HOLIDAYS IN EDEN

The issue with second album of the Hogart's era is that they didn't evolve quickly enough. Holidays in Eden is no more than a follow-up to the previous Season's End with very few improvements. The band is still too tied to its original sound. "Splintering Heart" is a good song and Hogarth features very good vocals, but his voice is very different from Fish and this requires an adjustment in the band's sound that will not arrive until Brave.

"Cover My Eyes" suffers of the same issue. The guitar riff is almost the same of Incommunicado. The song is good and Hogarth makes a good job, but it's far from being a masterpiece. A bit too poppy.

"The Party" is the first song really built on Hogarth's voice. Promising.

"No One Can" is a pop sentimental. Listenable if you don't pay attention to the trivial lyrics.

This was the A side. B side opens with the title track. A rock intro then it calms down. this is another song on which Hogarth appears to be well fitting with the band's sound. I suppose it's a Hogarth's song as is unusually rock for Marillion.

"Dry Land" was the first videoclip from this album. I think they were in Iceland on summer. More than dry the land was appearing desert but green. The song is my album's favourite. It failed to be a hit single, actually, but it's a great song.

Mellow acoustic 12-strings guitar for "Waiting to Happen" a harmonic round of open chords. It's a good pop song, nothing more.

A rock-and-roll moment with "This Town". A short but quite good filler as "The Rakes Progress" and it fades into "100 nights". It's the typical Marillion song of this period, at least in the structure: A guitar harping and Hogarth's voice, then a hit of drums and all the instruments are in the piece, but without changing ,elody of rhythm. The music contines as before, just with more instruments. A mellow interlude and it starts again.

Better than Hogarth's debut, but still a non-essential album.