THE BEST OF MARILLION

To release a genuine Marillion compilation in 1996 is, IMHHO (in my humble and HONEST opinion) really out of sync and can only be justified by the fact that Mark II has never been able to satisfy the hords of fans that were following Fish and his mates during the glorious days of the band (how much I missed those ones...).

Most of the compilations in rock music are not always top notch and this one suffer in a way of the same diseases (regarding the quality of the material available). Their absolute masterpiece was their debut album (which was more symph than neo, as far as I am concerned). It is only represented by two songs ("Garden Party" and "Chelsea Monday"). In terms of "Best Of", it was not an easy album to select from : each track was excellent. I guess that "Party" made it because of its commercial flavour and its very funny video clip. "The Script" was probably more appropriate. Anyway this slightly different version is a very good number, so let's not complain too much.

Still, another complain of mine : the track presentation. Absolutely no logic in here. Starting with "Kayleigh" and ending with "Chelsea Monday"...

Each song featured on this compilation is very good to excellent but a great song as "White Russian" (from "Clutching") should have been integrated here as well.

For the ones of you who would like to discover the most commercial side of the genuine Marillion, I can only strongly recommend this compilation. I would have rated even higher if the considerations I have mentioned would have been taken into account. Four stars.