Tag: Marillion

Review – Marillion – Seasons End 2023 Remix (Deluxe Edition) – by Leo Trimming

‘Seasons End’, first released in 1989, is the last release in Marillion’s series of EMI era deluxe re-issues. It is also the most pivotal album in the band’s history as it marked the beginning of the ‘h’ era of Marillion with Steve Hogarth as the vocalist. Steve Hogarth has been around ever since and has imprinted his mark and class on the Marillion brand so indelibly that it is hard to remember what it felt like at the time when he emerged from virtually nowhere to replace Fish. This deluxe re-release gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate ‘h’s debut with the band.

Whilst we can look back on this album as an assured and high-quality album it belies a period of great uncertainty leading up to its recording and release. Following great success with albums and singles the future of Marillion was far from clear after they parted company with Fish in 1988. There was an assumption by many that the band could not survive without their charismatic front man, but the remaining band were confident in their music and knew that Marillion were far more than just a backing band for Fish. A largely fruitless search for his replacement commenced with tapes received and various auditions, (including Stuart Nicholson of Galahad). Meanwhile around the same time Steve Hogarth’s band How We Live was coming to a disappointing end due to a lack of success and he was thinking of leaving the music business entirely, such was his disillusionment. Ian Mosley spotted his potential from a tape sent in of Hogarth singing the How We Live song ‘Games in Germany’ and the band agreed to give ‘h’ an audition. Even at that point it took a mutual friend of Hogarth and Mosley, Daryl Way of Curved Air, to persuade ‘h’ to consider doing the audition as he was seriously considering joining the touring band of The The for a major tour instead. To cut a long story short Hogarth eventually agreed to join the band and they set about writing their first album together. So what did they manage to put together?

Most readers will know ‘Seasons End‘ well, and will be most interested in the remix and additional material, but there may be some new to this album. Therefore, we will go through the album, and there may be some things even the most devoted fan may not know or gain new insights into this album. After initial and deceptively easy writing sessions at the Mushroom Farm studios near Brighton the band convened at Hook End Manor Recording studios in Oxfordshire, formerly owned by David Gilmour. The ‘Seasons End‘ writing and recording sessions were deceptively easy for the band, as they came to discover at the far more problematic sessions for the follow-up album ‘Holidays in Eden.’ In truth the ease of the process was because much of the music had already been written in previous unused sessions with Fish for the album after ‘Clutching at Straws’ which, of course, did not happen. Additionally, before Hogarth joined, they had also looked for lyricists to help, including asking Van Der Graaf Generator’s Peter Hammill (who declined) and a peculiar meeting with the eccentric Viv Stanshall, which persuaded them that he was probably not a great fit! They eventually commissioned lyricist John Helmer (of the punk band The Piranhas) to produce some lyrics to go with their music, which definitely gave the album writing sessions quite a head start. Helmer composed the lyrics independently of the band, but in the fascinating accompanying video documentary ‘Seasons Change’, Steve Rothery did share he suggested the idea of doing a song about ‘Berlin’ due to the band’s connection with the city, and the concept for the lyric which eventually emerged as later song, ‘The Collection’. Significant elements for King of Sunset Town, The Uninvited Guest, Seasons End, Berlin and The Space… (plus the eventual ‘B-Sides The Release and The Bell in the Sea) were all in place for the album which the band worked on together to hone with Hogarth.

What all the band agree upon is that there was immediately a chemistry with Hogarth which reinvigorated the band, who felt rather liberated from the shadow of their former front man. It was also clear that this album was not going to sound like some of the more baroque old style progressive rock with which they had emerged in the early 80’s. It is apt that the first song on ‘Seasons End‘ is also the first song Steve Hogarth sang in his audition outside Pete Trewavas’ house (as it turned out he was allergic to Trewavas’ cats!) One of the things which impressed the band and helped persuade them to offer Hogarth the vocal role was his ability to immediately improvise the vocal melody in the audition. In his excellent autobiography ‘Marillion, Misadventures and Marathons’ Mark Kelly recalled: ‘By the time he got to the refrain “watch a big wheel turning round…” we knew we had our singer’. Hearing Hogarth belt that out so dramatically and clearly on this remix one can understand the excitement of the band back then – there was definitely something special about this guy! Apparently, some of the music for King of Sunset Town is based on the aborted ‘Sunset Hill’ song with Fish (on the bonus disc of the 1999 remaster of ‘Clutching at Straws’), but a comparison will show King of Sunset Town is a polished and stirring piece a very long way from the embryonic ‘Sunset Hill’. There is an atmospheric synth, bass and drums opening before Rothery comes in with an anthemic guitar line, and the song recedes to the vocal section and Hogarth’s memorable opening line:

