TSE - I like this one. It's not my favorite but something about it really works for me. Not every song works but the ones that work work really well. Thinking about it - I am not a huge fan of Radiation but Brave - Marbles is a really strong run IMHO. I don't play TSE enough - time to give it another spin.
This Strange Engine was the first Marillion album made without the support of a big record company. It was also the first self-produced album although Dave Meegan was still involved with the mixing. What made things easier was that the band had come up with lots of ideas during the making of "Afraid of Sunlight", and a lot of the songs for "This Strange Engine" already originated during this time period. The entire album was performed in 2007 at the Marillion Weekend, released as "This Strange Convention", but most of the songs have shown up in other live concerts too - so even if I don't have the live rendition, I am still familiar with almost all the songs via live releases, only "Hope for the Future" is actually new to me. (Yes, I don't have this album yet, but I do have Spotify...) Man of a Thousand Faces: Marillion sound almost like a folk pop band here, but they are still creating unusual works in terms of song structure. Your average Mumford & Sons type band would've left it at four minutes. Marillion are Marillion, and so we get a repetition of the bridge with that unreal moment: "I took a leap and I landed on the mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....... How the band manages to whip up a veritable storm of sound in the last two minutes is simply otherworldly. Also notice how it musically has nothing in common anymore with the rest of the song, still sounds like such a logical continuation. (The previous LP's opener, "Gazpacho", did pretty much the same thing!) Finally, the lyric is pure poetry. I love how Hogarth and Helmer basically walk us through mankind's many contradictions by arranging verses and choruses with opposite elements: "I speak to machines with the voice of humanity, speak to the wise with the voice of insanity." Probably one of the band's best lyrics, certainly so after Fish's departure. One Fine Day: I've seen this compared to Gary Moore ballads. Strangely enough, Gary released a song with the same title in the same year on "Dark Days in Paradise", but if Marillion were stepping outside of their comfort zone by veering into bluesy AOR (with Steve Rothery playing some very compelling lead guitar), Gary was doing the same by exploring modern yet 60s-influenced psych-rock - his "One Fine Day" is unlike anything you may imagine Gary Moore to sound like. Frankly, I think it's a better song than Marillion's. The problem with this album is that the album quickly slows down with a late-night song like this, and it has a much darker hue than, say, "Beautiful" (which was similarly paced). The Beatlesy string part in the middle is good but feels a bit out of place. 80 Days: Contrary to the sometimes cynical outlook on showbiz that we got on parts of "Afraid of Sunlight", this is a more loving ode to life on the road. The fans appreciated the sentiment but the song didn't become very popular (apparently it finished last in an online voting done by the anoraks...). Musically, it follows on the heels of "Man of a Thousand Faces" but without the epicness - just a nice, folky song driven by acoustic guitars. Just like "One Fine Day", this could have benefitted from actual orchestral backing instead of the somewhat flat sounding synth parts. Clearly the band were learning to make do with smaller budgets, but I wonder why these songs were not played more recently during the "friends from the Orchestra" projects. Estonia: This song, on the other hand, did get the string-laden makeover. Oh yeah, we're back in typical Marillion territory - death and water. Why is it that this band can convey such a great sense of the ocean, and managed to come up with so many great songs about the topic? For anyone interested in the background of the song and how it came to be, I urge you to listen to the most recent live recording "With Friends from St. David's", Hogarth explains how he got to know a survivor of the Estonia tragedy and how touched he was by hearing about the horrible events. Lyrically, it's an elegiac ode to life itself - lamenting tragedy in the face of a world that never really stands still (well, maybe 9/11 was the exception that confirms the rule) but also reminding us that people we lose are with us, if we've loved them or have been loved by them. Incredibly profound and moving song, and proof that Hogarth is an excellent lyricist. Perhaps this album is where he really reached maturity as a writer. Musically, it's got similar moods to "Out of This World", but much calmer... just eight minutes of tragic, majestic beauty. Fantastic song. Memory of Water: Another water song! The "Big Beat" mix would transform this into something entirely different but the original is just a nice, plaintive song with Steve singing a vaguely Celtic melody, so it's a bit of "Easter" and "Brave" but much more succinct. Again, the chamber string backing sounds