SOUNDS THAT CAN'T BE MADE

Four listens so far and this album has the feel of something special. The best I can discern is this is a concept album based on human emotions and Hogarth is a master of eliciting them from us with his lyrics and Rothery is a master of eliciting them from us with his guitar. I don't usually comment on lyrics, but this album is one of the best lyrically that I've heard from them since Brave. That's not to take away from the music because as usual that is excellent as well. I will review the songs in order of my preference. Montreal is Marillion's "second city" and you can feel the affection they have for the City in the song. This may be a fav of mine because I have been to two Marillion Weekends in Montreal and the city and I share the feelings the song elicits. Sky Above the Rain is outstanding lyrically and musically. As usual H can find some optimism in any situation ending the song with the lyric "Rise up to that blue space above the clouds where troubles die and tears dry" Gaza is a typical Marillion Epic and succeeds in bringing attention to a geo political problem using every day emotion and sensibilities. Power is hard to describe as I don't have a degree in psychoanalysis, but it seems to be about a guy on the edge who doesn't want to be taken for granted. At any rate, the music is powerful. STCBM is what appears to be the one ProgPop song that Marillion seem to have on every album and I would say is a tie with Power. Portions of it reminded me of a Collins/Hackett era Genesis song. Invisible Ink is a very similar, yet softer, song in comparison to Power in my opinion. It's about a guy who can't seem to express himself and tends to "creep out" the woman he pursues, but I think in the end he finally gets his point across. Pour my love is a little too mushy for my taste and one of the few times in Marillion history where Hogarth's voice overtakes the music. Lucky Man I just don't like and it is the only reason STCBM gets 4 stars, not 5 from me.