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Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark |
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Snicolette 
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Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6049 |
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 Topic: Marillion - An Hour Before It's DarkPosted: March 21 2022 at 10:54 |
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I agree that everything shouldn't have to be earth-shattering innovation. A solid recording is a good thing. And there's no question that it's Marillion, if you didn't know it was. Granted, I'm a fan, but the staying power is one of the reasons, no one-hit wonders, this band.
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Heart of the Matter
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Joined: September 01 2020 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 3573 |
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Posted: March 21 2022 at 10:34 |
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^ I see the similarity in the overall sound, but I also find a stronger individuality track by track
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AFlowerKingCrimson
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Posted: March 21 2022 at 09:04 |
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I listened to it for the first time yesterday. I'll have to listen again before I can form some kind of strong opionion. However, on first listen it kind of seems like F.E.A.R. part two to me. It's not bad but it seems to have a very similar approach to their previous album.
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moshkito
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Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 18146 |
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Posted: March 21 2022 at 06:44 |
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Hi, This is scary for me ... it's as if we are waiting for a keyboard to jump out all over the place, or a singer go crazy on stage and perform with a codpiece in his face, or some sort of pyrotechnics off the guitar ... you know the stuff that we have become enamored with and think is WHAT PROGRESSIVE MUSIC is all about ... and all it says is that we're bored and we want to be entertained ... and THAT HAS NOTHING to do with the music itself. At least, it is what I read into it. It is "serious", in its approach, and perhaps they could be a bit easier, but it's hard to not be serious in these kinds of things ... you either are with them, or the whole thing comes off cynic and pathetic, or worse ... another song about a girl on a motorcycle chewing a lollipop ... it just won't fit any more than a polka dot bikini. One of the hard (and sometimes harsh!) things about meditation, is that you have to get into it ... you can't just go half way and expect results that make sense and help you all along. And all life, martyrdom aside, is really like that ... and in this case it was about a lot of life and death and survival, so the album being "serious" is much more on par with things, than otherwise, and to me, a perfect "spokesperson" for 2020, the year we want to forget! |
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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suitkees
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Posted: March 20 2022 at 12:28 |
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Just gave this album a first listen, through youtube so not doing really justice to the sonic quality of the album, but musically it is very interesting, but definitely not ground breaking regarding Marillion's earlier efforts. A pleasant listen, though. Will listen to it again to get a better idea.
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The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
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Catcher10
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Posted: March 18 2022 at 11:39 |
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I hear you, as well many albums we all enjoy in this musical genre is more somber, dark than the opposite. I guess I might be needed more happy go lucky music for the moment, maybe I'll spin some disco  .I think the album is excellent again from a writing and production view, it is deserving of all the accolades its been getting. Care is amazing!!
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Necrotica
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Honorary Colaborator Joined: July 28 2015 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 3407 |
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Posted: March 18 2022 at 08:13 |
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I agree that this is not a BBQ record; however, to play devil’s advocate, many of my favorite records are held in the same regard. Opeth are one of my favorite bands of all time, and yet most of their work is best played during autumn or winter 🎶 |
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Take me down, to the underground
Won't you take me down, to the underground Why oh why, there is no light And if I can't sleep, can you hold my life https://www.youtube.com/@CocoonMasterBrendan-wh3sd |
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moshkito
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Posted: March 18 2022 at 07:39 |
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Hi, I think that is a bit pessimistic for my tastes. When someone is away, and apart from the "real" issues, it is easy to make a comment, whose sentiments are kinda cynical in many ways. In my many years (71 now) I do not deny, or think that a rainy day is better than the sunny day or vice versa (it's all the same in Portland/Seattle!!!) ... it is simply another day and that has nothing to do with my moods, or the music I am listening to ... which would suggest some kind of social conditioning in my book. I don't subscribe to those attitudes and really think that many people are more unable to be sympathetic to issues that are not fun, and decidedly bad. I guess those folks will think that the pop related SW/PT will make a better album! It's even worse when we come down to "quoting" someone, a nobody for all intents and purposes, with a comment that is clever, but really more on the down side of things than the upside. We don't get, "our part" in these things, and how long we avoided it, and then something like this gets worse, and we say it's a bad day in paradise, and we are in the middle of it. It's easy to tell when folks have never had bullets and shells flying over their heads day and night to know the difference and realize that an album/song like that is a bright moment, in a dark day full of napalm or other guns! Saddest comment I have ever seen! Now go play the 9th on a sunny day when you want to go to the beach! Go play the 5th when you want to go see that game, and the wife wants to go shopping (no steak tonite!!!) and forget the game! C'mon ... those are just realities and have nothing to do with the rain or the weather! I can't believe that we're so gullible as to eat that kind of comment!
Edited by moshkito - March 18 2022 at 07:41 |
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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Snicolette
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Posted: March 18 2022 at 07:31 |
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My mini-review: Marillion
returns with a dark look and warning that we all should heed, as our world
hurtles toward destruction on so many levels.
Right when we could potentially be looking forward to brighter times, we
still have to address so much for the survival of our planet. It is also a look backward to the pandemic
days, which should have pulled us together, instead of deepening divides. As usual, the band delivers pretty much
flawless musical colour to Hogarth’s moving lyrics and impeccable vocals. We’ve got time. An hour.
Before dark. May the angels put
their arms around us all. The final piece,
an epic, is my favourite track. I particularly
love the way that this piece reprises the first one, bookending the recording. “Care"
describes so well, what it is like to lose someone to a disease. A warning that time is short for us all. An hour.
