GARDEN PARTY

"Garden Party" is a single release by UK progressive rock act Marillion. The 7" single was released through EMI Records in June 1983. It´s the second single released to promote the band´s debut full-length studio album "Script for a Jester's Tear" (March 1983), where the A-side of the single appears as track number 4. The B-side track is a live version of "Margaret" (a non-album track). The band also released a 12" maxi-single version of "Garden Party" featuring a live version of "Carting the Single" as an extra track. "Garden Party" appears in two different versions on the 7" and the 12", as the the lyric part "I'm fucking" was replaced by "I'm miming" on the 7" version, which was done to give the song a chance to be played on mainstream radio, while the version of the song featured on the 12" is the original album version featuring the "I'm fucking" lyric part.

"Garden Party" is a powerful, jagged, and clever progressive rock song, but "Margaret" and "Carting the Single" are probably the two least remarkable tracks from the early part of Marillion´s discography, so in terms of track selection this single/maxi-single isn´t that necessary. Considering that this live version of "Margaret" and the studio version of "Carting the Single" were both included on the 1988 "B'Sides Themselves" compilation album, even less so. Even the least interesting tracks from the 80s treasure chest of Marillion songs are still good quality material though, so a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.