THE THIEVING MAGPIE - LA GAZZA LADRA

Between the departure of Fish and the first studio effort with Steve Hogarth Marillion released two compilations of the Fish years: "La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie)" and "B'sides themselves".

"La Gazza Ladra" a.k.a. "The Thieving Magpie" is a two-disc compilation of songs from various performances during the fish-era. Whereas the first disc is a true compilation of live tracks, the second disc is an integral performance of the Misplaced Childhood album.

The fact that all the songs from disc one are taken from various shows is most noticeable by the fact that most songs have fade in and outs. This makes the whole disc feel as a disorderly collected compilation, created by a low profile label instead of a bit of a professional compilation that would live up to the standards by EMI. I cannot imagine that it would be too difficult to have all tracks cross fading, I mean most songs end with crowd's cheering so you could cross fade this.

Also the quality of the production on the first disc is not that high, if you compare it to the "Real to Reel" live disc that was first released in 1984. Sometimes the higher tones are barely noticeable. Quite disappointing for a release that from the outside looks like the live release of the Fish-era.

I'm more positive however of the second disc. First of all because it is uninterrupted, but also because the quality of the recording is a lot better than disc one. Fish's vocals also sound a lot better, on the first disc he sometimes sounds as if his throat is about to give in.

Too bad this album was not released as a single cd, with only the Misplaced Childhood set included. I would have rated it higher. I prefer the "Real to Reel" album over this one.

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