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Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark
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Necrotica View Drop Down
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Points: 3407 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Necrotica Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2022 at 15:32
I thought it was excellent! I really like how they expanded upon the dark, melancholy nature of FEAR with something that's a bit more hopeful - while still acknowledging the current problems of the world. Also, Care is probably going to go down as one of my favorite modern-era Marillion songs. 

I posted my review yesterday if anyone wants to take a look on the album page Smile
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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Originally posted by Necrotica Necrotica wrote:

I thought it was excellent! I really like how they expanded upon the dark, melancholy nature of FEAR with something that's a bit more hopeful - while still acknowledging the current problems of the world. Also, Care is probably going to go down as one of my favorite modern-era Marillion songs. 

I posted my review yesterday if anyone wants to take a look on the album page Smile
I read it yesterday Brandon, when it was hot off the presses. An excellent review that was a pleasure to read and reflect on.

Edited by SteveG - March 09 2022 at 04:24
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Points: 3573 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Heart of the Matter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2022 at 16:07
I'm still in option 2, but gaining a new appreciation for Reprogram The Gene, which was rather a let down for me first. The Crow And The Nightingale is a beauty on the first and any further listen you give it. And overall the album lyrics are gloomy, but "prog with happy lyrics" is a sort of oxymoron, isn't it?
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Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

I'm still in option 2, but gaining a new appreciation for Reprogram The Gene, which was rather a let down for me first. The Crow And The Nightingale is a beauty on the first and any further listen you give it. And overall the album lyrics are gloomy, but "prog with happy lyrics" is a sort of oxymoron, isn't it?
Hopeful does not always equate with happy. It is a feeling born out of defeat and dispair. This is not pop music we are discussing.

Edited by SteveG - March 08 2022 at 20:05
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Heart of the Matter View Drop Down
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Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

I'm still in option 2, but gaining a new appreciation for Reprogram The Gene, which was rather a let down for me first. The Crow And The Nightingale is a beauty on the first and any further listen you give it. And overall the album lyrics are gloomy, but "prog with happy lyrics" is a sort of oxymoron, isn't it?
Hopeful does not always equate with happy. It is a feeling born out of defeat and hopelessness. This is not pop music we are discussing.

Steve, you may be right, but when I try to evoke an archetypical prog line what comes to my mind is "when every man is torn apart with nightmares and with dreams", or "you race towards an early grave". Maybe my subconcious mind selects the somber stuff first, Yes have more hopeful material, but my favorite is South Side Of The Sky, with a bunch of poor guys about to freeze to death.
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Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

I'm still in option 2, but gaining a new appreciation for Reprogram The Gene, which was rather a let down for me first. The Crow And The Nightingale is a beauty on the first and any further listen you give it. And overall the album lyrics are gloomy, but "prog with happy lyrics" is a sort of oxymoron, isn't it?
Hopeful does not always equate with happy. It is a feeling born out of defeat and hopelessness. This is not pop music we are discussing.

Steve, you may be right, but when I try to evoke an archetypical prog line what comes to my mind is "when every man is torn apart with nightmares and with dreams", or "you race towards an early grave". Maybe my subconcious mind selects the somber stuff first, Yes have more hopeful material, but my favorite is South Side Of The Sky, with a bunch of poor guys about to freeze to death.
That's understandable. But Marillion are not in that class. The byline of the Marillion website homepage is "Find A Better Way Of Life". Not "Welcome To The Machine."
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Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

Originally posted by Necrotica Necrotica wrote:

I thought it was excellent! I really like how they expanded upon the dark, melancholy nature of FEAR with something that's a bit more hopeful - while still acknowledging the current problems of the world. Also, Care is probably going to go down as one of my favorite modern-era Marillion songs. 

I posted my review yesterday if anyone wants to take a look on the album page Smile
I read it yesterday Brandon, when it was hot off the presses.An excellent review that was a pleasure to read and reflect on.

Thank you! Your review was great as well. I found the "misery doesn't love company" approach to be an interesting one; I suppose my point when writing my review was that I still perceived the record as having silver linings for the listener to grab onto, even during the most depressing sections. For instance, the lyrics at the end of Care, which praise the hospital workers as "angels". I will say, I really wish I touched on some of the shorter tracks as well; Murder Machines was an excellent single, and I like how it ties in with Care thematically. 
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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Originally posted by Necrotica Necrotica wrote:

I thought it was excellent! I really like how they expanded upon the dark, melancholy nature of FEAR with something that's a bit more hopeful - while still acknowledging the current problems of the world. Also, Care is probably going to go down as one of my favorite modern-era Marillion songs. 

I posted my review yesterday if anyone wants to take a look on the album page Smile

Nice review. I will probably post mine over the next couple of days.
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Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time!
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Heart of the Matter View Drop Down
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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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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:

Quote This world's gone mad
We find ourselves in lockdown
Trying to get the lowdown
From the PM's 5pm address

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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Originally posted by Zeph Zeph wrote:


... I don't want to be reminded of the covid pandemic every time I listen to this album, but it's difficult not to. 

... 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.
...
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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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.Clap


Edited by Mellotron Storm - March 09 2022 at 17:40
"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"

"Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN
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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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Originally posted by Mellotron Storm Mellotron Storm wrote:

And I agree with Grumpyprogfan that PT wins hands down for album of the year 2022.
I only mentioned that it would be PA's top album of the year. Simon Phillips Protocol V, so far, is my AOTY.
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Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

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.

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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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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Originally posted by Catcher10 Catcher10 wrote:

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.

Nice picture! The cover looks really great in LP size.
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Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

Originally posted by Catcher10 Catcher10 wrote:

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.

Nice picture! The cover looks really great in LP size.
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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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.  
"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Originally posted by Catcher10 Catcher10 wrote:

...
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.

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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