fake to me and I wonder why this was never re-recorded with actual strings... An Accidental Man: Here's a change - a real rock song. Apparently there was a different version of this that Mark Kelly really wanted to be included on AOS but here's where the song finally was released. When Marillion do hard rock, they sometimes have a tendency to slide into platitudes, and this song at times comes close, but Hogarth's very powerful and crystal-clear verse melody, the key shift to the pre-chorus and the little beat alterations all make this into a good song that rises above the average. Like "Hard as Love", this has Mark mostly sticking to hammond organ, and playing a good solo in the middle. "An Accidental Man" doesn't reach the heights of "Hard as Love" but it nicely livens up the album. Hope for the Future: One of the songs the band themselves disowned, and I can understand why. The opening is really good actually - stripped back and acoustically bluesy. If it had remained on the track of the first minute, I'd have to claim it as a favourite, but then a really weird change happens. The opening lyrics are repeated with a completely different musical interpretation and, er, Marillion try to play Latin-American rhythms. A song that sounds like the Carnival in Rio is an odd thing to break up an album like this, and it ultimately doesn't convince me. Even if Marillion can certainly be accused of being too downbeat and depressing, this kind of uplifting sound feels unnatural to me. Again, the flute sounds fake to me although I'm not sure. This Strange Engine: This big song! Yes, many years after "Grendel", Marillion finally step back into the world of ten-minute-plus monstrosities. The song, although it initially takes up the dreamy vibe of much of the album, quickly moves through different phases and builds up steam with a middle part that's very clearly neo-prog in a way the band had not dared to for several albums. I am of course referring to the lengthy synth solo underpinned by dynamic band playing. What doesn't always work so well, though, is the overall cohesion and consistency. There is no real thread running through the music; it's Steve Hogarth honouring the life of his father (who gave up a life on sea for mining, in order to be closer to his family), perhaps a bit prosaic but clearly heartfelt, that provides the focal point. It's not surprising considering how personal the lyric is that he puts a lot of emotion into his singing, so much so that parts (like the "intravenous" bit and the finale) would become harder and harder for him to pull off live. Aside from the synth solo, the other big instrumental stretches are taken up by - unusually - a sax solo that Hogarth would then "play" live with his midi-gloves, later reconfigured into a cricket bat, and two typically emotive Rothery leads. But as said before, the big ending is where Hogarth pushes out pretty much every ounce of energy he has in store, and the effect is startling. Thankfully, the version on Spotify only has about two minutes of silence (the Japanese version and the US repressing had four and one minute each, both because they accommodated bonus tracks), before we get insulted by the "hidden portion" of the album - some piano playing with h laughing like a maniac. Arguably not worse than "Happy Ending" from Clutching at Straws but waiting fifteen minutes for that? Not funny. So, This Strange Album...er, Engine, sorry. What is it? It's clearly the follow-up to Afraid of Sunlight, but nothing more. Sort of like Heavy Horses is the follow-up to Songs from the Wood. It basically follows in its predecessor's footsteps but doesn't wow me in the same way. Not bad at all, but also not an album I would quickly recommend to someone who doesn't know Marillion, even if I could pick several songs worth listening to. As for the differences to AOS: There is an absence of sound effects, synths are mostly toned down (except in the title track) or used to imitate actual instruments - the whole thing sounds earthier and more organic than anything Marillion have done up to date. The title track marks the first return to epic songwriting in quite a while; if you don't count "Goodbye to All That" with its improvised passages, you have to go back to the closing trilogy of Holidays in Eden to find something of similar scope. But I feel the band and its fans overrate the song a bit; no doubt it has some really great moments but it also drags at times and the aforementioned lack of unifying musical themes works against it. Some later tracks do better in that department (looking at you, "Ocean Cloud"). Aside from the two unplugged tracks, which were also on the Japanese edition, the CD single of "Man of a Thousand Faces" had a 3:37 radio edit and an 8:19 extended version though I'm wondering how "extended" it really is, considering that I read an interview which states that Hogarth's drunken laughter was on that single too...
Looking forward to more opinions - as an aside, if anyone can upload the Positive Light remix of "One Fine Day", I'd be grateful. I want to listen to Tales from the Engine Room but that song is not on YouTube.
