B'SIDES THEMSELVES

Marillion made some tracks which did not appear on regular albums, so they made a full album with them: "B-sides themselves". There are old tracks, like Grendel and Margaret. Grendel has an almost exact interpretation of a popular Genesis' "Supper's ready" part; after that part comes a WONDERFUL echoed, melodic and sustained guitar solo, one of my favorites from Steve Rothery. Grendel is one of the most progressive track from Marillion: 17 minutes of delightful progressive elements, reminding IQ and Genesis: there is even a poignant church organ part. "Tux on" really sounds modern, ambient, floating, and it has an OUTSTANDING emotional, loud & sustained guitar solo at the end: it definitely has the "Clutching at straws" sonority. "Lady Nina" is very catchy and addictive, still having an almost perfect loud & sustained guitar solo: however, the lush version on "Brief encounter" is more flashy and bombastic. "Cinderella search" has an excellent guitar solo too: this catchy, progressive & melodic track could easily have been put on the "Script's from a Jester's tear" album. "Freaks" has more the "Misplaced childhood" sonority, but it is less good than the weakest part on "Misplaced childhood". The other tracks are a bit less good: the live sound of "Margaret" is bland, although the track is interesting: "Margaret" has nothing to do with the usual style of Marillion: it more sounds like a jam session, with continuous drums slightly reminding some very early IQ stuff, especially "For Christ's sake". The repetitive "Charting the singles" has a bit the Fugazi sound, full of loud ambient organ. The catchy "Marquet square heroes" has the "Script's from a jester's tear" sound. "Three boats on a candy" has some elements from the Web track on the "Script from a jester's tear" album.

Rating: 4.5 stars