SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

Born in 1979, Marillion was one of the most creative bands of the eighties. One of the expoents of the Neo-Prog genre, the original line-up was Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly, Mick Pointer, Pete Trewavas and the vocalist, Derek Dick aka Fish. The first phase of the band is known for the strong influence of Genesis, especially on Fish's voice, that sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel, from Genesis.

Their first album, Script for a Jester's Tear, is a magnificent work: dense and poetic lyrics sung by dramatic vocals incrusted on excelent instrumentals, with lots of guitar and keyboards and an excelent rythmic work.

The title track. one of the most beautiful and dense songs ever. A magnificent lyric. A cathartic sound. From the simple intro, with just a piano and Fish vocals, with the organ joining after, slowly the song builds. Every instrument is a highlight, and of course, Fish's voice is the most beautiful element of the song. Love isn't a common theme Progressive Rock deals with. There's a beautiful interlude with delicate acoustic guitar and strong bass guitar. The last 3 minutes are tear-jerking. Words are not enough to describe this.

He Knows You Know, the second track is very good too. The song has very good backing vocals and Pointer's Drumming. The lyrics are about drugs. The song has very good on the guitar and on the synths, and has a more agressive feel than Script.

The Web is a keyboard heavy song, and the keys sound magnificently along Fish's vocals and the drumming. Rothery's clean guitar is very nice. Again, Fish sings with his soul. The transitions between the mellower and heavier parts are incredible, we have very good guitar soloing and keyboards Riffs. The song becomes lighter and after a very good keyboard solo, we have the last stanza of the lyrics, ant the song ends.

Garden Party begins with people talking and birds chirping. The synth riff is excelent, Trewavas bass is very good too.e pássaros. The birds come back sometismes. Rothery does a very good guitar line, and after we have everything again. Kelly is a superb keyboardist.

Chelsea Monday begins with some weird effects, and then the bass guitar enters doing a very good line. The tempo is slow and melancholic, but excellent. Rothery is a very good guitarrist, and we notice lots of David Gilmour influence here. Yes, this is a melancholic song, but not a depressing one. The sounds are very beautiful, everything is on perfect harmony.

Forgotten Sons opens with what seems to be a radio being tuned, and has an "uptempo feel". Again, the synths shine, The rythmic base is very interesting. We have interesting spoken vocals over the music, and the guitar sounds nice too.

This is a Magnificent Work, it's almost impossible to say wich song is the best, but i'm going to pick Script.