MARILLION.COM

Nice album cover!!

There's one thing above everything else which make this album essential, a photo of me appears on the sleeve. Admittedly there are I think about 500 others as well, and I'll leave it to you to surmise which one I am. One of Marillion's many marketing ploys was to invite fans to send a passport photo to them, which they then used to cover the entire sleeve in a collage the pictures. This of course guaranteed that they would sell at least 500 copies, and it certainly worked for me!

As for the music itself, Believe it or not, at times the band actually sound HAPPY. It's not immediately apparent, "A legacy" is a bit of a plodder for a starter, but by track two, "Deserve", they're starting to rock out. Jings! Crivens!, (Scottish exclamations meaning "goodness gracious!"), there's even a screaming sax solo. After pausing for breath on the lovely soft "Go!", they're at it again, partying on with "Rich". There's a nice lyric on this track to the effect "Failure isn't about falling down, failure is staying down". It doesn't quite fit in with the music, but it make you think a bit. Things drift a bit thereafter, until the west coast, almost county twang of "Tumble down the years".

The album closes with the two longest, most progressive tracks. "Interior Lulu" is a bit of a hotchpotch with Hogarth rather over doing the vocals, but there are some nice guitars and keyboards. "House" is opened by a muted trumpet, which solo's again later. It has something of a lazy lounge jazz feel, very soft and relaxed, with only the pained vocals belying the fact that it really is Marillion.

Marrilion.com certainly sees the band exploring different directions, something which many of their fans found difficult to stomach, and lead to Marillion insisting they were NOT progressive. Sometimes the testing of the boundaries works, sometimes it doesn't.

Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree mixed a number of the tracks, but does not actually perform on the album.

Opened with "A Legacy" (6:16) with heavy voice of Hogarth followed with guitar as well as bass, it gives the overall picture about the music the band offers on this "marillion.com" album. The ending part of this track with Hogarth singing accompanied with acoustic guitar is a good one. "Deserve" (4:23) is an up-beat tempo pop song that reminds me to Marbles "Don' Hurt Yourself". Style-wise this second track is far from being prog rock, however, this is a nice track after all. "God" (6:11) brings the music into a space psychedelic style in slow tempo with guitar fills and keyboard serve as main rhythm section while bass guitar gives a solid line supported with drumbeats. This kind of music as well as the succeeding track "Rich" have been the characteristics of Marillion's music. Yes, they have gone from traditional neo prog music into this post modern prog music with some elements that remind us to the music of Cold Play.

"Enlightened" (4:59) has the same style with its previous track but it has excellent guitar solo work. Marillion has assembled their music style in such a way that it has the elements of nice composition, space psychedelic with floating style. Song like "Built-in Bastard Radar" (4:52) tries to explore in rock category with their own style. It's obvious as well with "Tumble Down the Years" (4:33) where the guitar playing style is more on a poppy style and give significant contribution to the overall texture of the music. What probably a true progressive track is "Interior Lulu" (15:14) - not because of its long duration - but it combines various music style with something that sounds like a latin music at the beginning (with solid bass lines). Hogarth gives his transparent voice beautifully accompanied with constant percussion and simple guitar fills. The tempo changes abruptly in a relatively fast tempo with great keyboard solo by Mark Kelly and suddenly stops into a quieter passage with different style. Overall, Interior Lulu is an interesting track to enjoy as we can go through different kind of musical ventures.

It's a good composition of music, packaged in a modern pop outfit with some prog touches. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This album is better than "Radiation" in my opinion, but still far away from another great albums with Hogarth like "Brave" and "Afraid of Sunlight"...

I think it's in a similar quality level than "Holidays In Eden", for example, and the mixture of poppy tracks with another more progressive is similar too... But in my opinion, this album obviously showed the way wich the band would follow and improve 5 years later with "Marbles", because is a more classical Marillion's sound if you compare it with "Radiation" and of course, the most experimental "Anoraknophobia".

But the attempt of experimentation wich Marillion started with "This Estrange Engine" and "Radiation" is still here, and we can hear some experimental tracks like House, a kind of trip-hop / ambient track wich I don't like very much, because is very repetitive and boring, but it's still a respectable efforth by the band to make something different...

The album is, indeed, very variated. We have some poppy tracks with the Marillion trademark like Enlightened, Tumblin' Down The Years (beautiful lyrics and chorus) and Rich (one of the highlights of the album, very catchy song...) We also have some good rock tracks like Deserve (good sax here), Built-In Bastard Radar and A Legacy (good opener). The experimentation comes with Go! (my favourite track of the album, with great guitar playing and keyboards), Interior Lulu (a totally prog song with really great sections and rythm changes) and House (this song is the worst of the album in my opinion).

