If you don't get it, then you don't get it. But don't expect it to click instantly, it's not an easy listening pop album. 

As for Fish's delivery being "weird and random", I think he's got his own style, a unique vocal delivery, nothing is random about it. You can complain his lyrics are too wordy, but he always pulled it through IMO. 

Side B is indeed more interesting than the first one, Blind Curve being one of the best songs they ever did. 

I bought it the day it was released in my country. I actually loved Fugazi and Real To Reel, but Scripts was not yet available here. The same day I bought Soft Machine's Land Of Cockayne and I remember tripping at a friend's home with both the albums. 

You have to consider that in 1983 there was just MTV and few radios, the actial music was standardized on Yamaha and Korg keyboards, Fairlight for the rich, sequenced drums and a lot of gel in the hair. Misplaced Childhood brought a bit of good prog into our lives. It's true: Kayleigh is a commercial song, I think it's still their biggest commercial success, but it's part of a concept album. Listened together with Pseudo-silk Kimono and Lavender it has a different flavor. As Richardh says, the B side of the vinyl is better. 
It's probably me, but I think Marillion tried in the second part to follow the structure of The Dark Side of the Moon, with Expresso Bongo taking the role of Money and the title track with White Feather in the roles of Brain Damage and Eclipse. 

Back to Kayleigh: it's a real person. Fish has revealed the story in an interview. She was a nurse, passed away for a cancer years after the album release.

P.S. - I can't get into Genesis and Selling England By The Pound. We all have "faults".

This is exactly how I feel. If you don't like it, no matter how much you've tried, just don't bother anymore. Maybe in a few months, years, you might try it again, but if you don't get it, if the music doesn't please you, What's the big deal?

Mine too - then Fugazi.

Hi,

I'm not sure that Fish's delivery is "frantic" ... but what you are saying is that winging in a rock band can not be a theatrical endeavour, which is sad. Peter Hammill is a natural "actor". Meatloaf is "an actor that happens to sing". Mick is really good as "living" his lyrics! And the list is endless.

I'm guessing that some rock fans want lyrics without feeling, so they have a chance to figure out what is being said without being influenced. I would like to say that they are in the wrong place, then.

Fish had the misfortune of coming up after GENESIS, and we had this idea that PG was some kind of actor in that band, and in the end, he wasn't ... he was just a song writer, and he has shown that on his own since he went solo ... there is no time for "acting" ... he figures the emotional content of the words is enough.

It's bizarre that some rock music listeners are not aware of the most important and used theater moment ... the same word/sentence, can be said a thousand different ways ... but somehow, in this case we have to make sure that Fish and everyone else, can not be the person that they are. 

The comparison of Fish/PG is gross. People are getting stuck on what would be considered a similar voice, not the content that the person is delivering, which simply tells you ... some folks don't take the time to actually listen ... and learn. I would rather take a Fish in my band, because it gives me more ways that the music can be done ... as opposed to the overly large ego by PG. Some nice stuff ... so what?

I honestly tried Childhood but I never permeated it (or it has permeated me). While I hadn't liked Fugazi's metal approach, I was a major taker in Script's embroilded lyrics (Clesay Monday s probably my fave Rillion track) and musical drama. Script remains a top 100 album, but the only one of the band and of the whole neo-prog sugbenre.

I had tried to discover what had happened before Script (just like I had tired with IQ prior to The Wake) and had to resort to buy these compilation albums (spent a small fortune for the MSH/Grendel EP as an import, Reel was disappointing and B-sides came too late), but nothing resonated like Script either - not even Grendel. Fortunately I got a hold of the Recital VHS cassette to confirm my love for Script - despite a poor sound quality. 

Sooooooo, Childhood never resonnated with me, beit the concept (and lyrics), but also because there was no instrumental space. Just too talkative, IMHO. Of course, Kayleigh and Lavender Lily did not heip and disliked both (I had liked Punch & Judy and loved He Knows You Know).

I then gave up on the band and didn't even bother with Straws until the millenium, even if I saw the Thieving Magpie tour (had seen them for the Fugazi tour as well), but it was way too late by then. I had slipped  into 60's jazz and 70's JR/F by the second half of the 80's 

 

I'm sure there are many 'Kayleigh's' that are nothing to do with the song but I had been (possibly) mislead into believing the name didn't exist before the song, so it's kind of an urban myth that Fish invented it (but a fun one nevertheless!)

I might say the same but then Forgotten Songs gives me goosebumps every time and mostly because of Fish. He was a remarkable and contrasting singer to have at a time of all the new romanticism stuff that was coming out. There was no one like him, great Scottish lunk that he was (and still is!).

Someone mentioned the Lorely video. Absolutely love that!

The Fish era was for me the brightest of "Marillion", and MC one of the best albums of the 80's, not only of the band, but of the progressive genre in general. Although the first time I heard it it took me a while to process it, it later became one of my favorite albums. Each album is a world and a unique journey, which is part of some special moment in your life, and those emotions are also part of the ingredients that end up influencing your evaluation, which is as personal as it is subjective.

...Kayleigh is a name of Gaelic origin that translates to “slim and fair” or “slender.” It is a variant of the name Cayla, which means “from Caoilainn.” The name became popular in the 1980s after a song by the British band Marillion, which featured a character named Kayleigh... http://www.nameoftheyear.com/kayleigh-name-meaning/" rel="nofollow - https://www.nameoftheyear.com/kayleigh-name-meaning/

You're a Brave, Brave man - to admit that re: SEBTP! - hat off for doing so, and while we're making 'confessions' while I think its great - it is my least fave of the Gabriel era, and I enjoy TOTT more...

I like MC but love CAS - post Fish I'm a total cliche: Marbles and Afraid of Sunlight all the way...

Anyway - as others have said - Prog is a big, big church - and you can't like it all, so don't sweat when it doesn't click for you....  - Rush have always left me cold, yet I consider Prog to be my favourite music genre... I know what I like!

Genesis were not always consistent as a band although the trio of NC, Foxtrot and SEBTP do line up pretty well. For me Foxtrot is the masterpeice of the Gabriel era although Lamb is a really interesting 'prog rock opera' thing perhaps taking in Quadrophenia as an influence.

Rush are one my favourite bands but it was a bumpy ride with them all the way. They maybe got a bit too 80's electro after Moving Pictures but I still think that Permanent Waves and MV (considering when they came out) are remarkable albums. They rediscovered their hard rock roots in the 90's that eventually lead Vapor Trails. I love that album but it doesnt do it for everyone. Generally Rush have been one of the more interesting guitar bands in the history of rock music. I normally get very bored with bands that stick mainly to guitars with few exceptions. Never got that much into Led Zep in truth and hardly ever listen to Metal or Hard Rock.