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Demo (1979, 11.54) **½/TLady FantasyAlice |
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Demo (1980, 21.53) **½/TCloseLady Fantasy Alice |
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Market Square Heroes EP (1982, 25.58) **/TMarket Square HeroesThree Boats Down From the Candy Grendel |
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Reading Rock Volume One (1982) ***/T½[Marillion contribute]He Knows You Know Three Boats Down From the Candy |
Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
I'm afraid to say that with Marillion, you're just run into my bête noir (along with Asia, that is). I saw the band several times between '82 and '86, and was never less than thoroughly unimpressed; simplistic song structures, dodgy musicianship and dodgier lyrics, and that's just for starters. They started off, of course, as the Tolkien-inspired Silmarillion, in 1979, replacing original bassist/vocalist Doug Irvine in late 1980, but not before recording a couple of demos at The Enid's studio in Hertfordshire. Now, basic though they are, they're no worse than plenty of other demos made by bands at a similar level at the time, which is why they get not-too-awful ratings. Both tapes include Lady Fantasy (nothing to do with the Camel track) and Alice, a piece that eventually became the end section of their debut album's Forgotten Sons, while the second recording adds Close, later to become The Web. There's little to choose between the versions of the repeated tracks, although the later versions probably show slightly more energy; all concerned are a bit rough, to say the least. How did this band end up playing Wembley Arena? On the 'Tron front, keys man Brian Jelliman (replaced by Mark Kelly in 1981) plays dodgo string synth and cheapy mono (Yamaha) throughout, with bursts of Mellotron choir towards the end of both versions of Alice and Lady Fantasy. Both demos are easily available on, er, the Web, although, unlike some bands, I can't see Marillion ever making their very early work available officially. There was another, more professional Marillion demo in '81 and a Friday Rock Show session in '82, but the Mellotron's nowhere to be seen on either.
Back to the band after signing to EMI... As I've ranted elsewhere, I feel that many of Marillion's contemporaries were far better bands, but of course, none of them had a vocalist with as much sheer charisma as Fish. Upon a recent playing of a live tape from mid-'82, it's amazing just what a great rapport he had with his audience; he frequently kept the crowd amused for several minutes between songs and was genuinely funny and engaging, not to mention obviously highly intelligent. Now, this is the crux of the matter; it seems to me that the vast majority of the ticket and record-buying audience is far more impressed with how well the singer comes across than any minor points regarding the quality of the music. If that makes me a snob, so be it, but on re-listening to the Market Square Heroes EP, the band's first professional recording, I was staggered by how awful it is. The title track is a jolly but slight 'let's all have a good leap around the dancefloor' type of thing; OK in its way, but nothing startling. Three Boats Down From The Candy, a tale of illicit sex, is overly simplistic, with only one halfway decent melodic idea, lacking any particular sophistication. Genesis it ain't.
However, both these songs are pure genius in comparison with the EP's near-18 minute b-side. Grendel is stunning in its awfulness. I've heard an awful lot of bad prog over the years, but rarely have I heard an 'epic' of this degree of ineptitude. It manages a whole two decent melodies this time, one of which is the opening guitar figure; perfectly pleasant, in a cod-medieval kind of way. Unfortunately, it quickly lurches into a clichéd descending riff, where it stays for what must be seven or eight minutes. Now, I'm sure I'll be told that I've completely missed the point here, and what I should be doing is dissecting the lyrics; basically, a retelling of a portion of the ancient Norse saga of Beowulf. That's all well and good, but a) they're sung quietly and not printed on the sleeve, and b) who gives a fuck anyway? Given the choice, I prefer good lyrics to bad, but especially with prog, the music always comes first.
If you thought it was bad up to this point, wait and see what happens. After a bit of messing about, the band stumble unevenly into one of the funniest moments in over thirty years of progressive rock history (and yes, that includes the 'concept' behind Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans). A complete, UTTER rip-off of the Apocalypse In 9/8 (from Genesis' Supper's Ready, of course), played shockingly lumpenly in 4/4. Oh dear. The Apocalypse In 4/4, anyone? This is farcical; Fish himself has been known to remark that he couldn't believe they had the gall to do it. So why did he sing the bloody thing? Respect is due to him for leaving the band; no wonder he's expressed a keen desire never to sing this 'song' again. Anyway, after chundering through the riff for several geological epochs, they finally stumble across a second halfway decent melody, then proceed to bludgeon it to death. There's a nice key change somewhere around this point, but that's the nearest the 'piece' gets to sophistication.
Grendel has achieved mythic status among Marillion fans, being accorded the kind of respect that should be directed towards many far more deserving cases. Their vast fan-base would almost certainly come en masse were they ever to even vaguely hint at the possibility of playing it again, and I don't just mean go to the gig. You know, I tried to approach the track with an open mind, but it took less than two minutes for me to give up trying; it's appalling. The only 'epic' of theirs I feel even the slightest affinity with is Forgotten Sons from their first album, Script for a Jester's Tear (pretentious? US??!), but even that is deeply flawed, and not remotely in the same league as the bands they openly admired, specifically Genesis.
