SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

Although the neo-prog branch of symphonic progessive rock started in the 70s, it's pretty easy to pinpoint just where the movement caught fire in the drought years of the 80s. MARILLION burst onto the scene with this classic and reminded the musical world that prog wasn't dead but merely taking a siesta while all the angry punkers were having their short stint in the limelight. As the punk scene was becoming splintered into diverse new arenas such as new wave, no wave, post punk and more, MARILLION delivered a message that despite the attempt to suffocate the movement by dumbing everything musical down to the lowest common denominator, prog was like a nasty weed that continues to grow and thrive in the cracks of the pavement.

Although Fish does nail the Peter Gabriel thing quite spectacularly, I would have to add that he sounds much more like Peter Hammill at times. With strong and lengthy compositions and energetic band members delivering with gusto this is one of my favorite albums in the whole neo-prog subgenre. Fish has never sounded better and despite my usual dislike of overtly borrowing of another's past workings I have to admit this album delivered the right thing at the right time and was done extremely well at that. One of those cases where I like the influenced better than the influencers.