MADE AGAIN

one of the great concept records of the mid nineties... perhaps, the full division of "regular" concert and the idea of taking brave into its entirity is magnificent, great performance and awsome sound.

"Brave" but unadventurous

A double live CD from the Hogarth era Marillion, recorded around the time of the "Brave" album. Indeed, a live version of that album occupies one entire disc.

Not being a great fan of the "Brave" album anyway, the inclusion of the entire album again, in almost replica format, is somewhat lost on me. Fortunately, the first disc has a more diverse cross section of tracks from the Hogarth era. Two tracks, rather predictably the singles "Kayleigh" and "Lavender", also appear from the Fish era. Hogarth sounds a bit, dare I say awkward, singing them, but the extension of "Lavender" into "Blue angel" from "Bitter suite" makes that track worthwhile.

Marillion are not generally what might be described as adventurous in their live performances, sticking by and large to the Script. If anything, the tracks here sound slightly weaker than their studio counterparts. "Afraid of sunlight" for example doesn't seem to have the power of the album from whence it comes.

"Made again" may be a good memento of the tour for those who attended one of the gigs, but for those who were not there, and already have the studio albums, there's not a great deal to commend this album, it's certainly be no means essential.

I remember when I bought this album in 1996 at Best Buy...back when they still carried Marillion & other imported artists. I love "brave", one of the essential concept albums of the last 20 years, and hearing it live (never having the opportunity to see Marillion in concert...I was living in Nebraska) was a wonderful experience. Made Again is a great live album, and will give new fans a good taste of Marillion concerts...and their repetoire!

My only dislike is that more Seasons End material was not present: like Holloway Girl and Berlin. But Splintering Heart, The Space, Hooks in You, and Easter still give me goosebumps when I listen to this album.

I love the Hogath-era best, and recently have the pleasure of finally seeing Marillion live on the Marbles tour. What I love about Marillion the most is that they NEVER release the same album twice. Prog-fans, know-it-alls, purists and all...they can cut down and criticize Marillion and Neo-Prog all they want. I repect Fish and the albums they put out...but Fish decided to leave on his own: that was 15 years ago. Hogath has more than proven himself! If Fish-era fans (just like Gabriel-era Genesis fans) hate the "new guy" and the new sound so much...move along: just like Fish did!

This is a very worthwhile purchase. A great live selection from recent tours by the band plus the whole of Brave live! H's lyrics and vocals are superb and the fish material is performed excellently. This was the best Marillion live 'official' release until Anorak in the UK live in 2002. BUy it NOW!

It did make sense that after releasing four studio albums: "Seasons End", "Holidays in Eden", "Brave" and "Afraid of Sunlight" the band's Hogarth era released a full fledge official live album. By this time the band has gathered enough material for a live show featuring Hogarth as front man. I purchased this album long time ago and was not really interested to spin the CD; unlike the La Gazza Ladra - Fish-era live album. But, after I have seen the Hogarth performance in From Stroke Row To Ipanema DVD, my appreciation about this album changed significantly. I found a lot of enjoyment listening to this double CD album. First, I can hear the styles of marillion's original members: Steve Rothery (guitar), Mark Kelly (keyboards), Pete Trewavas (bass) and Ian Mosley (drums) work together in a new musical format. I still find the strong character for each member in their styles even though the music is different now. Second, I venture into a new journey of accepting whatever the new frontman, Steve Hogarth, delivers in this album. As you might see in my review about From Stroke Row To Ipanema DVD in this site, I think he has his own unique singing style which is suitable with this new format of Marillion music.

Most of tracks featured here are performed more dynamically than the original studio version even though there are not much change in terms of arrangements and styles. "Splintering Heart" (6:33) kicks off the CD lively, delivering musical stream that is enjoyable for most rock fans. It continues with the band's hit from Seasons End album: "Easter". Again, even though this track is not energetic, but it's still good to listen to the live version. The next three tracks are poppy stuff that I don't quite favor: "No one can" (4:44), "Waiting to happen" (5:09) and "Cover my eyes" (4:06). But the next track is excellent: "The space..." (6:35) . "Hooks in you" (3:02) is the band's answer to Van Halen because it's rocking. "Beautiful" (5:35) is an excellent track performed flawlessly. The band also performs two Fish-era tracks: "Kayleigh" (4:04) and "Lavender" (4:20). Hogarth sings with his own style and does not put an effort to emulate Fish. It's good. This live album also features the band's concept album "Brave" in its entirety. Being a live record, this album has lost some sound details that are really good to hear from the studio version. However., it does not disturb the overall beauty of "Brave". I believe those who enjoy "Brave" would love this live version.

