Marillion - Post-Fish

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Putnam39, Aug 5, 2017.

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  1. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Daltrey is undeniably one of the all-time greats, but he had nothing to do with the songwriting, so I think The Who would've survived, especially with Townshend hitting his creative peak.

    And there's a reason why those bands are so much less well known than the genre's bigger names. I also think Gentle Giant or Van Der Graaf relied more on tricky, intricate musicianship than Marillion ever did. Marillion, from the earliest days, and especially the last two Fish albums, were rooted more in traditional songwriting than something like Gentle Giant, IMO.
     
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  2. Svetonio

    Svetonio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Serbia
    In the 70s The Who, Mr Daltrey was a bit more than just a singer & frontman. He was like an actor who played (sung) all those characters from Pete Townshend's imagination. I doubt that some other singer was able to doing that.
    Finally, Ken Russel didn't make mistake when he chose Roger Daltrey to play Tommy.
     
  3. seasonsinthesky

    seasonsinthesky orphan coal, sleep, etc.

    Location:
    Canada
    I've been discovering Holidays in Eden this week. Solid album, and the b-sides/alt tracklist songs are good too! My highlight is probably Splintering Heart, though; great tension and release and a very compelling song structure for sure.
     
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  4. stodgers

    stodgers Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    The film came six years after the album. Its popularity was solidified by that point. The movie was made because the album (and tour) was so successful.
     
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  5. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Of course he was, because he was on the album, which was several years old by the time of the film. The Who weren't superstars in 1968, and Townshend's material was so good between 1969 and 1973 that I think it would've been successful regardless. Daltrey's vocals on Who's Next and Quadrophenia are phenomenal, but I think those records would've been successful as long as anyone with a good hard rock voice was singing them. It'd be like Back In Black...Angus & Malcolm's stuff was so good at that moment that it overcame the singer change. This is kind of a ridiculous hypothetical, though.
     
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  6. stodgers

    stodgers Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    Oh, and I have the Brave remix/reissue sitting at the post office waiting for me to pick it up when I am off on Friday. You know, just to get back on topic... :)
     
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  7. Snow2

    Snow2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Eaton
    Marbles (double album version)
    F.E.A.R (a real grower for me)
    Seasons's End - worth it for the opening and title track alone!

    Despite liking Misplaced Childhood and Clutching at Straws, always preferred post-Fish Marillion.
     
  8. Svetonio

    Svetonio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Serbia
    Even if it wasn't a big surprise that Russell had given leading role to Daltrey, it was a surprise how much Daltrey was great in that role, that Russell was giving him leading role in his next film, Lizstomania.
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2018
  9. Diamond Dog

    Diamond Dog Cautionary Example

    Nice to see the Marillion fans representing in this thread. More than I thought there'd be.

    D.D.
     
  10. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner

    Location:
    United States
    Thank you! I hate it when a topic is derailed. Will definitely like to know your opinion of the new Wilson remix. Will this be a first-listen for you or do you know Brave already?
     
  11. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner

    Location:
    United States
    I plan to give F.E.A.R. another listen over the weekend. I enjoyed it on the initial listen.
     
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  12. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    The Leavers is sublime.
     
  13. stodgers

    stodgers Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    This will be my first listen, and only my third Marillion album. I have owned Misplaced Childhood twice, and have Live at Cadogan Hall. I bought MC in college 25 years ago, but hated it and returned it. I just didn't connect with it, and hated Fish's voice. Many folks told me to try an H era album, but I just never did. Fast forward about 20 years and I see the LaCH disc really cheap at a store and buy it. Love it. As in, I can't stop playing it. So I saw MC at a used LP store and bought it again. Still don't like it. But am now willing to try more H material. Which lead me to Brave.

    I love concept albums. I loved that specific era of prog music (Rush, Yes, Dream Theater). So I'm wondering how I will feel about this. We'll see soon enough!
     
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  14. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US

    Agreed.

    I love everything they've ever done aside from Brave, half of Afraid of Sunlight and Less is More.
     
  15. M2225

    M2225 Nebulus 7 intergalaxy eclipse

    Location:
    Helsinki, Finland
    A lot of great Marillion music with H providing the pipes. Season's End, Holidays In eden, Brave, Radiation, Marbles are my favorites.
    I prefer the FISH era for historical reasons, but Marillion survived a lead singer change and survived for decades beyond that. I will always remain a supporter.
     
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  16. rbbert

    rbbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reno, NV, USA
    There is so much excellent Marillion live from the past 10-15 years I’m not sure I would recommend any of the studio albums. I also tend to prefer the less “produced” (or less over-processed) sound of their live recordings.
     
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  17. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    I agree. The last 3 albums have been terribly long winded but their dvd/blu ray releases are Fecking amazing.
     
