SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR

God knows I should have reviewed this ages ago in order to back up all of my rhetoric on the forums praising Marillion and neo-prog in general. Well, better late than never.unless you hate my opinions.

Anyway, Marillion is probably my favorite band, and I now think I'm familiar enough with them and have heard enough of their music to begin reviewing them. And where better to start than with the album that started it all, Script for a Jester's Tear, just the first of a long string of Marillion masterpieces. Marillion would get better, to be sure, but what an incredible debut!

Script for a Jester's Tear is hits you like a ton of bricks right from the start, with the direct and melancholy title track. It starts off slowly with a grand piano introduction and remorseful lyrics. The song builds into a cathartic and overwhelming middle section with incredible playing that really pulls at your emotions. The fade-out ending is without a doubt one of the best I've ever heard. This is the best track on the album and will leave you wanting to replay it on end.

The rest of the album isn't as immediately majestic as the title track, but goes along with the mood of the album perfectly. "He Knows You Know" is a frenzied song which I believe is about drug use, though with Fish's rampant metaphors, it could mean anything. Now, after listening to the excellent first couple of songs, "The Web" is not entirely impressive. The music is fairly plain, though it certainly has its moments. And because it fits the mood of the albums very well, it doesn't detract from the album, but serves as a (somewhat overlong) filler song. Now "Garden Party," is quite a change of pace! Bright, and a bit uplifting (!), it breaks the depressed streak of Script nicely, if just for awhile.

What a polar opposite to the previous track "Chelsea Monday" is! Very downbeat, yet beautiful, it manages to put a smile on my face, even with its apparent sadness.

A charging rhythm leads "Forgotten Sons," a song about war and the empty households it makes. Nothing too special is revealed until about halfway into the song, when, with the backdrop of a marching rhythm, Fish gives a great vocal performance of some of the greatest lyrics I've ever heard:

---"Minister, minister care for your children Order them not into damnation To eliminate those who would trespass against you For whose is the kingdom, the power, the glory for ever and ever Amen"---

---"Halt who goes there! - death!! Approach ... friend You're just another coffin on it's way down the emerald aisle When your children's stony glances mourn Your death in a terrorist's smile The bomber's arm placing fiery gifts on the supermarket shelves Alley sings with shrapnel detonate a temporary hell Forgotten sons"---

---"They're still forgotten, they're still still forgotten Peace on earth and mercy mild, mother brown has lost her child Just another forgotten son"---

From here on, the music grows more and more relevant, completely redeeming the slow pace of the first half. A beautiful Rothery guitar solo tears through the second half, and Fish's proves that he is a master of imagery, right up there with Gabriel. An excellent way to end an album.

Script for a Jester's Tear is not perfect, but truly is a masterpiece of mood. Marillion would indeed make even better music, but they began their career on the level where many bands would be struggling to be after a decade together.

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