BRAVE

Where to start with Brave? Personally, I can start with the fact that it's the best CD I own. Period. For 70 minutes plus, the listener is brought in to accompany the girl for whom the album is dedicated through the darkness of betrayal by a loved one, to her own personal struggles in dealing with it. The subject matter is sometimes disturbing and bleak; however, what Brave gives us is hope through the words and the music. One may view it as dark; but, on the contrary, the message in Brave is of hope and light in an otherwise sinister world.

It begins with the sublime and powerful "Bridge/Living With The Big Lie" and one cannot help but notice the passion in Hogarth's voice (I would loved to have been a fly on the wall to see him record the vocals). From there the music goes over peaks and valleys, but never becomes stagnate (albeit, "Paper Lies" seems out of place).

The final 15 minutes of Brave is nothing less than breathtaking. Ending with their masterpiece "The Great Escape" and the optimism of "Made Again", I sometimes am spent emotionally by this time. "The Great Escape" especially is moving, capped off by the always amazing Steve Rothery just making his Fender Strat weap during the "Fallin' From The Moon" portion of the song. I cannot single out a best of moment of Brave because it's all a memorable journey from beginning to end. I've only within the past few years re-discovered Marillion (most notably the Hogarth era); however, they've quickly become my favorite band and have added so much to my life. Brave especially brings a little something to me emotionally. For almost 20 years U2's The Joshua Tree was the best CD I owned. Although I still am taken in by it, U2's own masterpiece loses out to Brave. Yes, it's THAT good.