A Ragged Man come shuffling through, A Puppet King on the 4th of June

The original lyric was largely written by John Helmer, but whilst the album was being recorded the Tianenmen Square massacre was occurring in China on June 4th, 1989, watched with horror by the band on the TV news at Hook End Manor studios. Hogarth incorporated elements of that event in the lyrics, including the rhyming ‘puppet king’ of Chinese premier Deng Xiaoping and a later reference to ‘Before the 27th came…’ about one of the units of the Chinese army sent to attack the protestors. It is a testament to Hogarth’s lyrical skill that the introduction of this theme helped elevate an already good song with a fantasy feel into one of the finest opening songs on any Marillion album with a contemporary political perspective. It certainly announced Hogarth as a significant talent in his own right with his own distinctive lyrical and vocal skills. It also marked that the band were moving away from the intensely personal ‘confessional’ type introspection of much of Fish’s lyrics, and focusing on a wider range of issues and subjects.

Famously Hogarth had a bucket of tapes for ideas and from it he produced the almost complete and wonderful Easter, originally intended for his band How We Live. Rothery added a beautiful, lilting guitar solo, apparently improvised from the start in the form which is still played today – intuitive, fluid and evocative. Jean Pierre Rasle’s pipe playing added a subtle Irish flavour to the song. Hogarth has described it as his ‘Skye Boat Song’ for the Irish, and shared in his ‘Corona Diaries’ podcast that it is partly inspired by the poem ‘Easter 1916’ by W.B. Yeats. The gentle folky, melodic style is certainly a world away from the caustic, rocking anger of much of ‘Clutching at Straws’, signalling that this band was going in quite a different direction, and it remains one of the finest songs in the Marillion musical canon. The Uninvited Guest is a very different beast, with its origins in some ideas played around with at the aborted Dalnagar castle sessions with Fish in 1988. Ian Mosley starts the piece with a quirky drum part before the band drive it along at quite a furious pace, but with a hint of whimsy although the lyrics are rather sinister. The Uninvited Guest ends with a ‘cuckoo’ noise, indicating an invasion into our nest. Lyricist John Helmer has revealed it was about the shadow of AIDS in the 1980’s, the ultimate unwanted ‘guest’ in sexual relationships. Hogarth tweaked some of the lyrics and there may be a tongue in cheek reference to the previous singer, or maybe not?!

One of the most prescient songs on Seasons End is the outstanding title song with Helmer lyrics about climate change. A simple chiming guitar riff slowly emerges from the synth mists along with Hogarth’s mournful voice and there’s a real feeling of something portentous as the song builds. This is another piece with its roots in the Dalnagar sessions and an embryonic version of the music with different lyrics can be heard in ‘Beaujolais Day’ (another song available on ‘Clutching at Straws’ 1999 remaster. Fish later recycled some of the lyrics for ‘Fortunes of War’ and ‘Just Good Friends’.) This thought-provoking piece is a real showcase for Hogarth’s vocal range, rising gradually in passion. There is a sense of magisterial progression as the song gathers power but with restraint up to a tasteful guitar solo and an orchestral keyboard peak (which always made it a prime candidate for adapting for the 2019 ‘With Friends with the Orchestra’ project.) Hogarth’s evocative, echoing final words: ‘You never miss it till it’s gone, so say goodbye, say goodbye’ bring the main theme to a close but Marillion flow on with a wistful coda of tinkling synths, a subtly floating guitar motif, gentle throbbing bass and shimmering cymbals, whilst in the distance ‘h’ dreamily reprises some of the lyrics. It is a haunting, gorgeous finale to an ageless song still sadly relevant today.

