MARKET SQUARE HEROES

This was the first Marillion I heard not having had the chance to seee them live before. Market Square Heroes was the Marillion anthemn. A great popish bouncy track. Excellent if not really progressive.

Three Boats seems a little weak now but at the time it was a fresh sound which heralded a new movement. It was competely different to Phil collins (You can't Hurry Love), Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Wham and Depeche Mode.

I flipped the record and listened to Grendel. Gardner's Grendel and Moorcock's Warhound & the World's Pain were doing the rounds at the time. We were studying the Red Branch cycle at school and side tracking on to Beowulf. This track, apart from any musical similarities which were entirely lost on me at the time, was something utterly and astoundingly new.

There is the tired and hacked debate about whether Grendel is blatant rip off of Supper's Ready (which you all know is on the B side of Genesis's Foxtrot: arguably the best album of one of the prog greats). Genesis contained highly talented accomplished and experienced musicans. On any comparison of musicianship Marillion in 1983 are going to come second to Genesis in 1972. It's hardly a point worth making since it's so obvious. Listen to both make your own mind up.

If Marillion were trying to produce a copy of Suppers Ready they failed. If they were trying to produce a rock epic they succeeded. Many bands are apparently embarrassed by their early (and sometimes naive) attempts to create an epic, perhaps that's because they later appreciate that the realities of being commerically successful: the constraints of radio air time and the attention span of the listener preclude such self-indulgence.

Yeah the drumming's not great, and the overall production's not top notch. But it's a great track, the subject matter and lyrics set it apart . An excellenet addition to a prog music collection. Script for a Jester's Tear is the essential item. With all the new releases if you can pick up Grendel do so.