The Marillion Round Table

I was thinking of downloading one of the HITR shows and was looking at setlists.  None of them have Real Tears for Sale, what gives?!  anyone seen one of these shows?  

kenmartree wrote: I was thinking of downloading one of the HITR shows and was looking at setlists.  None of them have Real Tears for Sale, what gives?!  anyone seen one of these shows?                                                                                                                         kenmar

Kenmar - it's on this one that I reviewed and still available from Racket as a download:

http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=209990

And they did it at the last convention. Absolute stunner!

E

Hey, Tom,

It seems to me that you are more into the hard stuff: Sylvan I am not familiar with, but I do own copies of The Seventh House and Pure. And you have listened to it all? Well, if you like the hard side of Neo-prog, I guess you should turn on Script for a Jester's Tear. You could also try not so obvious Marillion LP's e.g. Radiation (pay attention especially to "Cathedral Wall" - bare in mind this album may sound poppy to you). Then I'd also recommend the in 2001 released Anoraknophobia. This album has got a very different approach from most of Marillion's discography: it is very synthy and has an '80-ies pop-sound to it (like Rush's Hold Your Fire, for example).

Edited by Basíleia - January 31 2010 at 10:34

Easter is excellent.  A song that I really like, from This Strange Engine of all places, is Estonia.

I agree with all the points made re Brave - a work of sheer genius.

However, to start Tom, I would really recommend Afraid of Sunlight from H era and Misplaced Childhood from Fish era, if nothing more because both are very accessible and give an instant insight into the peculiarities that make the band so unique and special. Use these as a springboard to the rest.

Thank you all for the recommendations, a lot of good stuff there so I'll throw my comments in one post.

Basileia, I gave "Radiation" a spin on the drive in to work this morning and it reminded me a little of "Brave" most notably in the recording technique.  I think both "Brave" and "Radiation" would click with me more if I listened to them in the dark with nothing else going on as someone recommended.  The problem is that much of my listening occurs during the two hours that I drive to and from work.  This means that something that I have to continually turn up to hear the soft parts then down again when it starts blaring gets tedious.  Although, maybe I'll actually give "Brave" another whirl on my flight to Nashville next week.

Also, I like your mention of Rush's "Hold Your Fire" which is actually one of my favorite Rush CD's, I'm listening to Anoraknophobia right now, "Quartz" has a nice funky feel to it.

E - I'm rather lukewarm about "Posthumous Silence", I absolutely loved it at first then it kind of lost some of it's appeal for me once I read the lyrics and figured out what it was about.  Now, it's just too emotional for me to listen to with any regularity.

All - Thank you for the recommendations, I'll be giving Misplaced Childhood, Season's End and Afraid of Sunlight and This Strange Engine a spin throughout the week and I'll let you know what I think.

Again, thank you for the recommendations.

Tom

Lazland

I love this 'Prog Archives' site - all these wonderfully intelligent (most of them anyway!) people with such wonderful tastes in music - thanks for your endorsement and you're absolutely right ...

"Life is transient - Prog is permanent " - where would I be without this higher art-form?

geoffbarra wrote: Have ALWAYS been a total Marillion fan and great as the Fish era was I have always thought Hogarth brought a maturity to the band. I loved Fish's lyrics - but his Gabrial-esk theatricals were at times embarrassing and often distracted from the music....eg Grendel. Fish's solo career has been excellent - and just as in the case of Steve Hackett and Genesis whose split gave us TWO fantastic collections of music - instead of one, Fish and Marillion have done the same - two great collections of music... I totally agree with 'Brave' being as good a concept album as any ever been made and 'Marbles' surely must rate as one of the stand-out albums in the whole history of Prog. The live version of 'Invisible Man' (on the 'Marbles on the Road' DVD) gives me goose bumps - on my goose bumps! This song, in my opinion, is second only to Rachel's Birthday - "Nightingale and the Snake" as the Ultimate in Prog music.

I like this guys way of thinkin'!

I've been a member of this site for a few years now, and I've seen a passing of the torch (if you will). At first I thought I was the lone voice in the wilderness singing the praises of this incarnation of Marillion. There were a couple of us, but it seemed like the people wanting to smash down the Hogarth era were far louder; but, not anymore. I'm seeing more and more people stepping up and say, "You know, that era of Marillion is, indeed, great; but, it's been 20 years now. THIS is Marillion and it's pretty @#&! amazing" Evidently something is happening because Marillion aren't only surviving, but they're thriving. If anything, they're getting more and more believers every day and they are still mentioned as one of more important bands of the genre.

There will always be devoted fans of the Fish era. Hell, I like the Fish era, but that chapter has been closed for over 20 years. This band isn't only producing quality music, but they are always pushing the envelope...never wanting to remain stagnant, but discovering new ways to keep it fresh for them...and for us.

I would also invite any naysayers to catch them live. I know I mention the convention a lot, but it was so special. What this band is capable of on stage leaves me breathless. Everybody was captivated. Everybody was one with the band. It's so hard to explain. And what they gave us that weekend will never be forgotten. I wish everyone could experience the thunderous ovation (and I'm dead serious...the applause was deafening) after "Afraid Of Sunlight". Watching how stunned the band was to receive such praise and love was so cool. I just remember Trewavas and Hogarth just looking at each other in utter amazement.

Do yourselves a favor...catch this band live. You won't regret it. Hopefully I'll be enjoying it side by side with my buddy Steve (Lazland) in Holland next year.

Keep the faith, guys. Keep the faith.

E

Welcome to the Round Table Geoff, great to have another believe around! Hope you enjoy the site (and particularly this thread) as much as I do!

Also, as Eric said with the live performances, I think they'd be mind blowing. Actually, I'm certain they would be! I was literally blown away by the DVD performances (and I mean blown away) so I can't begin to explain how intense the atmosphere must be seeing these guys live in the flesh.