Steve Hogarth shared in the ‘Corona Diaries’ that a waving hand from a window in Holloway Women’s prison was the inspiration for his emotive lyric of Holloway Girl, and is one of only two songs from ‘Seasons End‘ which was fully formed in the studio writing sessions with nothing drawn from previous sessions. Strangely, in the ‘Seasons Change’ documentary Hogarth stated that he has ‘never been quite been sure about it’. I view this as one of the most under-rated Marillion songs. Right from the start with Pete Trewavas’ unique opening playing the pick over his bass strings to give that distinctive metallic intro into Rothery’s subtle spectral guitar line as the tempo and volume increases to Hogarth’s impassioned cry ‘One day Freedom will unlock your door, so hold on, believe on…’ this is a song which grabs you and speaks for many of the poor inmates of the prison. Hogarth learned from a TV documentary that many Holloway inmates would have benefited far more from help with their mental health issues than from incarceration. This is also a real collaboration musically between ‘old Marillion’ and ‘new boy’ Hogarth with ‘h’ writing the music for the verses and Mark Kelly composing the more anthemic chorus passages.

Berlin is a city with a special meaning for Marillion as they recorded their most successful album ‘Misplaced Childhood’ there at the famous Hansa studios, and it turns out Hogarth also had some interesting experiences in this city with such a turbulent history. It probably helps to recall that Berlin was still a divided city back in 1988/9 when Rothery suggested it would make a good theme for a song to lyricist John Helmer. Berlin is probably the song most similar to their earlier much more old school ‘Prog’ style. This is hardly surprising as musically it can trace its roots back to the Dalnagar sessions with Fish in ‘Story from a Thin Wall’ (available on ‘Clutching at Straws’ 1999 remaster). Indeed, musically ‘Story from a Thin Wall’ is almost identical to Berlin so it seems they felt they were on to something. Fish later used the powerful lyrics from that song on ‘Family Business’ on his solo debut, but Marillion replaced them with some excellent new lyrics. Berlin may be one of Helmer’s best lyrics as his words seemed to capture the tense, desperate atmosphere of a city split by a wall built by a dictatorship imprisoning its population on one side and a rather hedonistic lifestyle on the other side, seemingly feverishly generated by the shadow of oppression over the wall. Hogarth sings it with such intensity and the band put on a stellar performance. An atmospheric opening led by Rothery’s delicately played guitar, supported with some suitably restrained bass and percussion, supports the scene setting vocals of decadence and desperation from Hogarth… and for the first time ever in a Marillion song a suitably seedy saxophone from Phil Todd emphasises the decadent ‘Cabaret’ feel of this city. It simply reeks of Berlin of that era. The whole piece recedes in the middle section with crows ominously crowing over a synth and guitar soundscape. The atmosphere changes and the tempo quickens as Hogarth screams passionately ‘With a Hole in our Hearts’. The whole band drives forward with a tidal wave of rock as Hogarth recites a litany of ‘the quick and the dead’, presumably all the sorts of varied people who yearned to cross the wall to freedom, many of whom were shot over the years. Balancing along the top Rothery teeters with a tortured and twisted guitar solo reflecting such desperation. This all fades to a mournful synth wash with ‘h’ reprising the opening lines about ‘the Mascara’d Blonde from the Berliner bar’, seemingly fated to endlessly repeat her prostitute life without hope. Berlin was a powerful statement, clearly designed to be a centrepiece of the album, with outstanding lyrics and great rock music fused together with such skill and impact… but the good thing is that in some ways that the Fall of the Berlin Wall less than a year after the album was released soon made this feel very much like a period timepiece – and that’s not a bad thing!

On the original vinyl release of ‘Seasons End‘ the little gem After Me was not included, and was released as the B-side for the single release of Hooks in You. It was available on the CD and cassette version and it is rightly on this deluxe edition in all it’s delicate beauty. Rothery picks out a gorgeous acoustic guitar intro with Hogarth’s richly resonant voice dripping with regret, singing words written for his then wife about how little time they were spending together. Halfway through a tinkling, shimmering keyboard cues in a much more assertive passage with the whole band backing his increasingly impassioned vocals. The finale with Rothery’s climbing arpeggio guitars is derived from the final section of another 1988 Dalnagar session song, ‘Voice in the Crowd’, (which as the name suggests Fish took the lyrics for the title song of his ‘Vigil’ debut solo album, and is another song available on the 1999 ‘Clutching at Straws’ remaster edition) – but this is a song which Hogarth very much owns with his own rather personal and touching lyrics.

