Hand of Glory : Napier's Bones July 2015

Included as a bonus track on the 2015 Edition of "The Wistman Tales"
Free Download Link : 
https://napiersbones.bandcamp.com/album/the-wistman-tales-2015-remaster-bonus-track

Our latest offering is based around the 18th Century story of "The Stainmore Hand", well-known in Northern English folklore.

The song's events are centred on the remote Spittal Inn, its landlord, George, the maid, Bella, and a mysterious traveller seeking shelter from the ravages of an early Winter storm.

More background can be found : http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/cumbria/occult/the-spital-inn-and-the-hand-of-glory.html

Dramatis Personae: 
Nathan : The Storyteller, The Traveller, The Gang
Gordon : The Landlord, The Chorus, The Gang

Are you sitting comfortably?
Put another log on the fire, bolt the door, pour yourself an extra large helping of your favourite beverage and let us take you on a Napier's journey.
Maybe give the candlelight a miss though, eh?

*** The 4000 character limit imposed by SC means we can't print all the lyrics -> follow this link to our FB page  
https://www.facebook.com/napiersbonesband/posts/1621592221433272:0
***
____________________________________

The Storyteller :
A mile or more beyond the town where Roman beacons burned
A long established hostelry, it stands all alone
The track that marks the entrance, often missed from the road
The turnpike has fallen quiet, none will call here tonight
As the dizzy whirls of sleet announce the storm

Bella the maid dims the lamps and bolts the door
The landlord George smiles and counts his takings after Bowes Fair
The roof creaks and groans as the wind bears down from Stainmore
Alone, enclosed, they won't see another soul
As they say their prayers to save them from the storm

Waves of rain and snow spiral down
Consumed by fear & darkness, heartbeats quicken now
They're deafened by the howling screaming sound
Then it's broken by a knocking at the door
A feeble cry of "Help me" then no more

The Inn's occupants :
Who stands outside? A wet bedraggled old woman bent double no less
Come quickly inside! Dry clothes, warm milk, our Bella will help you undress

The Traveller :
"Nothing I can say can repay you for your kindness sir
I lost the track as day turned into night
A pauper's widow I, can no longer pay my way
My daughter waits in Brough for me, I'll leave you at first light"

The Occupants : 
Sit by the Fire! No payment required when we answer a traveller's distress
Before we retire - we'll see that you're well, now take what you need and God bless

The Traveller :
"Let me say again, I don't want food or drink
Despite my situation, I still retain some pride
Now talking tires me so, I beg you let me rest
Don't touch my cloak or clothing! Just take yourself to bed!"

Let all who rest be drawn into the deepest sleep
Let those who dare to stay awake, unerringly their vigils keep
Hand of glory, keep their heavy eyelids closed
Revealing hidden riches whilst your magic taper glows

Stolen from a gibbet corpse, wrapped in a funeral shroud
Dried out with saltpeter, I command thee now
Hand of Glory, Shining Bright
Guide Your rightful owner to their rightful spoils tonight

The Storyteller:
Though she feigned to sleep, Bella watched the stranger's movements
Disturbed by their growling voice and the hood that hid their face
Surprised to see new riding boots on a pauper's wife
Then the trav'ler rose to six feet tall and slid the bolt from the door
From the folds of a steaming cloak withdrew a dead man's wizened hand
Lit the candle in its grip then the ritual began

The Traveller:
Hand of Glory where Roman signal beacons burned
I call on age-old wisdom, let the dead man's fire return
In the house where your light burns, in vain the sleepers turn
The killer's hand holds them tight, alive will be as dead tonight

From the gallow's pole to High Stainmore
Hand of Glory, do all I desire tonight





Hand of Glory :  Album Download Link in Notes

Fear & Trembling : Napier's Bones August 2015

The latest addition to the 2015 set of "Wistman Tales Retold" is that most rare of creatures, a Napier's Bones instrumental. 
The only one in captivity, although I have heard the distant calls of others in the wilds of the North.

Taking its title from Soren Kierkegaard's philsophical milestone, this piece was inspired by a different type of existential crisis.

"....if at the bottom of everything there were only a wild ferment, a power that twisting in dark passions produced everything great or inconsequential; if an unfathomable, insatiable emptiness lay hid beneath everything, what would life be but despair?"
Soren Kirkegaard, 1843


Fear & Trembling (2015)

Prog Fest Ye Merrie Gentlemen : December 2015

Christmas, Yuletide, Winterval, Saturnalia, Noel.... so many different ways of referring to this time of year.

In the Napierverse we celebrate the ancient tradition of Progmas.

Join with us in a dance around the Mellotron then open your gifts beneath the spruce-topped Twelve String, all the while resplendent in your festive capes.

