WITH FRIENDS FROM THE ORCHESTRA

This is, in effect, the reverse of Less Is More - whereas that album found Marillion revisiting gems from their back catalogue in stripped-down acoustic versions, With Friends From the Orchestra finds them adding to the originals. Rather than playing with a full orchestra - an option taken by many bands in the past, but which always risks overpowering the band - Marillion instead, as the title implies, use a select group of classical musicians to add particular notes to the material.

Indeed, these friends are no strangers to Marillion - for the In Priase of Folly string quartet, plus Sam Morris on French horn and Emma Halnan on flute, made memorable contributions on the second disc of the excellent All One Tonight live album, which in effect was a dry run of this idea. That said, they played differeent songs that night, so rather than merely recapping that disc they plus Marillion push their collaboration forwards, providing new versions of the songs in question which are at once familiar but different, adding a new dimension to the material. It's not an essential release, but it is a rather fine one, and well-recommended for anyone who found the string quartet and wind instrument contributions on All One Tonight charming.