I love this album. One of my favorite Hogarth era albums. Love his vocals A LOT on this one. Marilllion were BACK with this album. Was really disappointed with Brave and to a lesser extent Afraid of Sunlight and was close to the point of giving up on the band until they released this album. And of course the songs on this album are even better live.
You can still discuss This Strange Engine, I will quickly run through these two live releases from the "Strange Engine" tour. The second one is the more interesting one because it was a thank-you to the fans who financed the band's US tour - which is the starting point for all future crowdfunding endeavours. Mehr Bilder Marillion – Piston Broke: This Strange Engine Live In Europe 1997 Genre: Rock Stil: Prog Rock Jahr: 1998 Trackliste Man Of 1000 Faces 8:15 Hard As Love 5:27 Gazpacho 4:54 Afraid Of Sunlight 7:07 80 Days 6:29 Estonia 8:49 Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury 6:38 The Space (Acoustic) 2:38 Easter 6:23 Brave 8:42 The Great Escape 6:09 This Strange Engine 19:41 Sugar Mice 6:23 This Town / 100 Nights 11:25 The Bell In The Sea 5:46 Hope For The Future 6:50 King 9:29 Recorded May & October 1997 in Paris, Geleen, Gent, Hanover, & Hamburg. Mehr Bilder Marillion – Marillionrochester Label: Racket Records (2) – RACKET 8 Format: 2 × CD, Album, Limited Edition Land: UK Veröffentlicht: 1998 Genre: Rock Stil: Prog Rock Trackliste 1-1 Emmanuel / Seasons End 9:01 1-2 Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury 5:45 1-3 Hard As Love 7:48 1-4 80 Days 5:12 1-5 Kayleigh 4:11 1-6 Lavender 4:18 1-7 Afraid Of Sunlight 6:59 1-8 Man Of A 1000 Faces / Estonia 18:15 1-9 Easter 6:56 2-1 This Town 5:30 2-2 100 Nights 4:41 2-3 Slaint Mhath 5:08 2-4 King 7:38 2-5 This Strange Engine 22:18 2-6 The Great Escape 3:58 2-7 Falling From The Moon 2:08 2-8 Garden Party 8:00 First 1000 signed by the band. (Limited edition of less than 2000 copies).Comes with folded booklet and folded promo press sheet. From Marillion`s website; Rochester Live Album: Released May 1998, Recorded August 1997 In the summer of 1997 Marillion played a four-week tour of North America. But what made this tour unique was that for the first time ever, a band's fans directly financed a tour. It all began when Mark [Kelly] posted to the internet in January 1997 that a North American tour in support of This Strange Engine was not likely, mainly due to financial reasons. By 1 March 1997, at fan Jeff Pelletier's suggestion, $10,000 of tour support money had already been raised. By the time the tour started in August, $40,000 was collected, and the fund was still looking forward; together, our fans from all over the world raised over $61,000 for the North American Strange Engine Tour. As a way of returning the favour to all those who shelled out and put their money where their mouths (and hearts) are, we've released an entire concert from start to finish without edits. These CDs were sent to everyone who donated to and helped with the fund. Less than 2000 were pressed, and no more will ever be made. For those who did donate, tell your friends you made this record! We've always had a great vibe at the shows in America, Canada, and Mexico, but 1997 will stand out as a tour that really did belong to all of us - band, crew, and fans. In truth, everyone involved with the fund played as much of a part in it as we did. Thank you. H, Steve, Mark, Pete, Ian
And I'm listening to Tales from the Engine Room now What can I say? I hadn't listened to it for ages but I still like it! I remember buying it one afternoon in my native town, big shop, selling the usual top 10s etc. But they did have the then new Marillion remasters - and I bought them and sold or gave away the original pressings When I saw Tales in the rack, I had no idea what it was. But it was clearly more than a reference to This Strange Engine and I absolutely adored TSE so I bought it and felt cool doing so - had Marillion suddenly become "the thing"? I had to wait to be home to listen to the CD - remember when cars had cassette tapes and no CD player? I was then welcomed by the voice Mark Kelly and from then on it was a ride. Not unlike the first time I heard TSE, in fact. A very different ride, but a very good ride nonetheless. A ride I'm still quite happy to go on even now, 20-plus years later. Oh, and the sound stage in this CD is actually more open than on TSE!
