Best live Marillion CD-Fish era ?

[Rufus]

Was looking at some live CD's in HMV today ! I had The Thieving Magpie but got rid as the sound was over produced IMO. Has this ever been remastered & improved? What's the verdict on Recital of the Script on CD. Also Live at Lorelei. Any other suggestions ?

[TheH]

I was going to suggest the Early Stages Box Set (which are rather honest sounding takes) but it is OOP and I just saw it offered for
over 600 EUR at Amazon.

[Progatron]

Real To Reel is quite good IMO. I have the Recital Of The Script DVD and it's very good, never heard the CD though. Likewise with Lorelei (not a favourite of mine personally, I hate the female backing vocals but I'm in the minority on that one). As for The Thieving Magpie, it has been released in several versions at this point, and yes, remastered. I'm not sure how the sound compares to the original 'fatboy case' edition but most of those EMI remasters were pretty good IMO.

I was going to suggest the Early Stages Box Set (which are rather honest sounding takes) but it is OOP and I just saw it offered for
over 600 EUR at Amazon.

That's crazy. It wasn't that long ago that Racket Records found extra stock of that set and let them go for a cheap price. Glad I jumped on that when I learned of the deal! It's a lovely set.

[Rufus]

600 € is crazy¡ having just looked at it, it does look great ! Are they audience recordings , soundboards , FM or a bit of all 3 ?

[Progtopia]

I don't have all of them, but I'd also go with RtR.

[Rufus]

That box set looks like the perfect live document ...a set from every tour. That's silly money though !

[Progatron]

Yeah it is a great set. When I first got it I listened to it chronologically over the course of two evenings and it was amazing to hear their confidence, playing ability and professionalism grow, from the Marquee club cult band to the huge success of their third and fourth albums. My personal favourite of the lot is the Hammersmith '84 gig, with not only the early version of Misplaced Childhood side one, but the best performance of "Incubus" I've heard. "Grendel" lovers also get to add two more renditions to their collection with this set.

There is another one released a few years before that called Curtain Call, which by now is probably even more difficult to find for a decent price.

[Yves]

FUGAZi!

There's a LIVE Marillion disc called Fugazi? Isn't that confusing?

[Yaman Aksu]

Irrespective of "Early Stages" or "Curtain Call" (which apparently are expensive anyway), I'd suggest starting with Real To Reel --- it's an excellent performance of songs from the first two albums. I won't go into its details now --- but here's an interesting tidbit: RtR has the best live version of Incubus according to Fish (who also considers it his favorite Fish-era Marillion song I believe, according to his answers to questions at his website forum) -- in addition, I don't know you know this so I'll mention: the song is the Fish-era Marillion favorite for many fans of this era. On RtR there's also a cool segue into and version of Market Square Heroes with nice member-by-member little solos in the middle section.

Next, if you want to add in some songs from Fish-era studio albums #3 and #4, try Thieving Magpie -- it's actually the only non-bootleg (official) Marillion live CD with songs from those two albums (unless you somehow get your hands on one of those expensive box-sets mentioned above).

Recital of the Script is (truely) excellent. I've listened to that performance a lot more than Thieving Magpie. Plus, note that song overlap between RofS and RtR is not much.

There is no authorized live CD called "Fugazi" (and if there is, it must be an unauthorized bootleg. Or the poster didn't realize this thread was about live CDs rather than any CD…)

[yogibear]

"live from loreley" is my choice since it features more tunes from "clutching at straws" than the other shows. although remastered "thieving magpie" is also really good. "recital of the script" has gotten good reviews but i've not heard it. the "early stages" and "curtain call" box sets are things i'd like to get but right now they are very costly and hard to find.

[elliottnow]

Yeah the Recital and Loreley cds have a lot more going on than the dvds. Both really good. Although I find the choice of "Let's Twist Again" in the Loreley encore kind of funny.

[Jacoblietho]

I have Curtain Call and the Box Set, and between all those my fave is Loreley.

[Drake]

Real to Reel, the version with Brief Encounter, is my choice.

[cingram]

This...

