THIS STRANGE ENGINE

Marillion have gone ahead and given This Strange Engine a very similar deluxe edition treatment to those previously received by the first 8 albums they put out through EMI. This Strange Engine, of course, represents the start of their independent era, and perhaps it's notable then that the two-CD live show bundled in this time comes from the legendary US tour which was the result of enthusiastic American fans chipping in to make it financially viable, kicking off the band's now-historic role in cultivating early forms of online crowdfunding.

There's also a "live bootleg" of an Utrecht gig on the accompanying Blu-Ray; this has soundboard-quality audio set to less-than-professional footage, and captures a gig where unfortunately Steve Hogarth's voice was shot, meaning that the band are hardly at the top of their form.

As for the album itself, it quite simply has never sounded better. Mind you, it's never sounded that much worse either - it's a mild tightening-up, not a game-changing remix like that enjoyed in 2018 by its follow-up, Radiation.

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