Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, November 2000
Ever since the band’s beginning, Marillion fans have always been spoiled. Not only did all of the band’s output sport some astonishing artwork, most of the band’s 12” singles were also released as picture discs, including some very rare material. A lot of fans had to wait till 1988 for the album B-Sides Themselves to be released to finally get their hands on most of these rare recordings. All the maxi singles from the Fish era have now been re-released in fully restored replicas of the original sleeves, all housed in a beautiful little box. “Market Square Heroes," “Grendel," “Garden Party," “Margaret," “Punch and Judy," “Kayleigh," - it’s all there. In all, 45 songs recorded between 1982 and 1988 with a total playing time of nearly four hours. From the very first drum sounds of current Arena drummer Mick Pointer to the swansong of Derek Dick, all compiled onto one of the sure must-haves for the coming festive period.
Nine of the enclosed CD singles surface here on CD for the very first time. Of the other three, the “Incommunicado” single, which was previously released as CD MARIL 6 (which also had a foldout cover) now contains an extra track. The same happens with “Sugar Mice,” released before as CD MARIL 7. Only their “Warm Wet Circles” CD single previously released as CD MARIL 8 contains exactly the same material. Several of the extended versions here have already seen the light of day on the 2CD re-issues of the band’s back catalogue, but there are several 7” mixes that remain unique to this box set. Also many of the live songs are different to those released on the The Thieving Magpie album so this set certainly is worth having. Looks good on your mantelpiece too!
Make sure that mantelpiece is big enough, though, as there will also be a second box covering the period 1989-1995 and featuring all tracks and B-sides including “Hooks In You,” “Uninvited Guest," “Easter," “Cover My Eyes," “No One Can," “Dry Land," “Sympathy," “No One Can (1992)," “The Great Escape," “The Hollow Man," “Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury” and “Beautiful”. So soon you’ll be able to use your Fish box and Hogarth box as bookends! Now start saving!
View all the covers (26k)
More about The Singles: '82 - '88:
Track Listing: CD1: Market Square Heroes / Three Boats Down From The Candy / Grendel
CD2: He Knows You Know (Edited 7” Version) / Charting The Single / He Knows You Know (Edited 12” Version)
CD3: Garden Party (Edit) / Margaret (Live Edit) / Garden Party / Charting The Single (Live) / Margaret (Live)
CD4: Punch And Judy (7” Version) / Market Square Heroes (Edited Re-Recorded Version) / Three Boats Down From The Candy (Re-Recorded) / Market Square Heroes (Re-Recorded Version)
CD5: Assassing (7” Version) / Cinderella Search (7” Version) / Assassing / Cinderella Search
CD6: Kayleigh (Single Edit) / Lady Nina (Single Edit) / Kayleigh (Alternative Mix) / Kayleigh (Extended Version) / Lady Nina (Extended Version)
CD7: Lavender / Freaks / Lavender Blue
CD8: Heart Of Lothian / Chelsea Monday (Live) / Heart Of Lothian
CD9: Incommunicado / Going Under / Incommunicado (Album Version) / Incommunicado (Alternate Version)
CD10: Sugar Mice / Tux On / Sugar Mice (Radio Edit) / Sugar Mice (Extended Version)
CD11: Warm Wet Circles (7” Remix) / White Russians (Live) / Incommunicado (Live)
CD12: Freaks (Live) / Kayleigh (Live) / Childhoods End? (Live) / White Feather (Live)
Musicians:
Fish - vocals
Steve Rothery - guitars
Ian Mosley - drums (CD4-8)
Pete Trewavas - bass
Mark Kelly - keyboards
Mick Pointer - drums on CD1, CD2 and CD3
Contact:
Website: www.marillion.com
Note: will open new browser window
Email: info@marillion.com
Discography
- Script For A Jester's Tear (1983)
- Fugazi (1984)
- Reel to Real (1984)
- Misplaced Childhood (1985)
- Brief Encounter(ep 1985)
- Clutching At Straws (1987/99)
- The Thieving Magpie (1988)
- B-Sides Themselves (1988)
- Season's End (1989)
- Holidays In Eden (1991)
- A Singles Collection (1992)
- Live at the Borderline (1992)*
- Live in Caracas (1993)*
- Live in Glasgow (1993)*
- Brave (1994)
- The Making Of Brave (1995)*
- Afraid Of Sunlight (1995)
- Made Again (1996)
- Kayleigh (1996) Dutch comp
- Essential Collection (1996) UK comp; same as above
- Best of Both Worlds (1997)
- This Strange Engine (1997)
- Rochester (1998)*
- Piston Broke (1998)*
- Tales From The Engine Room (1998)
- Radiation (1998)
- Christmas 1998: The Web Christmas**
- Kayliegh: The Essential Collection (1998) UK comp.; diff. from above
- Unplugged At The Walls (1999)*
- Marillion.com (1999)
- Zodiac (1999)*
- Christmas 1999: marillion.christmas (1999)
- marillion.co.uk (or bonus disk) (2000)***
- The Singles: '82 - '88 (box set) (2000)
- Christmas 2000: A Piss-Up In A Brewery**
- ReFracted! (2001)*
- Anoraknophobia (2001)
- Another DAT At The Office (2001)*
- Christmas 2001: A Verry Barry Christmas (2001)**
- Fallout (2002)*
- Anorak In The UK Live (2002)*
- Brave Live 2002 (2002)*
- Caught In The Net (2002)*
- AWOL (2002)***
- The Best of Marillion (2003)
- View From The Balcony (2003)***
- Christmas 2003: Say Cheese! Christmas With Marillion (2003)**
- Curtain Call (2004) (3CD Box)*
- Crash Course (2004)***
- Marbles (2004)
- Brave Live 2002 (2002) (DVD)
- Shot In The Dark (2002) (DVD / Video)
- A Piss-up In A Brewery (2002) (DVD)
- The EMI Singles Collection (2003) (DVD)
- Christmas In The Chapel (2003) (DVD)
- Before First Light (2003) (DVD)
- Marbles On The Road (2005) (DVD)
* Racket Records releases
** exclusive fanclub discs 
