Mike Holmes Vs Steve Rothery

Picking between them would be like choosing between my legs.

fair comment in some respects

Holmes was certainly showing his flashy side on Through The Corridors although his guitar solo on The Magic Roundabout does owe more than a little to Gilmour. There is also the very emotional solo on The Last Human Gateway (middle section)  but then the Hackett influence comes across a lot especially on the album Seven Stories Into Ninety Eight when its pure Hackett at times. Talk about wearing your influence on your sleeve!

Rothery is a very clean guitarist and probably less inclined to show off. I find it really hard to find anything by him that sticks in my mind. He was interviewed by Darren Reddick on planet rock radio and Reddick suggested that Marillion had become too ambient sounding and the guitar had been lost somewhat. Rothery countered that by saying that Marillion's sound was an evolution and that you couldn't just stand still. However I suspect that Rothery has had to do the recent side project to get his playing more at the front of the music understandably.