SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

It seems strange to be reviewing this album so long after its release but I was listening to it this morning in the car and was reminded of just how significant this release was to the prog world.

Way back in 1982 I watched an unknown band fronted by a very large, very made up singer blow away the other acts on an edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test. A few months later they were on again to promote a forthcoming single. Again they were way better than anyone else on the show that night. The release of an album was also mentioned. From that moment on I expectantly flipped through the album racks in every music shop I visited until I finally laid my hands on a copy of Script For A Jester's Tear.

At the time, there was no other album like it and no band like Marillion. Genesis were waning. Yes seemed about to disintegrate. VdGG had become just Van Der Graaf and faded away (so it appeared). The music world seemed at the mercy of the new romantics. So this album was an huge breath of fresh air. Fantastic music, a frontman with real charisma and a vocal delivery dripping with emotion one moment and spitting venom the next. There is no doubt in my mind that this album kick-started the prog revival of the early 80s. And it remains, even now - 25 years later, a classic. It is not perfect but it is a work of brilliance and some genius and belongs in every prog collection. It is the essence of an essential masterpiece of progressive music.