Marillion's "Brave"

I've changed my mind about how I feel about Marillion. One of the major problems I have with them is their lack of a strong vocalist and the second problem I have either Hogarth or Fish just sing way too much. They never let music guide them and instrumental passages, in many cases, are plagued by either Hogarth's or Fish's constant warbling. These vocalists just can't keep their traps shut long enough for anything good to happen in the music. They're a distraction and I think this is why I think they'll never reach the heights of Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, or Pink Floyd. Steve Rothery is a great player, but I always wondered how he would fare in a different band or even maybe with a vocalist who has a better timbre and who understands the importance of instrumental passages. But I realize many people like their music and that's certainly fine but I've always wondered why I couldn't completely enjoy this band and the problems always come back to Hogarth or Fish. There's a time and a place for vocals, but Hogarth/Fish completely ruin so many good Rothery solos, but solos aren't enough to save this band's music. It's just not that impressive to me. 

Edited by Mirror Image - August 26 2014 at 22:13

Billy Pilgrim wrote: Mirror Image wrote: I've changed my mind about how I feel about Marillion. One of the major problems I have with them is their lack of a strong vocalist and the second problem I have either Hogarth or Fish just sing way too much. They never let music guide them and instrumental passages, in many cases, are plagued by either Hogarth's or Fish's constant warbling. These vocalists just can't keep their traps shut long enough for anything good to happen in the music. They're a distraction and I think this is why I think they'll never reach the heights of Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, or Pink Floyd. Steve Rothery is a great player, but I always wondered how he would fare in a different band or even maybe with a vocalist who has a better timbre and who understands the importance of instrumental passages. But I realize many people like their music and that's certainly fine but I've always wondered why I couldn't completely enjoy this band and the problems always come back to Hogarth or Fish. There's a time and a place for vocals, but Hogarth/Fish completely ruin so many good Rothery solos, but solos aren't enough to save this band's music. It's just not that impressive to me.  The exact reason I enjoy there music, Hogarths voice, and excellent lyrics, are the star of the show. Kinda nice to mix things up with some vocal driven music every now and then. What have you listened to from them, both eras?

Catcher10 wrote: I enjoy both vocalists, but prefer H by a decent amount. I think both of them fit the mold during each period...very well. I don't think H would have been as good in the "Fish" era and vice versa... I was watching Brave on Bluray the other night and my wife commented she thought H was a very good vocalist, a bit weird but good. I think the lipstick and eye-liner during the Brave show freaked her out I explained he is just playing the album out..but he is very expressive for sure. He is very melodic and has a lot of detail and subtleties to his voice. Just listen to Memory of Water on TSE, pretty intense and very soulful, bluesy influenced. I like H

Roj wrote: I'm just not a big fan of Fish, great stage presence but vocally not my bag at all. On the other hand, h is just outstanding, he has it all.  He has probably the most emotional voice in prog and a great stage presence to boot.  He has so many amazing vocal performances in Marillion's catalogue which send shivers down my spine - Ocean Cloud, TSE, Out of This World to name a few.  I'll concede it took me time to appreciate Hogarth, but once he clicked - boom!  I was exactly the same with Jon Anderson many years ago too . Basically I prefer Hogarth Marillion over Fish Marillion by the largest possible distance you could imagine (and I saw the band with Fish several times before they got the EMI deal).

Roj wrote: I'm just not a big fan of Fish, great stage presence but vocally not my bag at all.On the other hand, h is just outstanding, he has it all.  He has probably the most emotional voice in prog and a great stage presence to boot.  He has so many amazing vocal performances in Marillion's catalogue which send shivers down my spine - Ocean Cloud, TSE, Out of This World to name a few.  I'll concede it took me time to appreciate Hogarth, but once he clicked - boom!  I was exactly the same with Jon Anderson many years ago too .Basically I prefer Hogarth Marillion over Fish Marillion by the largest possible distance you could imagine (and I saw the band with Fish several times before they got the EMI deal).

Pretty much me here...Did not take me much time to enjoy his style of delivery. I struggled for years with Peter Hamill, still do but the music can pull the attention away from that voice of his...ughh!

In general I don't have any problem with Fish's voice.