MARILLION

The new Marillion album, "FEAR", has been compared to "Brave" and very early Marillion. In fact, however, it sounds like "Afraid of Sunlight" (or even "This Strange Engine") Part 2, artificially constructed as an epic. The music is either slow or very slow and is unpretentious, most of the time reminding me of symphonic Ambient with vocals. There are few purely instrumental arrangements (none of which exceed 1 minute in duration), and they're as boring as the mixed ones, Hogarth really whining this time around, throughout the album, no matter what he whines about, i.e., the lyrics are more than merely decent overall. Sans the concluding one, The New Kings, all the epic-length songs are just pseudo-epic in construction. Either way, while being the best track here, The New Kings is also dissatisfying from a progressive rock perspective, strongly inferior to 'The King' from the aforementioned "This Strange Engine". IMO, any progressive rock song should be created on the basis of instrumental arrangements (as it was in the case of "Brave", for instance), rather than by using the vocal lines as a 'starting point' for composing music, but "FEAR" is characterized exactly by the latter approach. To be objective, I must add that the album is by no means devoid of what we've used to call "atmosphere", which is more often dramatic than romantic (indeed, it would've been really strange had it been otherwise), but never really dark, let alone fearful. So, if you consider "Brave" the best Marillion album (as I do), avoid "FEAR", because there's too little here to please even a 'classic' neo-prog fan, let alone those who prefer profound progressive rock.

Don't get me wrong, I used to be a great enthousiast of Marillion. I liked them to bits. I even enjoyed Marillion.com and Anaroknophobia.

But since they turned into a shadow of themselves, every album seems and sounds uninspired. FEAR sounds like the guys really don't want to do it anymore. They do it for the fans. Mediocre songs with uninspired musical and vocal contributions.

Mark Kelly and Pete Trewavas are the only ones that sound great. Ian Mosley hasn't played a single drumroll or beat since Interior Lulu that held me in awe. He sounds tired and washed out. The same goes for Steve Rothery, where are the heartbreaking and goosebumpy solos like on Easter or Ocean Cloud?

And Steve Hogarth sings really forced. He takes the leadrole and he's always singing, never giving the band a chance to come with nice instrumental passages. He never really was a good singer, but he had soul and emotion. Now it all seems gone.

The last great record the band made was Less is More and with pain in my heart, I must admit that Marillion doesn't do it for me anymore. Sorry guys.

So here we are once more to talk about Marillion's new stuff. Once more their latest work is subsequent to a pre-order, then there is the promotional tour, maybe with a LIVE record, then there will be the Marillion Weekend followed by a DVD and so on and on, with a tried and tested mechanism to earn money, well supported by the huge quantity of fans. Before going on I need to make you notice that I know Marillion since their very first start, and I loved them in both Fish and H lives.

I've listened to FEAR several times then I decided to write down this review, which is a step forward with the respect of the preceding STCBM, when I was totally unimpressed.

The overall impression is that this new work is better than the preceding album, there are no silly songs as "Pour My Love" or "Invisible Ink", there are long suites in the classical aim of progressive rock songs. My perception is that the sounds and the song structures come from preceding recording sessions as MARBLES or BRAVE (don't be surprised... these are their best works in H era and are extremely beloved by fans) or also something from THIS STRANGE ENGINE. The result brings, in my opinion, to useless long suites built up with cut&paste of several sketches, without energy, inspiration and creativity. The guitar solos, once one of their best things, come out always in the same way, with the same register and the same pattern. The drummer work seems unenthusiastic, poor of ideas and even the drums sound seems too grave and vintage, as if it would have been recorded with only two overhead microphones, instead of a complete set on the single components of the drumkit. Too bad! On the other hand, Mark Kelly seems to have found another time that beautiful way to play piano, which was among the beautiful things of Marillion sound (remember how strong and incisive was the chord which followed 'So here I am once more..." in the first album) and Pete's bass is always precise, well rounded and rich of good patterns. I've found very interesting and captivating the sumptuous end of "The New Kings", but when you have to wait almost an hour for an emotion in a CD, something's not going in the right way, don't you think?

