FUGAZI

When I see total rating for this album I'm about to SCREAM. I really can't get why some rated this album by 2 or 3 stars. I can understand of course personal preferences but doing it objectively it deserves 5 stars easily. To me it's even 6 stars and please note it because I treat this record very personally. Fugazi is compilation of 7 songs, seven different songs and every song in the set has its own flavour. Assassing (Fish didn't want to say why he put -g- in the end of that title but we can easily guess, note from a singer;)). Great keyboard passages and awesome guitar solo lead us from theme to theme. It isn't as subtle as Script For A Jester's Tear but same BIG. Fish still sounds like Peter Gabriel but there's more of Peter Hammills manner in his voice this time. Next to same vivid but much shorter and almost metalish piece Punch & Judy is really good song for a single. Much better than singles from previous release. It proves Marillion could play more aggressive music with quite aggressive lyrics and still sound progressive. This album is a true phenomenon to me. Jigsaw was my favorite song when I first heard this album and no wonder. It has beautiful solo very similar to the one from Chelsea Monday and of course amazing lyrics about suicide. No, don't get me wrong it isn't telling drivel such as 'I hate myself I want to die'. it's more poetic description of emotional suicide (yes, Script). This song still brings chill up and down my spine every time I listen to that. Emerald Lies starts quietly and fast becomes one of the heaviest tracks on this record. It's something between subtle art rock of 70s and heavy metal of 80s. Amazing song with very aggressive and evil vocals of Fish. And btw Fish must have been disappointed of women to do such concept, truly anti-femine song. She Chameleon as Fish said in the booklet of remastered version of Fugazi describes his attitude to sex on the road. To be honest it sounds like story from a whorehouse left in the morning. Musically it's more retrospective song than others and it brings amazing keyboard parts sounding like church organs. Violently Incubus bursts out. Music is very intense and Fish seems to be very emotinally involved in singing this one (he still says it's his favorite Marillion song). Of course we have also beautiful keyboard passages here and there and amazing harmonic guitar parts in the end. This song same as Emerald Lies is partly heavy partly subtle but this time proportions are different maybe because Incubus lasts for more than 8 minutes. Lyrically Incubus is about man who's producing female nightmares. Great one. So we sneak into the title song. Fugazi is maybe the best song in the set to me and probably my favorite Marillion piece. Starts quietly with emotional desciption of stare main character (seen on the cover) is in. It's chilling when Fish sings 'she hanged herself around my neck' (on the cover we can see ' she crucified herself around my neck', what a brilliant verse). It's a song about martyr but not just martyr from fallen rock star syndrome, a martyr because all evil of this world seems to be upon his shoulders (later put into different words on Misplaced Childhood in 'Threshold' part). Musically Fugazi starts subtle but turns into massive and violent song in the middle. The end of the song suggest that the main character died. Eyes closed curtain falls. Very theatrical finish with march drum beats. So this is the end of the story. The best Marillion album, the best progressive album of 80s. It deserves 6 stars I'm telling ya. Buy 2 CD version to not miss brilliant full version of Cinderella Search. If I said this album is a must have I'd be not enough. So what to think on?