This is a long preamble, but it's a very short tune :))

Season's Greetings to You All 

from Napier's Bones



Prog Rest Ye Merrie Gentlemen

The Transfiguration : Part 1 : An Air of Mystery
Napier's Bones, January 2016

The first complete track from "The Transfiguration", a 24 min suite telling of a paranormal investigator eager to debunk another folkloric legend for the benefit of his eager TV audience.
Ratings pressure from other, more spectacular, ghost-hunting shows  leads to a compromise between his scientific rigour and the need for dramatic programming.

The ruined Holy Trinity Church of Buckfastleigh, Devon, is the location for his latest assignment : to find evidence relating to the infamous Squire Richard Cabell...
Seventeenth Century Schizoid Man.

Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Then we'll begin.

----------------
1. An Air of Mystery
 
Another week, a new assignment
Ratings up with every phantom found
Goodbye kiss then onto Devon roads
Such a Happy Haunting Ground

Another well-loved ancient story
Handed down through history
Like Wistman's Wood, the Hand of Glory
They cling to make-believe

	Discarding age-old superstition
	On camera captured in full view 

Network :        "If it's there, it's on air"

Darting by the river, I see the ruined church in silhouette
So it's Squire Cabell, his spectral hounds and mausoleum glowing red
Sensors all around the tomb, remote connect all seeing eyes
Rational sights you can believe, midnight transmission time

	Presenting only what I find
	The viewers making up their minds 
Network :       "Success, Speaks for itself"

A air of mystery, goes a long way
A hint of danger, goes a long way
A little guidance, goes a long way
And who needs certainty? They all prefer it to be this way....
----------
The Transfiguration 
(1) An Air of Mystery
(2) Broadcasting Live
(3) No Return?


1. An Air of Mystery

The Transfiguration : 

3. No Return?
Napier's Bones, January 2016

From the new album "Hell and High Water"
__________
The Squire's ghost, bathed in praeternatural light, pauses to absorb his surroundings, eyes wide open but staring blankly. Present yet in defiance of the physical world and its laws.

Strands of hair are stirred by an unnatural breeze as this glorious,  radiant apparition points toward the investigator, "another so-called seeker of the Truth".

A lifetime of taking measurements and adhering to scientific principles couldn't prepare him for this encounter, a coalescence of the temporal and eternal.

Frightened,  amazed and mesmerised in turn, the man remembers the rhymes and folklore of his childhood and shakes off his hypnotic fascination. If this is Squire Cabell's ghost then his problems have only just begun.

A low, hollow, hissing sound changes to a sonorous groan as the Squire addresses his captive audience.....
__________

Another so-called seeker of the truth, 
Another Fool in search of wisdom
Another Fool demanding proof

I care not for your difference engines
Machines cannot the truth divine
Your petty laws, philosophy
In the darkness cannot shine

I serve a different master now
No chains of sin, no need atone
As Doubting Thomas found belief
All you have is Death Alone

Mark well, no artifice
Your monuments and spires crumble, it all comes down to this

We, The Hidden Ones, The Veiled Ones, Eternally
We, The Hidden Ones, The Veiled Ones, Eternity

And Veiled Thou Art !

*** Children's Rondo : Distant***

In this Half-World, this land of dreams
The dark, forbidden realms of sacred mystery
Far removed from mortal ebb and flow
Condemned to watch, and watch alone, all the life I've known

Such a long way, Such a long way
Such a long way from home

Such a long way, Such a long way
I'm so very far from home
__________

"Every man must do two things alone : he must do his own believing and his own dying"
Martin Luther

3. No Return?

Mallerstang Morning : Napier's Bones January 2016

Part 1 of "Semerwater : The Fall"

Flood-as-retribution stories are part of the history and folklore of every culture, from Sumerian legends to Noah's Ark and Plato's Atlantean accounts. A natural disaster inflicted on a population as Divine punishment for perceived transgressions.
For Side 2 we're travelling to the Yorkshire Dales of Northern England for a local explanation of the origins of Lake Semerwater. 

We start the song-cycle with the lead character, one of the last itinerant minstrels, travelling between rural villages and earning his living with a blend of news, gossip, entertainment and life-advice. The tabloid press of his day perhaps....

Come and meet our rogueish Jack-the-Lad, enjoy his thrilling tales in the splendour of the Northern Hills and marvel at the dexterity of a true Jack-of-All-Trades.

You'll not regret the time you spend with us.....