At the end I think that Marillion have a huge amount of unreleased stuff in their wardrobes, and they eventually extract from it what their fans prefer, since they've paid for the new album in advance. Hoping the provisions will end as soon as possible I cannot give more than 2 stars. 2.5 for the love I had for this band in the past.

"The cold war's gone, but those bastards'll find us another one/They're here to protect you, don't you know?/So get used to it - Get used to it!.../The sense that it's useless, and the fear to try/Not believing the leaders, the media that feed us/Living with the big lie." ("Living With the Big Lie," from Brave)

In the 27 years since Steve Hogarth took over as lead vocalist for Marillion, the band has had only one bona fide concept album: the aurally and emotionally stunning Brave (1994). Using as a starting point the (true) news story of a young woman found roaming around an area of England -- who did not know who she was, or where she had come from, and even refused to speak to the police or the media -- the band created a fictional "back story" for her, which included some fairly "dark" elements, including re politics, socio-culture, media -- and fear. The above quotation is a good example -- and very relevant to their new album, as the new album offers a look at how the "big lie" has become even bigger. However, the overall effect of Brave was more "melancholic" than grim, more sad than "judgmental" (of the society they describe).

Twenty-two years later, the same (or worse) "darkness" exists in many of the same ways, but even more ominously now -- and this time the band is at the center of the story -- and they are ANGRY. Indeed, the overall effect of the album is one of barely checked (and occasionally unbridled) anger, and a deep frustration and concern both for England (whom they are directly addressing) and beyond (including the U.S., for whom some of the issues are the same). One might say (borrowing another phrase from Brave) that the band is no longer "hollow men," but has become both worldly-wise and world-weary, both "informed" and disillusioned, even (to a degree) cynical.

The album consists of three suites, separated by two other compositions, one of which relates directly to the suites, the other of which seems a tad out of place (though, as we will see, its inclusion does make some sense). The three suites -- "El Dorado," "The Leavers," and "The New Kings" -- and the related composition ("Living in FEAR") are all, in one form or another, observations on fear: how it is created (fear-mongering), how it is controlled (via politics and media), how it affects people. The other composition ("White Paper") is mostly a meditation on love -- in this case, "dying" love -- though it seems that the love is dying at least in part as the result of the prevailing atmos-fear. Thus, while it is a tad more "jarring" in this context then the similar inclusion of love on Brave, there is no question that love is also a victim of fear.

The album opens with "El Dorado," a five-part composition that describes the plight of immigrants, and the roadblocks (both figurative and literal) that they often encounter, particularly including xenophobia:

"The roads are traveled by many, like promises of peace./And some choose not to go -- the fear looks like bravado./I see them waiting, smiling, on the borders in dawn's mist,/Or lost to the world in their upturned boats"/"I see myself in them, the people at the borders/Denied our so-called golden streets,/Running from demolished lives into walls."

It doesn't get much more concise, and understandably cynical, than that. In fact, this suite makes an interesting companion piece to "Gaza" (from their previous album, Sounds That Can't Be Made): where the latter (a 17-minute epic) is specific to a certain group, the former (another 17-minute epic) deals with a broader scope. It is also interesting to note that this album was written and recorded well before the Brexit vote, and could be seen as somewhat prescient in that regard.

"Living in FEAR" is a more generalized look at fear, and particularly the responses it creates, not least including a variety of "walls" (again, both literal and figurative). Noting specific walls and "lines not to be crossed" (the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line, the Berlin Wall -- all of which are called "a waste of time"), it also speaks to the "walls" that people themselves put up when they are afraid.

That observation is made against a hopeful call for some sort of normalcy:

"The key left in the outside of the unlocked door isn't forgetfulness --/It's a challenge to change your heart./The apple pie cooling on the windowsill is such a welcome change/From living in fear -- year after year after year./There's a price to pay, living in fear is so very dear./Can you really afford it?"

