Marillion - Anorak In The UK Live

Year of Release: 2002
Label: EMI
Catalog Number: 7243 5 38727 24
Format: CD
Total Time: 70:24:00

I have said it a million times before and I will repeat it until everyone agrees: if there is one band that truly deserves to be called "progressive" it has to be Marillion. Especially since the arrival of Steve Hogarth the band has progressed and fused all kinds of styles in order to create a new adventure time after time. When the band released Anoraknophobia I was enormously disappointed, yet again, by the attitude in the media and also by the way fans approached this magnificent album. Also live you would encounter fans that were disappointed because they didn't play this and they didn't play that. For god's sake, Marillion played far more interesting music than any of the upcoming bands that are plastered on the cover of every issue of Q magazine. So what is the reason why these guys no longer get a chance? Because they're not so young anymore? Bollocks! Because they don't have a sense for fashion? Bollocks, as you'll be the coolest one around when you visit your friends sporting that blitz anorak! Because the music is no good? Triple bollocks, as their music has never been so good!

Probably the band thinks the same hence the fact that they decided to release a live recording from their latest tour. Recorded in Manchester and London in 2001, half of this disc is filled with material from Anoraknophobia. The rest contains highlights from Afraid Of Sunlight, Brave, Holidays In Eden and Season's End. So no material from Marillion.com, no songs from Radiation and no stuff from This Strange Engine, all of which nevertheless contain some wonderful songs as well. The band opens strongly with the fierce, uptempo "Seperated Out" which shows the band focusing on a total sound as opposed to a collection of solos. This is as contemporary as you can get and the audience loves it! Hogarth sings with a lot of emotion and power throughout the entire set, which sounds very "now." Just listen to "Quartz" with its ingenious beat and great bass playing that illustrates what great hooks Rothery and Co. come up with these days. As said before, the sound of the various instruments blend together ever so well in order to create wonderful tapestries of sounds. Just take the magnificent "Out Of This World" as an example, where Mark Kelly's keyboards add extra dimensions to the whole rather than take away the attention by including meaningless solos!

I also need to mention the great enthusiasm of the crowd which acts like the sixth Marillion member here. It's as if you're attending an important soccer game and the supporters are helping their team to win. And those supporters dance along on the waves of the rhythmic "Between You And Me." And then it's time to take your loved one as close as you can and enjoy the beauty of "The Great Escape." Probably one of the most "daring" songs is "If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill." I know from the beginning that a lot of people thought this was the worst song on Anoraknophobia but the song started to grow on them each time they heard it, making it one of their favourites in the end. Only one or two chords are necessary before the crowd knows it will be treated to yet another stunning version of "Easter" including one of the most mindblowing of guitar solos ever to emerge from an electric guitar! The audience sings every single word of the song whilst the acoustic opening holds a lot of that Clannad magic. But then, as said before, there's that superb guitar solo from Rothery which simply has to be placed amongst the top five guitar solos of all time in my book. A fantastic ending to a great live album, proving for the upteenth time that Marillion should be filling stadiums and having their faces on the covers of the world's top magazines. Instead call yourself lucky it hasn't happened so you can enjoy this band in all its glory in the comfort of a cosy venue enjoying their music even more!

Maybe thanks to Pete Trewavas' stint with Transatlantic more young people have discovered Marillion which can't be a bad thing altogether. The "commercial" version of this album contains a single disc and is available all over the world through EMI. However there is also a 2CD set which you can only obtain through the band's fanclub, the Racket Club. Tracklisting for the second disk can be found at www.marillion.com/discog/anoraklive/index.html where you can also find details as to how you can purchase it.

