Featured Album: Marillion - Marbles

[Camelogue]

Where is the RIO crowd on this?

[thedunno]

Where is the RIO crowd on this?

I am a rio fan now but I was not when I was 16. I was a Marillion fan. I kept following them through their carreer although my musical preferences changed.

I think this is a fine album but not as good as Aos.

[undergroundrailroad]

I'm in the RIO crowd, but I really like a lot of neo-prog. Not a big Hogarth fan. I can't count how many times I've tried to like Brave and utterly failed. Marbles isn't a keystone album for me, but it's in the "surprisingly good" category.

[battema]

I like both the more avant/experimental arms of progressive music as well as the more traditional arms.

*shrug*

[Rick L.]

I am an "RIO" fan, but also love Marillion. I think Marbles is awesome.

I also like Neo RIO. This is when a rock band tries to write stuff that sounds kinda like Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, and the keyboardist plays a DX7.

[aith01]

I like both the more avant/experimental arms of progressive music as well as the more traditional arms.

*shrug*

I am an "RIO" fan, but also love Marillion. I think Marbles is awesome.

Me too!

I also like Neo RIO. This is when a rock band tries to write stuff that sounds kinda like Messiaen's Quarter for the End of Time, and the keyboardist plays a DX7.

[JJ88]

Where is the RIO crowd on this?

I like both the more avant/experimental arms of progressive music as well as the more traditional arms.

*shrug*

I think I'm viewed by some people on here as a 'symph weenie' or whatever. Yet I own and listen to more- say- Frank Zappa CDs than I do Marillion ones. However, I never took to Henry Cow at all. Played Leg End fairly recently as I still have it and sorry, still no dice. That strand of the music is not one I gravitiate towards, so I don't post about it.

Marillion are one of few bands deemed to be in the neo style I do still listen to (and even then, more from Misplaced Childhood onwards). The early IQ albums are the only others.

[battema]

I think I'm viewed by some people on here as a 'symph weenie' or whatever. Yet I own and listen to more- say- Frank Zappa CDs than I do Marillion ones. However, I never took to Henry Cow at all. Played Leg End fairly recently as I still have it and sorry, still no dice. That strand of the music is not one I gravitiate towards, so I don't post about it.

Marillion are one of few bands deemed to be in the neo style I do still listen to (and even then, more from Misplaced Childhood onwards). The early IQ albums are the only others.

I think that's actually really how it ought to be; we just like bands. And just because we like Band X in Genre Y doesn't necessarily mean we will like ALL bands in that genre

(Also, FWIW...Leg End did squat for me with Cow. I think In Praise of Learning was the one that I kind of liked and ended up using as my gateway)

[JKL2000]

Nice review, Duncan.

Great album! I like all the songs on it. IMO the poppier songs on this are some of their best poppy songs - they have a few clunkers when they try to get a hit or rock out, IMO. But The Damage is great, as is YouÂ’re Gone. Both those songs have great lyrics. And DonÂ’t Hurt Yourself is simply an excellent song which would have been a big hit in some alternate world. A great, American-sounding song. Some Country artist probably could have made it a hit.

I still donÂ’t understand what some people have against Anorak or Somewhere Else. Anorak has only one song I donÂ’t really like (Map of the World), and Somewhere Else has only Most Toys for me to dislike, and IÂ’m lukewarm on See It Like a Baby.

But I like all Marillion albums and only really dislike a handful of their songs. I became a fan in ‘83 Soon after seeing and ignoring them open for Rush at Radio City Music Hall, and never got off the bus.

[Interstellar]

Although Marillion's pop songs are not what I look forward to when listening to their albums, I also think Marbles features some of their best poppy material. Yes, Don"t Hurt Yourself could have been a hit if performed by some other artist. Even the ones that don't do much for me, like Angelina, have an undeniable special quality.

(My favorite Marillion pop song may be Tumbling Down The Years on .com, but I've never really heard any praise on that one. I just love it, for whatever reason.)

[JJ88]

^I think the issue is, I ask myself would I listen to these sort of songs by someone else and I'd have to say no. They aren't objectionable though.

The album as a whole was arguably their best since Afraid Of Sunlight.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Where is the RIO crowd on this?

Please elaborate as to what you believe that alleged "crowd" to be.

[Trane]

Please elaborate as to what you believe that alleged "crowd" to be.

As opposed to the symph-weenie, he's talking of the RIO bradwursts.

[mozo-pg]

Back to Marillion's Marble. My favourte track is Ocean's Cloud. I think Brave, Afraid of Sunlight, and Season's End are vastly superior but Marbles is still excellent. I saw the Marbles tour in Montreal and the audience loved them. I had great seats and the show was excellent.

[Progatron]

The Invisible Man is one of their strongest ever tracks IMO. They really nailed it with that one. I saw them play the whole album live at one of the Montreal weekends and it was pretty fantastic. Angelina is another favourite of mine, I love the vibe of that one. Really conjures the image of being wide awake at 3:00 am listening to the radio.

The one-disc version shouldn't even exist.

Being a fan of all 'types' of prog across the spectrum, it's of no importance to me whatsoever which 'crowd' does and doesn't like this album. It brings me great joy, what could matter more?

[mozo-pg]

^^^ I was just listening to the Invisible Man, live in Chile, it's indeed a very powerful track.

[Paulrus]

Good album (of course the double set is superior) -- slightly better concert at the Fillmore in SF, if my memory is at all reliable. Hogarth always puts on a good sheewww, to quote Mr. Ed.

Oddly, while I like Hogarth Marillion more than Fish Marillion on a creative/artistic level, I find Fish Marillion albums a bit easier to just grab and throw on when I'm driving about. They're not quite as intellectually demanding and function better as "music to occupy air space". The Hogarth stuff tries so hard to get inside your head and I'm rarely in the mood for that anymore. Especially not these days!

[miamiscot]

My Top Three Marillion are all from the H era:

Marbles
Brave
FEAR

Never really took to any of their other albums...

[Duncan Glenday]

^^^ I was just listening to the Invisible Man, live in Chile, it's indeed a very powerful track.

I see that track as Marillion's equivalent to Radiohead's "Creep".

[MudShark22]

Thats generally my issue with post Anorak Marillion - they took all the wrong 'features' from Radiohead.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

[Teddy Vengeance]

I see that track as Marillion's equivalent to Radiohead's "Creep".

Some of ‘Invisible Man’ reminds me of Talk Talk, circa Spirit of Eden. The singer’s voice and production values are often Hollis-esque.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Their last truly great album.

Agreed.

[loshammeros]

...sometimes I think,I should go see a shrink

[Le Master]

I see that track as Marillion's equivalent to Radiohead's "Creep".

In what way? Creep is a simple little pop song. Invisible Man is structured very differently.

[LeFrog]

In what way? Creep is a simple little pop song. Invisible Man is structured very differently.

I think he meant lyrically. In a "I'm invisible no-one sees me" kind of way.