Overall it's a good and enjoyable album even though there are some poppy stuffs that should not be performed. Even though the sonic quality is not excellent but I still consider that it's acceptable - being a live album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Marillion are a phenomenal band for starters. Everything about this band just clicks with me--outstanding musicianship, thoughtful and introspective lyrics, a varitable potpourri of elements in their music, and a great lead vocalist. I like Fish era Marillion; however, I thought Hogarth brought something fresh to this band...and that's never more evident than when you hear them live.

Made Again was recorded in Rotterdam, London, and Paris over the Holidays In Eden, Brave, and Afraid Of Sunlight tours. This is a fine live album, but they could've pushed the envelope a bit. The song selection was a little tried and true...especially on disc 1. There are the usuals like "Cover My Eyes (Pain And Heaven", "Easter, and "Afraid Of Sunlight". They should've spiced things up with "The Party", "Gazpacho", or even "The Uninvited Guest". The great thing is this is Marillion in their element. The other great thing is it wasn't dilluted down with overdubs because I have the Front Row Club (where members receive official bootlegs of the show without any tinkering. You get it warts and all) release of the Rotterdam show, and it's spot on. Some overdubs here and there, but not like Marillion's Reel To Reel or KISS Alive (which is basically a studio album).

In a great move, disc 2 is Brave performed in it's entirety in Paris. I've heard more spirited performances of Brave through the FRC and on DVD; but, it's freakin' Brave! It's an otherwise great performance and Hogarth sounds great on both. The crowd was pretty into it on this particular night, as well. Hogarth can't even introduce the last song, "Made Again" because of the wave of applause and emphatic screams.

I think this is essential for any Marillion fan. I've got a lot of live Marillion on CD and DVD and there are better ones out there. With that said, however, putting this on is like getting a visit from a good friend. In either case, you're left smiling. Somewhere between 4.25 and 4.5 stars.

Marillion - Made again

This album comprises songs recorded during three separate gigs in London, Rotterdam and Paris, respectively in the years 1991, 1995 and 1994. Whereas disc 1 comprises songs from various studio albums, disc 2 consists of a full-length live rendition of Marillion's 1994's prog rock masterpiece: the conceptual "Brave" album.

The overall sound quality on this recording is rather good, though the production has its flaws. The individual instruments sometimes 'drown' in the overall mix, resulting in the fact that for instance Ian Mosley's drumming on the otherwise heavy driven Hooks in you is hardly noticeable, causing the song to sound inferior to other live renditions, like for instance on the "From Stoke Row to Ipanema" live video/DVD.

Another song which suffers from the bad production is the closing track on disc 1: King. Normally this song ends with a massive wave of noise gradually built-up by the various instruments, but here it is only synthesizers and the whole wall of sound is hardly noticeable, which takes away the charm of song's original ending.

Disc 2 however is far superior to disc 1. A far more transparent sound results in a noticeable distinction between the various layers of music. Although when performed live, "Brave" still is very dark and depressing, just as 1994's studio recording, it still has a more 'light' and 'positive' edge to it on this release. This live rendition shows that there's more to the various songs than one might notice while listening for the first time. Now, after knowing the original "Brave" album for quite a few years, I still notice new melodies, samples and sounds each time I listen to the album, whether I give the studio or the live release another spin.

To conclude, I have to say this is a good live release, although disc 1 could have been more enjoyable if the quality of the record was just a little bit better. On the plus side: although the tracks on disc 1 are taken from multiple gigs (disc 2 was complete recorded one night in Paris), all the tracks run together, giving it a feeling as if you were listening to one full-length gig, instead of excerpts from various individual shows. That certainly puts this album in higher regard than 1988's "The thieving Magpie" live album, which featured fade-in and outs between tracks.