Conclusion: this is the best Marillion's album from the experimental trilogy "Radiation"/"Marillion.com"/"Anoraknophobia". Indeed, is a pretty good album, with some really good tracks. Maybe you can miss a true classic like Gazpacho, Easter or Splintering Heart, but this collection of songs will surely please all Marillion's fans. But the hard prog-heads surely will not be agree...

My rating: ***

Marillion's final album of the millennium shows their infatuation with the internet in the album's title itself. This album came after the wake of the underwhelming Radiation and the preceding acoustic-driven This Strange Engine. I rate this album at the same level as This Strange Engine, because while the pop songs are varied and well performed, they aren't as good as they could be. Fortunately, though, the epics are as usual with Marillion the showpieces of the album and they really put forth all their creativity on these songs. There is no overly flashy playing on any musician's part and everyone works together to create an overall cheery atmosphere, yes, cheery... for Marillion that's something not normal.

The album opens with A Legacy, which is an overly long tune that despite the length, has a nice acoustic feel in the ending and some nice vocals from Hogarth throughout. The main riff of this song has that same Radiation feeling, but from the beginning one can already hear an vast improvement in feel and quality. Rothery offers some nice wah guitar on this track, one of the only tracks I can detect with wah from Rothery on it. Deserve has "single" written all over it in the vein that Kayleigh, Hooks in You, and Don't Hurt Yourself had "single" written all over them. Some slightly contrived sax opens up this song and a mediocre main riff, but other than that, it's not a bad pop song. Go has a slight ethereal feel to it, mainly because of spacey guitar fills and an underlying synth creating a floaty feel. Trewavas is really great on this track, offering a meaty bass line and keeping the track in time along with Mosley. Rothery's wavy guitar solo only helps heighten the atmosphere, which is very relaxed.

Rich starts off with a kick. Nice clean guitar chords mix well with the organ and the solo synth lines. Some Beatles-esque Hogarth harmonies break way into a very groovy verse. I'm quite fond of Mark Kelly's performance on this track, it brings back memories of his stellar work in the 80s. The chorus also has a nice Beatles feeling to it. Towards the end, Trewavas introduces a nice groovy bass line that takes the track to the ending. Enlightened has a mellow feeling to it, with some piano with some strong vibrato on it. The track really doesn't go anywhere special, though, it keeps the mellow pace and doesn't turn into anything out of the ordinary. Built-In Bastard Radar is a really rocky tune, with some great Rothery solo and riffing. The underlying organ line is interesting and it really kicks the album up a notch in mood. Tumble Down the Years is more or a less a prelude to the epics of the album. It isn't terribly interesting, though, and like Enlightened, it doesn't really go anywhere fast.

Interior Lulu is a sprawling 15 minute epic, and it's the longest piece Marillion had done since the title track to This Strange Engine. It begins with a nice bass/percussion groove with some floaty synths over it. Some well timed guitar harmonics and some interesting and dynamic riffing, the song builds up, albeit a bit slowly. About 1/3 into the song, Kelly gives his first solo on the album, a dynamic and varying synthesizer experiment that gives way into the enxt portion of the song. Rothery and Kelly are superb for the rest of the song, offering engaging and very creative riffing. Rothery offers many expansive guitar solos throughout the 15 minutes as well. It's my favorite song of the album, and one of the best Marillion epics of the past 15 years. House is the 10 minute finale to the album begins with some ethereal synths and some sparse piano. Immediately, the group kicks in and offers a very relaxed and moody atmosphere. It's another brilliant 10 minute song wonderfully composed and very well performed. Add in a trumpet solo and a great guitar motif by Rothery and you have yourself the finale to this album.

In the end, marillion.com is a nice mix of pop and progressive rock. The final two songs on this album are perfect and really save the album from total disaster. That said, the pop songs range from fun to uninteresting. If it were just a record of pop songs, I would rate it as 2.5/5... but the two epics boost that overall rating 3.5/5.

A fun mixture of up-beat, intelligent pop(ish) songs with fine performances from all members. "Marillion.com" is a vast improvement over "Radiation" while building on a similar formula of artistic accessibility. The band's playing and expression on this release renews enthusiasm after their last two mediocre efforts and sets the stage of things to come.

While songs like "Legacy", "Deserve", and "Rich" are examples of the group's mature sensibilities on writing songs that are easy to like, their playing on the songs "Go!", and the dynamic extended track "Interior Lulu" show them living up to their reputation as emotive movers and expressionists in the rock world. "Lulu" steals the show, and although it sounds very out of place next to the sing-alongs in most of the album, it is one of the band's finest songs with some monstrous instrumental and vocal moments. I also enjoy the jazzy "House" for its atmospheric and soulful melodies.

