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CURTAIN CALL - A LIVE ARCHIVE 1983 - 1988

Marillion

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Marillion Curtain Call - A Live Archive 1983 - 1988 album cover
4.50 | 57 ratings | 5 reviews | 64% 5 stars

Essential: a masterpiece of
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Songs / Tracks Listing

Volume A Disc 1 & 2 (76:47)
Rundsporthalle, Baunatal, Germany (1 October 1983)

Volume A Disc 1 (39:21)
1. Intro (0:45)
2. He Knows You Know (6:20)
3. Garden Party (7:51)
4. Script for a Jester's Tear (11:05)
5. Three Boats Down from the Candy (5:33)
6. Assassing (7:47)

Volume A Disc 2
1. Chelsea Monday (9:59)
2. Forgotten Sons (13:10)
3. Market Square Heroes (8:06)
4. Charting the Single (9:11)

Volume B Disc 1 & 2 (112:18)
Hammersmith Odeon, London, England (3 February 1986)

Volume B Disc 1 (62:25)
1. Intro (Emerald Lies) (0:56)
2. Script for a Jester's Tear (9:17)
3. Incubus (11:07)
4. Jigsaw (10:02)
5. The Web (8:40)
6. Pseudo Silk Kimono (2:14)
7. Kayleigh (4:11)
8. Lavender (2:31)
9. Bitter Suite (6:42)
10. Heart of Lothian (7:15)

Volume B Disc 2 (49:13)
1. Heart of Lothian (outro) (0:48)
2. Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) (2:06)
3. Lords of the Backstage (1:50)
4. Blind Curve (10:00)
5. Childhoods End? (2:53)
6. White Feather (5:50)
7. Fugazi (13:46)
8. Punch and Judy (3:03)
9. Market Square Heroes (8:57)

Volume C Disc 1 & 2 (97:07)
Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy (26 January 1988)

Volume C Disc 1 (42:51)
1. Intro (0:36)
2. Slainte Mhath (5:20)
3. Assassing (7:38)
4. White Russian (8:04)
5. Sugar Mice (7:27)
6. Fugazi (8:54)
7. Hotel Hobbies (4:25)
8. Warm Wet Circles (4:22)
9. That Time of the Night (6:05)

Volume C Disc 2 (54:16)
1. Intro (0:38)
2. Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) (2:05)
3. Lords of the Backstage (1:51)
4. Blind Curve (9:31)
5. Childhoods End? (2:50)
6. White Feather (4:08)
7. Kayleigh (3:55)
8. Lavender (2:38)
9. Heart of Lothian (4:55)
10. Incommunicado (5:05)
11. Garden Party (7:10)

Total Time: 286:12

Line-up / Musicians

- Fish / vocals
- Pete Trewavas / bass, backing vocals
- Mark Kelly / keyboards, backing vocals
- Steve Rothery / guitars
- Ian Mosley / drums & percussion

Releases information

CD Front Row Club / Chocolate Frog Records (2004)

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MARILLION Curtain Call - A Live Archive 1983 - 1988 ratings distribution


4.50
(57 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(64%)
64%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(18%)
18%
Good, but non-essential (12%)
12%
Collectors/fans only (5%)
5%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

MARILLION Curtain Call - A Live Archive 1983 - 1988 reviews


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Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars For those of you who claim as early Marillion die-hard fans, you should visit www.marillion.com and order this boxed set of 6 CDs comprising live set from three different stages at different times during FISH era. Each live set is packaged in a double CD. I just got this boxed set 3 weeks ago through a friend of mine, Stephen Lindlay, who ordered it for me when he was in England last month. I had dreamt of having this set since it was announced in the web thru FRONT ROW issue no. 15. I did not want to risk by ordering directly from my country where it might have some slippage in delivery like when I got pre-order of Marbles very late. Finally .. I got it in my hands directly from Stephen who flew from England to Jakarta bringing my stuff. Yeah. I spin the CD right away at Stephen's house in Jakarta. It blew me!

I love live albums. I usually use a set of criteria to review a live album, ie: 1.) the extent to which the recorded live music is more dynamic than the studio album, 2.) the extent of communication between the band and the audience, 3.) audience participation (hand clapping, shouting, etc), 4.) mixing and sound quality (including is there any cut or edit from original performance), 5.)the extent of musicians emotional control to maintain the best delivery of the music. The sonic quality is not as good as "La Gazza Ladra" but it's better than bootleg version. Overall performance of the band was recorded continuously as per original concert order, with minimum cuts. It's natural.

