MARBLES

Marillion is without doubt one of the bands that proved very influential in progmusic during the eighties and nineties. Their albums were quite consistent in quality, albeit that some of them were not vert outstanding (especially Radiation was quite disappointing). But as time went by it became more and more obvious that the guys were developing their own unique musical style, regardless of hypes that were going on all around them (instead making use of them as it pleased them). And then there is Marbles, a relatively quick release after their very strong Anorak album. And what a masterpiece this is!! Two disks full of varied music, be it bluesy (the beautiful ballad 'Angelina'), be it new-age-like ('The invisible man'), be it soundscape-like ('Ocean cloud') or more or less straight forward rocking ('The damage'), it is all there. I don't fancy everything on the record ('The damage') but it contains mostly jewels in melody ('Fantastic place') and musicianship (listen to 'Ocean cloud' and you'll understand what I'm saying). And then there were even some quite succesful hit singles that pleased the boys extremely. 'Don't hurt yourself' is indeed a very catchy song, dominated by Hogarths fine singing. I really don't understand how 'The damage' has become a hit since I think it is the worst track on the album but apparently a lot of people thought otherwise. I most certainly think the Marillion deserved the apreciation of many listeners since their attitude towards music is an example for many others and because they always stuck to their own ideas. What to say about the four tiny 'Marbles' songs? Personally I like them very much, they put a smile on my face. Each part is very different from the other one but together they set up a very nice package of lovely songs. I guess they are not meant to be taken very seriously and on my part Marillion succeeds very well.

Marbles is in my opinion the strongest album Marillion has ever made. And it proves again that it is absolutely nonsense to keep comparing Fish with Steve Hogarth. Marillion has constantly changed over the years and hopefully they will continue to do so. They're just very good and Marbles is the proof of the pudding.