MISPLACED CHILDHOOD

This is one of those albums which are only good if you look at the whole package instead of the separate songs. Considering the songs as individual tracks I would say a maximum of 2 stars would be possible. Separately seen, there are only two songs on the album which I think are superb: that is the epic Blind Curve track and the moody opening song Pseudo Silk Kimono; the first being a long suite with various changes in moods -varying from light and optimistic to dark and depressing- and great instrumentation. The second being a very dark and brooding song which only features layers of synthesizer sounds and Fish's distinctive vocals.

If I look at Marillion's Misplaced Childhood album as a concept album instead of a collection of individual -sometimes linked- songs, I can enjoy the album a lot more. This probably has to do with the fact that all together the album tells the listener a story, a bit depressing story, but hey, it is the Fish who is writing the lyrics, so that sort of speaks for itself.

His lyrics are again very poetic and dramatic, but this album shows a bit of a change regarding the complexity of his lyrics. The meaning of his words are more obvious than on the previous Script for a Jester's Tear and Fugazi albums. This is a good transition with the last Fish-era Marillion album, 1987's Clutching at Straws -that album included lyrics that were even more down to earth than those found on this album. I always felt that the albums that Marillion wrote with Fish on vocals were one big suite, starting with Script for a Jester's Tear and ending with Clutching at Straws. Displaying the somehow Misplaced life of the Fish man. Misplaced Childhood is no exception and can really be seen as part three in this series of autobiographic pieces of art.

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