Marillion

[Lowdz]

Does anyone have an extra copy or a copy that you would you like to part ways of the Holidays in Zelande Blu-ray?

I picked up the DVDs of disc 2/3 and 4/5 of the Zelande shows for £1 each. I just need disc 1 with the case for them all now. It's sold out on the website.

I have the Chile show on its way too.

[ytserush]

There's a new Steve Rothery solo album in the works. Looks like he's doing a crowdfunding campaign starting in September. I've been watching all these live performances this week, which have reminded me just how much of a legend Rothery is.

New track available for download here. First half is very chill/ambient but the second half is classic Rothery (not sure if this is live or if that's canned applause at the end?):

https://steverothery.bandcamp.com/track/la-silla

Abbreviated video version:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3T42tKWhSeuuJuiQg2YeUXIZbYkNqFla80BMUZFq1yd91p-IxMVmwj1YA&feature=youtu.be&v=opEQag_7HVg

All over this one.

I hope some bonuses include a live show or two. Been waiting to hear a new one since the his last one came out.  I mean I like the Wishing Tree stuff well enough with Hannah, but his last solo album was right in my wheelhouse and something instrumental like that would be right up my alley.

[goo-goo]

Does anyone have an extra copy or a copy that you would you like to part ways of the Holidays in Zelande Blu-ray?

I picked up the DVDs of disc 2/3 and 4/5 of the Zelande shows for £1 each. I just need disc 1 with the case for them all now. It's sold out on the website.

I have the Chile show on its way too.

The Marillion shop put extra copies earlier this week and snagged a copy as well as the Sunday Night Above The Rain blu rays. They still have copies of the Zelande weekend show. I also got the Chilean weekend blurays and audio CDs a couple of weeks ago.

[HOF]

Watched the performance of Anoraknophobia on Waves and Numbers the other night. That was also a beautifully shot film (the lighting was tremendous) and a great performance of an uneven but still great album. Pete's bass playing was really great and some songs like Quartz really came alive. it's also the only time I've seen them play The Fruit of the Wild Rose, which is one of the most underrated Marillion songs IMO.

[HOF]

Something I found more enjoyable than I anticipated, Steve Hogarth has started a podcast. In this first full episode he goes into detail into the real life stories behind This Strange Engine, some of which I'd heard bits and pieces of but which is more interesting hearing him tell it all at once. Gives me a new appreciation for the song.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-corona-diaries/id1509501056

[ytserush]

Something I found more enjoyable than I anticipated, Steve Hogarth has started a podcast. In this first full episode he goes into detail into the real life stories behind This Strange Engine, some of which I'd heard bits and pieces of but which is more interesting hearing him tell it all at once. Gives me a new appreciation for the song.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-corona-diaries/id1509501056

I might listen to his thoughts on This Strange Engine since it is a favorite album of mine, but I'm not sure how many of these I would want to listen to.

[HOF]

Something I found more enjoyable than I anticipated, Steve Hogarth has started a podcast. In this first full episode he goes into detail into the real life stories behind This Strange Engine, some of which I'd heard bits and pieces of but which is more interesting hearing him tell it all at once. Gives me a new appreciation for the song.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-corona-diaries/id1509501056

I might listen to his thoughts on This Strange Engine since it is a favorite album of mine, but I'm not sure how many of these I would want to listen to.

It's definitely worth listening to for the TSE stories (some wild stuff inspired the "blue pain" section). The second half is him reading from his diaries, which I found enjoyable but not sure how long it would keep my interest either.

[Stadler]

TSE, the song, or TSE, the album?  And will he be doing this for other songs/albums? 

I'm a nosy Nelly, and I would love to know more about the references on Marbles, and how that fits into his personal life.  What REALLY is "the one unforgettable thing"?   Tell me more about the genie that is now out of the bottle.   

[HOF]

TSE, the song, or TSE, the album?  And will he be doing this for other songs/albums? 

I'm a nosy Nelly, and I would love to know more about the references on Marbles, and how that fits into his personal life.  What REALLY is "the one unforgettable thing"?   Tell me more about the genie that is now out of the bottle.

This was about TSE the song, but it really is quite an interesting story (well, more than one interesting story as it's basically various events throughout H's life).

As for getting into other songs, I'm guessing there will be more of that. Not sure they have totally settled on a format, other than including some readings from H's diaries that he published a while back. Not sure if he gets into any of the stories behind certain songs in those diaries or not.

