REAL TO REEL

20 years ago, this was the second LP that I bought. Listening to it now, it still sounds fantastic so clearly it's a masterpiece. The album contains live songs from the first 2 Marillion albums. It starts with Marillion's first hit (Assassing), which is a great hard rocking song and a lot less commercial than their subsequent hits (Kayleigh and Lavender). The album progresses with Incubus, Cinderella Search and Emerald Lies which have passionate singing by Fish that fits in perfectly with the playing of the band.

The last three songs on the album are where Marillion really go for it. There's Forgotten Sons and then Garden Party, which merges seamlessly into Market Square Heroes. It's fast, energetic, exciting hard rocking prog.

Thanks to Marillion for keeping prog alive in the eighties. This album shows why Marillion were the top prog band of the decade.