The Marillion Round Table

I think that Season's End is a far better and more direct album than its predecessor, and when that opening burst gives way to Hogarth on King of Sunset Town, the true fan just knew that everything was going to be alright.

There were some interesting comments about follow ups to epic albums.

Holidays in Eden is, to me, the worse album they ever made, and certainly put a lot of people off. Good job this was followed up with Brave, one of the finest albums ever made by anyone.

I enjoyed Afraid of Sunlight, and I think it is one of my most played Marillion LPs. Certainly, I feel that one of the tests of a good work is that you will still go back to it and listen out of pleasure, rather than mere curiousity, over and over many years after the album's release. AOS passes that test in spades. Beautiful is their best single ever, a wondrous track, the tribute to Donald Campbell, Out of this World, is still played live and exceptionally, Beyond You features an exquisite Hogarth vocal, whilst King has to be one of the most epic ends to any album. It rocks with such a huge intensity.

I think Radiation is a much underrated LP, especially the recurrent Now She'll Never Know sequence. It was a great follow up to This Strange Engine, which was, of course, a seminal moment in the band's career and move to independence, both financially and creatively.

I'm sorry, but I really do not rate Somewhere Else. Of course, any follow up to the incredible Marbles was always going to be tough, and I respect the band for trying something different, but the LP is fractured, way too introspective concentrating almost entirely on Hogarth's marital problems, and I hardly play it now, aside from the title track, The Last Century for Man, and Faith, which are the album's highlights.

I am also aghast at how low the PA rating for HITR is - only 3.43? That MUST improve, because it is a superb work. I only hope that Somewhere Else was an aberration, and the acoustic album promised in the Autumn, and the main follow up next year will continue this rich vein of form.

Sorry all - I've gone on far too long there, but plenty of things to consider and discuss

progkidjoel wrote: ^^ I absolutely love Somewhere Else as an album, and as a track... I can't put a finger on anything its done wrong.

The only song I can't quite get into is "The Last Century For Man". Everybody detests "Most Toys", but I like the tune.

E

^^

I absolutely love Somewhere Else as an album, and as a track... I can't put a finger on anything its done wrong.

Somewhere Else is just not remarkable. I'd give it 2.5/5 (mostly because I need to stop homogenizing my ratings). The title song is excellent, "The Wound," "The Last Century for Man, "and "A Voice from the Past" are great, "The Other Half," "Faith," and "No Such Thing" are pretty good, and everything else is kind of annoying and mediocre. I don't mind this album, but it gets a mild regard for having little character. Even marillion.com has more charm to it that Somewhere Else.

I really enjoy marillion and have heard alot of stuff (from both era) through last.fm but only own a physical copy of misplaced childhood, which should i get on cd next? do i continue getting the fish era records then move on to the hogarth era? im very open to any album (they arent exactly alot of money on amazon;)

I first got into Marillion with the album Misplaced Childhood back in 85.  I loved the dark lyrics and the early-genesis sound that they captured, of course with an 80's feel.  Then I got SFAJT, which took me quite awhile to get into.  At first, I only liked the title track.  But, as with a lot of prog, after many listens it grew on me more and more.  Then I got Fugazi, which I liked a lot, but not as much as the other two.  Then CAS came out, and again, it took me quite awhile to get into, but once I did, it became my favorite Marillion album and remains so to this day. 

lazland wrote: Finnforest wrote: Eric, I loved Brave as you know, but to be completely honest I thought the conceptual film rather sucked.  Check my review if you want the reasons why, but what did you think?  Weren't you disappointed that video represents such a fine album? The film was a real disappointment, but I think that is really because it is one of those albums where the story and the sheer emotion of the girl throwing herself off Bristol Severn Bridge is simply something that has to be imagined in your own head. There are some pieces that should not be committed to video or film - strangely enough, I thought the same with the movie of The Wall. It spoiled for me the images I had in my head. Eric is right about the live DVD, it is awesome. I would also recommend that all visitors to this thread get Marbles On The Road as well, which I think is the finest live recording of this or any other band in existence.

And get the expanded edition through Racket. You get the second night (sans Marbles), which includes songs such as "Quartz", "Afraid Of Sunlight", "Easter", etc.

Somewhere In London is probably my favorite. I did see snippits of the upcoming DVD from this past year's convention in Holland, and it looks to be their slickest production yet.

E

rdtprog wrote: E-Dub wrote: rdtprog wrote: I had three phases with my reunion with Marillion PHASE 1 : The Lightening Experience with The Fish period (5 years of true happiness) PHASE 2 : The Frustration of a Divorce with the Departure of Fish (20 years) PHASE 3 : Reconcilliation with the band with the cd Happiness is The Road (a year) It took me 21 years to accept the new singer... Now i can appreciate Marillion music without comparaison to Fish. Do you have Marbles? I think that one (and Brave) is still the high water mark for the Hogarth era. That's just me, though. On night one after SE, "The Bell And The Sea" and "The Release", they did nothing but new material from HITR and it killed. "The Man From Planet Marzipan" was especially cool.   I know all the cd of Marillion, Brave and Marbles are really good and i could add Seasons End. One think is sure with this band. They are one of the most productive bands on earth, with a cd and a dvd each year. Do you think that if Fish was still there, the band would have put that much albums?

I've often wondered that. Who knows what would've happened. After reading the book Separated Out, I think by that time the two camps needed to get away from each other. From what I understand, Fish and Rothery darn near came to blows several times during the recording of Clutching At Straws.

In answering your question, I doubt if Marillion would even be around today had Fish stayed on. I seriously don't.

E

Conor Fynes wrote: I bought 'Anoraknophobia' as my first Marillion CD a few days ago and I love it. I'm suprised it's rated so low on this site, because there are a few songs on there ('This Is The 21st Century') that are phenomenal.

I've loved Anoraknophobia since the first time I heard it. I think the current trend they have of producing 2 critically acclaimed albums started with Anoraknophobia. I have a tough time with This Strange Engine and Dotcom (even though "This Strange Engine" and "Interior Lulu" are top shelf), but think they were on to something with Anoraknophobia.

Last night I watched the Before First Light DVD (Afraid Of Sunlight in it's entirety at the 2003 convention, plus "Faith" and "Easter") and got to thinking that the crowd had no idea what they had in store for them the following year. They were still in the middle of recording Marbles, so the crowd was clueless as to the brilliance they were about to experience.

E

I bought 'Anoraknophobia' as my first Marillion CD a few days ago and I love it. I'm suprised it's rated so low on this site, because there are a few songs on there ('This Is The 21st Century') that are phenomenal.