Tracklisting:
Seperated Out / Quartz / Map Of The World / Out Of This World / Between You And Me / The Great Escape / King / If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill / Waiting To Happen / Easter

Musicians:
Steve "H" Hogarth - vocals
Steve Rothery - guitars
Mark Kelly - keyboards
Pete Trewavas - bass
Ian Mosley - drums

Discography:
Script For A Jester's Tear (1983)
Fugazi (1984)
Reel To Real (1984)
Misplaced Childhood (1985)
Brief Encounter (ep) (1985)
Clutching At Straws (1987/1999)
The Thieving Magpie (1988)
B-Sides Themselves (1988)
Season's End (1989)
Holidays In Eden (1991)
A Singles Collection 1982-1992 (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)
Real To Reel/Brief Encounter (1997)
Best Of Both Worlds (1997)
This Strange Engine (1997)
Tales From The Engine Room (1998)*
Rochester (1998)*
Piston Broke (1998)*
Radiation (1998)
Christmas 1998: The Web Christmas (1998)**
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) (Ver 1-2000)*
The Singles: '82 - '88 (box set) (2000/2009)
Christmas 2000: A Piss-Up In A Brewery**
Crash Course (Sampler) (2000)
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)*
marillion.co.uk (or bonus disk) (Ver 2-2002)*
Brave Live 2002 (2002)*
Caught In The Net (2002)*
Crash Course (Sampler) (2002)*
The Singles: '89 -'95 (2002)
Brave Live (2002)*
AWOL (2002)**
Christmas 2002: Santa And Elvis (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)
Remixomatosis (2004)*
Christmas 2004: Baubles (2004)**
Popular Music (CD oop, avail. as download only) (2005)**
marillion.co.uk (or bonus disk) (Ver 3-2005)*
View From The Balcony (Sampler) (Ver 2-2005)*
Marbles By The Sea (2005)*
Marbles Live (2005)*
Handful Of Marbles (Sampler) (2005)*
Christmas 2005: Merry Xmas To Our Flock (2005)**
Unzipped (The Making Of 'Anoraknophobia') (2005)*
Crash Course (Ver 4 - 2006)*
Smoke (2006)*
Mirrors (2006)*
Marbles Vinyl Edition (2006)
Christmas 2006: Jingle Book (2006)**
Somewhere Else (2007)
Crash Course (Ver 5 - 2007)*
Christmas 2007: Somewhere Elf (2007)**
Friends (2007)*
Family (2007)*
Crash Course (Ver 6 - 2008)*
Happiness Is The Road - Volume 1: Essence (2008)
Happiness Is The Road - Volume 2: The Hard Shoulder (2008)
Early Stages - The Official Bootlegs 1982-1987 (6CD Box) (2008)
Christmas 2008: Pudding On The Ritz (2008)**
Happiness Is Cologne (2009)*
Live From Loreley (2009)
Recital Of The Script (2009)
Less Is More (2009)
Tumbling Down The Years (2010)*
Size Matters (2010)*
Keep The Noise Down (sampler) (2010)*
Live In Montreal / Saturday (2010)*
Live In Montreal / Sunday (2010)*
The Official Bootleg Box Set, Vol. 2 (2010)
Live From Cadogan Hall (2010)*
Afraid Of Sunlight Live 2003 (2011)*
This Strange Engine Live 2007 (2011)*
Live In Montreal / Friday (2011)*
Season's End Live 2009 (2011)*
Holidays In Eden Live 2011 (2011)*
Best Live (2011)*
marillion.com Deluxe Digipack (2011)
Somewhere Else (2LP) (2011)
Marbles Deluxe Digipack (2011)
Marbles (2LP) (2011)
A-Z (2012)*
This Strange Engine - Deluxe Digipack (2012)
Fugazi (LP) (2012)
Holidays In Eden (LP) (2012)
Sounds That Can't Be Made (2012)
Sounds That Can't Be Made - Deluxe Edition (2012)
The Glow Must Go On (2012)*
Crash Course (2012)*
Sounds Live (2012)*
Anoraknophobia (LP) (2012)
Sleighed Again (Christmas 2012) (2012)**
Best Of Montreal (2013)*
Best Of Leamington (2013)*
Brave Live 2013 (2013)*
Best.Live (LP box set) (2013)
Radiation 2013 (2013)
Brave (LP) (2013)
Misplaced Childhood (LP) (2013)
Clocks Already Ticking (CD/DVD) (2013)*
Brave Live 2002 (CD/DVD) (2013)
Radiation 2013 (LP) (2013)
Somewhere In London (CD/DVD) (2013)
Afraid Of Sunlight (LP) (2013)
Clutching At Straws (LP) (2013)
Sounds That Can't Be Made (LP) (2013)
Sounds That Can't Be Made - 2013 Special Edition (2013)*
Proggin Around The Christmas Tree (Christmas 2013) (2013)**
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (dlx bx set) (2014)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (Holland version) (2014)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (Montreal version) (2014)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (3LP) (2014)*
Unsound (DL) (2014)*
A Collection Of Recycled Gifts (xmas comp.) (2014)*
Live At The Forum (2014)
Chile For The Time Of Year (Christmas 2014) (2014)*
Best Sounds (2014)
Glass Half Full (2015
F.E.A.R. (2016)
Waves & Numbers (2016)*
Marbles In The Park (2016)*
Singles Night (2016)*
Live In Chile (2017)*
The Gold - Best Of Convention 2017 (2017)*
Misplaced Childhood (dlx CD/BR) (2017)
Misplaced Childhood (dlx LP) (2017)
Marbles In The Park (LP) (2017)*
Holidays In Eden Live (ltd ed) (2018)
Size Matters (ltd ed) (2018)
Unplugged At The Walls (ltd ed) (2018)
Tumbling Down The Years (ltd ed) (2018)
Smoke (ltd ed) (2018)
Mirrors (ltd ed) (2018)
All One Tonight (2018)
Happiness Is Cologne (ltd ed) (2018)
Popular Music (ltd ed) (2018)
Brave (dlx CD/BR) (2018)*
Brave (dlx LP) (2018)*
Marillion.cl/Viernes.Noche (2018)*
Marillion.cl/Dotcom (2018)*
Marillion.cl/En.El.Marquee (2018)*
Mr. Taurus - The Making Of Somewhere Else (2018)*
Satellite Navigation - The Making Of Happiness Is The Road (2019)*
Live In Glasgow (ltd ed) (2019)
Brave Live 2013 (ltd ed) (2019)
With Friends From The Orchestra (LP) (2019)
Afraid Of Sunlight (Dlx CD/BR) (2019)

