The funny thing is, I LIKE pop. I don't mind a bit of pop in my music. I LOVE melody, so there's that. But there's something just... flat about that record. Bearing in mind, though, that I heard it in real time (and the release was a mess, with the two versions). I had just finished a real-time run of Misplaced Childhood, Clutching At Straws and (the excellent) Season's End, then the flat Holidays In Eden... it never really recovered for me.
EDIT:
1 Clutching at Straws
2 Misplaced Childhood
3 Seasons End
4 Marbles
5 Brave
6 Afraid of Sunlight
7 Fugazi
8 Script for a Jester's Tear
9 Anoraknophobia
10 Sounds That Can't Be Made
11 Radiation
12 FEAR
13 Holidays In Eden
14 Marillion.com
15 Happiness is the Road
16 This Strange Engine
17 Somewhere Else
This is okay; I'm surprised some of the Hogarth albums bubbled up over the Fish records (it's no secret I'm a Fish guy). But this is fair; it doesn't reflect the b-sides, though. I'm a fan of the Marilloin b-sides (Cinderella Search and Lady Nina are both top 15 songs for me).