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Catcher10
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Posted: March 18 2022 at 00:05 |
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I agree, the colors pop nicely.....Kinda wish the music was a bit brighter like the cover and the sun orange color variant of the LP. As one YouTube reviewer commented....This album is not one you play at a BBQ with family and friends, but rather one you play on a rainy day.
Edited by Catcher10 - March 18 2022 at 00:06 |
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Heart of the Matter
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Posted: March 17 2022 at 13:52 |
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Nice picture! The cover looks really great in LP size. 
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Catcher10
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Posted: March 17 2022 at 13:35 |
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This one is gonna take a few spins for it to soak all in. It's a very bleak, somber, melancholy record and oozing in Covid references. Sure it's the times we are living in the past couple years.....but I can't ignore the fact that in 5-10 years I'm not gonna want to be reminded of these times.
The musicianship is brilliant, writing is excellent as is the production so I am focusing on that for now.  |
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moshkito
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Posted: March 14 2022 at 08:28 |
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Hi, The answer is YES. Marillion are not just another pop/rock band, and the material they do is meaningful and important because of it. It is also thoughtful in many ways, something that I like to joke that most prog fans confuse with clever worded lyrics that have little to say, when compared to something that is REAL and not just a bunch of WORDS. I listened to it off the tube (album getting here today), and I had to listen to everything 4 times before I stopped, and the quality and feeling is mutual ... you know you have a true "friend", and not just someone to share a beer with! This is the "personal" side of the music that Marillion has, that SW/PT do not have, and the main reason why I feel that Marillion is a much more valuable band, but that is not to say that SW/PT do not have some great moments, they do! But, in the lyrical sense, you know that Marillion is not fake, and their music is true ... to the point they can unplug it and play within classical styles and acoustic. Not to mention that we don't have to listen to a mechanical/mathematical drumming style that is, by now, extremely boring!
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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Grumpyprogfan
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 17:53 |
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Simon Phillips Protocol V, so far, is my AOTY. 
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SteveG
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 17:45 |
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I'm not sure if the song is better but the recording sounds better. That's for sure.
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Mellotron Storm
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 17:39 |
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Finally had a chance to listen to the song but wish I had just the audio. They sure try hard to be politically correct like that Israel bashing album. Song was good but come on it doesn't even compare to the new Porcupine Tree song. And I agree with Grumpyprogfan that PT wins hands down for album of the year 2022.
I won't be buying the Marillion album so at least no review from me guys.  Edited by Mellotron Storm - March 09 2022 at 17:40 |
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"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"
"Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
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moshkito
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 08:13 |
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Hi, No more "The Wall" for you! No more KC (1st album) for you! (specially Epitath and then the first piece for a Russian these days!) I'm not sure that lyrics alone are the most important part of it all ... the combination of lyrics and the music is what matters, and if its accents are well defined and used properly, and I think that Marillion has gotten to a level of honesty and integrity that is difficult for many musicians to bring a lot of things forward and not be thought of as just plain vanilla and no color. Similarly, FISH has also created a lot of very powerful pieces of work, via his words and lyrics and how he shows them on stage ... quite strong. Words, when used well, take things into a new meaning ... but then, there is something that confuses us, and my example is in theater with Keith Michell doing King Lear over 400 times, and during his quiet piece and repetition of one word, the director Peter Brook said that as many shows as they did, he never heard Keith Michell do it the same way every night ... it was always different, and my guess is "tuned" to that night's audience. Telling a story is a funny, weird, bizarre and crazy thing, and is not the same each and every time. One writer does it with the 52 pick up method for words, and somehow it works, and many a rocker has taken that literally (Can, Eno and David Bowie) ... but in the end, it is the context that makes it valuable. Similarly, there were/are many songs that were very valuable during the Vietnam days ... and I remember them, not sure yo do ... Country Joe is one of them, but there are many others that stand up just as much even though the film did not show us some of it, since they had enough to not be "political", and instead be more about the fun, the drugs and the music that became the multi billion selling materials of the time with only the Beatles and Rolling Stones not there! Lyrics, that make sense, and stand up, are USUALLY about the time and place ... IT IS NOT JUST A SONG. And I think this is what a lot of us here think of ... songs for my mp3, or for my cell phone, and I don't want this or that, and a setting like that can be selective, but is not indicative of anything except your moods and what you like to carry you on, on an otherwise boring day at work ... for example. But if you had lived in the late 60's and early 70's like I did, I think that your tastes in lyrics would be significantly different, and they would still pick you up, regardless of "meaning" and "ideas" ... you make it sound like that Neil Young screaming about those dead students is meaningless to my life ... I was there! Not just a bystander while sucking on a lollipop and toking a joint thinking about how hip I am! Edited by moshkito - March 14 2022 at 08:30 |
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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Zeph
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 06:31 |
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I think Steve has a very good point. This is something I've thought about with other songs too, like The Strangest Times by BBT on Common Ground:
I don't want to be reminded of the covid pandemic every time I listen to this album, but it's difficult not to. On Murder Machines it's also very much on the nose. I don't see these songs being something I'd want to listen to in the future. What if you lost someone close and hear "I put my arms around her and I killed her with love". That is literally true for many people out there. I have to admit that I'm not one that usually pays a lot of attention to lyrics and like when they don't necessarily tell a story very directly in a way that makes it impossible not to register. I also like the mentioned reviews by Necrotica and SteveG.
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Heart of the Matter
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 06:21 |
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Both reviews by Necrotica and SteveG helped me to gain some deeper insight into the lyrical side of the album (besides enjoying their good writing). I just wonder if those same words could get to tell us something different over time, when the present misery be gone.
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lazland
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Posted: March 09 2022 at 00:17 |
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Nice review. I will probably post mine over the next couple of days.
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Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
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suitkees wrote: