Nigel Harris, Rik Carter

From Solstice: Andy Glass, Martin Wright, Ken Bowley, Marc Elton, Mark Hawkins

From Twelfth Night: Andy Revell, Brian Devoil, Andy Sears, Clive Mitten

To fill out the story, Andy also spoke to members of Abel Ganz, Airbridge, Comedy Of Errors, Electric Gypsy, Galahad, Haze, It Bites, Jadis, Janysium, Lahost, The Lens, Liaison, Multi Story, No-Man, Pride Of Passion, Quasar, Tamarisk, Trilogy and Twice Bitten as well as key non-musical players such as veteran Aylesbury Friars promoter David Stopps, former Marillion manager John Arnison, and Nigel Hutchings, the former manager of the legendary Marquee Club in London.

Stored In Clocks And Mortal Shadows – pre-order

It is with immense pride that we are able to announce the forthcoming publication of a unique new book that, for the first time, brings together all of the lyrics and poems written by our dear friend Geoff Mann.

Stored In Clocks And Mortal Shadows, which comprises some 250 poems and lyrics, was co-edited and annotated by Andrew Wild and Mark Hughes with insights and assistance on unreleased Eh! Lyrics by former bandmate Paul Keeble. The book is introduced by Geoff’s close friend Peter Nicholls (IQ’s lyricist/vocalist) and features some previously unseen photographs. The back cover illustration was drawn, entirely unprompted, by 11-year-old Scarlett Mann, Geoff and Jane’s granddaughter who has clearly inherited Geoff’s artistic genes.

Running to nearly 300 pages, the idea for Stored In Clocks And Mortal Shadows was initially formulated during preparation of Geoff’s biography ‘His Love’ as its author Andrew Wild explains: “When I was carrying out research for the biography I worked very closely with Geoff’s family and former bandmates. One day I was surprised and delighted when Geoff’s lovely wife Jane handed me two folders containing Geoff’s poems. Most had been typed by Geoff on an old typewriter and it was immediately clear that this was an absolute treasure trove of previously unpublished material showcasing Geoff’s special talents.”

The earliest poems date from 1973, when the teenage Geoff was still living at home. The last, the remarkable and very moving Patients, dates from just before he died in 1993. We included a few of these poems, including Patients, in ‘His Love’ which elicited some very positive responses.

The poetry provided insights into Geoff’s thoughts, ideas and beliefs from a formative age, many themes of which were continued in his later lyric writing. It seemed obvious to us that combining the poems alongside Geoff’s thoughtful and intelligent lyrics would provide a deeper level of insight into the music that Geoff created between 1981 and 1993 with Twelfth Night, The Bond and the Eh! Geoff Mann Band as well as his various solo projects. Some of these lyrics have never been published before and include early drafts of two classic Twelfth Night songs, Sequences and The Collector. Those of you who are fond of those two songs will be captivated by these earlier drafts particularly those for The Collector as they are significantly different from the version recorded and issued on ‘Collector’s Item’.

We plan to print only a limited number of the books, based on the number of pre-orders, so we strongly recommended placing your order as soon as possible. We hope the books will be ready to be sent out before Christmas. But even if not, it will still make an excellent (New Year) present to yourself! The price of £14.99 has been set to reflect the unique nature of the book and to allow for a significant donation to The Christie Hospital in Manchester as all profits will be given to this fine charity in memory of Geoff.