The Marillion Round Table

First of all, I guess I will give my Marillion background. I first became interested in them through an article in Kerrang! There was a picture of Fish and underneath it said "Progressive Punk?" At the time I was full on into the Punk scene, and had very little understanding of what Prog was. But the picture interested me, as the full face paint was unique, and looked very cool. I was 15 at the time. So on a trip to a record shop I walked into the cassette racks, saw Fugazi and Script and asked the guy if I could get some cassettes. "Sure" he said, "which ones?" I pointed to them and said "Those Marillion ones." He stopped dead in his tracks. He has never had anybody come in and ask for Marillion, of whom he was a diehard fan. On top of that he was shocked that this kid was asking for them.

 

I took the cassettes home, threw Fugazi in and was blown away. Yes, they sounded somewhat like Genesis, but I was completely unfamiliar with the Gabriel era (this was around '84 or '85 so all anybody heard was Collins stuff in the US), so Marillion sounded completely unique to me. I was in love.

 

That love exploded when they released Misplaced Childhood, an album I still consider to being one of the only perfect albums ever created. For the life of me I can not find anything I would change on that album. Pure perfection.

 

My love of Marillion would eventually cause me to be a complete freak amongst my friends. Like I said, I was 100% Punk. BUT, I suddenly found myself falling in love with Prog. There I was, the Punk with his leather jacket painted up with GBH, Discharge, The Damned, Verbal Assault, The Exploited, etc. But mixed in with all of those bands I had the logos for Marillion, Eloy, Yes, Genesis (I eventually fell in love with them, yes), IQ, etc.

 

When Fish left Marillion I was devastated. I still remember the Kerrang cover with Rothery and Kelly pointing into the empty fish tank, and the sign in it that said "No Fish-in." Without reading the article I knew what it meant, and I screamed in the middle of the record shop.

 

I was hesitant about H, and I was less than impressed with "Hooks In You." Season's End had moments, but it still felt off in some ways. There were Marillion bits in there, but for the most part it felt like Marillion b-sides. I enjoyed Vigil a bit more, but was still not happy with the obvious fact that both sides seemed to need each other.

 

Then Holidays came out. I was done. I could not believe that the band I loved sooooo much had indeed followed the Genesis path and gone 100% bad Pop. I struggled with what they had become, but I still swore I would continue to buy their material, holding out hope.

 

Then they came to the US on tour for the Holidays album. I got tickets and figured "what the heck." While in line at the show I saw the record shop guy from all those years ago. I actually struck up a conversation with him. He did actually remember me. He promised me that after seeing the show I would have a whole new love for the band. He was right. Even the poppy stuff sounded great, and H was an amazing front man.

 

In all honesty, though, I would eventually find my love for them again no matter what. Brave came out and I was shocked. The Pop was gone. The darkness that had infiltrated Clutching had completely returned, and intensified. Brave became as close an equal to Misplaced as any album ever could.

 

From there on out I stuck with Marillion, finding This Strange Engine to being on the same grounds almost as Brave. They went up and down for me after that, though. I hate Radiohead and for me Marillion started to sound too much like them. The last one I bought was Anoraknophobia. I have missed buying them, but at about that same time I kind of finally fell out of love with Prog. Not sure why, I just got a little tired of it all.

 

So, why am I back here. Well, while on a trip out to Colorado this year I took in a concert at Red Rocks. It was Styx with Yes. It was a last minute venture. There were odd things to lead up to it, but it all started bringing me back to the Prog world. I took my 13 year old daughter to the show. It was Kayleigh's very first show, by the way. When we got back into town, I bought the new Yes CD. My daughter LOVES it.

 

So then my Prog interest started up again. I got new headphones recently. Best pair I have ever had. I sat there thinking "what would be ideal for a first spin?" Well, it was getting dark out, I was exhausted, stressed out about personal issues, and just kind of at wits end. Brave was the only thing I could think to listen to. It had been a few years since I had given it a spin. I don't think it ever sounded better than it did then.

 

From there I have gone full-tilt back. Getting the newest Eloy, the last Spock's Beard. I was back with Prog, with new snazzy headphones.

 

So then I found this joint. Read all of the posts. Was convinced it was time to open my mind to Marillion again. Let my former favorite band back into my head. All of your comments about Marbles made me decide it was time to give that one a shot. So I got the double disc. I listened to the first disc this morning. I can only wonder why I ever walked away now.

 

For the record, I would take H Marillion over solo Fish any day. I also do not think Fish could have ever been in this band. They've gone into territory I think he would have been lost in. His melodies just could not have worked with what these guy became. I still love Fish, but what happened was the best thing that could have happened for Marillion, I think.

It's so nice to see the appreciation of Hogarth growing.

 

My appreciation of him started back when I saw him on the Holidays tour. It then went through the roof with This Strange Engine. I still think that album is a bit of a masterpiece for him showing off his vocals. He does stuff on that thing that still send my head spinning. He really showed off his power.

 

When I started to fall out of love with him was when the only CD of Marillion's that my wife would listen to was the Made Again live disc. In all honesty, I would rather never hear Hogarth do another Fish tune ever again. I lose some enjoyment for him when he does those songs, as I don't think he does them very well and they really do not suit him at all. It would be like hearing Fish do new Marillion, the styles just clash.

They do occasionally revisit that material - there's tracks from the last three Fish albums on the five-disc Holidays In Zelande set they're bringing out - but at this point there's *so much* H-era stuff that it's hard enough to cover that material in a setlist. Regularly including Fish stuff would just create even more headaches.

 

Being in the US means my chances of seeing them is always a rarity. Do have a great time, though.