Hooks in You was formed in the studio with Hogarth out of a cracking riff Rothery was jamming which Hogarth loved and they pulled together a cracking 3-minute rock/pop song. The high energy rock launches in spectacularly with drums and bass in 7/8 under the chopping guitar riff before a keyboard fanfare underpins that infectious Rothery riff, which Rothery has likened to It Bites whom he was into at the time. The lyrics are lightweight fluff about a girl having ‘Hooks in You’ – it’s simple, straightforward and just great fun. There’s no deep meaning or complexity – it’s just rock and roll, and also indicated that Marillion were not afraid to dive into some of the Van Halen type ‘hair rock’ type anthems popular at the time. The direct commercial appeal of this song marked it out as a single but in hindsight it may not have been the wisest choice as the first single of the album as it was so unlike anything Marillion had ever released, and it only reached Number 30 in the U.K. charts.

The finale of the album is the expansive and elaborate drama of The Space… In the ‘Seasons Change’ documentary Rothery shares that the music for this piece had its origins again in the 1988 Dalnagar sessions which he says was inspired by seeing Pink Floyd at Wembley. One can certainly hear the more expansive ambition of this piece with a relentless orchestral keyboard string intro with Hogarth’s echoey voice describing the fickleness of fate, as Mosley and Trewavas join in rhythmically. Rothery’s guitar swoops wraith-like above this increasingly weighty musical vehicle as it drives forward. The song then opens out with the refrain ‘The Space around the stars is something that you know’ with some lovely flowing piano from Mark Kelly underpinning the main driven theme. The initial opening section is recapitulated with added power, before the whole piece drops into a more introspective and restrained passage. However, this is a brief respite before the main musical storm returns with particularly Rothery’s overarching manically spasming guitars and Kelly’s choir keyboards. The final section commences with the echoing Hogarth proclaiming anthemically:

‘Everybody in the Whole of the World, Feels the same inside, Everybody in the Whole of the World…’

The band take it home majestically with sweeping synths and stately drumming and The Space… seemingly just fades away into the distance. It’s quite a dramatic and ambitious finale for the album. Hogarth explained in the 1997 remaster edition sleeve notes that the lyrics were partly inspired by seeing a tram in Amsterdam ripping the side off a car without even slowing down, and wondered whether the driver even noticed the great damage his vehicle had casually inflicted (indeed, the demo version of this song on the Blu-ray is called ‘Amsterdam’). Hogarth went on to state rather poetically ‘I have occasionally been the  tram. And I have often been the car.’  There is also a rather curious song writing credit for this song, which apart from the usual band members, includes Colin Woore, Geoff Dugmore and Fergus Harper. These were all previous band mates of Steve Hogarth in The Europeans (and Woore was also in How We Live). It eventually emerged that Hogarth had used the exclamatory ‘Everybody in the Whole of the World’ vocal section in an unreleased song by The Europeans called ‘Wrap me in the Flag’, and the opening vocal melody of ‘Amsterdam / The Space…’ had its origins in a How We Live song which never came to anything. Hogarth had used those sections thinking that as he had more or less written them that it was OK to recycle them in this song, but at the time of the album release this did cause a bit of a controversy. These former Hogarth band mates were subsequently all co-credited on the 1997 remaster, and it appears that Hogarth and Woore are now reconciled on this issue as the last line of this edition’s sleeve notes is a ‘thank you’ to Colin Woore for inspiring The Space… – who knows how we influence each other sometimes?

That’s the album – so what do you get with the deluxe edition, particularly if you are already familiar with the original album?