Marillion has always had an affinity for live albums, and this is yet another. They've also always been one of the only bands I've heard that are actually better in a live context than when in the studio, in my opinion. Made Again is a live album comprised of three different shows from three different tours in Rotterdam, London, and Paris. The first disc is devoted to individual songs in the Marillion catalogue that span the entire Hogarth era up to that time (ends with Afraid of Sunlight era) and even a brief look into the Fish era catalogue. The second disc is devoted to the entire Brave album, which is my favorite album of the Hogarth era. Are they able to pull off quite a feat live? For the most part, yes, but this album does have its problems.

The first disc has a nice collection of songs from Seasons End, Holidays in Eden, and Afraid of Sunlight. Also worthwhile are the two Misplaced Childhood pieces on the first disc. Now, for the most part this disc has some wonderful renditions of classic Marillion songs such as Easter and Beautiful, but the main problem with this live set overall is the sound. The overall mix is a little bit too drowning and some performances from individual members certainly drown out others from the overall mix. Despite, that, though, you'll find some nice live performances here. The most notable thing here is that Lavender is much like the single version of the track, which had an extended guitar solo, and it segues into the Lost Weekend part of Bitter Suite (which utilizes the same riff from Lavender), which was a fun live addition that shows Hogarth can actually compete with Fish vocally. It's a good disc, but I wish that they put some different songs from Seasons End and that they had some Clutching at Straws pieces, but I can't really complain.

The second disc is the entire Brave album. It's well performed and there are subtle differences and additions with this incantation of this album as opposed to other live versions and the studio version of the album itself. The crowd really seem to get into it as well, with them going along for the entire 73 minute ride, even drowning out Hogarth's introduction to Made Again. My only complaint with this disc, though, along with the somewhat disappointing sound, is that Hogarth's vocals sound strained at times and like he's really putting out all that he's got, and sometimes it's successful and sometimes it isn't. Though the version of Great Escape here is phenomenal (as with the song Brave). I must also mention that all the multi-part songs are now shown individually so the entire album has more tracks than the studio album. That's not a real problem, though, as all of the songs still segue together, except for the occasional Hogarth introduction.

Overall, Made Again is an interesting live set that really shows the Hogarth era of Marillion in full force. Not a bad live album at all, and it really will go over well with any Hogarth era Marillion fan. Still, though, if you're a Fish era fan like me, you'll probably find a haven in the earlier live albums, but that's not saying that this album doesn't have it's merits. Fish didn't write Easter, did he? 3.5/5.

Made Again is a double live album that contains performances from three different tours. The first six songs are from the Holidays In Eden tour, the second six from the Afraid Of Sunlight tour and the second disc is a complete performance of Brave (guess which tour that's from).

This live album has one big problem with it unfortunately, the production quality is very poor. Steve Hogarth is the only member of the band that you can hear clearly throughout both CD's, with the rhythm section of Pete Trewaves and Ian Mosley being completely lost in the mix. Guitars and keyboards can be heard quite clearly when playing the higher notes but otherwise has a very poor sound quality as well. For a band that have, in recent years at least, taken fan-friendly recordings to the extreme I would have expected a better quality of sound production from them.

Having said that, the only real gripes are that Beautiful, No One Can and Waiting To Happen aren't particularly good songs, their not exactly bad but we all know Marillion can do much better than this. I also found that Hogarth should probably stay away from certain Fish-era classics, in this case namely Kayleigh and Lavender. His style of singing really does not suit these songs (though it might work better with some songs from Clutching At Straws) as he doesn't have the sense of theatrics that Fish does, and its that ability that really does make these songs stand out.

Whether you like the second disc or note really depends on what you made of Brave, I liked the album and I believe that the performance of it here really lives up to the standard of the album, and possibly beats it. For that matter the performances of all the songs are at a very high standard from all five members of the band were no one comes close to dropping the ball. Its just a shame that you have to listen really closely to get this.