Volume A - 2 CD (76:47) Live at Rundsporthalle, Baunatal, Germany (1 October 1983)

This was taken during "Script for a Jester's Tear" Tour. It was actually a mystery gig by the band but luckily it turned out to be a groundbreaking gig and was key calling card for the band's expansion to Germany. The band just hired a new guy to look after the drum stools, Jonathan Mover on limited rehearsals. (Well, one of my considerations to buy this set was actually I want to hear how Jonathan performed his duty. He played really well and different with Pointer or Mosley). So, the line up was: Fish (voc), Mark Kelly (keys), Pete Trewavas (bass), Jonathan Mover (drums), and Steve Rothery (gtr).

Overall, the live performance sounds dynamic and interactive. Almost all breaks between tracks were fulfilled by Fish humorous (about sex) communication with the audience. The live set opens with a bit of "Assassing" intro that continues to the intro of "He Knows You Know" with some words from Fish. Nice opening. Jonathan's drumming work is really cool before Fish sings "Problems! Problems" - it sounds more dynamic than Mosley's style in La Gazza Ladra. In some segments Fish changed the lyrics to Germany. Creative. At the end of the track he started the conversation with the audience "BTW .. we are extremely sorry that in the past year we did not actually manage to come over here. This will be rectified next year when the full European tour starts ..". It's a very warm opening. "Garden Party" was then performed with some technical problems with Trewavas's bass guitar that bit disappear at beginning part of the track.

One thing that I like with this live set is the inclusion of "Three Boats from a Candy" that has never been included in previous release (as far as my knowledge). The other thing is "Assassing" that by the time of this performance was not released under FUGAZI album even though Fish did already mention the name of the album. The dazzling drum beats at intro by Jonathan was performed excellently. This version is a little bit different with the album version, especially Mark Kelly's punchy keyboard sounds. The percussion interlude used the single version. It's probably by that time only this version was composed by the band prior to an album. The detail sounds of bass and guitar also different. I do enjoy listening to this version. COOL ..

The other part that really blew me is FORGOTTEN SONS. Before the track starts, Fish made a long conversation with the audience about the song. "The main part of the story is about our generation. This generation is supposedly an intelligent generation that has the rights and the know-how to say NO. .. This is our chance to say NO to the invasion of other people's land.". He continues :"This is a song that we as a band wrote about peace; especially peace. This is for peace of northern island. This is dedicated to us tonight. This is called FORGOTTEN SONS!" The music was performed excellently with great voice of Fish, stunning lead guitar and symphonic keyboard. Drumming style is different with other live versions of the band. The solo keyboard is really nice and different. Overall, this version is much more dynamic and more symphonic compared to other versions of Forgotten Sons, even better than "Real to Reel" version.

"Forgotten Sons" seemed to be the last track until the audience requesting "More! More!" (in Germany's) and the band backed on stage. Fish started again the conversation followed by "Market Square Heroes". This track was performed excellently with high energy by the band. The interlude is really amazing. One complaint that I have with this track is the backing vocal quality (Pete Trewavas) when he sings "..market square heroes" .. so bad voice. Otherwise is excellent. Rothery's guitar is really rocking, followed by nice keyboard solo by Mark Kelly. Bass line is excellent.

Volume B : 2CD (112:18) - Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, England (3 February 1986)

This live set surprisingly starts with the intro of "Emerald Lies" and continues seamlessly to "Script for A Jester's Tear" which was performed at its best by the band. It seemed that Fish sung with his heart. This track has some problems with sound recording and technical glitches that make this live set much natural, with no overdubs. It seems the original master tape has damaged especially at the end of the track (minute 7:56). It flows to "Incubus" with different (and nice!) keyboard sound. At the completion of "Incubus" Fish starts his first conversation with the crowd; talking about Simon Le Bon (Duran-Duran ?). He talked, with his Scottish accent, about to whom the next track ("Jigsaw") was dedicated. As I expected, the crowd sung "stand straight!" following the song.