All in all a fun and artsy return to form.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

3.5 stars. The band seems to be having a lot of fun on this one just like they were on the previous album "Radiation". This album is a step up from the their last two records in my opinion and more consistant. The cover is great as well.

"A Legacy" is a very catchy and fun tune with some twists and turns.There is some good organ work and Rothery fires off some solos. "Deserve" is another fun, poppy tune with lyrics like "We get what we deserve" ringing out. There is a sax solo before 3 minutes. This song is hard not to like although I tired of it quickly. "Go !" is a change of pace with it's almost spacey and dreamy soundscape with reserved vocals. A nice lazy guitar solo fits in well. "Rich" opens with an upbeat rhythm with vocal melodies. Clapping,guitar melodies and vocal melodies are all good while the organ is a nice touch as well. "Enlightened" is a drifting, mellow song. I really like this one. Rothery does his thing 3 minutes in while we get some spacey synths 4 1/2 minutes in.

"Built-In Bastard Radar" has some good guitar and organ with an uptempo chorus. This is the song I like the least but it's still ok. "Tumble Down The Years" is really a love song with great lyrics and a catchy melody. The organ is well done. "Interior Lulu" is the best song and the longest. The first 4 1/2 minutes are kind of mellow and trippy before we get a breif outburst of crazy synths and an uptempo melody.The song calms back down but the vocals remain passionate. The drumming and guitar melody 12 1/2 minutes in is fantastic ! "House" has some trumpet 3 1/2 minutes in and later.The spacey keys are good, while the last third of the song reminds me of NO-MAN. You know mellow and ambient.

This is a good album and if I could cut out a few tracks it would be an easy 4 stars.

As far as I can remember (2001 or so), Marillon did use the Internet communication tool quite remarkably : newsletter, Front Row club, a great web-site. They have also had the brilliant ideas in their difficult years (from the next album onwards) to get their new projects pre-paid by their fans. To maintain the relation with them so tight as possible, Marillion organizes Marillion week- ends (the first in continental Europe took place this year).

I have to admit that their marketing strategy is extremely professional. No wonder then that even if those remote days (eight years fromnow), that Marillion.com was the title of one of their album.

In terms of musical content, the least I can say is that their last two albums were rather weak. "Radiation" and "Tales From The Engine Room" ranked amongst their poorer output (IMO of course, and I understand that there are others on this site) although I have had some hopes with "The Strange Engine" which was a kind of come back to the prog roots.

I was kind of hoping for a confirmation of this, but I won't get it here. The mood of the album goes from rock, even hard at times like in the opening number "A Legacy", "Rich" and "Built-in Bastard Radar" (almost heavy) to pop "Deserve", "Tumble Down The Years". There will also be some typical Marillion Mark II songs; meaning very tranquil, limit drowsiness like "Go", "Enlightened" (they should have been a little more) which at times sounds like The Buggles (or Yes in the "Drama" days if you prefer).

The last two numbers are rather extended, so there is still hope to get a song in the same vein that "The Strange Engine". But this hope (or wish) won't last for long. "Interior Lulu" develops over fifteen minutes of which the first four are difficult to go through (boredom, boredom). Then, all of a sudden, a short but extremely powerful instrumental break will boost the listener. The last nine minutes will be an exchange bewtween sleepy moments and great instrumental breaks (Rothery is very much inspired, I should say) which helps to make it a good track. But let's be realistic : this is not a great epic. By no means.

The closing number, clocking at over ten minutes, also starts like a classic Marillion Mark II song : emotionless and dull. Unfortunately, the same mood will prevail during the whole lenght of the track. Nothing to be excited. Long does not mean great.

This album is not the worse of the history of this line-up. Some easy listening music with little spirit, and these Hogarth vocals which have never been able to please me (and probably never will).

Two stars.

I would never say that Marillion has been a consistent band, varying from the prog masterpiece Script for a Jester's Tear to the mainstream Holidays in Eden. But for this, their 1999 release "marillion.com," and their last two are quite consistent. Not consistently good, and not necessarily consistently bad, just a consistent mixed bag (or a consistent potpourri of music, if you like). Again, Marillion makes a stab at mainstream, radio-friendly material, but throws in a few wandering, slightly prog numbers (Interior Lulu and House). Again, die-hard fans will probably enjoy this, but the rest of us are left rolling our eyes and skipping through most of the songs looking for that one little hint of enjoyment.

