HEART OF LOTHIAN

Even though the single version is not as good as the album version, this vynyl is still worth collecting, as also the case with other Marillion singles during Fish era. Hey, by now you should be aware that the golden era of Marillion is during Fish era period! Look at the statistics, even though this is progressive music, Fish era produced many successful chart position. Musically, I believe Marillion in its original form (Fish era) is way much better than Hogarth era which tends to be poppy. But the chart results showed that only albums in Fish era that peaked in chart position with the highest chart position was number one in UK chart for Misplaced Childhood album. After Fish left the band, Marillion went to dust with no chart position even though the music is more commercial and poppy.

Heart of Lothian is a great song in terms of composition. The key strength of the music is on the catchy melody and smotth musical movements from one segment to another. Fish sings wholeheartedly throughout the song. The song has impacted many bands (new breed of neo proggers) like those that I can sense in Spock's Beard Octane album where you can find Of The Beauty of It All which was greatly influenced by Heart of Lothian.

If you still can find this vynyl and you are Marillion freaks, get this one!

And anarchy smiles in the Royal Mile And they're waiting on the slyboys, flyboys, wideboys Rooting, tooting cowboys Lucky little ladies at the watering holes They'll score the Friday night goals

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

'Heart Of Lothian' is the emotion-loaded ending track of Misplaced Childhood's first half. Anyone who's familiar with that album remembers how the songs are linked together seamlessly, forming a coherent suite in two parts. While the hits 'Kayleigh' and 'Lavender' (also from the first half) sound like they were designed for single charts - in addition to being equal parts of the suite, of course - , this track is more problematic on its own. In the album it comes after 'Bitter Suite' and follows its way to move from minor to major key; from somehow depressed mood to a more bombastic, chorus-driven intensity. When I listen to it separately, I get the feeling that the music starts somewhere from the middle. And on the contrary, when I listen to the album, I'm never quite sure where 'Bitter Suite' changes into 'Heart Of Lothian', and it couldn't matter less, for that matter. Also, the ending with the much repeated "I was bo-oo- orn with the heart of Lothian" gets more irritating here than on the album where the grandiosity (as the finale of Part One) is more justified.

That said, I don't consider this single worthy, unless you're a diehard collector of Marillion. The Mark Wilkinson cover art is again pretty good if you're after them. Well, I did have this as a maxi- single vinyl long ago. I don't remember where I bought it (and a couple of other Marillion singles) but I'm quite grateful my most intensive days of "Marillionism" in the age of 16-17 didn't last very long! What a waste to have a single when you have the album in question.

B-side features a live version of 'Chelsea Monday' from their debut album, with the usual mediocre, slightly stuffy sound quality. Fish-era Marillion may have been a strong live act, but I prefer listening to the studio albums. (Maxi-single also had an extended version of 'Heart Of Lothian', if my memory serves. A plain phoney one really.) But I guess this music is too good to rate this with only two stars. Let's say 2½.

"Heart of Lothian" is a single release by UK progressive rock act Marillion. The single was released through EMI Records in November 1985. It was the third single released to promote the band´s third full-length studio album "Misplaced Childhood" from June 1985. The 7" single version features "Heart of Lothian" in an edited single version on the A-side and a live version of "Chelsea Monday" (recorded at the Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht on 15 October 1985) on the B-side. The 12" maxi-single version features the full album version of "Heart of Lothian" on the A-side and the two tracks from the 7" version on the B-side.

"Heart of Lothian" is a slightly more energetic track (after the emotional mellow opening to the song), than the songs chosen for the two preceding singles, but it did not fair quite as well as the "Kayleigh/Lady Nina" (1985) and "Lavender/Freaks" (1985) singles did a few months before. The sales and chart positions were still respectable enough though. Personally I usually applaud alternate single versions of album tracks, but seldom when those alternate versions are edits, and I´m afraid the edited single version of "Heart of Lothian" doesn´t do the song any favors (although listened to while watching the very 80s time-typical music video along with it, it´s more acceptable). The original version, which is more than 2 minutes longer than the edited single version, features so many additional parts, which can´t be left out if you want the full experience of the song.

A live version of "Chelsea Monday" is of course always a treat, and as it was one of the tracks not featured on the 1984 "Real to Reel" live album, it was at that point the first chance for the fans to listen to a live recording of the song. It should be noted here that this live version of "Chelsea Monday" is a different recording to the live version featured on the 1988 double live album "The Thieving Magpie", making this single a slightly more worthy purchase. Because upon conclusion that would be the reason for purchasing this particular single. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.