At the end of "Jigsaw" Fish continues his long conversation with the crowd and answering the crowd's request for "Grendel". "No .. no Grendel tonight. I'm extremely sorry, I'm very story" and some conversation (jokes). "This next song is dedicated for the people who were here four years ago. It's called .. the WEB!" and then the music starts with nice keyboard work of Mark Kelly. I like this intro of the web because the keyboard is different than the studio version; it's little bit mellow and simpler. Wonderful intro!

Having done with "The Web" the band continues with the main menu of the concert: The A side of "Misplaced Childhood" album until the end of Disc 1. The five songs in this set was performed excellently by the band. It's probably the band got used to the Hammy stage as stated by Pete Trewavas in the sleeve note: "It seemed in thosed days we played here all the time.". The climax of this part is my all-time favorite "Heart of Lothian"; a wonderfully crafted song with tasty melody and great lyrics .."It's getting late .." WOW . what a fantastic song! Unfortunately, Disc 1 is about to end so that the B side of Misplaced must be continued on Disc 2.

Disc 2 kicks off with "Waterhole". I like the vibes-like sound (played by keyboard, I think) than sounds so obvious in this version compared to studio or La Gazza Ladra version. There is a tendency that during this track the band almost lose control because of the fast tempo this track has. Fortunately, it continues with slower tempo track "Lords of Backstage" and "Blind Curve". What a great track this one is. "Last night you said I was cold. Untouchable ... I just want to be free. I'm happy to be free. I'm happy to be lonely. Can't you stay away! Just leave me alone with my thoughts. I'm just to runaway .. runaway" (drum shot in here is cool man .).

Having completed the whole "Misplaced" set Fish continues with his words "This is a song for a generation. It's for you and it's called Fugazi" and the intro starts "Vodka intimate ." (unfortunately there are technical glitches here that disturb the voice quality - but it's OK, it's natural isn't it?). This track is performed longer than the studio version. I like the exploration of bass line by Pete, guitar by Steve and keys by Mark. It's a very attractive live track. It's the best "Fugazi" the band has ever performed so far. (I have some bootleg versions of Fish era; but the one in this set is much better: it's dynamic, energetic and much more rocking!). I like the part where Fish introduced the band members to the audience during the "Where are the prophets?" part. It's very nice and I keep repeating this track. It's not just the way Fish sings to introduce each member, but the background music is really cool: symphonic in nature, stunning guitar, great keyboard and punchy bass line. The crowd then follows shouting "Where are the prophets?" repeatedly. Oh boy . what a great chunk of music here. So dynamic, so lively! It seems I was in the middle of the crowd!

The encore "Punch and Judy" - "Market Square Heroes" was performed seamlessly in lively style. As usual, the crowd shout together "I'm a market square heroes!!!!". Interlude was performed wonderfully (starting at minutes 2:50) where Fish invites the audience to dance together and giving instructions on what the audience should do. The background music is great, dominated by keyboard backed with dazzling bass guitar and guitar fills. The solo bass guitar during Fish invitation to audience to dance "Yeah twist again .!" is really nice. Great concluding track!

Volume C: 2CD (97:07) - Live at Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy (26 January 1988)

I don't expect much of this live set as it seems similar with "La Gazza Ladra" or "Live from Lorelei" version. The difference is that this live set has incomplete "Misplaced Childhood". Venue wise, it seems Marillion had loyal and fanatic fan base in Italy. I can sense it through the crowd participation even during the first track "Slainthe Mhath". The even react actively to Fish's conversation before "Assassing". Through this live set I can feel the soul of live performance where the audience actively participated with the band. I like Fish conversation just before "White Russian" where he talked about the political conditions in the world; nothing has changed - like in Nicaragua, South Africa, El Salvador. Where do we go from here, White Russian? What a great talks! It flows to the music of "White Russian". Personally, this is my favorite track of "Clutching at Straws" album. The ending part is really an ultimate climax: Racing the clouds home .. We place our faith in human rights.

It seems the crowd were die-hard fan of Marillion as they shout together the beginning part of "Fugazi". Vodka intimate on affair .Mosley did a short drum solo after Fish sings "of a Friday's night supper .". And again at the part when the lyric is "Where are the prophets?" all the crowd sung together with loud voice. It's very lively and I like it! After "Fugazi" all crowd shout loudly like in a football match. Great! The band continues with first three tracks of "Clutching At Straws" album: "Hotel Hobbie" - performed differently with longer and ambient intro followed by vibes sound intro. The crowd was really hot here where I can here clearly the hand clapping. "This pilgrimage to happy hour ..!!" uuugh I like this part man - rocking guitar, dazzling bass line, stunning guitar and great drumming. It flows to "Warm Wet Circle" and "That Time of The Night". Again, crowd participation is wonderful. The nice and touchy clavinet sound at the beginning of "That Time of The Night" was accompanied by "Ooooo" by the crowd. Nice. There is small technical problem here where the start of "That Time of The Night" was cut too early. But it's OK.

