SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

One of the best debut albums in the history of neo progressive music. After the euphoria of the 70's with the traditional groups of the genre fighting with their own demons to stay current with new proposals that revitalize them, Marillion arises to take the flag and plant it with Script For A Jester's Tear. Although they were not the first of this new wave, they were the renewed blood that the progressive needed to make flow through his veins to stay current.

Not pretending to be a concept album, the one that Fish, singer and frontman, is responsible for all the compositions, Script For A Jester's Tears achieves a cohesion and structure that keeps it solid throughout its 6 songs, covering much more earthly themes than the usual cosmetic and spiritual trips in the genre. Thus, the song that bears the same name on the album is about the painful end of an intense love relationship (it is said to be an autobiography of Fish), the devastating effects of drug use in He Knows You Know; how it is better to leave behind toxic relationships to develop in freedom without being trapped in The Web, the criticisms of bourgeois and elitist society and its frivolities in Garden Party; the dreams of young women for being famous on Chelsea Monday, and finally Forgotten Sons, a tribute to those who returned from the clashes between the English and the Irish in the early 80s with disabilities, and especially those who did not return.

Absolutely recommendable also Grendel, which appeared as side B of the 12 'single, Market Square Heroes, 19 spectacular minutes of a song that in my opinion should have been part of the original album, and to which justice was done 14 years later including it in a bonus disc in the remastering of the original (1997).

There were many criticisms of Fish for the evident similarities of his vocal register with that of Peter Gabriel, and even more so with the music of Genesis, but that does not detract a bit from the value of compositions that did not deny their influences, but on the contrary they took them as an impulse to develop their own path, and that they would reach their peak with the acclaimed Misplaced Childhood 2 years later.

Excellent album and essential for fans of the genre.