Michael Hunter has done the remix with his usual care and attention as is his way – he’s like an extra member of Marillion such is his intuitive relationship with the band and their music. To be fair, the original mix of this album by Nick Davis, who on the back of his good job on his first album as a producer went on to produce Genesis, was already of a very good standard. What we do not have here is the totally transformative experience heard with the massive improvement in the remix of ‘Fugazi’ which was frankly rather shoddy originally. This remix is definitely more dynamic and ‘brighter’ (if that makes sense) with more of the subtle nuances standing out, such as the ‘Cuckoo’ at the end of The Uninvited Guest. Seasons End does seem to particularly benefit from the remix with Hogarth’s gorgeous tone of voice full of restrained power and feeling and Kelly’s keyboards so lush. The improvements are not startling or revelatory which is a compliment to the original production, but they are noticeable. Of course, one’s perceptions about the differences in this remix will be largely affected by the quality of one’s sound system. The more you invest in such systems the more you are likely to hear some subtle improvements and differences… and if you’ve spent a LOT of money on your system you will REALLY want to hear those differences, even if in truth you may need the auditory senses of a bat to actually hear them! (😊)

As is customary with these deluxe editions CD’s 2 & 3 are of a live gig associated with this album. On previous deluxe editions these shows have been of shows contemporary with the release of the album, but on this occasion they have chosen to use their brilliant performance of the album at the U.K Marillion weekend in Leicester in May 2022. This has been the source of some disappointment from some fans because…  well, I’m not entirely sure why? Some fans just don’t like change, which is ironic when you consider this album marked the biggest change in the history of the band. My guess the main reason the band did not include a recording from their first tour with Hogarth in 1990 is that there is already a cracking version of the 1990 Leicester show from that tour released on the ‘The Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 2’ in 2010. Normally that would have been the ideal live show to include with such a deluxe edition, but if the band had included it one can already hear some fans complaining that this material had already been released… and to be fair they would have had a point. However, another reason for using the 2022 live recording could be to show just how well this gem of an album has aged in the last 30+ years. The Leicester De Montfort 2022 show is an excellent performance with fantastic clarity of production and thrilling performance. Another difference between the 1990 show and the 2022 show (apart from the total lack of any Fish era material) is that the audience were now so much more familiar with the album and sang along and rapturously received such masterpieces as Easter, Seasons End, Berlin and the stellar, celebratory B-Side The Release with such joy. Holloway Girl really shines in this show, right from Trewavas’ cool metallic bass pick intro to Rothery’s steepling guitar runs and Hogarth’s impassioned vocals. This recording also completely dismisses any notion that Hogarth is starting to lose his voice – yes, he’s over 30 years older so his voice has aged and is not identical to 1989, but in some ways he has grown into these songs so much and wears them with such assurance, confidence and passion. Oh… and the other reason you won’t find me moaning about having the 2022 show on this deluxe edition is because I was there – it was a stunning gig and joyous experience. The main show featured only the ‘Seasons End‘ album and the associated B-Side The Release as the band now realise that one instrument they really do need to protect for a full three intense nights in a row is Hogarth’s voice, particularly as he does not hold himself back with the intensity and passion of his vocals. CD 3 comprises the encore of only two songs, but when those two pieces are the excellent and stirring epics of Gaza and The Leavers that was quite enough to satisfy the crowd.

The main attraction for many of these deluxe editions are the extras, including the ‘Seasons Change’ documentary in which each band member and the producer Nick Davis are interviewed at the legendary ‘Crooked Billet’ pub in Oxfordshire where Steve Hogarth made his debut live with the band in a packed room of a country pub with hundreds in the roads outside! Previous editions have often interviewed the band collectively, but an advantage of individual interviews is that you hear more from band members whom are usually more reticent in a band / group setting. It is particularly interesting to hear more from drummer Ian Mosley, whom you can tell STILL loves being in this rock band after an early career of theatre and session work. This documentary is well produced by Tim Sidwell whom is becoming a past master at these presentations by Marillion.

The Blu-ray includes the album in 5.1 Audio which reveals the album in gorgeous surround sound clarity if you have the equipment. It sounds massive, expansive and more resonant in this splendid 5.1 version. The B-Sides and Bonus tracks from the ‘Seasons End‘ 1997 remaster are also included on the Blu-ray, including the excellent The Bell in the Sea and The Release. These are two more songs with roots in the 1988 Dalnagar sessions also available on the ‘Clutching…’ 1999 Remaster. ‘Tic-Tac-Toe’ provided a lot of the music for The Release, and ‘Shadows on the Barley’ was the basis for The Bell in the Sea. There will be some fans without that previous 1997 remaster disappointed that these tracks are confined to the Blu-ray on this edition. Interestingly there are also some previously unreleased demos of songs and song ideas, including a couple of cool string grooves from Dalnagar sessions which may explain just why this was a band who were confident that they still had something to offer without Fish. The Audio content is completed by a ‘Montreal Bootleg’ from a gig in 1990, presumably to satisfy the desire of some fans for an audio show from that era. As the name suggests the sound quality is not superior but for a bootleg it is very good quality, but to be honest if I want a show from this era I would put on the later ‘Rock Steady’ show.

