The Marillion Round Table

E-Dub wrote: You know, say what you want about Anoraknophobia,  but the songs just translate beautifully live. Besides "Man Of A Thousand Faces" on Friday and the last hour or so of Sunday, "Quartz" was the other highlight. And "If My Heart Were A Ball" from the '09 convention just scorched it. E

May as well attempt to bring this thread back to life.

progkidjoel wrote: As I've always said, This Strange Engine stands out as their most perfect achievement as a band. I've heard VERY few tracks which have such a dense and truly wonderful group chemistry in my 17 years. Truly a testament to the quality of this band. After a very long break (probably a good 6 months or so) from listening to most Marillion stuff I've finally started to get back into it, although much less into the Fish era stuff as I previously was. Also, hi to Eric, Lazland and Steve, I've been absent from this thread for too long

Dr Vollin wrote: I am 41 years old and first discovered Marillion when I was 14, I loved the Fish Marillion and played the songs over and over, then heard the news he had left the band and basically I never continued with them beyond that point for years as I had moved on to harder rock music for a while, BUT... not so long ago I became heavily into Prog music again and I aquired Afraid of sunlight, and I was mesmerised by this album, (it is still my fave Marillion album), I went on to get This strange engine which I loved also, then I got Radiation, another great album, I am presently listening to Marbles double disk edition which so far has blown me away. I still love the old Fish sound but Hogarth for me is the ultimate frontman for Marillion now, he sings beautifully, writes beautifully, and the band's music has changed direction, it can be more subtle now but it can also rock like hell! I love this band now they are quickly becoming my number one band. I have a lot of their back catalogue to aquire still, but I don't want to get it al at once, I need some gems to look forward to!   I never listen to any reviews about Marillion albums, if I did I would never have bought any of the ones I own, I can't believe a review I read about Marbles where it said that the album would have benefitted from not including the whole of disc one! is this person mad? Ocean cloud, Invisible man, Genie, etc. I have recently bought albums that had strong reviews on this forum and they were terrible, now I listen only to my own ears.

topographicbroadways wrote: Well i've had great fun discovering the H era the last few months. I'm not sure what to get next.  I'm thinking either Radiation or Somewhere Else. Which would be most recommended at the Round Table?

topographicbroadways wrote: lazland wrote: topographicbroadways wrote: Well i've had great fun discovering the H era the last few months. I'm not sure what to get next.  I'm thinking either Radiation or Somewhere Else. Which would be most recommended at the Round Table? I would go for Radiation first, Mark. It is an incredibly underrated album by a lot of the fans, but is superb. Cathedral Walls is right up there with their best, whilst I love the These Chains sequences. As an aside, this album was recorded in my old home town of Oswestry, and I was allowed a sneak preview at the studio! Somewhere Else is, I know, very highly rated by Eric, and I am beginning to warm a lot more to it. There are some very powerful and emotional pieces of music on the album (H was going through his divorce), but the problem I think is that it suffered in comparison to its illustrious predecessor Marbles. It's a long winded way of saying get both, but Radiation first. I've heard snippets of Radiation and am intrigued by it so i'll def get that. I do plan on getting both, then the rest  And great story about Radiation there

Keep flying the Marillion flag boys !!   Can't wait for some new music.

Hello once again, I'm a big lurker on this board, always wanting to get more active but somehow never finding the time... I thought the Marillion thread would be a good place to try to start again, as they are definitely my no.1 prog band :)

Well, I am definitely what you would call a Fish era fan and a casual follower of the Hogarth era. (Sorry, I just don't get the "h" mystique at all). However, I'm suprised how everyone seems to think in terms of Fish and Hogarth eras; personally, I would put the line between the Afraid of Sunlight and This Strange Engine albums and declare there were "Neo-prog" and "Art Alternative" (or prog influenced alternative, or whatever) eras.

Seriously, I think there was a strong continuity in terms of music (if not lyrics) all the way from Script to Afraid, with a radical update to the sound when they went indie. This new sound has sometimes worked for me and sometimes not; I still don't like Somewhere Else and Happiness is the Road no matter how hard I've tried, my biggest gripe with them being the uneven dynamics and since I do like the live performances I think it's perhaps a production problem.


I might have more to write but I'll try to keep this post short so you all don't go hitting the PgDn key :)

ACR wrote: Hello once again, I'm a big lurker on this board, always wanting to get more active but somehow never finding the time... I thought the Marillion thread would be a good place to try to start again, as they are definitely my no.1 prog band :) Well, I am definitely what you would call a Fish era fan and a casual follower of the Hogarth era. (Sorry, I just don't get the "h" mystique at all). However, I'm suprised how everyone seems to think in terms of Fish and Hogarth eras; personally, I would put the line between the Afraid of Sunlight and This Strange Engine albums and declare there were "Neo-prog" and "Art Alternative" (or prog influenced alternative, or whatever) eras. Seriously, I think there was a strong continuity in terms of music (if not lyrics) all the way from Script to Afraid, with a radical update to the sound when they went indie. This new sound has sometimes worked for me and sometimes not; I still don't like Somewhere Else and Happiness is the Road no matter how hard I've tried, my biggest gripe with them being the uneven dynamics and since I do like the live performances I think it's perhaps a production problem. I might have more to write but I'll try to keep this post short so you all don't go hitting the PgDn key :)

ACR wrote: BTW the 'Net is a very strange place, just today I found out that Fish era Marillion has covered Mike Oldfield's "Shadow on the Wall"! Who would have thought...?  (many years later Fish almost got a lead vocal on a Mike Oldfield song, but that's another story...)