MISPLACED CHILDHOOD

So this is the highest rated Neo-Prog album? Oh lord. My experience with Neo consists of a Marillion compilation, their album Afraid Of Sunkight and an IQ album. After hearing this, I would have to say if I were forced to live in a Neo-Prog world, I would consider myself an IQ man. I wanted to listen to a full Fish-era Marillion album. I went with this instead of Script because I feared that album would be too Genesis sounding and derivative. Well, there is still lots of Genesis influence here, along with some very 1980s commercial rock influences.

This went #1 in the UK and featured two top ten hits. The music on this album is hardly 'prog' at all, instead just slightly adventurous commercial 80s rock. Not until the fourth track do you really hear anything proggy. "Kayleigh" was a big hit. Not a bad song but very 80s and very poppy. Instead of sounding like Gabriel, Fish instead sounds like Phil Collins solo during the chorus. Nice mid-80s style guitar solo. "Lavender" was the other hit. A piano-based ballad that's nothing special to my ears. Very PG-era Genesis sounding when the rhythm section enters.

"Bitter Suite" has a cute title. Features narration in a Scottish accent; not sure if Fish is Scottish or not or if he's just acting. Interersting drumming in the middle. The last two or three minutes are good but also very Genesis sounding. "Heart Of Lothian" is another Genesis sounding song but doesn't really stand out at all. Three distinct sections in this song. "Waterhole" is the track I enjoy the most but it's only 2 minutes long. Almost sounds similar to Gabriel solo musically and Peter Hammill vocally. "Blind Curve" rips off the opening chords of the Genesis song "Dance On A Volcano" in places. The Scottish narrator is back. It's a long song and it's proggy but nothing really grabs my attention. "Childhood's End" is a nifty, very 80s sounding song but it's not prog at all. Almost sounds like 80s Gabriel solo in places.

After hearing this album, I think I can conclude that Marillion is not a band for me. I haven't heard anything they did since Afraid Of Sunlight so there might be hope yet. My future explorations into Neo will include groups not as popular as Marillion, in the hope that I hear something not so commercial nor derivative. Marillion are the most popular Neo band for a reason: their music is highly accessible and commercial and not very proggy. I'm going to give this a 2.5 but rounded down to 2 stars. Fans only.