MISPLACED CHILDHOOD

Arguably the best Fish-era Marillion release, and in my opinion the best Marillion release full stop, this concept album seems a lot more complete than their previous two releases. It takes the listener on a journey which seems to last a lifetime (not because it's boring, quite the opposite), while in actual fact the album lasts just over 40 minutes. The album kicks off with the eerie keyboard driven Pseudo Silk Kimono, with possibly some of the most bizarre and poetic lyrics you are ever likely to hear. Easy then to believe that the lyrics to this album were partially thought up while Fish was on an acid trip. At first I disliked this track as I thought it was a bit too strange, in fact this song represents my feelings of the album as a whole, when I first listened to it I thought what the hell was that, Damn I've just wasted £6. But I gave it a couple more listens and it's now my favourite album. The ending of Pseudo Silk Kimono then blends seamlessly into the intro to Kayleigh, with light mellow keyboards supported by beautiful background guitar. This track, to my mind has very haunting qualities, even the chorus, which are perfectly supplemented by Rothery's searing guitar solo. Again there is another seamless change from the end of this song to the beginning of the short but sweet 'Lavender'. This is a nice song with catchy chorus and great guitar work. Lavender then makes way for Bitter Suite, which starts with Fish reciting a poem. This track then builds up to a stunning display of lyrical and vocal skill, which is made all the more brilliant by Steve Rothery's impeccable guitar work. The end of the song becomes a lot more mellow and relaxed, with great atmospheric keyboards, this puts the listener in the perfect mind set for the next track, Heart of Lothian, which provides a real surprise as it explodes onto the scene, again dominated by Rothery's excellent guitar work. This in turn leads to my favourite lyrics from any song, sung with huge amounts of passion, starting with the fantastic line 'It's Six o' Clock in the tower blocks, the stalagmites of culture shock'. Amazing stuff. The song then calms down much in the same way as the preceding track. The next tracks, the quirky Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) and Lords of the Backstage, is a song in stark contrast with the preceding tracks driven more by the Rhythm section than the guitar or keyboards, while they are not my favourite songs on the album they do an excellent job of moving the album on into the epic Blind Curve. Blind Curve is a prog masterpiece stuffed to bursting with great melodies, from Mark Kelly and Steve Rothery, and excellent lyrics (as usual). It is probably the darkest track on the album with Fish unloading some of his anger at certain aspects of society with lines like, 'I see children with vacant stares, destined for rape in the alleyways does anybody care, I can't take any more!' This song is then followed by the cathartic 'Childhoods End?'. Which fits perfectly, directly after the bleak 'Blind Curve'. The album closes on the upbeat 'White Feather' which works extremely well as the albums closing track. In summary this is one of the best albums I have heard and is an essential addition to the collection of any neo-prog fan. If your not a neo-prog fan give it a listen anyway, it's well worth your time.