MARILLION

The album opens with the 17 and a half minute long "Gaza", a charged track dealing with the living conditions of the people in Gaza. The track alternates between heavier sections and more ethereal parts. There are moments which are probably about as heavy as anything Marillion has done. You can tell this a subject the band really feels for and they manage to convey both the emotion and the urgency of the situation.

"One day I'll play you the sounds that can't be made", is the opening refrain of the title track which actually sounds like about as *proggy* a song as the band does these days. I found myself tapping my foot vigourously with this one.

The album almost immediately changes direction with the almost power ballad-y "Pour My Love". It is a pleasant enough song in that style and it doesn't drag the album down, but at about six minutes an argument could be made that it goes on a minute or two longer than needed.

"Power" is a track I first heard when I saw the band play at the Opera House in Toronto back in June 2012 and he remembers thinking about it as a very serviceable album cut and that's pretty much what it turned out to be. It follows the oft-used Hogarth era pattern of building from a slow start to a crescendo before dropping back and then shifting into high gear again.

We then reach "Montreal", the second longest track on the album, which is basically a love letter to their fans in that city; there is a reason they hold their North American fan conventions in Montreal, after all. Perhaps it's because I have seen the band play "Montreal" in Montreal (twice!) that I feel a special connection to this track. It is an absolutely fantastic 14 minutes of music and, in my opinion, the anchor of the album.

The album contains two more shorter tracks: "Invisible Ink", another very serviceable album cut of post-Marbles rock music, and "Lucky Man", which is actually quite a good and memorable rock song.

Sounds That Can't Be Made ends with the third 10+ minute track, "The Sky Above the Rain", which begins as an introspective piece lead by piano.

Overall, Sounds That Can't Be Made is an excellent album that is clearly a cut above the band's previous several efforts. Some have mentioned that it is probably Marillion's best work since Marbles and quite rightly. Although it falls a bit short of being a masterpiece like some of their earlier works, the extra time the band took to make this album shows; it is a more inspired and consistent release which is well worth having in your collection.

I give it a solid 4/5 M's. Mmmm!

I have no real favourite track on here, and my preferences change all the time.At the moment I often listen to She Cameleon a lot. A very underrated song.

Go! has good melody and instrumentation, but far from the classic era progressive Hogarth there. The rest is very poor, little to rescue.

Until Interior Lulu arrives and I returned to breathing eased, more after listening this song a long time. Uneven? Without cohesion? It can be for someone who rarely heard it and without paying much attention. Then, The Gates of Delirium would be inconsistent. Impossible!

And then, House. Some people think that it is inconsistent for a song the band's career or too repetitive. For me is a pearl in the repertoire of one of my favorite bands.

In conclusion, about half an hour of great music that will not disappoint. Rating Between 3 and 3,5.

My main problem is that each part drags on for far too long, and not enough is happening during these semi-long songs. It doesn't make it better that few ideas are interesting at all to me. Half the sections are built on steady 4/4 beats with slow predictable chord progressions, with a guitar solo and/or vocals on top. Barely any odd time signatures (only during one part of the title track), barely any surprising chord changes. There are some creative rhythms being used here and there though, but they are far from each other.

It might be true that they were heavily influenced by Genesis, but they left out the more creative and interesting details that in my opinion made Genesis so good, and what's left is mostly slow, repetitive and sappy. Although, if you enjoy poetic lyrics (I personally don't care for lyrics at all) and Fish's dramatic/emotional vocals (which I can barely stand), then I can understand why you'd appreciate it a lot more than I do.

Stand-out tracks: Script For a Jester's Tear and Garden Party

The second disk is a greatest hits of songs played in a alphabetic order. 2 hours and forty minutes of songs, including a XTC's song to make up for the fact that the band didn't find any "X" song. A little surprise at the end with the song "Zeparated Out", who has the title say, some Led Zep riffs.

The third show, is another interesting idea of the band, to let the audience choose between 2 songs. It's time to hear again some songs from the excellent "Brave" cd.

In conclusion, even if this set list contains some repetitions in the second and third shows, with previous DVD's, it's more enjoyable to see it in Blu-Ray, because the picture is sharp, and the light show has never been so elaborate, with lasers and a big stage.

The relative merits of Fish vs. Hogarth are not a decisive factor for me. I do sing in a church choir, and I'm a sucker for singers who can really sing. A friend tried for a long time to convert me to a Smashing Pumpkins fan, for instance, but I just couldn't get past Billy Corgan's voice! At times, I do find Fish's singing overwrought. I believe Hogarth uses his voice better, but I like Marillion albums from both eras.

Season's End contains some of Marillion's best melodies. Favorite tracks include Easter and Holloway Girl. They are both just beautiful and moving, in different ways. I also love The King of Sunset Town and the title track. Let's call Hooks in You a necessary evil. Hogarth is an excellent lyricist. However, I think it's the songwriting and arrangements that make Season's End one of Marillion's best.

This album was released when I was 15. At the time, my table tennis coach was a huge Marillion and Rush fan (and he still is). He got me hooked on both in the end, although Rush did a much better job at sticking with me - probably because I'm a 'Fish-era Marillion fan'. I recall that he didn't want to lend me this album at first, because he thought it was too dark and possibly confusing for me, from a lyrical perspective. Little did he (and I) know that this would over time become my favourite Marillion album. That didn't happen on the spot, I only really started listening to it after I was stricken by the raw energy of Slaínthe Mhath on the live album The Thieving Magpie.

Over time, Just for the Record, Slaínthe Mhath, Sugar Mice and White Russian have become part of my list of all time Marillion favourites, together with the often despised Incommunicado. The story of the album, the melancholy of the singer wasting away and loosing his dream has inspired the band to great music - a pity it also led to the departure of their own singer.

Musically, this album contains everything that Marillion is known for: emotional vocals, wonderful guitar work, driving, yet melodic bass and ever present keyboards. This album defines Neo-prog, if it needs a definition, and as such will always be one of the few real prog master pieces of the 1980's.