There is also a call to "put down our arms" ("We've decided to risk melting our guns -- as a show of strength").

Although least "political," the second suite ("The Leavers") puts the band in the center of the story -- after all, touring allows for a degree of observation of the world that is perhaps only shared by true "world travelers." The band sees itself as "Leavers" -- "parties that travel" -- who show up for a day or two and then move on. They arrive "before dawn," and "slip in from ring- roads," bringing their "boxes of noises, boxes of light": "We will make a show and then we'll go." They juxtapose themselves against the "Remainers": those who "remain in their homely places" (i.e., lead normal lives), and sometimes "try to persuade us, and tame us, and train us and save us and keep us home as we try to fit in with the family life." But once in a while, the Remainers "leave their homely places with excited faces -- preparing their minds for a break from the sensible life" (i.e., a rock concert)..."[I]n one sacred ritual, we all come together -- We're all one tonight."

As noted, although "White Paper" is something of an "outlier" here, it nevertheless provides a look at how fear can affect love -- and vice-versa.

"The New Kings" is the angriest and most sardonic of the three suites. It addresses money and media, plutocrats and oligarchs. Re money, it is decidedly less than kind:

"We are the new Kings, buying up London from Monaco./We do as we please, while you do as you're told./Our world orbits yours and enjoys the view,//From this height we don't see the slums and the bums on the street./Oceans of money high in the clouds/But if you hang around, more often than not it will trickle down./We're too big to fall, we're too big to fail."

Even Gordon Gekko gets a shout-out ("Greed is good").

With respect to the media, the following plaint by a confused citizen pretty much nails the cynicism of many people (including conspiracy theorists):

"We saw the crash on the news today/It changed our lives -- but did it really happen?.../I don't know if I can believe the news/They can do anything with computers these days."

As an aside, it is interesting to consider "The New Kings" in light of the following from Brave's "Paper Lies":

"Are we living only for today?/It's a sign of the times --/We believe anything and nothing./When you look into the money/Do you see a face you hardly recognize?/When you get behind the news of the world/Do the things you find begin to bend your mind?/Paper lies."

As noted, after 22 years, not only has nothing changed, but it seems to have gotten worse.

But the band leaves its bitterest anger at the "approaching storm" (which may well already be here) for last:

"Remember a time when you thought that you mattered/Believed in the school song, die for your country/A country that cared for you -- all in it together?/A national anthem you could sing without feeling used or ashamed./If it ever was more than a lie, or some naïve romantic notion/Well, it's all shattered now./Why is nothing ever true?.../On your knees, peasant. You're living for the New King."

Although Marillion (and particularly Mr. Hogarth) has always dabbled in socio-politics, it has become increasingly present -- and the band increasingly concerned -- of late. In this regard, F.E.A.R. is a shamelessly -- and understandably -- angry set of observations, and brings their socio-politics to a fine (rapier-like) point.

Musically, if Marillion's three strongest musical influences are (as I have always felt) Genesis, Pink Floyd and the Moody Blues, this album is strongly (and superbly) Floydian, with nice touches of the Moodies, and only occasional Genesis influence. (Indeed, the electric piano figure in "The Gold," and some other keyboard figures, could have been lifted from PF's Animals. And much of the guitar work throughout has a wonderfully Gilmour-ish sensibility.) This is actually not surprising (and is meant as a compliment), given that PF are the masters of the kind of "dystopian" rock that F.E.A.R. represents. And although everyone in the band is superb -- and there is a deceptively brilliant cohesion that approaches a sort of uber-gestalt -- this album is largely Mark Kelly's (with a more-than-able assist from guitarist Steve Rothery): although Mr. Hogarth undoubtedly plays some piano parts, it is Mr. Kelly's piano and keyboards (along with the atmospheres and effects created in the studio) that undergird nearly the entire album. And this, too, is not surprising, since this is true of almost every great concept album in prog.