Oh, before I forget, this is meant to be a review of the EP's Mellotron content, isn't it? I was enjoying myself so much it had entirely slipped my mind. Three Boats featured some strings live, but all I can hear on the studio version are a few flute chords, and Grendel has (maybe) a few bars of strings, and some choirs here and there. All the 'Tron parts are badly recorded and I really wouldn't go out of your way unless you're a Marillion fan already, in which case you're bound to have these tracks anyway. Both tracks are apparently available on the recent three-disc The Singles: 1982-1988. Torture.
Well, that was a lot of writing for something I dislike so much, wasn't it? Please feel free to shoot me down in flames if you dislike this review; I remain unswervingly unapologetic. Go and listen to something good instead.
Oh, before I forget, the band contributed two tracks to 1982's Reading Rock Volume One (and only, as it happens). As I said in the album's review:
| "...despite the shoddy drumming (poor old Mick); (he very noticeably speeds up on He Knows You Know)... ...Kelly, in probably one of the last times he used their Mellotron in anger, adds strings to He Knows You Know (replaced by synth on the following year's album version, of course) and the same string part to Three Boats Down From The Candy as on the Market Square Heroes EP". |
None of which makes this an especially desirable period piece, frankly, although it does provide us with the only officially-released evidence of the band's Mellotron use; 2008's six-disc set, Early Stages (Official Bootleg Box Set 1982-1987), begins mere months after they stopped using it.
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Brave (1994, 70.59) **½ |
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| Bridge Living With the Big Lie Runaway Goodbye to All That (I) Wave (II) Mad (III) The Opium Den (IV) The Slide (V) Standing in the Swing Hard as Love |
The Hollow Man Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury Now Wash Your Hands Paper Lies Brave The Great Escape (I) The Last of You (II) Falling From the Moon Made Again |
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This Strange Engine (1997, 56.47) **½A Man of a Thousand FacesOne Fine Day 80 Days Estonia Memory of Water An Accidental Man Hope for the Future This Strange Engine |
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Radiation (1998, 47.50) ***Costa del SloughUnder the Sun The Answering Machine Three Minute Boy Now She'll Never Know These Chains Born to Run Cathedral Wall A Few Words for the Dead |
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As you'll have gathered from my reviews above, I hold Marillion chiefly responsible for the wave of ugly neo-prog that vandalised European progressive rock in the '80s and '90s and for once, I believe they really are culpable, unlike many bands subsequently ripped off by lesser outfits. Pourquoi? Because they actually initiated a low form of prog, all style and little substance; a band who had heard plenty of prog, but had no idea how to write it. After our fishy friend departed the fold in the late '80s, the band regrouped with the vocally superior (though charismatically inferior) Steve Hogarth at the mic, re-inventing themselves as peddlers of a hideous kind of indie/prog crossover that should never have existed, trying to be Radiohead, but sounding more like an AOR Talk Talk. Nasty.
After two albums with Hogarth, the band took a slight breather, deciding to 'return to their roots' with 1994's Brave, a full-length concept effort about an amnesiac girl found wandering along the Severn Bridge (a fictional account of a true story). Brave effort, chaps, beats Clutching at Straws any day, which appears to be a concept album about getting pissed. Unfortunately, it's as dull as ditchwater; in fairness, it has its moments, mostly provided by 'Big' Steve Rothery, actually a fine guitarist when the mood takes him, but most of its seventy-minute length witters on to no great effect and no, I don't care how many people think it's 'one of the thirty greatest concept albums ever', or some such bollocks. Actually, it almost scraped three stars, as the bulk of the album doesn't actually offend, but the last ten or fifteen minutes drag so badly that it lost that all-important half star, the one that separates the 'tolerable' from the 'drab'. Mark Kelly apparently sampled a real Mellotron sometime in the early '90s, using the resulting samples on several tracks here, with obvious strings on Hard As Love, The Hollow Man, Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury and a couple of other tracks, plus possible flutes and choir in places. Nothing to get too excited about, but nice to hear the sounds used properly by the band for once.
After 1995's shockingly bland (and samplotron-free) Afraid of Sunlight (**), '97's This Strange Engine was a bit of a comeback for the band, although for reasons known only to himself, Hogarth starts the album off by trying to sound like The Waterboys' Mike Scott. Actually, The Waterboys are an intermittent influence throughout, although the bulk of the album is safe, conformist, slightly proggy AOR: music for adults, but who wants to be an adult? Er... The guitar solo on the title track is one of the album's nicer moments, while the last minute of the lengthy closing title track is pretty full-on, but the better bits are few and far between, sadly. Samplotron strings on A Man Of A Thousand Faces and One Fine Day, but only just. Incidentally, the fourteen minutes of silence between the end of the title track and a minute or so of studio messing about have been removed from the above timing.
The following year's Radiation, while bland, is by no means terrible, material like the Hammond-heavy Under The Sun, the rocky The Answering Machine and the proggy Cathedral Wall raise the bar somewhat. Samplotron-wise, I'm not at all sure about the strings on a couple of tracks, but the flutes on Now She'll Never Know are a definite. Generally speaking, though, I can't honestly recommend any of these; even a compilation of the entire Hogarth era (what am I saying? Their entire career!) would be a pretty slim document.
See: Samples | Transatlantic | Reading Festival