Okay, I can definitely live without track 5, "Face 1004". I don't think it's a coincidence that it doesn't share even the title of any song from TSE. Rather dull, and no Marillos in sight.
I think I missed those 2. Are they Racket? I don't believe we did the Fish era Racket only live stuff.
Yeah, I know. I just needed them as a stopgap. And the second tied in nicely with the beginning of crowdfunding.
Tales from the Engine Room From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tales From the Engine Room Remix album by Marillion Released January 1998 Length 58:56 Label Eagle Tales From The Engine Room is a remix of This Strange Engine with a few exceptions and one extra addition. It was conducted by Marc Mitchell and Mark Daghorn of The Positive Light. Both Marillion fans, they approached the band with this remix of the previous record. The remix album was still in the rough stages, but they asked the band for permission to complete and release it. The band were delighted at what they heard and gladly gave them the green light to complete the project. A single was released prior to the release for the club scene, Memory of Water. It was released on Eagle Records. Track listing[edit source] "Estonia" - 11:43 "Memory Of Water" - 9:36 "This Strange Engine" - 20:37 "One Fine Day" - 8:20 "Face 1004" - 8:40 "80 Days" - 8:46 External links[edit source] marillion.com | The Official Marillion Website ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ There were a couple of different releases of this album and they each came with different liner notes. I went and combined them into one longer piece here for your entertainment (all stolen from discogs, since I don't have this album). ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tales from the Channel Islands I've been a Marillion fan since the very early days. I well remember buying the twelve inch of "Market Square Heroes" which had just been released on the day before doing my first ever gig, so making this album has allowed me to realise a long held ambition. Marc Mitchell, on the other hand, had never really heard much Marillion but I played him "Afraid of Sunlight" (which alternates with "Brave" as my favourite Marillion album) whenever possible and when I suggested the idea of remixes, he was up for it. So, we approached the band's management and eventually a meeting was arranged between the band and I to discuss remixing "This Strange Engine" instead of "Afraid of Sunlight" as they were working on TSE at the time and had just changed labels. It seems silly now but I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I was on the day I was driving up to that meeting. It all went very well though and we agreed to remix one track over Christmas 1998, which ended up being "Estonia", and to do the rest if everyone was happy with the result. We decided to do the album at Marc's studio in Jersey, mainly because he doesn't like leaving the house, let alone the island! I was slightly less nervous than for our first meeting when I was driving to Steve Hogarth's house to play him "Estonia" but, once again, it all went well and we eventually got to go ahead and do the album. We resumed work in mid-March on "Memory of Water", and then "This Strange Engine". Steve H came to Jersey for the weekend whilst we were working on it and I succeeded in getting caught speeding while driving him back to the airport (I say 'speeding' but I was doing 42 m.p.h.). He ended up missing his flight but claims he doesn't hold it against me, and I was fined £30.00 at a bizarre ritual called a "Parish Hall Enquiry". We eventually completed work on "This Strange Engine" in early May, half an hour before I had to fly home. I went to the band's Norwich gig the night after and played them the track which got a uniformly good response. A while later we resumed work only after I had got stranded in Poole for a night and a day due to the "wave piercer" ferry not being able to sail through waves more than seven feet high. (Does that make sense to you?... I ended up in a hotel where I was the only person there without a zimmer frame, and the incredibly damp head waiter was plastered in fake tan and tacky jewellery.) I got there in the end and we started work on "One Fine Day". During this mix, Hong Kong was handed back to China - it was a strange feeling watching the news footage of tanks rolling in to Hong Kong whilst we were working on a song about ideals, dreams and changing the world... and then giving up on all of those things. It brought