Overall this could have been a 4 star live album with only some of the songs on disc one being noticeably poorer than others (mainly the Holidays In Eden songs) and the two Fish-era songs being unsuited to Hogarths voice. However the really awful production on this album reduces my final rating to 3 stars. If you can get round the poor production you could really enjoy this album, but it does take some work for that.

For the very first time, Marillion Mark II will release a live album alost exclusively with songs from their own repertoire (except two). This shows that they have grown up and that they are confident enough now to perform only their Mark II songs and take some distance from the great Fish era (I guess that you have noticed that I far much prefer the early Marillion days, right ?).

I have always believed that this Mark II was slightly better while playing live. At least, they are least soporific. It is again the case here.

The first CD is not a bad compilation of their three studio albums from the Hogarth era. The second one is a complete rendition of "Brave" which I was not really found of (but none of the Marillion Mark II albums are really kicking me to be honest). It is a bit more "lively" and less boring than the according studio version.

This live album won't turn you into a Marillion Mark II fan if you were not previously. It might be a cheap option to discover their repertoire as such. But the musical experience won't be really great; although I admit that I am negatively biased as far as this line- up is concerned. There is nothing I can do about it. I will never understand how a guy like Hogarth could take the lead vocals in such a band.

I just keep on reviewing these albums to cope with my philosophy : go through as much as possible of the work of a band I have decided to review on this site. In this case, I won't be as harsh as with their previous studio album ("Afraid Of The Sunlight").

Still, don't expect the grandeur of the genuine Marillion live albums. This is just easy listening music (although not really easy to go through whole the way...).

Two stars, my friend.

Made Again is the first live album from the Hogarth era of Marillion, featuring performances from three different tours covering the albums Seasons End up through Afraid of Sunlight (plus Kayleigh and Lavender from the Fish-era Misplaced Childhood). The collection on the first disc is typical of the time period for Marillion, consisting mostly of their radio hits. The second disc contains the Brave album performed live in its entirety, the sole reason to get this. The performances are well done, but both discs suffer from poor recording and mixing quality as there are many moments of the "drowning out" problem that seems so typical of live albums anymore. Perhaps a bit more noodling in the studio to clean this up would have been justified. Nonetheless, this is an adequate historical record for the early years of the Hogarth era and should be in every Marillion fan's collection. For the rest of you, I recommend getting this after you've acquired the more important studio albums and their prior two Fish-era live albums. Three stars. Good, but not essential.

I've had this one in my collection for a few years now. I was listening it again today and contemplating a review, but now I'm beginning to wonder why I have this thing taking space up in my collection, other than I've never parted with a single CD title by anyone that I've collected, except for the unremasters I've replaced.

Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the quality of the music, but the versions offered here are almost exactly like the studio versions. There's the audience noise and maybe Steve sings a little more enthusiastically, but not too much so. Joe Jackson, if I can invoke his name here, illustrates what's missing here on his Live 80/86. There's three different versions of Is She Really Going Out With Him?, each radically different from the studio version and better, too. This is one of the things that led me to respect him as a musician and take interest in his music.

Made Again would have been a more interesting album if they did more material from the Fish era, because at least for having a different vocalist, it would be a lot harder to sound just like the studio versions. Kayleigh on here illustrates that. Maybe the only reason for hanging on to this is I do get some material from the early Rotherty period that come from those albums. I've heard them but have no interest in adding them to my collection. Unfortunately, those are some of the most commercial tracks they have done. So this might be a good pick for those who want a little Marillion in their collection, but not a lot. This would have been much better though as a DVD, where if the music is too similar to the studio stuff, but at least you'd get to see them in action. I'd recommend the Marbles live DVD or Brave music video DVD before this one.

This was the album that made me see the Hogarth era Marillion under a new light. I had a friend who was talking to me in his car while there was a cassette tape playing on. I was impressed by some of the stuff that I was hearing and I did not know who was, although it sounded a bit familiar. Since Fish left Marillion I did not expect anything more from this band. So much I hated the Season´s End album I had forgotten about that band since. But by judging from what I was listening at that moment, I thought it was good. So I found out it was The Made Again double Live CD and, fortunately, was being sold as a special priced import in Brazil (in 1997). I guess I bought one of the very last ones, since it was so hard to find a copy.

