BRAVE

The third album from the post-Fish Marillion is seen by many as their finest achievement up to that point. For me, however, it has always been an album I've never been able to like as much as I wanted to. It has all the ingredients for a great concept album - a decent story about a runaway girl, lots of emotion, lots of scope for developing musical themes etc. But somehow, despite listening to it again and again, it has never gripped me as I felt it should. There are some strong moments, particularly in the final quarter. The Great Escape will always be a contender for the best ever Marillion track. It never fails to send shivers down my spine as H sings fallin from the moon, and Steve Rotheray's guitar comes soaring in - wonderful stuff! Hard As Love, and Paper Lies show us that the band haven't forgotten how to rock. But somehow I always seem to drift away somewhere in the midst of 'Goodbye To All That'. It seems too long and loose, and I can't help feeling that is my problem with the whole album. Just possibly the guys spent too long on the whole project and let it get over clever. My overall verdict - some great music, but too much other stuff in there as well!