ASSASSING

In the 80´s a had a friend who used to travel to Europe and got a lot of records that were completely unavailable for us in Brazil at the time. And she had this single (in picture disc form, if I´m not mistaken). I really loved it, specially for its flip side, Cinderella Search. Probably Marillion´s best romantic song ever, with its beautiful lyrics and superb music to match the inspired title, theme and words, it also features one of Steve Rothery´s most emotional solos of his life. The "A" side is another classic track from this band, unfortunately marred by editing: at only 3;35 minutes it has little more than half of its original length, even if that does not make the songs loose its power and venom.

However, as good as they were, both versions here would pale from their renditions on Real To Reel live album of 1984. On that LP, Assassin in particular is much better than even the full length version of Fugazi. Cinderella Search also benefits greatly from the live performance, specially the new, dramatic, ending.

So, in the end, this single has more a historical importance than a musical one, since better interpretations pof both tracks can be found elsewhere. Also the cover art of the single is fantastic. For that alone I think the single was worth, at least at the time.