As suggested above, there are also quite a few allusions (subconscious or not), both lyrical and musical, to Brave. In fact, after you have had a chance to truly take this album in, I invite you to go back and read the lyrics to Brave, and then listen to Brave again. And this is not in any way a criticism of F.E.A.R.: if anything, it is another compliment. Indeed, the only reason I am rating this album 4.5 instead of five stars is that I gave five stars to Brave; and while this album is superb in every way -- and harks back to that masterpiece -- it does not quite reach the frightening brilliance of its predecessor.

Finally, there is an aspect of this album that I have not found with any other concept album in memory. [N.B. This is where even curious readers who are reading this before listening may want to stop and listen to the album first. I am quite serious. I'll give you a little time to think about it. (Tick-tock-tick-tock?)]

What I have discovered is that the five pieces are strangely "inter-changeable." What I mean by this is that the song order can be changed, not only without changing the overall concept, but, in at least one case (and I admit this is hopelessly presumptive) possibly strengthening it.

This thought first occurred when I received the album as a download, with the song "Tomorrow's New Country" closing the album, even though it appeared on the lyric sheet as the sixth ("vi") part of "The Leavers." When I contacted Marillion to make sure this was the correct placement, I asked, if it was, whether it was deliberate: i.e., an attempt to "soften the blow" at the end of "The New Kings." The response was, yes, it was meant as an "antidote" (their word), and was deliberately moved from "The Leavers" to the end of the album (though the lyric sheet still reflected its original place).

So -- I decided to see what the album would sound like putting "Tomorrow's New Country" back in its "proper" place. And the effect was remarkable. Not better or worse, just -- different, in a surprising (and even conceptually relevant) way. (Once you have heard the album in its given order a few times, I highly recommend programming it to do this -- just for fun, if nothing else.) Then, feeling as I do about "White Paper," I decided to test a theory, and played the five pieces in a couple of different orders entirely (while keeping the three suites in order). The order that surprised me most (in a positive, eyebrow-raising way) with respect to expressing the overall concept (and also working together "musically" from one track to another) was starting with "White Paper," playing the three suites in their present order one after the other, and ending with "Living in FEAR." Again, I am not suggesting that the order chosen by the band is "wrong" in any way. After all, the band's "vision" is the one that counts, and there are reasons (good ones!) that they chose the song order that they did. I am simply suggesting that, unlike most (maybe any) concept albums you've heard, there is an interesting ability to "play around" with the placement of the two non-suites, and maintain both conceptual and musical integrity.

Ultimately, F.E.A.R. is a superb album (and, like all great albums, gets better with each listen), and a welcome addition not only to Marillion's oeuvre, but to the prog concept album canon. Kudos to one of the few bands that keeps neo-prog not simply alive, but thriving and -- progressing. And a band that has genuine care and concern for the world around them and the people who live in it.

The debut release of Marillion is very uncovenient and surprising. Not because of the fact that it's an EP, but for featuring the ultimate 17+- minute prog epic on a modest place of "B-side" non-album material. Surely if the currency of progressive rock had been any stronger at the early 80's (those were indeed the starvation years of prog), works like 'Grendel' would have been given all the glory, pride and self-esteem as a side of an LP, perhaps as a title epic, instead of being hidden on an EP.

But first about the two other songs. 'Market Square Heroes' is a bold, anthem-like rock song filled with the aspiring attitude of "Look out! Here we come!" Actually it has never much impressed me in its chorus-oriented straight-forwardness. I even prefer 'Three Boats Down from the Candy', which is powerfully dynamic as it finally bursts open after the creepy, held-back quietness and is finished with a fine guitar solo. The theatricality of Fish works well, I wouldn't blame him for being a Peter Gabriel clone. Or Marillion a Genesis clone.

'Grendel' marks a rare, almost one-of-a-kind view on the early 80's prog revivalists stepping bravely into the territory of multi- part, side-long epics such as Genesis's 'Supper's Ready' - to which it's often compared; I agree with Cygnus X-2 that the beat around the 13th minute resembles the Apocalypse section of 'Supper's Ready' and otherwise any accusations of mockery is unfair.