Definitely a better release than Radiation and Holidays in Eden, but a far cry from Brave and Afraid of Sunlight. Worth the look for Marillion fans. For the rest of us, there are a lot better options in the Marillion catalogue than this. Three stars. Good, but not essential.

Marillion is definitely exploring some new territory here and reinvents itself for the third or fourth time already. I lost count. What we get is a revision of their tradition-rooted prog rock into a 21st century context and it brings their sound and vision very closely to the emotionally laden song writing that Porcupine Tree was doing in the same year. So it's no coincidence that Wilson mixed some of the tracks here. They were both very much on the same wavelength. The song writing is very effective indeed: from straightforwardly rocking out to laidback, subtle and even lounge when needed. These guys surely did take a good lesson or two from Radiohead. Their newfound sound would come to blossom on Anoraknophobia, but this album already contains lots of outstanding music.

DO VISIST WWW.MARILLION.COM (spam?)

Okay, Brit-Pop is over, isn't it? Yeah, I think, but it still inspired lots of bands to do some kind of British- sounding alt. rock. Marillion with Steve Hogarth on board did take that ride, and in this 1999 album it's very noticeable. Although the band would later release more concise alt. rock-fledged albums like Somewhere Else, Marillion.Com is still a very enjoyable record and a bit more varied and "daring" than future records.

The first seven songs are all different kinds of rock/pop which vary from sentimental ones ('Enlightened') to pure fun songs ('Rich' and 'Deserve'), a moody tune ('Go!') which sounds like something from Radiohead or Porcupine Tree from the same time, and the best one being 'Legacy' which is like the perfect mix of those songs with some cool jamming in the middle and good soloing. All these being very enjoyable and not uninspired as one would think, with typical alt. rock instrumentation of rockin' guitar, solid rhythm section, some piano or keys but nothing too flashy and emotional vocals.

So what's up with the last two tracks? Well, they're rather oddities for this, up to now, alt. rock album. First we got 'Interior Lulu' a 15 minute modern Prog piece with Mark Kelly's synths once again present. Change of paces, extended soloing, instrumental sections, great moods, you name it, it's Prog. But we all know that this is no 'Tarkus' or 'Close to the Edge', not even close, but 'Interior Lulu' doesn't sound anything like those or any other 70s epic, so its still a very good song/epic with a modern vibe and not a retro-ish one (not that I despise the so-called retro prog bands).

Marillion closes this album with another oddity, 'Home', an extremely chilling tune that has nothing to do with the rest of the album, for one that's something bad. Yet, it's a lovely tune with the 90s feel all over it, so I don't give a damn if it doesn't fit the album's style. Not sure why, but I find it to be a very "nocturnal" tune that sets my mind to a tranquil night with all the stars shining on top of me, I repeat, this is lovely. It's not rock, simply a chilling atmosphere with a repeated drum beat, and on top some really fine and smooth guitar, bass, keys and saxophone.

So what is this album? Ah, a very solid album indeed with a bit of incoherence in styles, but the quality of the whole album is great nonetheless. Hard to rate, I'll give it the neutral rating of 3 stars meaning that it's definitely good and enjoyable, though not Prog all through, it's still highly recommended if you like Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and other more popular straight-forward alt. rock bands.

The last of my Marillion set of reviews for studio albums, until the new one is released of course! This one followed on the back of the excellent, but criminally under performing, Radiation, and was a distinct, and deliberate, move by the band to once and for all get rid of the neo prog rock tag and push themselves into a fusion of progressive rock and more indie rock orientated music. This trend was continued on the successor, Anoracknophobia, and had mixed results.

The first track, A Legacy, is a bit of a dirge, and rather forgettable, whilst Deserve takes us straight into the type of Radiohead inspired rock music that Hogarth, especially, was keen to emulate and take the band forward to.

It isn't until Go that the band finally find their feet with the approach, and what a special track it is. Progressive at its core, but infused with post indie sensibilities, the closing vocal segment is amongst the best that Hogarth has ever recorded with the band.

Rich is a social commentary song, but also a very pop orientated one, and one got the feeling listening to this at the time that the band had slightly lost its way when writing and recording more commercially orientated tracks. It actually stands up far better in retrospect, and the huge bass lead by Trewavas amongst the shrill vocal and chaotic Rothery riff do gel together nicely. Not their best pop song by any stretch of the imagination, but still interesting nonetheless.

Enlightened is a natural follow on from much of what featured on Radiation, a very mellow track, almost meandering in its clear thoughtfulness, featuring some lovely singing from Hogarth and a very dark mid section solo by Steven Rothery.