-----------
Mallerstang Morning

Full of pride as Nateby's left behind, 
on to Mallerstang, all I survey, this morning's mine
The mounting light, the silky sky, 
Precious gifts received with thanks, so debonair am I

From place to place, unfettered free
I sing my songs, the life I choose, oh this is me

Eden's real, I hear her song, 
Cross Wild Boar slopes, I make my way, lightly skip along
Pendragon dwelt here years ago,
 I quietly bow, breathe the air, I feel I know

I ply my trade, I sell them smiles
From feast to fete let's celebrate, different names for different times

A wandering minstrel I, with fiddle, harp and rogueish smile
Bring you news, I'll sing for you, 
A jester, healer, seer too

Gather round beside the fire, I'll perform to your heart's desire
Smiling all, a sight to see, 
You'll not regret the time you spend with me

*** Pastoral interlude : Mallerstang Morning ***

The road is home, the road is life, 
with courtly grace, a maiden's blush,  gallante as any knight
Many skills have I acquired, 
curing palsy, curing gout, banish pains within, without

From place to place, unfettered free
I sing my songs, the life I choose, oh this is me

Past Abbotside as evening falls, 
I see the lights of village life, time to make my calls
Hear thrilling tales as ales are poured, 
of witches deeds, enchanted sleep, on High Stainmore

I ply my trade, I deal in smiles
From feast to fete let's celebrate, different names for different times

A wandering minstrel I, with fiddle, harp and rogueish smile
Bring you news, I'll sing for you, 
A jester, healer, seer too
Gather round beside the fire, I'll perform to your heart's desire
Smiling all, a sight to see, 
You'll not regret the time you spend with me
You'll not forget the time you spend with me


Mallerstang Morning

No Room at the Inn : Napier's Bones March 2016

Part 2 of "Semerwater : The Fall"

from the album "Hell and High Water"

After introducing our storytelling minstrel in "Mallerstang Morning" we change the location to the village inn...
"The Village Inn, the dear old inn, so ancient, clean and free from sin"... 
**ahem, thanks Sir John**

A lively evening is underway and as the ale flows the tales grow taller, and the resident folk singer gets louder. 
Into the merriment walks our troubadour.

An eyewitness describes the scene
"A reet funny thing 'appened in t'alehouse t'neet. There wa' this bloke come in, a reet clarty beggar, an 'e started singin' wi't'guitar an' that. Summat abaht news an' t' King an' magic, tha knows t'sort, not from rahnd 'eer.

Any'ow, t'landlord telled him straight "Gerrahtovit"
'E went off wi' 'is tail between 'is legs, I laughed to missen.
I dun't reckon we'll 'ear owt from 'im again.....

Ee, it looks like rain aht, funny that......"
______________
No Room at the Inn

**Busy village alehouse, chatter & folk trio tuning up**

I am here to bring you news from distant parts, tales of kings and wars, intrigue at court and darker arts
For little more than food and ale and, a nightly bed, I can entertain, inform, distract, why I've heard it said ....
***Landlord interrupts***

Just one night and I'll be gone, pay my way by singing songs
Confusing me with someone else,you...you have me wrong

So no-one wants to know and there's nowhere left to go and
There's nothing I can say, no room at the Inn

No room at the Inn, is there nowhere left for me?
Nowhere for me?

In the dark I make my own way, as I leave the town behind, 
With delight, they all refuse me
Rejecting difference, not of their kind

And as the rain begins to fall it hides the tears on my face
I spy the faintest hope ahead, 
I see the faintest light from a ramshackle place
A place called home
On the edge of town, a modest farm. 
As if disowned, remote, closed-in yet closed-out,
And now it's my only hope
Home
I never had a home, never belonged....

***Tenant Farmers***

"Come in inside lad, don't stand out in the rain
Room beside the fire lad, for us you'd do the same
It's like the Good Book says, we're all neighbours after all
We've nothing here to boast about but ..... we're glad you called

We'd love to hear your songs but can't afford to pay
Only bed and board if you still want to stay
There's a rabbit for the pot, and we won't go short of ale
So help yourself, take your fill.... let's hear your tale"

**jaunty jam-session with guest soloist**

*****

As the final farm receives me, the humblest abode
Like some parable of charity, those with least of all, offer most

Well I can't summon fire and brimstone but I curse their pride, I curse their town
For the tears I wept so bitterly, let calamity rain down

Begin the Fall!
Pride before a fall
Let calamity rain down. on them all
Let them sink beneath the gloom, 
Asleep 'til Doom

They cast me out into the night
Their wealthy town, their weighty pride
Let calamity rain down, on them all
I curse them all!


No Room at the Inn

Awakening : Napier's Bones October 2016

The opening track of our 4th album : "Alpha-Omega Man".
Check out our Facebook page for photos & videos from the recording sessions.
In the meantime, here's a short "Teletone" walk-through : https://youtu.be/YsAzaz_MxQA

We're not able to stick to a regular uploading schedule for SC, it's going to be "as & when", with an eye on completing & releasing the album in early 2017.