I always like to deal with the literary connections in prog compositions. The monster named Grendel originates from the Medieval epic poem Beowulf. But that's not the whole story when it comes to Fish's lyrics. He was inspired by John Gardner's novella "Grendel" (1971) that tells the story mostly from the monster's point of view. Of course I had to read the book (sadly unavailable in Finnish) as a young adult and a Marillion fan, but frankly the book didn't grab me as far as I remember. The author is American (1933 - 1982), not the British James Bond novelist of the same name. Also musically 'Grendel' succeeds extremely well in creating the horrorful atmosphere. The sections with different tempos and moods follow each other in a good balance. The nocturnal creepiness, the terror and violence, and finally the heroic conclusion... it's all captured vividly within the 17½ minutes. An admirable - if not technically faultless - piece from a band at the beginning of their recording career.

All three tracks of this EP are to be found on "B'Sides Themselves", but sadly its version of 'Three Boats...' is violently faded in the end.

"Radiation 2013" or "Radiation Remixed", as it's come to be known, is never a welcoming salvo for a rock music fan. But it gets us to the heart of the matter. Radiation, first released in it's original sound mix album form in 1998, despite it's incendiary cover art, was not a Marillion album that set the world on fire. The album, like the band, were going independent. Well, at least as far as record labels were concerned after splitting from the massive EMI label after Afraid Of Sunlight.

The band soon began trying to find their feet, first with excellent but heavily acoustic album This Strange Engine before trying again with Radiation. This Strange Engine featured some excellent prog songs, with different song presentations and style, and was given a pass as being Marillion's "This Strange Album." Something akin to a prog group doing the unplugged thing, but not taking the music that far into the world of acoustic. That would happen on the group's album Less Is More some ten years later.

However, Radiation definitely showed growing pains as the songs were less progressively epic and seemed to lack drama, which is saying quite a lot for a Marillion album. Of course, excellent songs like The Three Minute Boy, These Chains, and A Few Words For The Dead have drama in spades, but somehow seemed incapable of conveying it. The problem? The sound mix, naturally, as as the band could not possibly do any wrong, so they thought. "It's the mix! Let's fix it!"

Well, it's not that simple as the original mix, a bit cluttered and noisy, was not a disaster. The 2013 remix, for the sake of simplicity, generally adds greater clarity and detail, especially to the rhythm section. With the removal of "backing vocals probably by H, Pete and Mark" as well as removing Hogarth's ghost vocals and overdubs, this helps the instruments to come more to the fore and become the backing voices of the songs, and places Hogarth as more of a single narrator of the songs. A simple trick, but not really the cure. But as I said, it's an admission that the group somehow dropped the ball. And that's sad as Radiation, both the original and remixed versions have their virtues and fine moments, with Cathedral Wall and A Few Words For The Dead (with it's lush middle eastern vibe that seems to predate the song Gaza from Sounds That Can't Be Made) are wonderfully heavy keyboard and guitar based songs that display a rare interplay between Mark Kelly and Steve Rothery. Steve Hogarth's vocals are as always earnest, if not as precious this time around, and the usual call and response bass and drum playing by Pete Trewavas and Ian Mosley are in full display.

So what was wrong? Perhaps people just expected too much. Radiation is not Marillion's best album nor their worst. It's good and deserves a listen without any preconceptions or unreasonable expectations. Personally, I love all the members of Marillion for giving me a wealth of music to enjoy for the last 30 years. I just never considered them to be infallible, which is probably why I can enjoy this album on it's own terms. 3.5 stars.

Marillion, to me, are one of the few current era prog ensembles that still generates a type of magical sound due to the band's undeniable chemistry. Marillion.com, from 1999, like it's predecessor Radiation (from 1998), is a sorely unappreciated album that some how has been thrown into the scrap pile of of "band growing pains." This is quite odd to me, as if growth and stretching out were somehow incompatible with prog. But what type of growth? And exactly in which direction, please?

