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| Marillion - Marbles |
 Released: 2004 Label: Intact Records / Dead Ringer (dist. Caroline Distribution) Cat. No.: 12772 (2CD) / 6501 (1CD) / 23 (US 1CD) Total Time: 2CD: 53:43 / 45:14, 1CD 62:03 (plus bonus material) | |
Reviewed by: Marcel Haster, May 2004 Marbles; who of us did not play with them when we were kids? If I see those marbles again, I get a feeling of nostalgia over me, thinking back to the time I was young and life was so much better. In a way, that is what Marillion has done with their new album, Marbles: it makes you think back of the great albums such as Brave, Afraid Of Sunlight and even This Strange Engine. The feeling I get when listening to Marbles is a mixture of Brave and This Strange Engine, specifically the atmosphere in songs like "One Fine Day" and "This Strange Engine." So after a few questionable albums (Radiation, Marillion.com), Marillion are back with their 13th studio album, and ... with producer Dave Meegan! Marbles comes very close to Brave, although this one is even more in the vein of (the Floyd side of) Porcupine Tree. The return of Dave Meegan, who also produced Brave and Afraid Of Sunlight, definitely has had a very good effect on the album. The sound is fantastic. Steve Hogarth's vocals come out very good in this context, as I personally love his emotional voice, although in opener "The Invisible Man," he somewhat swallows his words a bit. Of course since Fish left, the style of Marillion changed quite a bit, and I do miss the over the top keyboard work from Mark Kelly at times, but this more mellow style works well for them. The guitar play of Steve Rothery has become more subtle and will take some time to fully hear every detail of his play. Headphones would do great here! "You're Gone" is released as a single and the band are mobilizing all their fans to buy the single and thus get Marillion back in the charts. In the UK, where prog is systematically banned from the radio, this seem to work, but also in Holland, "You're Gone" shows up very high in the charts, so it seems to work. Despite the very obvious electronic beat in the song, there are still enough elements in the song to keep it interesting and might appeal to the pop generation, who then can get in touch with the wonderful world of progressive rock. My favourite song of the album is "Angelina," an almost jazzy song, which is simply beautiful in all aspects. Here the deep bass sound of Trewavas comes out really good. Marillion was the band that got me into progressive rock, so they'll always have a special place in my musical heart, but no matter how big a fan I was, I was disappointed in the band, as Radiation was the first album I did not buy. So I was very anxious to hear Marbles, to see if they changed and they did. When I hear Marbles, I hear the Marillion that I have come to love with Season's End and Brave, and so far I haven't heard a weak or bad song on the album. The atmosphere is great, warm, ambient and filled with emotion. In this respect the song "Marbles IV" stands out a bit, as it has some more power to it, a bit more up tempo, with a bit of a Beatlesque sound. Marillion is truly back, with one of their best albums to date, a balanced, atmospherical album, an album to be proud of. Great production by Dave Meegan, who in the past has shown he understands how Marillion must sound. The tracklisting as shown down here a, is NOT from the 2CD album that will be released, but it is from the promotional copy I received. If you compare this tracklisting with the official one on the Marillion website, you'll find the order is different and the 2CD version includes 4 more tracks. And I have heard that includes a 25 minute track [yes, the sublime "Ocean Cloud" - Marillionite/PW ed.], so the band really treats us to lot's of fantastic music. A must have for the fans, but also for those who have been disappointed in the band, might find this album to be the Marillion they used to know. Very highly recommended! Excellent album. [Obviously, I've included both tracklistings here with this "reprint" - ed.] PPO Rating: 8/10 [This review originally appeared at the ProgPower Online review site; see also Steph's and Eric's reviews -ed.] More about Marbles: Track Listing: 2-Disc Version: Disc One: The Invisible Man (13:37) / Marbles I (1:42) / Genie (4:54) / Fantastic Place (6:12) / The Only Unforgivable Thing (7:13) / Marbles II (2:02) / Ocean Cloud (17:58) Musicians: Contact: Website: www.marillion.com Discography
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