A "95% Mixed/Unmastered" track.

Awakening 
----------

Newly opened eyes strain beneath fluorescent light
Feeling tubes & wires, machines are keeping me alive
Don't know where or when or how or why this came to be
Suspended, I'm caught between 
Safe havens for time's refugee

All I amounted to is frozen in history
I can't express, can't find the words, articulate the fear
Wild and whirling states, prophetic dreams a-blur
I need to heal, no longer feel the past is another world

Searching for a door, to let me in and take me back
A fractured man, a man alone save for ghosts of all I lack
Locked out of inner space, exiled from all I am
Pages blank, an empty book, the alpha-omega man

Take me home, make the picture whole, 
can't recognise, those hollow eyes, that nameless ghost

Can I make sense of this? Frame a world beyond this place
Without my yesterdays how can I support today?
Is it me myself I miss the most? Tears well in my eyes
Is there the faintest hope, will someone hear my desperate cry?

Searching for a door, to let me in and take me back
A fractured man, a man alone save for ghosts of all I lack
Locked out of inner space, exiled from all I am
Pages blank, an empty book, the alpha-omega man

The first, the last, the alpha-omega man.

A Scanulf Studios Production.

1. Awakening

6. Psychic Driving : November 2016
Track 6 of 8 from the new album "Alpha Omega Man" and the last one we'll be posting this year.
Once we get the final pair of songs working then it's back to basics for a whopper of a remixing, overdubbing & mastering session.
We're looking to release the album in mid-to-late January.
----------
Psychic Driving
Rushing headlong, senses overload
Helpless now against the undertow

Who was I? Was it all invention?
Who was I? Nothing more than well rehearsed routines
Conditioned not to ask.... What is Truth anyway?

A thousand different scenes from a hundred different dreams
Countless memories recombined, but who knows what they mean?
Illuminate the darkness between disparate points of light
An infant's faltering steps ahead in the blackest, starless night

Can I find out who I am?
Please end this searching
Things that made me who I am
A lifetime returning......returning....returning

Like the weight of air before a storm
I couldn't fight it held me down
This parody was cast adrift
I waved, I drowned

But I learned to say all the things I knew they had to hear
I learned to act, I learned to lie
I learned to hide my fear

Then I found out who I am
No more uncertainty
All that makes me who I am
Embracing Destiny

Proud to show just who I am
Back from Infinity
All that makes me who I am
Revealing Destiny

Returning from The Void
A man outside of time
Welcome Back
Back from the darkness
Bringing hope, bringing light
Behold a whole new way of life

Welcome Back
Back from Oblivion
The Alpha Omega Man
Back where I belong


Listen to me, listen to me
Now I see, no doubt at all as clarity returns
No need to shed a tear for me
I belong

I Belong
For the first time I belong
Life beyond the Stygian Gloom
At last I belong

I am Free  to live my life			 "Just the same as everyone"
I am Free to voice opinions		         "Just the same as everyone"
I am Free to keep my secrets		"Just the same as everyone"
I am Free to love that Special One	 "Just the same as everyone"
To Be Free
To Be Free

6. Psychic Driving

Napier's Bones : Monuments
Ahead of the Friday 24th August release of our fifth album we're posting this sampler consisting of five healthily portioned excerpts from four of the tracks.
There's an accompanying video for this sampler here : 
https://youtu.be/AvpXgPl1ooQ

Excerpts featured : 

1. Standing Childe
2. Mirabilis
3. Free to Choose
4. The Heights
5. Standing Childe

There should be enough to get your teeth into and next week we'll update this link to let you listen to the album in full : 
https://napiersbones.bandcamp.com/

Monuments : Album Sampler

Wistman's Wood 2019 : The Hunt

March 29th 2019 sees the Five Year Anniversary of Napier's Bones and we'll be releasing an album of our personal favourites from the five albums : respectfully remixed and remastered with a few strategic overdubs.
Oh yes, we've even picked up a real live drummer for the birthday bash.
Wistman's Wood was the very first track and still exists in its original form here : 
https://soundcloud.com/gordon_m/wistmans-wood-vocal-nathan-jon

To whet your appetite we're posting this excerpt which sees our hero fleeing across the moonlit slopes of Dartmoor with the Devil's own hell-hounds in hot pursuit.

Wistmans Wood 2019 : The Hunt

Napier's Bones are :

Nathan Jon Tillett
Gordon Midgley   

Taking the Classic Prog sound as a foundation to create challenging, extended form progressive rock music. 

Our first three albums are available as "Name Your Price" downloads via Bandcamp. Each package comes complete with print-at-home scaled CD case inlays.
Sessions for the 4th album are underway with a release targeted for early 2017.

napiers_bones

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