home tome that we must not give up on our dreams, no matter how unreal they might seem - rather than fall asleep dreaming that dream we should wake up and do something about it. Marc's desk packed up in the middle of working on "Man of 1000 Faces" so I came home and left him to it. It felt a bit strange not being there for the last track which, after four attempts, mutated into "Face 1004" - the lack of vocals on it doesn't indicate any disrespect for the original - we just wanted something a little different. So there you have it - a somewhat unlikely crossover of styles that we're very proud of, which I hope you get as much pleasure listening to as we had making. Mark Daghorn, December 1997. Vows. We vowed we'd never let anyone do this. I'd heard reconstructions and remixes before and it seemed to me that the purpose of the artform, at best, was to produce some kind of cerebral trip, attained through dance in the tribal sense, often with a bit of help from 'substances'. At worst, though, I thought it was just a way of imposing a dance rhythm on a previously arranged song in order to hit another market and make money. When Mark Daghorn succeeded in breaking down the closed doors and playing "Positive Light" to us we thought again. PL seemed to have an element in their work that we hadn't often heard in the genre before... - depth of emotion, empathy, soul or whatever you want to call something which elevates music above mere entertainment. We packed him off back to Jersey with a lead vocal, and a guitar sample from "Estonia". A month or so later, he appeared at my door and played me "Positive Light"'s reconstruction... and I love it. We all loved it. And so the experiment was born. If, like me, you're intimate with Marillion's original, it takes a while to get your head away from that and into this. There's even an argument for hearing this album first! The reconstruction of the title track, "This Strange Engine", reduced me to tears. I would advise you to listen to it on a Walkman whilst walking through the town on a Saturday afternoon. It makes everyone move in slow motion! You might not like all of this album, but you're going to LOVE some of it. Which tracks you love and hate will depend on what you're into and who you are. If you love ALL of it, Congratulations! - you're genuinely devoid of prejudice. Vows are often made in a state of innocence and broken in the light of experience. Of this, I'm positive. Steve H. Dec '97 When I was asked to contemplate doing dance remixes of Marillion's "This Strange Engine" album, two things came to mind. Vengeant Marillion fans wanting to hurt me and that God somehow managed to get the duck-billed platypus together. After producing and remixing mainly dance music for the last 10 years, it was nice to be faced with something that was potentially like oil and water. Some people have different views on what a remix is and would easily be offended by us taking the vocals and slapping them over a dance track. This album hasn't as much been remixed, but pulled through in out misunderstood dimension. The songs may sound totally different but the expression I feel is the same. During the recording of the track "This Strange Engine" my girlfriend and I conceived our little baby boy, Malachi (born this February), I consider both of these to be my greatest achievements and do not know if one would exist without the other. Without whom ...God, Paul Mac and the Mac clan; Warren Le Sueur for his patience; Lindsay Kirk; Sean Hunstridge at mellotronics; Stuart King; Rob Farnon; Dave "Tiger Tears" Whitley; Nick at Red Room Studio; Tony T; Den & Bev; Nelson & Jez; Pat Clarke; Mikey Johnson; René Toudic and Chris Jenet for your soultonic inspiration; Karen and our son Malachi for being my understanding at love and there for all my expression. To Marillion for hearing the emotion behind the motion and the truth behind the tragedy that is The Positive Light. To all of you I thank you for your long term support and trust by way of the only currency without greed... love. Marc Mitchell, May 1998. ++++++++++++++++++++++ The album seems to have become a bit of a grey market entity, hence several reissues with VERY misleading covers:
Oooh! I still haven't got round to buying that one - I have the original version and I kinda liked it but not so much as to buy the new improved remix. You'll let us know what you think of it, won't you?
the remix was a massive improvement, IMO. Still kind of a weak set of songs though, but at least they sound better.
