REAL TO REEL - BRIEF ENCOUNTER

In '97, when EMI was remastering Marillion's early albums, they decided it would be a good idea to put the live album Real To Reel and the mini-album Brief Encounter into a single double CD release. I personally find this to have been a rather good idea.

This album was actually my introduction to Marillion and to be honest, this is what the double album does best, introduce you to some of the best of Fish era Marillion without giving away all that the band has to offer from that period. My previous reviews for Real To Reel and Brief Encounter will tell you what I think of the albums in more detail, but here I will say that RTR is a very strong live album made up of pre-Misplaced Childhood material well worth getting whilst BE has some very strong live tracks with one good and one poor studio track not really making it worth buying on its own. Together they are a collection of brilliant live performances with only a few niggles and a couple of studio tracks that are a bit hit-and-miss.

This is a double album that gives an incite into the world of Fish-era Marillion. As I said earlier, his was my introduction to Marillion and that is what it does best, it contains some of the most standout tracks of the band earlier career, namely Incubus, Forgotten Sons, Garden Party, Fugazi and Script for a Jester's Tear, without giving away everything that the band has to offer. A worthy 4 stars.