Marillion's Brave: A Classic or Overblown Mess?

Let me put it this way:

I can honestly say I've completely forgotten Brave. No one track stood out for me. I'll have to give it another go. I just remember thinking it was unnecessarily long, and quite depressing.

Sean Trane wrote: SteveG wrote: There's many pro and con opinions. Please state yours and why. when I first heard it, I was "underwhelming blown away". I had hated everything Steve H  prior to it (not that I was a huge fan of all the Fish era either >> I only really liked Script), but this was musically very strong. Soooo, I spinned Brave (borrowed never bought) quite a few times and even managed to see the movie once (hardly any internet back then), and thought it was quite good - which was quite a feat as I didn't like neo-prog or plaintive/whinny vocals. I don't think I could spin it nowadays without cringing f-heavily and would probably pop it out after one or two tracks.

I still haven't seen the movie. I was always afraid that it would resemble a 70 minute long video.

So I had another listen to it a few days ago to see if my opinion had changed in 15 years (it really has been that long!) . First of all its 71 minutes long . Wow that did surprise me and they did play the whole thing at the St Davids Hall gig back in the 90's. My issue is still the same - no real memorable songs. However I'm missing the point as usual as its basically one very long song and that was the point. It flows perfectly and Hogarth sings as well as any time in his career and has a truly beautiful voice. It definitely has a reason for existing and will permanently divide opinion , but that's nothing against it. However I would prefer to listen to 5 other Marillion H era albums before it and it probably would scrape into my personal Marillion Top Ten. Different folks different strokes. BTW I wish people would just give opinions rather than snipe at other people for not saying what they want to hear , oh well okay it is Progarchives 

Edited by richardh - January 30 2021 at 01:22

iluvmarillion wrote: Since everybody wants to talk about Marbles as well, in my opinion both are classics. Elevator music is an insult to Marbles. I come from a different angle because I first bought the Marbles single disc. As good as people rave about Ocean Cloud I much prefer the single disc to the double album. Not a weak spot anywhere. Masterpiece in my view. Brave doesn't quite reach the same heights as Marbles. Some flat spots although it's difficult to say what if any songs detract from the album. Perhaps lyrically their best album and fantastic concept if you're into concepts. The Great Escape is up there with their best songs.

lazland wrote: SteveG wrote: Calling Brave or Marbles elevator music is uncalled for and is the type of post seen on pop music forums where the uncooth argue over Lorde and Billy Eilish. It's sad to see that type of babyish behavior here. They used to hang men for less than that!

suitkees wrote: ^ Thanks, Steve, appreciated. And to get back on track, regarding Brave, I think this album may be some kind of a blue-print of the Marillion music and sound of the Hogarth era. This album set forth their musical direction in a way. But personally, I prefer some more sharp edges to their music, or some "outings" into other territories (like the Beach Boys nudge on Afraid of Sunlight, e.g.). In my opinion they lost that a bit (although I must say that the FEAR album was quite good...) And I'm definitely not asking myself if it's prog enough or not... who cares, we like what we like (or not).

This is really a topic for another thread but where do we draw the line between an artist having a definable sound and style, that we appreciate, versus becoming predictable and not moving forward. Something that I've always wrestled with.

SteveG wrote: suitkees wrote: "Overblown mess" seems more insulting to me than "elevator music"... I mean, your thread question is inciting polarization. If you don't accept negative reactions then don't ask for it. Again, there's a point where being opposing crossed to the point of being inflammatory. If posters can't tell the difference, then they should stick to the pop forums where they belong. As much as someone like Catcher10 dislikes the Beatles, he has never crossed that line in a hundred different Beatles' themed threads. If he can do it, so can anyone.

See the last post.