[HOF]

There's a second episode up now. H talks about being a prog fan in the 70s, and gets into some of his other influences leading up to joining Marillion (if you still haven't checked out The Blue Nile yet, here's another plug). Stadler, you might appreciate the brief Deep Purple discussion.

[SoundscapeMN]

I recall reading an interview H many years ago with him saying maybe his 1st concert (or most impactful?) was seeing Deep Purple, so that doesn't surprise me.

[HOF]

I recall reading an interview H many years ago with him saying maybe his 1st concert (or most impactful?) was seeing Deep Purple, so that doesn't surprise me.

I think I'd heard the story before but he basically says it was a Deep Purple concert that convinced him to pursue music over being an electrical engineer (which is kind of hard to imagine H being one of those anyway).

[Lowdz]

I recall reading an interview H many years ago with him saying maybe his 1st concert (or most impactful?) was seeing Deep Purple, so that doesn't surprise me.

I think I'd heard the story before but he basically says it was a Deep Purple concert that convinced him to pursue music over being an electrical engineer (which is kind of hard to imagine H being one of those anyway).

When he joined the band I was a bit crushed at Fish going and H seemed a bit too "art school" for me. Can't imagine him as an electrical engineer either. A drama teacher maybe?  I struggled with his voice, his mannerisms live, and still do a bit, but he's grown on me. I'm not a huge fan of Marillion's H era music but there is still enough great stuff in there to keep me interested.

And it takes a brave (pun not intended ) to step into the shoes of someone like Fish. Fair play to him.

[Stadler]

^^^ That's kind of me. There are some great moments in the Hogarth/Marillion catalogue, but they're not ALL winners, and sometimes the direction loses me.  I don't like the strident self-righteous H, and while it seems a quibble (it is) it's sort of the signal of this when he slurrs his s's to add "gravitas".  I'm much more interested when he's looking critically at himself or the relationships of those around him than the bigger "world" issues.  (And yes, I have a similar, though not identical, opinion of Fish, though he has been able to expand out a bit without automatically adding the preachy). 

[jasc15]

Working from home during quarantine gives me a great opportunity to finally try out some new music.  First of all, I finally completed a basement renovation and refurbished an old pair of JBL speakers from the mid 70's, which sound great.  Now I'm all set up to properly listen to music for the first time in a long while.

I've heard about Marillion since I was first on these forums (in one form or another) in 2006, but never really gave them a proper listen.  The size of their catalog is enormous, but glossing over this thread gave me some starting points.  I started shuffling through random songs of theirs on spotify, but soon went after whole albums.  I've since listened to Misplaced Childhood, Marbles, and Bave.  I've never been any good at relaying my thoughts on music, movies, etc, so I will say that I think their ambition and ability to put that ambition to a recording is truly impressive.  I can tell it will require many repeat listens to really hear this band.  Despite my awe, they haven't seized me the way I was by some other music when I was younger, but I attribute that more to age than anything else.

Regarding Misplaced Childhood and a song or 2 I've heard from Fugazi, I know their earlier work with Fish has been criticized as being derivative of Genesis.  I certainly noticed that immediately, but I think it was more that Fish's voice so strongly resembles Peter Gabriel.

I'll be visiting this thread for more impressions.

[HOF]

Working from home during quarantine gives me a great opportunity to finally try out some new music.  First of all, I finally completed a basement renovation and refurbished an old pair of JBL speakers from the mid 70's, which sound great.  Now I'm all set up to properly listen to music for the first time in a long while.

I've heard about Marillion since I was first on these forums (in one form or another) in 2006, but never really gave them a proper listen.  The size of their catalog is enormous, but glossing over this thread gave me some starting points.  I started shuffling through random songs of theirs on spotify, but soon went after whole albums.  I've since listened to Misplaced Childhood, Marbles, and Bave.  I've never been any good at relaying my thoughts on music, movies, etc, so I will say that I think their ambition and ability to put that ambition to a recording is truly impressive.  I can tell it will require many repeat listens to really hear this band.  Despite my awe, they haven't seized me the way I was by some other music when I was younger, but I attribute that more to age than anything else.

Regarding Misplaced Childhood and a song or 2 I've heard from Fugazi, I know their earlier work with Fish has been criticized as being derivative of Genesis.  I certainly noticed that immediately, but I think it was more that Fish's voice so strongly resembles Peter Gabriel.