Well, that's the rub. Marillion got very influenced by late 20th century alternate rockers like Radiohead. Ah, you see? And alternate universes are always somehow unwanted, especially in rock music. But Marillion don't sound anything like Radiohead or other alt rockers from that era. They sound like, well, Marillion.

And that's chiefly because the band, after the epic album Brave, from 1994, has focused it's sound around Steve Hogarth's soul searing confessions and battles to face up to pain, disappointment and overcoming mistakes. Marillion has the magic to turn an emotional journey into something quite visceral. When Hogarth sings of pain, the band play the pain (on Go!), or nightmares and regret (Interior Lulu) or even brief moments of joy and celebrations of life (the magnificent Tumble Down The Years). Oddly, despite the album's title and cover art, there's little mention of the Internet by Hogarth, except to ask if the we're really "connected" to one another through the marvel of social media.

But the trick with Marillion.com is that you have to be receptive to it. Beneath some of album's catchy songs (like Deserve with it's faux Motown horn climax and near continuous shaking tambourines and hand claps) are some of Hogarth's most disturbing and almost preachy lyrics, since the album Brave. However, there are no continuous spiraling epics with climatic guitar solos like on Brave's The Great Escape. And that's the real beauty of Marillion.com. You can focus on either the music, which is at times upbeat or nightmarish (Interior Lulu is a moody slow paced song that jet propels instantly into some kind of insane ELP-like Karnevil 9 overdrive in the song's mid section) or you can be brave and just focus on the lyrics. And if you do the later, the music will come across as something very different than alternate rock.

It will, by God, be exactly what it was intended to be. Shear magical Marillion. So enjoy, or learn, or be moved by it. You very brave soul.

And, for the record, Marillion.com, beautifully recorded, features one of the finest sound mixes that I've heard in quite a long time. Something sorely lacking in Radiation, which helped to drive down the listening value of that album for many people, myself included.

Being such a Genesis fan, I decided to give several Marillion albums a listen after reading all the comparisons with the former band. I know those comparisons mostly extend to the Fish-era albums, but after leaving those albums disappointed, I figured I'd give H a chance. I decided to stick to his two highest rated albums which includes this album and Marbles. I gotta say, what a disappointment and believe me, I tried. I first listened to this album about a year ago when I was listening to Marillion for about a month. I gave them such a chance because 1) they are inspired by Genesis 2) they have a serious following who will pre-purchase their albums before they're made, travel around the world to spend a weekend with their group, and fund their tours and still pay for the tickets. Anyways, onto the actual album. Well, I decided to give this album one last chance today, as well as the band. The only thing prog about this album seems to be the concept. This is a story about a girl who has all these issues and gradually becomes more suicidal until she ends it (or not, depending on how you interpret it). Anyways, Marillion has always been one downer of a band. I mean, just look at all their album cover art. I mean it is all dark. I don't particularly like dark music, but hey, I enjoy my VDGG every now and then so why not Marillion. Well, this album is plain boring. Apparently the band thinks it is best to listen to this in a room with the lights off and headphones on? Sheesh, how can I stay awake? Hogarth is a competent singer, he certainly isn't bad but his vocals aren't very striking either. Sometimes I tune his vocals out without even trying and I still haven't quite followed the story either because it is a struggle to say focused on the album and the lyrics Hogarth sings. I'll listen to this and start doing something and then I'm on the 5th track and I wonder what happened to the three in between. The band switches between soft moments with minimalistic guitar noises and ambience to hard rocking tunes and then back to soft then hard. I forget about the soft moments and then the hard rocking moments help remind that the album is still on like the track "Hard as Love." The problem is that even these hard bits still bore and do nothing for me. Hogarth also sounds rather depressed throughout the album. Their is very little changes in anything and I can't tell when a song ends and the other begins. While Fish-era albums relied on complex time signatures, Hogarth-era albums have gone the "less is more" route. Most of these songs are simple pop songs and little changes, and none of the songs are truly catchy or memorable. This is just the same old, life can suck that this bands seems to like to stress. And that is the biggest problem I have with this album and the band, I have very little fun listening to them, and I sometimes wonder if it can be all that fun singing about such dark topics? for every single song.