Marillion always prided themselves to be a fine live band and I agree. Most of the songs here are equal or slightly superior than to their original studio versions. This is specially true with the Brave stuff. The second CD is that whole album played during one show in Paris. Although I never though that the Brave CD was a real, return to roots, ´true´progressive album as some claim, it was one of the best Hogarth era efforts. I was glad to have it, but the real gem is CD 1, with some definitive renditions of their most famous and better songs since 1989. It was very clever to include only two tracks of Fish-era tunes (the obvious Kayleigh and Lavender, although the later in a extended version that also includes The Blue Angel part of Misplaced Childhood).

The band is in great form, and Steve H is singing at his best (he really have an amazing voice). The production and quality of the sound is excellent for a live album. It was good to know Steve Rothery lost none of his great ability to deliver fine guitar lines and solos and the band kept their outstanding prowess intact (even if the songwriting suffered some since Fish left). This is a latter day Marillion CD that I´m always coming back to. A great collection of their best cuts played with energy and conviction. I´m very glad to give it 4 stars.

Marillion - MADE AGAIN

Review by ProgKidJoel

Marillion's MADE AGAIN is a fantastic live double album, the first disc containing a great live set of tracks from SEASON'S END, AFRAID OF SUNLIGHT, MISPLACED CHILDHOOD and HOLIDAYS IN EDEN. The second disc contains a live version of Marillion's first real neo-prog extravaganza, BRAVE, performed live in its majestic entirety.

This album is somewhat of a new LA GAZZA LADRA: THE THIEVING MAGPIE, in that the two discs follow a similar format.

The first disc can be thought of as a "greatest hits: live" sort of album, whereas the second disc is a concept performance in its own. The best part of the first disc is in the extended version of KAYLEIGH and LAVENDER, and the latter contains a live rendition of THE SNOW ANGEL, an unreleased demo from the FISH era, which was never released, let alone played live. Every one of these tracks is played with massive enthusiasm, as is expected from the headlining neo-proggers, and differs in energy and emotion significantly from the studio recordings of these great tracks. Every guitar solo is nailed with even more technical ferocity than on the original recordings, and every single note is sung, played or hit perfectly.

The second disc is a chilling encounter - That is, meeting with one of the all time greatest records in a live setting. Once again, the band do not dissapoint, even slightly, as every single track is played with more enthusiasm and energy than the one which preceded it, keeping the listener on the edge of their seat throughout this wild ride.

Sonically, I can't lay a finger on this record - Its perfectly recorded, and easily one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of buying and listening to.

Much like LA GAZZA LADRA, this is a great sampler of the band at this stage.

Enjoy! -Joel

the closing of a chapter...

...once more. In many ways, for Marillion's Era with Steve Hogarth, "Made again" is what "La Gazza Ladra - the thieving Magpie" was for Marillion with Fish - only that, in this case, there was no change of line-up in sight. ( Thank god ). It's not only featuring one of their best loved albums live in its entirety ( Here it is "Brave", on "La Gazza..." it was "Misplaced Childhood" ) together with another disc comprising highlights from the other albums ( plus "Kayleigh" and "Lavender" ), supposed to be a "big one" it's also the closing of a chapter - goodbye major-company, hello indie... looking back, resuming what values had been achieved and from that point on - opening a new one, going into new directions. And it's another live-album belonging to that "duty" category, it's not one that apparently had screamed for its release - while it sure aimed at satisfying three parties, the record company, the devoted fans ( who surely had waited long enough for a live-album with Mr. H ) and all the people who did not know what this band was about by then, but were willing to give 'em a try. It does have a nice packaging, a little poster and some excerpts of H's tour-diary, but most of all it's got a lot of music on it.

Good music. Played and recorded at good concerts. Some of the stuff is really fabulous and points at how good a live-album this could have been. Maybe all of the stuff... ( apart from "Kayleigh", which I still don't like when Hogie is singing it, "Lavender" is alright, and apart from the beginning of "Brave" with "Living in the big lie", a piece that was very hard to handle in concert and sometimes did not make it the impressive start that it was as on the studio-album, here they failed, but on the "Alone again in the Lap of Luxury"-Maxi the band had shown that they could do it justice ! ) ...is fabulous, but the problem with "Made again" is... one can't really hear it. The final mix of the album is neither pleasing the performance of the musicians nor the atmosphere of the concerts - it sounds dull and lacks dynamics. I really don't know why. It's a mystery. Was it Chris "Privet" Hedge ? Did the mastering-process destroy what elseway would really have offered a big time ?

