SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

In a time when most of the leading 70s bands in the Symphonic Rock scene decided to either stop making this specific type of music or members of those key bands decided to go solo, the fans of the genre feared for the further existence of it. In other words, there was an urgent need to satisfy a constantly growing hunger for new symphonic music that had was both refreshing and had a 'new' sound.

In 1983 this hunger was satisfied with the release of an album that saved the Symphonic Rock artist from turning into an endangered species. This album was "Script for a Jester's Tear". by a band that later would become one of the 80s leading bands in the genre: MARILLION.

Script for a Jester's Tear, by many regarded as one of Marillion's best, is most certainly a classic album in the scene. With the release of this album a new style of Symphonic Rock music saw the daylight: Neo Prog (rock).

I first heard the album as a whole an average five and a half years ago. My first impression was that, in contradiction to a lot of Symphonic Rock stuff from the 70s, most of the compositions on this album are not overly complex. Sure, there are complex parts of songs, but overall seen it is not there to BE complex and it certainly does not seem difficult to get 'into'.

The music presented here is mostly quite a bit depressing. Fish's lyrics are very mystical and are works of art on their own. Some of it seems to be very personal to Fish himself (Script for a Jester's Tear), whereas others have a twist of humour (Garden Party) or are about politics-related issues that were happening around the time of release in England (Forgotten Sons, which is a firm anti-war song about the Falklands War). The other band members back up his distinct vocals and the mystical, but fitting, lyrics with great atmospheres that tend to perfectly set the mood for every track.

It is in my opinion by far not Marillion's best, but for the Symphonic Rock genre in general speaking and thus also meaning the history of Symphonic Rock from its beginnings up to present day, it is a classic.

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