I don't know for what reason the band did the "Misplaced Childhood" part in a reverse way starting from Side 2 and continued with Side 1 without "Pseudo Silk Kimono" and "Bitter Suite". Regretful, actually because if I look at the CD duration, there are ample space and definitely can accommodate these 2 songs. Anyway, the crowd participation in "Kayleigh" is really amazing - the can sing the lyrics on top of their head and it happens to "lavender" as well. Wow! Fantastic! The other regret is that "Heart of Lothian" is not started from the end of "Bitter Suite".

The encore of the live set is "Incommunicado" and "Garden Party". During "Garden Party" the crowd voice even louder than other tracks. Almost all of them participated.

OVERALL it's an excellent live set. For me personally I give FIVE STAR as it is a masterpiece because I am an Early Marillion aficionado and I'm sure I must have been "bias" in reviewing this boxed set. But I don't want to be so naïve, that's why I'd give 4 stars for this page. This rating applicable for those who have listened to the first four albums of the band. For those who are NEW to the band, you should start with the studio album "Script for a Jester's Tear" and don't buy this boxed set. GW, Indonesia.

Review by Cygnus X-2
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
5 stars This is the ultimate Fish era Marillion live experience. Forget anything about what I said in my review for La Gazza Ladra, for this blows that album right out the water. With this set, released through the Marillion Front Row Club, you don't get 1, but 3 different shows from the Fish era of the band from all different times from the band. You have one show from the Script for a Jester's Tear tour, one from the Misplaced Childhood tour, and one from the Clutching at Straws tour, and even though songs are repeated, you don't get tired of them as they are essentially different entities live. The band is fun to listen to and they perform the material extremely well and often add on to the music a different dimension that just makes it so much better than the studio experience. I can't truly express how much I love this box set and how much better a live band Marillion are than in the studio, but I'll give it a shot and I hope I don't come across as a fanboy.

The first show for this set is from their show in Baunatal, Germany on October 1, 1983. This is an especially unique show as this was their only live show to feature then transition drummer Jonathan Mover, who plays the Mick Pointer material in a much more dynamic and engaging fashion. The set list consists of the entire Script for a Jester's Tear album minus The Web, Three Boats Down from the Candy (a song rarely played live and gets a smashing rendition on this show), Market Square Heroes, Charting the Single, and a sneak peek on Assassing. The music is performed wonderfully, with Mover, although only given limited rehearsals, showing that he was no slouch on the drums. He hits the cymbals with skill, he fits perfectly with Trewavas, and if they had not found Mosley, I think that they would have chosen Mover to be the replacement for Mick Pointer.

Anyway, as you'll find quickly, the shows are filled with Fish talking to the crowd in between songs, giving introductions and often getting a nice reaction from the crowd. What you'll find quickly as well is that Fish likes to talk mainly about sex related topics. The most blatant one occurs right after Script for a Jester's Tear and right before Three Boats Down From the Candy, I'd hate to spoil the comedy, though. I have to say that this show has a great live feel, and I have only one minor complaint. Why did this have to be released on two discs? The show here is only 77 minutes long, enough to fill the entire set onto one cd. Only a minor complaint, though, and I won't make a big deal about it.

The second show on this album was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on February 3, 1986 at the height of the Misplaced Childhood tour. This show is also the longest presented on the set, clocking in at nearly two hours. It opens with a nice little segment from Emerald Lies and them seamlessly by the will of Fish's voice turns to Script for a Jester's Tear. Fish offers some more fantastic dialogue and interplay with the crowd, most notably in between Jigsaw and The Web, in which he talks... again... about something very sex related... and is none the less hilarious. This show has a nice balance between material from Fugazi and Script for a Jester's Tear before the real highlight of the show is performed, Misplaced Childhood in its entirety.