Recital Of The Script (VHS/DVD) (1983/2003)
Grendel/The Web (VHS EP) (1984)
1983-86 The Videos (VHS [oop]) (1986)
Live From Loreley (VHS/DVD) (1987/2004)
From Stoke Row To Ipanema (VHS/DVD) (1990/2003)
A Singles Collection 1982-1992 (DVD) (1992)
Brave, The Film (VHS/DVD) (1995/2004)
Shot In The Dark (VHS/DVD [oop]) (2000/2002)*
The EMI Singles Collection (DVD [PAL only])(2002)
A Piss-up In A Brewery (DVD) (2002/2010)*
Brave Live 2002 (DVD) (2002)*
Christmas In The Chapel (DVD) (2003)*
Before First Light (DVD) (2003)*
Wish You Were Here (DVD box, oop) (2005)*
Colours And Sound (DVD) (2006)*
Marbles On The Road (DVD) (2005)
Bootlet Butlins (DVD) (2007)*
Somewhere In London (DVD) (2007*/2013)
This Strange Convention (DVD) (2009)*
Snow De Cologne (DVD) (2009)**
Out Of Season (box set) (DVD) (2010)*
Ding Dong Loreley On High (live) (DVD) (2010)
In-Tube DVD Sampler (DVD) (2010)
Out Of Season (DVD boxset) (2010)*
Live In Montreal (3DVD) (2011)*
Holidays In Zelande (BR) (2012)*
Clocks Already Ticking (CD/DVD) (2013)*
Brave Live 2002 (CD/DVD) (2013)*
Brave Live 2013 (BR & DVD) (2013)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (BR & DVD) (2014)*
Breaking Records (BR) (2015)*
Unconventional (BR & DVD) (2016)*
Out Of The Box (BR & DVD) (2016)*
Out Of Season (BR) (2017)*
Web Xmas 2017 (DVD) (2017)**
Marbles In The Park (DVD/BR) (2017)
All One Tonight (DVD/BR) (2018)*
marillion.cl (2019)*
* Racket Records releases; ** Fan Club only

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: May 18th 2002
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.marillion.com
Hits: 2145
Language: english