SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

If Marillion's debut single held a strong promise, the album that lived up to that promise has to be 'Scipt', the ultimate example of the classic Genesis resurgence in the 80s. With a solidified lineup, founding member Steve Rothery & Co. could now finally construct a musical product that entirely celebrates the classic era of progressive rock, as the sound of early Marillion emulates quite strongly the stylistic tropes of Genesis, while it is also at least partially informed by Pink Floyd, Peter Hammill, and ELP. All of this comes in an era seeing the decline in popularity of punk as well as the rise of new wave and heavy metal. 'Script for a Jester's Tear' is a daring piece of music that reintroduces this fascination with progressive rock, while it also stands as one of the most unhip releases of the entire decade.

It would be quite futile to attempt to undermine the cult status of the album discussed here, as 'Script' introduced above all the incredibly imaginative and sophisticated poetry of Fish, as the songs on Marillion's debut album are ripe with words of bedside etiquette (no pun intended), allowing for a very vivid, dark, and even gothic imagery to punctuate the otherwise claustrophobic sounds on many of these songs. Keeping in mind that very often the melodies followed the words to the songs, one could immediately understand the role Fish had in establishing a style and a mannerism of creating music that could be referred to as Marillion's very own. 'Script' is also one of these album that charm with its lack of perfection, with the ever so valuable innocence of a young band that still lacks the experience of knowing the sound they want. The complexity of the compositions indicates nevertheless the technical ability of the band members, making up for the occasionally lackluster songwriting on some of the longer tracks. In any case the album has produced several seminal, iconic moments for the neo-prog movement and still stands as one of the very impressive, bold and consistent musical releases of that era, with all the classic prog references thrown at the band.