The Marillion Round Table

Basíleia wrote: Alberto Muñoz wrote: lazland wrote: Alberto Muñoz wrote: Today i started my relistening to Marillion. And started with the Script of a Jester Tears remaster.   All that i can say is whoa!!!!!!!   Masterpiece of 80's prog. And you've got hours of great stuff to listen to yet Let us know what you think of them all and which ones you are missing.   I have listening the original album, i have to hear the second cd of the remaster, i will do today, when i go home from job.   I have been very impresed by the keyboard and guitar, also the bass playing is great, but i find the drums a little weak and sometimes doing the time keeper thing with the 80's type of drumming.   But i think that my favourite tracks are Here Knows, You Know, The Web, Garden Party and Forgotten Songs.   I have never hear before Grendel, so i will take a chance to hear it as well.   I have purchase the oficial bootleg box set, i hope it's worth it.   Well, the drummer at their first album (Michael Pointer - who in '95 founded Arena)  wasn't very skilled at the time. In my opinion, it is a good thing Trewavas was on spot with his bass playing (though he has grown a lot too, since!) to rectify the somewhat standard, lousy drum playing. Is this your first Marillion encounter? or have you listened to other albums in the past already? Joren

E-Dub wrote: I know this isn't a Gazpacho appreciation thread, but they've been closely associated with Marillion in the past and there are some similarities. I'm spinning Night right now and this is a damn fine disc. I prefer Tick Tock, but any fan of latter day Marillion will surely appreciate these guys. E

^Sorry, the "quote-thing" gets too long -

Anyway, I haven't heard the Official Bootleg Set, I am sorry to say, I however do own a number of non-official and other official bootlegs and most of them (with Fish), I reckon to be worth listening.

Basíleia wrote: ^Sorry, the "quote-thing" gets too long - Anyway, I haven't heard the Official Bootleg Set, I am sorry to say, I however do own a number of non-official and other official bootlegs and most of them (with Fish), I reckon to be worth listening. As for the next albums, I can only say you should try variety from the spectre of different albums that is Marillion. I can say this, I guess: *  Look for Brave and Marbles first (two neo-prog masterpieces!) * Then there are lots of different styles amids the discography: - Anoraknophobia (very synthy-type of album; you should compare it with Rush's Hold Your Fire) - Holidays in Eden (an album with smooth pop-rock songs) - Radiation (an album with singer/songwriter-pop songs, but nonetheless highly recommended!) - This Strange Engine (an acoustically driven album)   I love every single album of them, but this is some sort of index.   Joren

Okay. Brave & Marbles are absolutely essential in not just any Marillion collection, but any prog collection. They really are utterly supreme.

I will also endorse strongly Joren's other choices, particularly the very underrated Radiation, but would also put in strong recommendations for Season's End (Hogarth's first LP) and the last "proper" studio album, Happiness is the Road.

But....what the hell. Get them ALL. This band do NOT do bad

Alberto Muñoz wrote: lazland wrote: Basíleia wrote: ^Sorry, the "quote-thing" gets too long - Anyway, I haven't heard the Official Bootleg Set, I am sorry to say, I however do own a number of non-official and other official bootlegs and most of them (with Fish), I reckon to be worth listening. As for the next albums, I can only say you should try variety from the spectre of different albums that is Marillion. I can say this, I guess: *  Look for Brave and Marbles first (two neo-prog masterpieces!) * Then there are lots of different styles amids the discography: - Anoraknophobia (very synthy-type of album; you should compare it with Rush's Hold Your Fire) - Holidays in Eden (an album with smooth pop-rock songs) - Radiation (an album with singer/songwriter-pop songs, but nonetheless highly recommended!) - This Strange Engine (an acoustically driven album)   I love every single album of them, but this is some sort of index.   Joren Okay. Brave & Marbles are absolutely essential in not just any Marillion collection, but any prog collection. They really are utterly supreme. I will also endorse strongly Joren's other choices, particularly the very underrated Radiation, but would also put in strong recommendations for Season's End (Hogarth's first LP) and the last "proper" studio album, Happiness is the Road. But....what the hell. Get them ALL. This band do NOT do bad   And the Less is More?

Well, concerning that one, this thread seems to be divided into two camps: Laz and I really enjoy the latest creation of Marillion, whereas E-dub and others extremely dislike it (or that is the feeling I got from them, I, of course, can't speak for them!)

http://www.marillion.com/music/index.htm

Just pre-ordered mine!