All I know is that there's quite a lot of recordings of those tours that sound far better. And though this failure can't completely destroy the pleasure of 90% of the great music and musicianship you can find here, it still simply sucks and leads to the omission of a whole star. I really like the way the band linked the two oldies together with "AOS", I love the versions of "Waiting to happen" and "Splintering Heart" ( I chose to remaster both of them by myself with my Magix-equipment and though I'm no sound-engineer at all I think that I got it right with "Splintering heart", but believe me, it was a lot of work and I still think "Waiting to happen" could use some more ), I think that the band played fabulous on several "Brave"-Tracks ( especially the title-track ), and though "King" was still far from being that rousing, energetic fab-track that it became on "Anorak in the UK" it's still better than on AOS. These are the little things that make me deny a lower rating. Nonetheless, if it was "Privet" Hedge's crime then he somehow disappeared from future-releases of this band for the right reasons. I don't remember the concert I've been to in 1994 sounding half as dull. Whoever is responsible for the final mix here - one star, no more. The music gets 4. The resulting product gets a bare 3.

It was and is a disappointment, and we - the "Hogie-era-fans" - had not got our "Real to reel" yet. Well, in the years to come we got a flood of live-recordings, though ( perhaps a little too much ? I still only have retail-releases and want to built up a DVD-collection soon... so do not wonder about my reviews being limited to retail-CDs by now ). But by then... we still had to wait. And right now - there's no need to spend your money on "Made again" anymore. It's not essential. The chapter was closed and hopefully it fulfilled its duty back then. Go buy "Anorak in the UK" if you want a great live-album by Marillion with Hogie... and, to close my review with another hint at "La Gazza...": As an introduction to this band, I'd rather recommend "The best of both worlds" !!!

Made Again was cobbled together in an approach which takes the strongest aspects of both Reel to Real and The Thieving Magpie. Like the latter, it's a two-disc affair which includes a complete concept album performance on disc 2 (it's Brave this time), like the former, disc 1 is structured such that the first half is from one gig and the second half is from another, meaning that it flows together better than Thieving Magpie's rather fragmentary first disc.

Disc 1 is a bit of a mixed bag; Seasons End is rather under-represented, and whilst Easter is a fine song from it to pick Hooks In You has never won me over. In the first half, Holidays In Eden is heavily represented, though I think the lack of This Town/The Rake's Progress/100 Nights deprives listeners of a highlight of the Holidays-era live experience. On the second half, the inclusion (yet again) of Kayleigh/Lavender, whilst it would be appropriate for an album reproducing a complete concert, in this case means decent H-era songs are crowded out, though at least there's some good picks from Afraid of Sunlight there. The quality of the recording feels a bit of a step down from the standards applied to, say, The Thieving Magpie, though I'm not sure whether that's a factor of this not having had a remaster as recently as Magpie has or EMI simply not putting as much effort into recording Marillion live as they did during the Fish era.

On disc 2, I'd actually say the performance of Brave here is much better than the performance of Misplaced Childhood from The Thieving Magpie - in the live context the band compensate for the lack of pitch-perfect studio production by investing more energy into the songs, creating an angrier and more emotionally forceful runthrough of the material. The enthusiasm of the crowd for the album is palpable, with the audience sounding more enthusiastic than any audience I've heard on Hogarth-era material from the Seasons End and Holidays In Eden tours, and the band's ability to recreate pieces such as the schizophrenic Goodbye to All That onstage is a joy to listen to. On the other hand, if you've heard the studio album, you've heard this already to a large extent.