Now I must say, that this is the best version of Misplaced Childhood I have in live aspects. Everything about it is perfect. There's a nice balance of extended pieces and all the original power of all is not only retained, but only expanded upon and heightened to an experience to remember. Even after the finishing flourishes of White Feather finish, the band isn't truly done yet. After the album finishes, they play an epic 13 minute rendition of Fugazi, with a nice extended section during the, "Where are the prophets" section, in which Fish gives a nod to each member of the band, the most humorous of which is when he announces Trewavas as the "resident sex machine". Anyway, after Fugazi ends the band leaves for about a minute only to return and perform an encore. The encore to this show is first Punch and Judy, which is a nice and fast paced rendition of the original. It ends with Market Square Heroes, and it's a great interpretation of the classic Marillion set closer.

The final show of this set was recorded in Milan, Italy on January 26, 1988, at the height of the Clutching at Straws tour. What you'll find here is a nice balance of old and new material, with Clutching at Straws getting the main focus (as it should, because they were touring to promote that album). This set has the only official live release of the classic opening trilogy of Clutching at Straws, Hotel Hobbies/Warm Wet Circles/That Time of the Night (which are probably the best songs on CaS altogether) with Fish on vocal. The material played on this album is well performed and the extensions of songs and the dialogue between Fish and the audience is kept to a minimum, allowing for more music. The second disc opens with the second side of Misplaced Childhood in its entirety, as Fish describes before Waterhole is played, "all stories start at a bar". Once they finish another epic rendition of White Feather, the group takes their first step off stage...

... only to return to play a first encore of songs from the first side of Misplaced Childhood. In fact, the entire Misplaced Childhood album is played except for Pseudo Silk Kimono and Bitter Suite. The crowd participation during the chorus of Kayleigh is utterly amazing and only goes to show exactly how die-hard Marillion fans are. Once Fish's epic wailing of, "I was born with a heart of Lothian" concludes, the band takes another step off the stage for a few minutes... only to play a second encore, this time only playing two songs. The first played in the second encore is Incommunicado, which further shows the crowd at their most excited with a lot of crowd participation. All in all, a pretty interesting rendition of the crowd favorite. The final song of the final album of this set is Garden Party, which is played wonderfully by the band, and Fish really gets into it during the section in which he utters, "I'm rocking". And as the song ends, you wish it wouldn't stop because it's just so perfect.

In the end, this is probably my overall favorite live album ever released in terms of material played and how well played it was. While there are some minor technical glitches and some audio problems during the sets (they weren't recorded using professional recording methods other than from the sound desk), they don't really mar the overall quality and the magic that Marillion are able to create on the stage. They've always been a better band live where they can stretch their proverbial legs out and really get a groove going. I find no true faults with this collection and I recommend any fan of Marillion to find this album on the group's website. The only thing is, the set is a bit costly, but if you shop at the right time, you may find yourself getting a great deal on it (like me). The ultimate live experience that will satisfy anybody's appetite for Marillion. 5/5.

Review by ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars A FAN'S DELIGHT

Marillion has a great management team (unless they are taking care of this on their own).

From the very beginning of their career, they released a video of a concert (the fantastic "Recital..."). With the explosion of the web, they will build a great web-site and create an on-line fan club with lots of goodies that the Fish orphans would like to own. They launched the idea of the "Front Row Club". For an expensive annual fee (49,99 £ or 75 ? or 100 $) the fan will have the right of getting some Marillion live releases (four a year). Mostly bootleg stuff but with good sound quality (most of the times).

But these "Curtain Call" live sets are not included in the budget. So, to get them not only do you need to be a member, but you will have to pay separately for them. Anyway, they are out of print by now, so DO worry. They aren't available any longer.

What is featured here is the very best of the genuine Marillion. Live. Over a period of five years.

It is true to say that Volume A, is almost a carbon copy of the great "Recital Of A Script". But since this one was a video (later released in DVD format) it is good to get a CD version (unless you know how to convert a DVD into audio format - which is rather easy by the way). It is my preferred volume of the three. It is interesting to listen to several Fish introductions. He is so communicative with the crowd (and has fortunately remained so).

Some of them are truely politically oriented. Before "Fugazzi" (volume three), Fish will just remind the audience that a week before this gig, he read an article in which it was mentioned that the British government was going to spend 124 million £ in a spacial project while Reagan & his team had released a budget of 54 BILLION $ to send a man on Mars (is there life on Mars ?).

