MARBLES

Marbles should be approached with open-mind, Fish-free preconception, as well as free from prog-technicalities expectation. Marbles sounds very modern - and can be easily placed as "just another pop-attempt by old-prog" bands. The band certainly tried hard to please the fans by putting up excellent package of the album - despite missing out track like "Faith" which was - raved in Marillion mail list. The album does not make the expected 120min as promised too. In general - H sings with his heart. His voice is so matured, filled with emotion. I will discuss the highlights - no preference on the number. 1. Invisible Man: as many listener would point out, this is a wrong choice to be used as opener, as it kind of throw people a back with its mellow sound. This will push away the Fish-lovers. It also suffers from being too long. The new-age interlude is just too boring,BUT, it gets better in uptempo towards the end. My favorite section will be the last chorus where H sings "I am the invisible MAN", where his voice croaks (whether intentionally or unintentionally) when he says "man". That part, just sums up the whole lyrics of the song, and delivers the killing punchline. Emotionally strong! Rate - last part only 5 stars. 2. Ocean Cloud - actually, the disc 1- I like both "epics" - and Ocean Cloud is just wonderful. The story of a man who went to the sea - lyric is great, and very melodic. The whole album can actually be summed up to great emotion vocals, and non-technical but melodic guitars. The only problem with this track as apart from being too long- it also lacks the killing punch as Invisible Man. 5 stars 3. The Damage - some people don't like the way H sings in falsetto, but this track is nice filler. It rocks - not in normal prog-rock way (well, who says Marillion is prog these days anyway?) - but in Brit-rock way. I guess the band tries to recapture the today's spirit into their music. Nothing wrong with that, just not so Marillion. 3 stars

4. Don't Hurt Yourself. Is a standout track. Opened by acoustic guitar played by Pete, it has very nice melody with strong chorus. Again - H sings with his heart - especially on the first verse of "Put it away..." Poppy? Well, any listener at this point of the album- should not complain anymore. It's a gem nevertheless. They should have put this as single! 5-stars

5. You're Gone. Not my taste. Despite being the single - it's just so wrong to be used as single in my view.

6. Drilling Hole. This is the closest thing to today's prog. It has Rothery shredding guitar. It has hooks (not "In you"). It has melody. It's rocking. 5 stars

7. Neverland - is another epic closing the album. Its probably the closest thing to Fish-era in H-era. It has a right mix of the modern sound, with the outstanding emotional voice delivered by H. 6 stars - er, no. 5 stars.

Overall, it should have been 5 stars, if only we can do away with the 4 Marbles, You're gone, Angelia, Genie and Fantastic Place, and include Faith, and cut some too-long parts of the epics. 4 1/2 stars it is. Pls note that Marillion has made far too many albums with H, more than the first 4 made with Fish. Fish is gone, and the band moved on.

Rizal/Indonesia