I'll be visiting this thread for more impressions.

Awesome! It’s an amazing journey, and worth sticking with it until it fully clicks. My starting place was Season’s End (Hogarth’s first with the band, which has Easter - an essential Marillon track), and I had a couple other albums before I got into Brave which is the first thing that really clicked and then Marbles as well. Brave, Marbles, and Misplaced Childhood are good starting points for sure. I would highly recommend Clutching at Straws (the best Fish album IMO) and Afraid of Sunlight (my provable favorite Marillion album) next.

[Stadler]

Regarding Misplaced Childhood and a song or 2 I've heard from Fugazi, I know their earlier work with Fish has been criticized as being derivative of Genesis.  I certainly noticed that immediately, but I think it was more that Fish's voice so strongly resembles Peter Gabriel.

I'll be visiting this thread for more impressions.

I've always thought that the Genesis comparisons were over-blown, at least compared with the Floyd comparison (which is almost never made).   For every nod to Genesis ("He Knows You Know", "Grendel") there's a nod to Floyd (the solo in "Sugar Mice", the guitar figure in "Lavender", the personal nature of most of Fish's lyrics). 

[HOF]

Yeah, I think Fish has the same general vocal delivery and timbre of both Gabriel and Phil Collins. I also think some of the verbosity in Fish's lyrics recalls Gabriel's on The Lamb and in places like Epping Forest. Musically, I only really think Script (and the aforementioned Grendel) sound much like classic Genesis. Though I also think some general 80s sounds and production were shared between Genesis and Marillion during the Fish era.

I don't think Marillion were ever really derivative of Genesis even if I understand the comparison. Like Stadler said Pink Floyd was arguably a more overt influence (even during the H years). See also Peter Hammil/Van der Graaf Generator and Andrew Latimer/Camel as major influences on Fish and Rothery respectively.

[ytserush]

^^^ That's kind of me. There are some great moments in the Hogarth/Marillion catalogue, but they're not ALL winners, and sometimes the direction loses me.  I don't like the strident self-righteous H, and while it seems a quibble (it is) it's sort of the signal of this when he slurrs his s's to add "gravitas".  I'm much more interested when he's looking critically at himself or the relationships of those around him than the bigger "world" issues.  (And yes, I have a similar, though not identical, opinion of Fish, though he has been able to expand out a bit without automatically adding the preachy).

I'm the opposite, but I'll take whatever I can get.

[ytserush]

Regarding Misplaced Childhood and a song or 2 I've heard from Fugazi, I know their earlier work with Fish has been criticized as being derivative of Genesis.  I certainly noticed that immediately, but I think it was more that Fish's voice so strongly resembles Peter Gabriel.

I'll be visiting this thread for more impressions.

I've always thought that the Genesis comparisons were over-blown, at least compared with the Floyd comparison (which is almost never made).   For every nod to Genesis ("He Knows You Know", "Grendel") there's a nod to Floyd (the solo in "Sugar Mice", the guitar figure in "Lavender", the personal nature of most of Fish's lyrics).

Never really got the Genesis comparisons other than Grendel. More Beatles and Floyd and Fish was more Peter Hammill.

[Stadler]

It really is just Grendel, the intro to "He Knows You Know" (reminiscent of "Follow You Follow Me"), the face paint that Fish used (reminicent of Gabriel's on his solo tours) and the fact that they covered, early on, "I Know What I Like", which few people know and even fewer have likely heard (I've never heard it, myself). 

David Hitchcock - who produced "Foxtrot" - also did the first single version of Market Square Heroes, but that's probably a Camel influence, not a Genesis one. 

[jasc15]

I listened to Ocean Cloud 3 or 4 times now.  "I've seen too much of life, So the sea is my wife" grabbed me on the first listen.  That line says so much.  I then read the lyrics along with the song to get the whole story, and came across this blog entry while searching.  Maybe a bit dramatic, but maybe not.  He does sort of crystallize my impression of the song.  Good stuff.

[HOF]

I listened to Ocean Cloud 3 or 4 times now.  "I've seen too much of life, So the sea is my wife" grabbed me on the first listen.  That line says so much.  I then read the lyrics along with the song to get the whole story, and came across this blog entry[\url] while searching.  Maybe a bit dramatic, but maybe not.  He does sort of crystallize my impression of the song.  Good stuff.