"F@@@ing" clever (Fish said, but I fully agree). In those days (but nothing has basically changed in the meantime, unfortunately) even in Western (and rich) countries "There is not enough money to put people in houses, in hospitals nor food in people's houses ! This is a "f@@@ed" up world".

Volume B is mostly like "The Thieving Magpie" and the full rendition of "Misplaced"; Still, on this one, we'll get another great version of "Script" (how much I love this one), "Incubus" and "The Web".

And Volume C is a kaleidoscope of their whole Mark I career (except thier debut album "Script").

My only regret is that there are no signs of "Grendel" in here. A great prog epic, really. And one of my fave (all bands considered). Fish will warn the audience though : during the long intro for "The Web" : "No, we won't do any Grendel tonight, sorry"... And, yes, I am very sorry (but I have some unofficial live versions, so...).

Five stars for this excellent document of live prog music.

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This rare box set was originally issued via Marillion's Front Row Club, and simultaneously via Fish's site - in fact, it almost didn't come out until Marillion agreed to such a parallel release, since Fish didn't want his fans to be obliged to pay the (rather steep) subscription fees for the Front Row Club if they weren't interested in H-era live recordings and just wanted to buy this box. Like the later Early Stages boxed set, it's a collection of complete concerts from different points within the Fish era of the band's career, from the Script for a Jester's Tear tour to the Clutching at Straws tour.

First off is a 1983 show in Germany, notable for featuring Jonathan Mover on drums. Mick Pointer had left the band a few months back, and after being blessed with the presence of Camel's Andy Ward on drums for their appearance at the Reading festival in 1983 the band briefly took on Mover before personality incompatibilities led to him leaving the band taking on Ian Mosley. Mover's drumming is clearly more technically flashy than Pointer's was, though this is sometimes a hindrance as well as a help. The old Script for a Jester's Tear-era material tended towards a rather sparse drum sound, which gave it a rather special atmosphere - an atmosphere which in this performance is punctured from time to time by Mover's rather busy drumming style, his playing occasionally even intruding into points where usually Steve Rothery or Mark Kelly would be playing solo. The recording is also hampered by a sound quality which is average but not exceptional, and occasionally reveals a glitch or two. It's an alright listen, but the Early Stages boxed set or Recital of the Script provide much better shows from the Script tour with far better recording quality. (In particular, the guitar solo at the climax of Forgotten Sons here is utterly ruined - either by a technical failure onstage or with the recording, it's hard to say - to an extent which is frankly unforgivable.)

Next up we have a show from early 1986, part of the extensive touring which followed the smash success of Misplaced Childhood, and includes a decent rendition of the entire album plus a few nicely chosen encores afterwards. The variable sound quality in evidence, as well as the band (Fish in particular) sounding rather tired and irritable combine to make this live disc somewhat less compelling than the earlier show - in particular, the band sound exhausted, as though the Misplaced Childhood tour were beginning to wear on them.

This definitely isn't the case for the third show, which is truly the highlight of the collection. This Milan concert from late in the Clutching at Straws tour finds the band in an incredibly energetic mood - and the audience is just as happy to be there. Treating the crowd to a pumped-up rendition of songs from all four albums of the Fish era, the concert - much like the Live at Loreley set, which it closely resembles - is a great summation of that period in the band's history. The concert is set apart from Live at Loreley and the Wembley Arena concert from the Early Stages set by the fact that the backing singers who had been a presence earlier on in the tour are absent this time around - which is a shame, though the Clutching material stands up well without them.

On the whole, this set isn't quite as essential as the Early Stages box - restricted as they were to material that they alone held the rights to and not having access to the EMI archives, the band and Fish were presumably rather constrained in what shows they could pick out for this - but well worth picking up if you are a major fan of this phase of the band's career if only for that last Milan show. Then again, I think Early Stages has the edge on this one - as well as just plain including more shows, it features a performance or two with Mick Pointer on drums, whereas Mick is conspicuous by his absence this time around, and more importantly it includes some cracking performances of Grendel, the early Marillion classic which was such a lynchpin of their early live shows but which is conspicuous by its absence here.

Latest members reviews

5 stars I have to give this 5 stars. To any FISH era Marillion fan this box set gives you complete live concerts from all parts of the FISH era. And these 3 concerts blow away the other live legit releases out there. Keep in mind it is expensive (expecially as an import here in the States) and no ... (read more)

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