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  3. 159159-2013

Corona virus isolation guilty pleasure- Marillion

So to combine insult to injury with the current crazy environment, my bride had surgery recently and I was forced to listen to music through my trusty Brooklyn's finest Grado 325's while she recovers. Looking for some new music surfing through old 'Gon posts, I realized that I really wasn't familiar with the Marillion output after their lead singer Derek Dick aka "Fish" left the band in the late 80's. Fish reminded me of Peter Gabriel during his Genesis days- very theatrical. I have all of the old Marillion discs and am particualrly fond of "Script For a Jester's Tear" and "Clutching at Straws". For the more recent stuff, I started by buying a live compilation called "Best Live". It is fantastic. The new singer Steve Hogarth has a very wide vocal range and Marillion has morphed into a different, but still prog, band. The band sounds tighter now that they aren't dominated by Fish. Based on the tracks I liked from "Best Live", I bought the studio albums Marbles, Sounds That Can't Be Made, FEAR, Afraid of Sunlight, and With Friends From the Orchestra. Hogarth may not be for everyone's taste, but for closet rock and roll tenors like myself, his choruses make great material for the shower, although I can't always hit the high notes. I had so much fun going through the more recent Marillion catalogue, I went back to the recent Fish solo releases. First of all, don't buy Fish cds off of amazon for $900. Go direct to his store at fishmusic.scot. His best solo album is "Sunsets of Empire" from 1997. Produced by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame, it is essentially a rock album with Wilson co-writing several of the songs and playing guitar on all of them. 2013's Feast of Consequences was next followed by a 4 disc live set called A Moveable Feast. Consequences is a more refined album than Sunsets with a lot of atmospheric acoustic guitars and piano- all very well recorded. Fish is more of a story teller than a singer and his lyrics are special. Fish is one of the most charismatic front men I have ever encountered. He has a new album coming out in the next few weeks. My wife has started bitchin' at me again so I think that she is feeling better. Anyway, any Marillion/Fish fans out there?        
maxnewid

Showing 2 responses by simao

simao's avatar
simao
1,850 posts
 
Nice read, @maxnewid. The two chapters of Marillion are truly distinct. For a while I considered that Marrillion a glorified backup band for Fish, but that's too simplistic. Fish needed the band's virtuoso chops and songwriting to complement and edify his grand visions. And yet Marillion with Rothery have been a much more focused (albeit not as interesting, imo) project. 


Still, both lineups are captivating. Clutching at Straws remains one of the best realized musical portraits of 20-something nihilism in rock, a theme that Sam Fender is keeping alive nowadays. And Afraid of Sunlight is in constant rotation in my system. Plus, Ian Mosley is an impeccable drummer! 
simao's avatar
simao
1,850 posts
 
I'd say the same thing with Slade or Robbie Williams or Blur, etc  Certain successful bands on both sides of the pond fail to make a successful crossing. Think Phish, Buffet, Poison, etc. 

On another note it's interesting comparing "Exile on Princes Street" off CAS with Fish's solo version. The former is so haunting and resonant; the latter seems a vehicle for Fish. 
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