Ocean Cloud just popped up on shuffle, so I guess I'll just have to listen to it!

My general take on this track is that the beginning and ending are amazing (the guitar solos particularly), but the middle section drags a little bit. Still one of the great Marillion tracks though I think, and I do dig the story it tells (which is pretty amazing when you think about it).

[jammindude]

The storm section is my favorite part of that entire song.

[ytserush]

I listened to Ocean Cloud 3 or 4 times now.  "I've seen too much of life, So the sea is my wife" grabbed me on the first listen.  That line says so much.  I then read the lyrics along with the song to get the whole story, and came across this blog entry[\url] while searching.  Maybe a bit dramatic, but maybe not.  He does sort of crystallize my impression of the song.  Good stuff.

Ocean Cloud just popped up on shuffle, so I guess I'll just have to listen to it!

My general take on this track is that the beginning and ending are amazing (the guitar solos particularly), but the middle section drags a little bit. Still one of the great Marillion tracks though I think, and I do dig the story it tells (which is pretty amazing when you think about it).

I like it, but I'm not sure I share the same love as some. I've always thought it dragged on as well.

It's no Neverland, that's for sure.

[Stadler]

It's hard not to think that it's got it's mythology because of its length.  For me, of the four songs that aren't on the single disk version - Genie, The Only Unforgiveable Thing, The Damage, and Ocean Cloud - it's certainly behind Genie and The Damage (I LOVE The Damage).

Kind of reminds me of Maiden's Empire Of The Clouds as well.  Good tune, but not the highlight of the album for me. 

[jasc15]

I always hear a song differently when it's specifically recommended by someone.  Genie and The Damage are both excellent songs, thanks Stadler.  Music listening is a solo thing for me since my younger days, so I don't have conversations about songs like I did way back when.  That's what forums are for.

[SoundscapeMN]

Genie is wonderful. I love the whole record, but beyond a couple of the epics, I often think Genie is my favorite track from Marbles.

[HOF]

Agreed that Genie is a great track (with The Damage being the sequel of sorts). The Only Unforgivable Thing is also somewhat underrated as far as tracks from Marbles. The three song run of Genie>Fantastic Place>The Only Unforgettable Thing is really strong.

[faizoff]

There are a ton of great songs in that record which also happened to be the first H album I heard. I have a soft preference for Angelina, I love the way that tune builds.

[DTA]

I remember when the band did the Los Trios Marillos shows back in 2005ish and at the Philly date, the crowd broke into a chant for them to play Genie for some reason and the band acquiesced and played it from memory. I always appreciate getting the occasional rarity like that especially since it's one of my favorites from the album.

[ytserush]

It's hard not to think that it's got it's mythology because of its length.  For me, of the four songs that aren't on the single disk version - Genie, The Only Unforgiveable Thing, The Damage, and Ocean Cloud - it's certainly behind Genie and The Damage (I LOVE The Damage).

Kind of reminds me of Maiden's Empire Of The Clouds as well.  Good tune, but not the highlight of the album for me.

I'd agree with that.

I feel the same way about Interior Lulu. Just because it's long is no guarantee it will be good bit it seems some have that expectation.

[ytserush]

There's a second episode up now. H talks about being a prog fan in the 70s, and gets into some of his other influences leading up to joining Marillion (if you still haven't checked out The Blue Nile yet, here's another plug). Stadler, you might appreciate the brief Deep Purple discussion.

I did have a chance to listen to it. Not sure I really like the format though I kind of get the impression that he's been told to stay away from focusing a lot on Marillion and keeping it more personal.

Oddly enough, Fish is doing a "Fish on Fridays" podcast for the last month or so and he takes questions to answer.  I like that format much better and I'm pretty much hooked on it now. I don't catch it live, but I listen to it later.  I love it because I've always hoped for a spoken word tour when he was done with music and this really kind of satisfies that need for me. Learning a few things too which is always great and he really seems to be enjoying it.

I'm usually not a podcast guy. Depends on who it is and how its done but this one check all of the boxes for me.

[HOF]

Another lockdown performance from Marillion. This time it's Made Again:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v-WqMgD_NFE

[lonestar]

Absolutely fucking beautiful. I still remember my first full listen to Brave, I cried like a baby when it got to that song. It still stirs the emotions deeply.