So do I. This Strange Engine is one of my favorite Marillion albums and I think it's my favorite Hogarth performance (vocally) on a studio album ever. I just love how he sounds on it. I never had a problem with the original Radiation either. It's another favorite.
I guess that was the Tour fund tour. I missed the one before that. I must have completely blacked out that they toured the US for Afraid of Sunlight! I've been kind of fortunate to avoid witnessing many Brave songs live. There have been a few, but I imagine it could have been a lot worse.
Stop the presses!!! Isn't Fish still the singer??? Seriously, H has been the man since 1989. I think he's done wonders with the band since.
Wow, on the AoS tour I saw them twice. The show at Toad's Place in New Haven was excellent, and really intimate, like with the SE and HiE shows I saw in Syracuse. just a few feet away from all the action, Wes opened, and Mike Portnoy was there and hung out afterward, which was not unusual back then.
The AoS tour was the best I've ever seen Marillion. I caught shows in Cleveland, Columbus and Chicago, iirc.
After AoS they made too many albums in a short period of time which affected the quality. The rock riffing and the lack of melodies is not my bag at all.
Only US tour I decided to skip since 1986.
No regrets, but I can pull out the Corn Exchange official bootleg if I ever have the urge to listen. It's a decent enough set save for Cannibal Surf Babe, a few Brave songs and Hogarth butchering a few Clutching at Straws tunes.
I'm the opposite: I got in to Marillion from the get-go when I bought Market Square Heroes as a very pricey import. Saw them every time they came to Los Angeles through the Clutching at Straws tour, the show at the Roxy on the Misplaced Childhood tour was incredible. Still followed them after Derek Dick left, have seen them a bunch of times with h etc. etc.Well, over the course of 20-30 years, the band's music has naturally changed a lot. So it's not surprising that a lot of people who liked the music from the 80s might dislike all the music the band wrote post '88
I now find the first two albums and related singles unlistenable, so horribly derivative and in the case of the Fugazi so horribly mixed and mastered that I can't be bothered. I like Misplaced Childhood a lot but still haven't listened to since I gave the expanded edition a spin when it came out. Clutching at Straws is wildly overrated I think, as I've mentioned here before Sugar Mice in particular live is what I call a "bathroom/beer break song", it's the aural equivalent of ice picks in the ears for me. I love the run of albums from Brave > Marbles, Afraid of Sunlight being one of my favorite albums by anyone (and yes, I love Cannibal Surf Babe, was glad to get to hear it live the last time they were here). They're been spotty recently, but I really like the new album and am very excited to see them in three weeks.
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