Built in Bastard Radar has the finest title ever written for any rock song in my opinion, and sees the band almost branch out into a grunge garage band. It's as far removed from Seasons End or Brave, let alone Misplaced Childhood, as it is possible to get. Fun, but as near to throwaway as the band got.

The mood, and quality, changes utterly with Tumble Down The Years, which remains, to these ears, one of the finest songs the band recorded and also performed live. A beautiful melody, wonderfully performed by the collective, is set against a cheery Hogarth vocal. This track undoubtedly lifts the mood of the album, and it was rather needed, actually.

The album closes with two epics, Interior Lulu and House. The former has remained a favourite of fans for many years now. It features Mark Kelly at his very best, has some incredible signature changes, moments of utter frenetic madness, and also mellow lushness. This is a great track, but I am one of those few who prefers the acoustic reworking on Less Is More, because I believe the stripped down version allowed the dark beauty of the original to shine through more by taking away the frenetic moments. This, though, is still very good, dark, and foreboding.

House was designed to be performed and listened to in an extremely smoky jazz club, and, indeed, invokes memories of that type of establishment. Mellow and oozing class, this is a particularly overlooked track by the band.

As I have said before, this band do not do bad albums. Even their more controversial amongst the fan base (and this one definitely qualifies as such) still deliver exceptional music, and it is clear looking back that with Radiation, this album, and it's successor, Marillion were searching for a formula that would fuse the best of the new with the traditional. They achieved this, in spades, with Marbles.

Three stars for this. A good album, and one which I would recommend to those who do not have it.

Marillion.com comes across, to me at least, a bit like "Radiation done right". Not too much, mind - the band seem to be a bit less keen to mimic Radiohead this time around and a bit happier to call back to the progressive pop of Holidays In Eden. Still, there's some parallels in the approach taken to the two albums, enough to see it as a companion piece.

Not that I'm 100% against Radiation - Cathedral Wall and A Few Words For the Dead from it are pretty good tracks even in the original mix, and the 2013 rerelease with the new mix is a substantial improvement on the original - but that original mix was a bit of a misstep. Here, the band take more or less the same approach to the compositions and the sequencing of the album, frontloading it with more poppy material before rounding things off with two more experimental tracks (which may not seem much, but they amount to about 25 minutes - nearly half the running time of the album - between them).

The difference is that the album has a better production job on it and a better mix than the original release of Radiation - thanks, in part, to Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, who contributes mixes to five of the nine songs - and the songwriting is just plain better. The shorter songs on the album might be poppy, but mainstream they ain't - we're talking melodic psychedelic indie-rock workouts which are far more appealing and interesting than the earlier stabs at the style on Radiation. The happy and upbeat numbers are bursting with an infectious energy, the downtempo numbers are wonderfully atmospheric, and all of them have more progressive touches than the more simplistic numbers on Radiation.

Meanwhile, the album presents not one but two epics which really push the bounds of Marillion's work. Interior Lulu, a bit of a missing link between Brave and Marbles, sounds like a bona fide classic. House is a laid back mood piece influenced to an equal extent by jazz and by house music. Between them, the two tracks show Marillion simultaneously demonstrating their continued mastery of their more progressive side whilst at the same time taking them further out of their comfort zone than ever before.

On the whole, I'd say marillion.com is even more sorely underrated than Radiation, especially since in Interior Lulu, the band present one of the best and most genuinely progressive songs they have ever produced. Perhaps it's best to think of it not as a followup to, say, Brave or Afraid of Sunlight or This Strange Engine, but to Holidays In Eden, bringing a more mature take to that album's prog-pop mashup.

After a stream of "not so good" albums, just in my opinion of course, started with Brave, passing throgh what I consider the band's lowest moment that's Afraid of Sunlight, Marillion.com is at least a decent one. Still not very consistent, but enjoyable enough. Starting with some normal length songs, with a pop interlude represented by "Rich", which I honestly like, it ends with two longer suites.

I want to concentrate on those: Interior Lulu has the same kind of defects of the rest of the album: very good moments but a little cohesion between them. In particular the uptime "movement" after the intro changes too suddenly and it's just like a different track tied up. This is an example of what I mean with "little cohesion".

The bluesy "House", instead, has some good unexpected progressions inside a regular slowtime song. The instrumental parts using the trumpet are jazzy and seem to cross the border with the kind of post-rock of bands like Yojo. Hogarth's voice fits very well, too.

There's not much more to say about this album. It's an improvement from Radiation and deserves its three stars. I honestly enjoy it much more than Brave and its follow-ups up to this one.