  18. stodgers

    stodgers Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    So, I listened to Brave for the first time today.

    Wow.

    There is so much here to digest, one listen is not going to even come close. My only comments so far is that the upbeat tracks are the weaker ones, and that the atmospherics on the album, especially in the 5.1 format, are simply stunning. There aren't many hooks on the album, but I also felt like this was not the place to be looking for them. I'll need to sit with this one and some headphones and really dig into it.

    Definitely worth $45.
     
  19. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    They lost me after a rather disappointing run of four studio albums leading to Anoraknophobia (2001), capped by an equally lacklustre live album. I have stopped following them since then, although I was aware that their next studio outing, Marbles (2004), has been always quite praised by the fans.

    By the way listening today to their earlier live collection Made Again, with the setlist sourced from previous four studio albums, I realized that Marillion had a work pattern similar to Rush: a sequence of four studio albums, next a (widely distributed) summary live album and then a change of stylistic direction.

    At least it looked that way until Anorak in the UK, because after that live set I dropped off completely.
    1. four albums w/ Fish (from Script to Straws, 1983-1987) -> Thieving Magpie (1988) - classic neo-prog (godfathers of the genre)
    2. first four albums w/ Hogarth (from Seasons End to Afraid of Sunlight, 1989-1995) -> Made Again (1996) - "modern" prog (I struggle to describe it, probably my favourite period of theirs)
    3. next four albums w/ Hogarth (from Strange Engine to Anoraknophobia, 1997-2001) -> Anorak in the UK (2002) - nu-"prog" (under influence of Radiohead and some mainstream bands)
    4. from Marbles to... (2004-???) ---> Did they start any new stylistic period with that album? Did it end after four albums, with a live album capping it?
    Let me know your thoughts.
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2019
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  20. The_Windmill

    The_Windmill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    Curious, I never saw such a consistence in the Hogarth era.
    They changed style after Brave because it was a flop and they couldn't afford the long studio sessions that lead to make it.
    They needed to work quicker and relied more on the directions of an external producer/engineer, starting from the bits of improv to select and develop.
    It was a practical choice more than an artistic one.

    To me, Hogarth's Marillion seem to be proceeding in sine wave patterns, oscillating between more straightforward albums and more "prog" ones.
    I might like one and discard the next one, or the other way round. Always a hit or miss.

    I might say that post-Marbles albums have a very vague stylistic unity, less "mainstream" as you put it. But nothing they did convinced me as Marbles did (tough I might add that I lost the patience to get deeper into their music until it "clicks")
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2019
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  21. Diamond Dog

    Diamond Dog Cautionary Example

    Marillion has nearly as many live albums as Pearl Jam ( I jest - only The Dead have as many live albums as Pearl Jam ). There is likely one for every studio album or damned close to it. Marbles was followed by Somewhere Else, Happiness Is The Road ( double album stretched over two volumes ) , an acoustic do-over of a selection of previous material called Less Is More, Sounds That Can't Be Made and the most recent F.E.A.R. and each of them has a corresponding live album except Less Is More if memory serves. Many of the live albums spring from the Marillion Weekends where they do an "album night". This year it was Happiness Is The Road.

    D.D.
     
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  22. Svetonio

    Svetonio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Serbia
    Exactly my thoughts.
     
  23. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner

    Location:
    United States
    Brave is my favorite Marillion album. There is a lot to digest in it and this isn’t a bad thing of course. It’s one of those albums that if taken very seriously could lead one to depression, so it’s best not to dive too much into the lyrical aspect of the music and just let the music itself wash over you. I remember I followed the lyrics along with Hogarth and I was pretty much down and out for the rest of the day. It’s such a downer, but I don’t let this bother me now because the soundscape of the album is totally unique in Marillion’s discography and there’s nothing that sounds like it. A masterpiece, IMHO. They never reached these heights again, but they did get rather close with Afraid of Sunlight and Marbles.
     
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  24. Diamond Dog

    Diamond Dog Cautionary Example

    Another thing that strikes me about H-era Marillion and that is how deep their catalogue is stocked with just stupidly good songs. Enough to load every album with at least a couple of really good songs. You may not like a given album - say Happiness Is The Road but that record still has a bunch of great tracks : This Train Is My Life, Woke Up, Whatever Is Wrong With You, and more. And because they aren't prone to repeating themselves, there is so much variety... It says something that they can do a three-show stand and put on three very different, very entertaining shows and never play the same track twice. That's not nuthin'...

    D.D.
     
  25. Sadcafe

    Sadcafe In the kingdom of the deaf, one eared man is King

    The deluxe sets for brave and clutching now on Amazon uk for just £24 ...... wow
     
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