MARBLES BY THE SEA

You know that I have reviewed a lot of albums as well as fans club albums by Marillion at this wonderful site. Marillion was my hero in early 80s and I love all albums under Fish era plus some albums with Hogarth. While in the 80s when I expected a new album by the band I was so sure they would make a great album from "Fugazi" , "Misplaced", "Clutching" but under Hogarth era the band direction was not clear and the music became grey. In some attempts they tried to give away from neo prog but it turned out their music was something like Radiohead. Their last album "Somewhere Else" was going nowhere and I had lost patient listening to the album in its entirety. It's a waste of time listening to their latest album. But their previous album "Marbles" (2004) was excellent even though they did not fulfill the promise to the fans thay should give a 120 minutes but they only gave me 100 minutes. I purchased the expensive pre-order version and my name was printed there in the booklet.

The band's Marbles tour on DVD "Marbles On The Road" did not satisfy me to the fullest. Especially there was no "Drilling Holes" performed on stage. But with "Marbles By The Sea" I can get this song.

The show starts with a a spacey touch in intro part, drum-loop and a bit of percussion sound with mellow keyboard "The Invisible Man" enters my mind. The first minute reminds me strongly to the intro part of "Assassing" the band's second album. But if combined with the keyboard sound this first minute reminds me to the nuances of intro part of Fish's "What Colour is God" of Sunsets on Empire album. Am sure this is purely a coincidence not an intention. Fortunately when Hogarth's vocal slowly enter all of that association with other compositions are gone. I have to admire that this track is terrific in this live version, well structured with a mixture of great sounds. Steve's guitar sound is really excellent. I guess he played it with his heart as the sound he produced so damn smooth. Mark's keyboard sound is rich and sets the whole tone of the track. Hogarth sings beautifully.

Track 2 "Marbles I" is a pure easy listening pop music. Track 3 "Genie" is nothing than a pop music and a little bit boring on its melody part. "Fantastic Place" is a nice track. "The Only Unforgivable Thing" is very good. It still mellow, but minute 4 the interlude is terrific, this segment produces nice melody with touchy guitar fill. "Don't Hurt Yourself" has better melody. I like the acoustic guitar intro of this track. The music flows nicely and good melody when hogarth sings "Don't Heart Yourself .". Really cool. I also like the guitar sound produced here, it's a kind of Hawaiian style. Congrats Steve!

The real joy of listening to this live album is when "Drilling Holes" is being played excellently. I cannot imagine how this live version is almost perfectly the same with the studio track - including the clavinet work in the middle of the track, during the break. It's really a thread having this song featured in live version. The other two masterpiece tracks "Neverland"and "Ocean Cloud" are also played brilliantly.

Well, if you enjoy Marbles studio album, I bet you would love to have this live version. It's highly recommended. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW