MARILLION AND THE POSITIVE LIGHT - TALES FROM THE ENGINE ROOM

Marillion's album of electronica oriented tracks from This Strange Engine. In a word, not something that a casual listener should purchase. Why? Because this album has really no purpose, unless it is to show that Marillion were always trying to be creative and go down avenues that they had not gone down at the time. The result for this album is successful, but the original feeling that the band had obtained in the original versions of the songs on this album is lost in a sea of droning dance beats and accentuated drum notes, often resulting in extended versions of the songs from This Strange Engine. Most tracks also sound very very similar, but that doesn't really affect my rating of it.

Expect the versions on this album to remain somewhat faithful to their This Strange Engine counterparts, because for the most part, they do not stray away from the original structure of the song, minus the obvious addition of dance beats and more electronic tendencies. The only song that I think is truly improved on this album is Estonia, mainly because I absolutely love the drumming on this track, and the bass is also superb, and help make the chorus (which is among my favorite choruses of the band) so much better than the original album's (which is already incredibly strong). The rest of the songs, though, aren't really improved, and they aren't really brought down either. They just have a different feeling to them, in fact, a totally different feel from the original versions.

Overall, this album is really only recommended by me to fans of the group and people who like music that can be danced to. If you also like remix albums, this may be something to check out. But for me, I'm left with a feeling of why, mainly because I'm not exactly sure why this album really had to be made. Kudos, though, to Marillion for trying something new. I like the album, but I really question it's worth. 2.5/5.