After their ostentatious lyricist and lead singer ("Fish" aka Derek W. Dick) jumped ship, Marillion were left to pick up the pieces and reassemble them meaningfully, and that they did but good! Using some of the music they had written while Fish was still in the band, they took on new boy Steve Hogarth, rewrote the libretto, and discovered their second wind.

This is a wonderful set of songs if not quite picking up where Marillion left off stylistically under Fish's influence. Highlights of "Season's End" include the title track -- addressing climate change when hardly anyone was thinking about it yet -- and "King Of Sunset Town" which goes from utterly quiet, adding instruments subtly and gradually into the mix, until an incredible cathartic mid-section and end is reached. "H" has arrived....

But there is also "Easter," a powerful vocal and instrumental tour-de-force from the band (in this case with echoes of Irish folk music) that transports me to a place of such ecstasy that I'd swear I am rolling in four-leaf clover; and it boasts one of the most gorgeous, lyrical guitar solos ever from Steve Rothery. The remaining songs are just fine: Marillion would go on to do better things, but this shows that the group retained all of the talent and spirit they had prior to the split with Fish. This album is a musical documentary of a group in transition, and essential for those who dig the "h" era of Marillion.

One word: Grendel

Released in 1988, "B'Sides Themselves" is technically the last MARILLION record featuring Fish. This compilation contains songs from 1982-1987 not previously released on the four LPs: B-sides available on EPs only and reworked versions of the band's first EP "Market Square Heroes". A piece of all these EPs are shown on the cover art. Now, how does it compare to their studio albums?

The first half of the record is the main interest, mainly due to the 17 minutes long epic suite "Grendel". A masterpiece, however controversial, as it reuses at minute 13 a passage from GENESIS' "Supper's Ready". This was the main reason why MARILLION were accused of being a copycat of their British elder brothers. This said, the rest of the track marks his difference and possesses his own identity. To sum up, it simply contains the best the neo-progressive genre has to offer: melancholic passages, calm and epic rock moments, fantasy keyboards, powerful progression, it will transport into you a colorful magical world! Furthermore, the medieval guitar introduction is beautiful. So I find the plagiarism accusation a bit exaggerated. One of MARILLION's greatest compositions, and also one of the best neo-pogressive songs! It's a pity Fish and co. hadn't composed a track this ambitious after... Anyway, the renaissance of fairytale prog has begun...

On the contrary, "Charting The Single" is quite insipid with its awful drum sound. Despite its dated synthesizer sound, "Market Square Heroes" is quite energetic and catchy. "Three Boats Down From The Candy" is enjoyable but more uneven, the most interesting passage being the powerful ending guitar section. These two songs were initially recorded for the band's first EP in 1982, "Market Square Heroes", which already unveils a glimpse of the band's creativity. Nonetheless, the tracks on this compilation are in fact the reworked B-Sides versions from the 1984 EP "Punch and Judy". Also unequal, "Cinderella Search" features a few changes and has punchy hard rock finale.

The second half of the record is a little less inspired. "Lady Nina" and "Freaks" are soapy 80's pop, which does not really comes as a surprise as they were recorded the same year as their consensual LP "Misplaced Childhood". "Tux On" is an efficient eighties rock with a crying guitar solo, whereas the live "Margaret" is a long jam based on a rock version of "Scotland the Brave". It even contains a small passage from EDWARD GRIEG's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in "Peer Gynt". Fun, but a bit lengthy.

Although uneven, "B'Sides Themselves" is an interesting compilation, as it features the epic "Grendel". The true weak parts are mostly the 1985 tracks, recorded during the commercial period of the Fish-era. Compare to their studio albums, the other tracks are overall less ambitious and magical, but nonetheless quite nice and rocking. Anyway, they're better than the weak tracks of the studio albums.

"B'Sides Themselves" is essential for fans of MARILLION's first years with Fish. "Grendel" is also a good entry point for those wanting to discover neo-prog. A little gem...