CLUTCHING AT STRAWS

The last of the four Marillion releases featuring Fish as writer and lead vocalist is the weakest for me. However autobiographical it may have been for Fish to write the lyrics of Clutching At Straws, songs about alcoholism and self- destruction only go so far. His incredibly brutal lyrics of Warm Wet Circles: 'Standing all your mates to another round; Laughing at the world till the barman wipes away the warm wet circles; The warm wet circles' is the stand-out song and quite possibly the best song Fish ever wrote. The band do their best to spruik it up with a brilliant change in pace in Mark Kelly's electric piano and a superb guitar solo from Steve Rothery. Where it all loses stream is in the second half of the album after the instrumental introduction to Incommunicado, when Fish sings the first verse to the song. By the time we get to Sugar Mice, it's all become terribly repetitive and uninspiring. Perhaps the band needed more time to develop the last few songs. Maybe the album needed a grand extended instrumental finish in the manner of the Incommunicado overture. Perhaps it was, the band was in a state of upheaval with Fish's decision to leave the band, that the other band members were anxious to wrap things up in the studio and move on to the next chapter in their lives.

The next Marillion album without Fish, Seasons End, is everything CAS isn't. It has tight arrangements, a nice mixture of tracks including a great acoustic number (Hogarth's Easter) and a grand finish (The Space). All it lacks is that one inspirational song that CAS possesses, Warm Wet Circles.

iluvmarillion | 3/5 | 2020-8-23

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