On the whole, I'd give this one three stars. Were I basing this solely on disc 1, I'd give it two and a half stars for the first half (plenty of complete Holidays-era live albums are available) and three and a half for the second half (the Afraid of Sunlight tour isn't represented at all on the second Official Bootleg boxed set, so this is the only EMI-supported release of live material from that era), whereas I'd give the second disc a strong three and a half stars since despite EMI not putting much effort into the packaging and production, it's still the best available recording of the complete Brave album from the Brave tour. (There's another version on the second Official Bootleg box, but here the entirety of the Brave performance is contained on one disc - plus this one just plain sounds better.)

'Made Again' is a double live album from Marillion, released 25 March 1996. The first disc is a combination of recordings from the Holidays in Eden tour and the Afraid of Sunlight tour. Tracks 1-6 were recorded in London on the Holidays in Eden tour (1991), and tracks 7-13 were recorded in Rotterdam on the Afraid of Sunlight tour (1995). The second disc consists of a full live version of 'Brave' recorded in Paris in 1994. The band played 'Brave' two other times in their career: Marillion Weekend 2002 and Marillion Weekend 2013. The format of 'Made Again' mirrors that of the previous Marillion live album, 'The Thieving Magpie' (1988), which also documented a four studio album period, contained a complete performance of a concept album on one disc (in that case, 'Misplaced Childhood'), and marked the end of an era (Fish's departure). 'Made Again,' in turn, was the final album Marillion released with EMI Records.

The live material taken from the Holidays in Eden tour obviously consists of mostly songs from 'Holidays in Eden.' These include "Splintering Heart," "No One Can," "Waiting to Happen," and "Cover My Eyes." I love the opener "Splintering Heart" as it's a powerful live number that lures the listener in and then punches them in the solar plexus once the whole band starts playing. The other songs included from 'Holidays in Eden' are not favorites of mine from the band, making this portion of 'Made Again' a low point on the album. I don't mind simple pop songs, and I think that Marillion excel at writing great pop melodies and hooks, but these songs in particular don't do much for me. Nevertheless, the performances are great, especially from Steve Hogarth who is incredibly enthusiastic in every live performance I've seen of him. The remaining tracks from the first half of the first disc, "Easter" and "The Space," are both taken from 'Seasons End.' Both of these tracks, especially "Easter," are live favorites from Marillion that the band have played countless times over the years.

I prefer the second half of the first disc, which was taken from the Afraid of Sunlight tour. I'm biased for holding this opinion as I think 'Afraid of Sunlight' is a masterpiece and one of the best albums Marillion has ever done. The last two tracks of the first disc ("Afraid of Sunlight" and "King"), both of which were originally recorded on 'Afraid of Sunlight,' are among my favorite Marillion songs. Both songs are incredibly powerful. However, I feel that the ending of "King" on 'Made Again' doesn't quite match the same power as it's studio counterpart. While I'm not the biggest fan of "Hooks in You" from 'Seasons End,' there's no denying its infectious energy that is especially palpable when performed live. "Beautiful" is an example of a great pop song that Marillion are very capable of writing. Then, the band indulge in nostalgia as they play "Kayleigh" and "Lavender" from 'Misplaced Childhood.' Steve Hogarth delivers a great vocal performance on both songs that were originally written when Fish was Marillion's frontman.

My favorite Marillion album may change here and there, but 'Brave' has been my favorite Marillion album since I first listened to it a couple years ago. 'Brave' has a gravitas unlike any other album I've ever heard. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of how it would sound in a live setting, but I was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere of the audience and the whole venue is unlike anything that was heard on the first disc. I was curious to see how the band would pull off the chaotic 'Goodbye to All That' with it's contrasting musical sections. I'm pleased to say that the band replicated the whole album flawlessly. I wish I was there to see this magical piece of music performed live in all its glory.

In conclusion, 'Made Again' is an excellent live album from Marillion. My main criticisms come from the first disc. I find that the combination of two different tours creates a disjointed live album listening experience. However, the second disc is cohesive as all the live material was recorded from the same show. Also, certain performances on 'Made Again' pale in comparison to the studio versions. Another minor issue I have of 'Made Again' is that all of these live performances sound nearly identical to the studio versions, which is why I don't return to this live album too often. There's no reason for me to choose 'Made Again' over 'Holidays in Eden,' 'Afraid of Sunlight,' or 'Brave.'