WITH FRIENDS FROM THE ORCHESTRA

Marillion released this 2LP of live versions (without an audience) of some of their finest post-Fish material with additional orchestrations in 2019. It seems it went under the radar here on the archives. The band has released a concert with the same type of orchestrations and additional musicians in 2018 "Live at The Albert Hall'. 'With Friends from the Orchestra' shows the band playing a supplementary tracklist that has epics like 'This Strange Engine', 'The Sky Above The Rain', 'Seasons End' and 'Ocean Cloud'. The set has little emphasis on the rockin' side of the band, though in the second halve of the album the guitars of Steve Rothery become more outspoken. The singing of Steve Hogarth is impeccable, his voice is always full of expression and tonal quality. Unlike other rock with symphony albums the arrangements differ little form the original album versions. Throughout the record the band casts its unique adult melancholy haze and one might argue that a more varied emotional pallet would've made the record more engaging. Yet this is what Marillion does best, so there's that. To me it sounds beautiful, very professional and very well produced. The quality of the double vinyl is very good. For me personally this is a keeper, but I doubt that I will buy another record of Marillion (already own F.E.A.R.) of this era. Furthermore, I would like to point out that my favorite Steve Hogarth record remains 'Colours Not Found in Nature' with Isildurs Bane.

This is, in effect, the reverse of Less Is More - whereas that album found Marillion revisiting gems from their back catalogue in stripped-down acoustic versions, With Friends From the Orchestra finds them adding to the originals. Rather than playing with a full orchestra - an option taken by many bands in the past, but which always risks overpowering the band - Marillion instead, as the title implies, use a select group of classical musicians to add particular notes to the material.

Indeed, these friends are no strangers to Marillion - for the In Priase of Folly string quartet, plus Sam Morris on French horn and Emma Halnan on flute, made memorable contributions on the second disc of the excellent All One Tonight live album, which in effect was a dry run of this idea. That said, they played differeent songs that night, so rather than merely recapping that disc they plus Marillion push their collaboration forwards, providing new versions of the songs in question which are at once familiar but different, adding a new dimension to the material. It's not an essential release, but it is a rather fine one, and well-recommended for anyone who found the string quartet and wind instrument contributions on All One Tonight charming.