So, Tales from the Engine Room. Estonia: This very chilled-out remix works rather well, even if I miss aspects of the original and don't think the lengthening really makes it stronger. The Memory of Water: Huh, why the article in the title? I like the transition from Estonia (incidentally the two water-themed songs were grouped like this on the original album already). This is a decent techno/trance-ish remix but IMHO it runs out of ideas about halfway through. Not so surprising given the remix is three times as long as the original... even some spoken French doesn't really enliven it. (Perhaps an hommage to "Icon", the bridge on AOS?) Still, the combination of Hogarth's slow singing and the fast beat underneath is definitely neat. I wonder if the band realized the song's uptempo potential, leading to their own remix (the "Big Beat" version, which still included a credit "with special thanks to Mark E. Mitchell", and was then also used as a live arrangement). This Strange Engine: Obviously, The Positive Light had a "progressive" attitude towards their remix work, and didn't just slap any old beat underneath everything. Here they open with a compelling soundscape and keep us waiting two minutes for the vocals. There IS a midtempo disco rhythm underlaid under the first part, which doesn't gel that well with the vocals I feel, plus I'm missing the chord and rhythm changes of the original. Sadly, that is the song's biggest downfall. It changes gears, but not nearly enough to hold my attention over twenty minutes, and way too many important bits of the original are missing - passages which really grab the listener like Mark's synth solo or the sax part. It's also disappointing that they did nothing with the original's cool grooves. Admittedly the drum sounds ARE good (compared to a lot of 90s dance stuff I've heard) but it doesn't really change what's flawed here. Creating "hooks" out of bits that only appeared once or twice in the original is also not necessarily something I enjoy that much. Things pick up in the last quarter - finally bits of Rothery's guitar solo! And underpinning Hogarth's intense final vocal section, the beat gets appropriately heavier, even if things still sound a bit disjointed, at least until the guitar comes in... well, what can I say? The ending is great! One Fine Day: I recognize that groove from the original. That's a plus. I miss the joyous guitar opening. That's a minus. All in all, it's relatively close to the original, only more spacious. I really like the bass! I think there is a sample of Martin Luther King's famous speech in the middle? Face 1004: Quoting Marc Mitchell again (YouTube comment)... "wow how cool is that, amazing wot you find on youtube there were only ever 20 of these vinyl's made, i still have 2 in the museum, i wanted at least 1 track that was truly "dance" on the album, funnily enough it was actually memory of water we we're trying to plug.. the band didn't really like this 1004 remix, it was only as a filler that it made it on to the B side haha glad you posted & its still being enjoyed." The comment sums it up for me - easily the most expendable track on the album. It's not really surprising when you consider that the Marillion fan of the duo, Mark Daghorn, wasn't involved with it. Apart from a few vocal samples, there is nothing that connects this to "Man of a Thousand Faces" and it's a questionable entry on a CD co-credited to Marillion. Not so surprising then that the band wasn't too crazy about it either. It's just a pretty boring dance track. Even if Paul Oakenfold thought it was great. 80 Days: Thankfully things pick up again for the final track (which was oddly not included in all versions of the album). The new rhythm at least gives the song a different edge, even if it's too drawn out and the samples seem pointless. The song's optimism is toned down, which makes for a lukewarm ending. So... I've heard a bit of 90s EDM stuff, also remixes of artists I like, and most of that is frankly terrible and tasteless. You can't say that about this album. It could have been a lot worse. It could have been better too. Aside from simply ignoring "An Accidental Man" (which could've been a nice dance-rock mashup) and "Hope for the Future" I think the main weakness is that for the most part, only Hogarth's vocal was preserved, and a few guitars here and there. The new programming is mostly well done but it's not Marillion and that's a missed chance. I really expected the title track, for instance, to be a bit more adventurous. Compared to a lot of dance stuff it is but compared to the original it isn't. Obviously this wasn't the intention, but I wonder if anybody from the disco/club scene got into Marillion via this album?? I think for that purpose, the programming is definitely wrong: You can't really entertain a party with "Estonia" and starting with that track would give people a somewhat wrong idea. I guess this was more to not disturb the Marillion fans too much. Although the band's involvement with this project was minimal, it still informs some of their work after this (also Mark Daghorn would be involved with a Fish solo album soon after). "This Strange Engine" was a very analog, organic sounding album, but following albums incorporated loops and electronic soundscapes at times, which were good tools for the band to gently modernize their sound. In that sense "Tales from the Engine Room" clearly belongs in their discography. It also helped to open the band to unusual collaborations and, in light of becoming more interactive and fan-friendly, presages the remix contest that led to "Remixomatosis" and its offshoots (Baubles, etc.).
So, if anyone wants to say anything about This Strange Engine or Tales from the Engine Room, get your votes in, because we're all under the radiation soon...
Have to say I still prefer the original mix, but I really like the packaging much more on the 2013. Still have the original although the '98 mix is included in the 2013. A lot of gems on that record. I prefer it to .com and Anoraknophobia.
Already have, but I can go on about how earthy and natural The Strange Engine is to anything that came before it. Have to admit I don't pull out Tales From The Engine Room a lot likely because I enjoy the proper album so much.
