A VERRY BARRY CHRISTMAS

A fanclub release that was another in a series of Christmas albums from Marillion, A Verry Barry Christmas is an interesting mostly acoustic album that has a few pieces not on any Marillion album and some solid versions of some newer Marillion songs. And although there are some gems here (the acoustic versions of some great Hogarth era songs is quite nice), but the main draw for me in the instrumental version of This is the 21st Century (which musically is one of my favorite Hogarth Marillion songs). A lot of focus is put on the Anoraknophobia album (as it was recently released at the time), and for the most part the acoustic versions of the pieces on the album are quite nice, with the overall sound being quite warm and Hogarth's vocals being quite nice on top of the great interplay between Rothery and Trewavas. Also here are two remix pieces, the first of the second epic off of marillion.com, House. It's got a very laidback, almost surreal feel and you can feel a landscape of mystery unfold as the music progresses and digresses in a fitting fashion. The second is Go! (off of the same album), and it continues the surreal electronic tone of the end of the album, but the real treat is the instrumental This is the 21st Century, which is essentially an early working of the epic of Anoraknophobia without the vocals (a shortened acoustic version with vocals could be heard earlier in the album).

In the end, A Verry Barry Christmas is a pretty solid Marillion fanclub release, but the question at this point is raised, what is the point of it all? I recommend this only really to the diehard Marillion, but maybe, just maybe, if you like Hogarth Marillion and are willing to hear acoustic renditions of pieces and songs in the vein of Tales from the Engine Room, then hunting this release down may be worthwhile to you. Me? I think it's very good, just not necessary at all and only for the diehard. 2.5/5.