HOLIDAYS IN EDEN

As most of us know, Marillion is a progressive rock band that was formed in 1979. They are the most popular exponent of what is known as neo-prog. Marillion's early works belong to Fish's era and featured Fish's poetic and introspective lyrics, shaped with very complex and subtle musical arrangements. The leave of Fish and the entrance of Steve Hogarth to Marillion left a big mark on the band and projected Marillion to a noticeable change in the direction and musical style.

"Holidays In Eden" is a starkly commercial album for Marillion. The band stripped the songs to the basic melodies, and tried to reduce indulgences to the bare minimum. As a result, "Holidays In Eden" today is an album that often gets maligned by the old fans of Marillion. Steve Rothery's guitar is not as omnipresent as it normally was and this time Mark Kelly's keyboards provide little more than pleasant accompaniment. However, the album has some nice progressive moments in bits and pieces. But, almost all the album is loaded down with pretty standard rock songs, vastly different from the old Marillion and not as satisfying as many expected of them. Still, "Holidays In Eden" remains a good work.

"Holidays In Eden" is the sixth studio album of Marillion and that was released in 1991. "Holidays In Eden" is their first album completely written without the presence of Fish. The line up on the album is Steve Hogarth (lead and backing vocals), Steve Rothery (guitars), Mark Kelly (keyboards), Pete Trewavas (backing vocals and basses) and Ian Mosley (drums and percussion). The album had also the participation of Christopher Neil (backing vocals) as a guest artist.

"Holidays In Eden" has ten tracks. The first track "Splintering Heart" is an album's strong opener. It gets off to a slow start and Hogarth sings his lyrics, at first subdued but slowly getting louder. The tension is built perfectly. Then the song breaks open and it's Rothery's fierce guitar playing that cuts through the song wonderfully. The second track "Cover My Eyes (Pain And Heaven)" is one of the most poppy songs on the album. It's a darker number that has a strong chorus with a nice guitar effect and has a content to sing aloud. This is probably a song that will get stuck in your head. This is nice but it isn't one of my favourites. The third track "The Party" is a lot more progressive and has a wonderful structure. This song starts quietly with the voice and the piano and ends also quietly and has a lot of musical spectacle in between, in which the solid guitar playing of Rothery stands out, but the wonderful heavy bass playing of Trewavas is also well reflected. The fourth track "No One Can", launched as a single, is one of my least favourites. Without blemish from an instrumental and vocal point of view, it doesn't provoke a special interest in me, perhaps because it has a little varied stride and melody and is shamelessly oriented to be a commercial hit. The fifth track is the title track "Holidays In Eden". It highlights all the instruments equally, with rhythm changes that go from energetic passages to more intimate ones. This is another poppy tune. This is one of the weakest songs on the album. It's nice but too straightforward to really captivate me. The sixth track "Dry Land" is another highlight, a fantastic showcase of the talent of these musicians, demonstrating that without Fish they were capable of growing up without him. This is a compelling song, where especially Rothery's guitar solos are wonderful. The seventh track "Waiting To Happen" begins with an acoustic guitar, Hogarth's voice and a few light keyboards that immediately exploit a simple melody but with Rothery's guitar it acquires enormous strength, to return ready to an intimate development. It's again in the commercial vein, but pleasant enough. The eighth track "This Town" is another one of my favourites. This is a hard rock song with a very fast riff. The final part in it is a Rothery inspired with his excellent guitar full of feeling. It's a kind of a driving rock song to the final two ballads. In reality, the final three songs on the album work as a suite. The ninth track "The Rakes Progress" is a very short song, which is only an instrumental interlude that unites the previous song "This Town" with the last song "100 Nights". The tenth track "100 Nights" is another of my favourites too. It's a more full and epic ballad, exciting and instrumentally hallucinating, another of these themes with a true intimate beginning in which highlights Rothery's guitar, a musician who didn't value enough at the time of making the typical lists of great guitar magicians.

Conclusion: "Holidays In Eden" is one of the most commercial and poppy offspring in the impressive Marillion's career. Chris Nei's hand and EMI pressure prevailed over the band's musical tastes and intentions. At times it's hard to believe that the rhythm section is the same that we admired and praised in "Fugazi" and "Misplaced Childhood". Kelly has been held in check, we miss his virtuoso's solos and poignant piano laps. The cuts made to Rothery's solos are too evident in some cases, with the duration reduced to a minimum. The voice of Hogarth could only emerge, very suitable for charts, and the lyrics has been taken a step back compared to "Seasons End", they're much more oriented towards romanticism, neglecting the demanding themes. I think the band realized this direction was leading them nowhere. Fortunately, they got right back to where they belonged with their next studio album "Brave" that was released in 1994.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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