[Pangolin]

Never a fan of Real to Reel. Nor the word-heavy 'Incubus'.

The Reading '83 disc on the 'Early Stages' box set is excellent, and that performance is, IMO, the band at their peak at that period as they transition into 'Fugazi' territory after a not very successful US tour: the last 'Grendel' and the first 'Assassing'. Fantastic.

'Childhood Mysteries': did the bootleggers steal that Rodney Matthews' Magnum cover ('The Eleventh Hour', IIRC) just to be annoying and confuse people rifling through the 'M' section of the record store?

[cingram]

'Childhood Mysteries': did the bootleggers steal that Rodney Matthews' Magnum cover ('The Eleventh Hour', IIRC) just to be annoying and confuse people rifling through the 'M' section of the record store?

Magnum played at Donnington with Marillion at that '85 show, so that probably has something to do with it being used. IMO it has the best recorded versions of Incubus and side two of Misplaced Childhood, also possibly has more best versions of songs. It has been on Dime.

[Pangolin]

My memory of that was that there was some concern amongst Marillion fans as to whether they'd be able to deliver some or all of 'Misplaced' without disappearing beneath a hail of urine-filled bottles and/or lumps of turf.* This was, summer '85, after 'Kayleigh' had put them in the UK charts and all over the radio in a way they hadn't been before. From what I can recall of the interviews with the band at the time and shortly after, they had some of the same concerns. As it was, they pulled it off. And remember Donington wasn't Reading. The equivalent in 2012/3 would be Steven Wilson playing Wacken...i.e., it could go either way...)

And let's not forget they headlined over Bon Jovi and Metallica. As they should...



* The latter they got. "Someone's thrown their brain on the stage", were Fish's words, IIRC.

[iguana]

There's a LIVE Marillion disc called Fugazi? Isn't that confusing?

skipped that little insignificant term “live”. apologies. reply deleted.

[iguana]

Magnum played at Donnington with Marillion at that '85 show, so that probably has something to do with it being used. IMO it has the best recorded versions of Incubus and side two of Misplaced Childhood, also possibly has more best versions of songs. It has been on Dime.

i don't really like any of the official ones with fish. “real to reel” is great for an earlyish glimpse into pre-world-domination MARiLLiON. i have the donington 85 set as an mp3. soundwise it’s basically fish singing, ranting and warbling over a widdly mash marginally resembling 1980s neo prog. yes, it's that amazing ... the energy of a band on the doorstep to all the toys in the attic really does come across. the story has it, that the band were scheduled to be much lower in the festival’s order, however, “misplaced childhood” had just gone stratospheric with “kayleigh” firmly entrenched into the top 10. that way they just had to move the band to a higher ranking on the bill (ZZ TOP were headlining after them). the situation was weird – in a year, when the bias in hard rock after the NWOBHM period was irreversably heading towards an american standard, here was this (yet comparatively) small, whimsical, idiosyncratic and very british band laying waste to an almost exclusively US dominated bill (METALLiCA, BON JOVi – when they were still considered metal, RATT, ZZ TOP, MAGNUM as the only other brit rock act) and even impressing a horde of metalheads who were ready to dismiss them as “that ballad band from top of the tops” (including the infamous bottle throwing incidents before “assassing”. and, oh my, what a setlist: “waterhole”, “lords of the backstage”, “emerald lies” (intro) seguing into “script for a jester’s tear”, “assassing”, “misplaced childhood side 1” entirely”, “incubus”, “garden party”, market square heroes” – encores: “fugazi” and “white feather”.

in a nutshell – plenty of reasons other than the strictly musical ones why this is probably my favourite. now, back to watching the DVD from berlin in 1988, with the band absolutely on top form mere weeks prior to their erstwhile demise. you wouldn’t guess a thing seeing this. VERY close runner up.

[iguana]

The equivalent in 2012/3 would be Steven Wilson playing Wacken...i.e., it could go either way...)

SW at the full metal village? is that official? not unimaginable, either solo or with PORCUPiNE TREE ... WACKEN RULEZ! \m/

[Pangolin]

SW at the full metal village? is that official?..

No, that was an analogy.