E

Progfan1958 wrote: Basíleia wrote: Alberto Muñoz wrote: lazland wrote: Basíleia wrote: ^Sorry, the "quote-thing" gets too long - Anyway, I haven't heard the Official Bootleg Set, I am sorry to say, I however do own a number of non-official and other official bootlegs and most of them (with Fish), I reckon to be worth listening. As for the next albums, I can only say you should try variety from the spectre of different albums that is Marillion. I can say this, I guess: *  Look for Brave and Marbles first (two neo-prog masterpieces!) * Then there are lots of different styles amids the discography: - Anoraknophobia (very synthy-type of album; you should compare it with Rush's Hold Your Fire) - Holidays in Eden (an album with smooth pop-rock songs) - Radiation (an album with singer/songwriter-pop songs, but nonetheless highly recommended!) - This Strange Engine (an acoustically driven album)   I love every single album of them, but this is some sort of index.   Joren Okay. Brave & Marbles are absolutely essential in not just any Marillion collection, but any prog collection. They really are utterly supreme. I will also endorse strongly Joren's other choices, particularly the very underrated Radiation, but would also put in strong recommendations for Season's End (Hogarth's first LP) and the last "proper" studio album, Happiness is the Road. But....what the hell. Get them ALL. This band do NOT do bad   And the Less is More? Well, concerning that one, this thread seems to be divided into two camps: Laz and I really enjoy the latest creation of Marillion, whereas E-dub and others extremely dislike it (or that is the feeling I got from them, I, of course, can't speak for them!) It is full of raw emotion, IMO - a very good purchase too!   Joren   Joren, I'm sort of in between, more or less, about Less Is More. ( Pun intended )  I find it very listenable and enjoyable, and there are real moments of excellence. But the band could have taken it farther and put in a lot more of their trademark drama, and added a few more moments of musical adventure. For me, some of the tracks sound unfinished and end too quickly without real resolution....it's like the fellows just said "Ok, let's stop now and move on to the next track".  Perhaps I'm jaded by what they've done in the past and expected more of the same. Anyway, it is mostly a nice listen...sort of a Sunday Morning Album. Put your Marillion iPod playlist on shuffle and these tracks fit in very nicely. Steve

Good points, Steve. I like how you've pointed out how some songs sound 'unfinished'. That's what I got out of it...especially "Interior Lulu". I've heard numerous people say they prefer the new version over the original, but just can't wrap my head around that one. It's so chopped up and devoid of any consistency. I realize that the original has a variety of signature time changes and sectioned out for different moods; however, the new version is all over the place. It's almost like a Franken-Lulu to my ears. The original had a seamless lead in to a section, but not the new one.

E


Edited by E-Dub - March 18 2010 at 08:03

Alberto Muñoz wrote: And what about Grendel? i hear and i love that track, i know that many hates the song of the Supper's ready comparison. But nodaways is a great track fro me.

Yes, well, about that one, I think it is a great song and have to admit that I hadn't even noticed the simmilarities with "Supper's Ready" - it stands out in its own rights: a marvelous piece of music^^

Buenas tardes Senor Munoz !  For Anorak live try going to Marillion's online Racket Records site. The version they sell is 2CD and should be less expensive than what you can find locally.

To pull together some of the comments made since In was on last night, Anorak is absolutely essdential as a live LP, and certainly the finest of the "official" releases on a record label, although I would recommend that you also look at getting a Racket Records live recording which has the band live as they were, without dubbing and all the rest. There are piles of reviews for you to look at.

I will certainly get the 2CD convention live LP - thanks Eric for pointing this out.

Less is More. As Joren says, we are bigger fans of this than other regulars on this thread. I just really enjoy the new interpretations. Certainly, it was extremely courageous (I was going to say Brave) of them to do Hard as Love in the format that it is on the LP, and I can absolutely say that it brings utter goosebumps to me every time I listen to it. I prefer the Interior Lulu version on the LP as I believe the stripped out version is somewhat less chaotic and closer, perhaps, to the original intent of the track. Having said that, I absolutely agree with Joren that it is, essentially, a filler LP and an interesting and enjoyable type of side project before we get to the real business of the next studio LP.

I hope you really enjoy HITR Alberto, because I absolutely still stand by my 5 star review (my 1st review on PA). It utterly grows on you every time you hear it.

Grendel. I was around when this was first released as a B side and performed live. It is, of course, an utter ripoff of "classic" Genesis, and never pretended to be anything else. Of course, in the early 1980's we absolutely loved it. However, I would now describe it as an interesting museum piece, one to be brought out every now and again and savoured for what it is. It is, of course, utterly unrepresentative of the band's later output, and by that, I also mean later Fish era output.

I've kept you all to long in this post, but I will say lastly that I put on Osatara on the way home from a Governors meeting at my son's school tonight. This is another LP that just gets better each and every time I listen to it. The incredible voice of Hannah and the extraordinarily subtle guitar work by Rothery. Thoroughly recommended to all.

These are, my friends, extremely happy days. Enjoy