SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

"Script" was my first true experiment with progressive rock many years ago, and the extent to which it turned my musical world upside down is testament to how good and special this album is.

First of all, like all four Marillion albums of the Fish era, Script completely immerses the listener into an atmosphere of gloomy emotions and melancholy which emerged out of the unique combination of Fish's poetic lyrics with Marillion's melodies and sound at that time. This very special atmosphere is, to me, not found anywhere else but in these four albums.

Script opens and ends with two classics of the genre; the title song and Forgotten Sons. And whereas at first I was, like many, more sensible to these two songs than to the other four, I am now a fan of the album as an indivisible whole which I still enjoy so much now, after so much time, on any day "the rain auditions at my window".

Script is, in my view, an essential also because it is one of the most significant milestones in the history of progressive rock, as it marks a turning point between the 70's sound and an even more melody-oriented, melancholic style of music that gained wide appeal in the 80's and still lives on today.

Oh and that remastered double CD comes with a worthy-of-note bonus : the 19 minutes epic "Grendel", based on the Beowulf tale but told taking Grendel's point of view instead of the usual shiny knight story going after the monster. Partly an hommage to Genesis' classic Supper's Ready, Grendel is a candy that's worth buying the album in and of itself. One of a few 20isch minutes songs that bears no low or boring moment.