The Blu-Ray is jam packed full of video content, including 3 promotional song videos which now look like curious time pieces. The Uninvited Guest does provide some fascinating imagery with Hogarth suspended in mid-air maniacally in an armchair! The previously released early documentary ‘Stoke Row to Ipanema’ is an interesting look back to a band striking out in a new direction with a new front man. Last and certainly not least, one of the crowning elements of this deluxe edition is the ‘Rock Steady’ Concert Film, which is the TV show recording of the audio show from Leicester De Montfort Hall in 1990, previously released on ‘The Official Box Set volume 2’ in 2010.  The quality of the performance and the filming is excellent, with plenty of great close ups of all the band members (although Kelly seemed a little under -represented in that department!) Looking back now it is hard to believe that this was Steve Hogarth’s first tour with the band, such is the incandescent and staggeringly confident nature of his performance. What is also remarkable is the assured way he handles the Fish era material, especially Warm Wet Circles and Script for a Jester’s Tear – he was not trying to be Fish, but inhabited these iconic songs with his own personality.

 Once again, the deluxe edition book and lyrics are decorated inside with some great artwork from Simon Ward and Rich Wilson provides some interesting sleeve notes. The box set artwork has caused some debate with some fans disappointed that much of the original cover design has been ditched or only subtly referenced. To be honest, I can understand why the band wanted to re-package the artwork. The original cover was a conscious effort at that crucial juncture in their career to remind fans that Marillion were still around with the original classic logo still in place (for the last time) and photographic imagery subtly referencing Fish era elements, such as the Jester’s face and hat. Fast forward 34 years later and there is absolutely no need for the band to re-use such self-conscious imagery and it felt entirely appropriate to leave the old logo and those other references well behind and use more subtly presented images of the Four Elements.

Personally, I can distinctly recall getting ‘Seasons End‘ when it first came out with some trepidation as I was a great Fish era fan. What was this ‘new bloke’ going to sound like and what he done to ‘my band’?! At the time I do remember thinking this is ‘pretty good’ – I may even have thought that rather grudgingly, such was my feeling for Fish at the time! However, as the years have gone by, I have increasingly come to realise that this album was far better than ‘pretty good’ to say the least. It is an excellent transition album, utilising some of the elements of their previous manifestation fused with a new style and sensibility introduced by an equally charismatic but very different front man.

What this deluxe edition of ‘Seasons End‘ most certainly does do is underline and remind us what an outstanding ‘debut’ album this was for the Hogarth era of Marillion. ‘Seasons End‘ was a magnificent re-birth of the band and ignited a different trajectory in their career, and this excellent deluxe edition cements its place as one of the finest albums in the history of Marillion.

TRACK LISTING:

CD One –  Holidays in Eden 2023 Remix

  1. King of Sunset Town                                    
  2. Easter                                                             
  3. The Uninvited Guest                                    
  4. Seasons End                                                  
  5. Holloway Girl                                                
  6. Berlin                                                              
  7. After Me                                                        
  8. Hooks in You                                                 
  9. The Space…                                                   

CD Two –  Live at De Montfort Hall, Leicester, 29th May, 2022) (pt 1)

  1. King of Sunset Town                                    
  2. Easter                                                             
  3. The Uninvited Guest                                    
  4. Seasons End                                                   
  5. Holloway Girl                                                
  6. Berlin                                                              
  7. After Me                                                         
  8. The Release                                                                                                          
  9. Hooks in You                                                 
  10. The Space…                                                    

CD Three – Live at De Montfort Hall, Leicester, 29th May, 2022) (pt 2)

  1. Gaza                                                                
  2. The Leavers                                                   

BLU-RAY DISC

Audio Content:

‘Seasons End’ 2023  Michael Hunter Remix – 5.1 Audio Version:

  • Same Track listing as CD 1

B-Sides, Demos & Early Versions 

  • Strings Groove  (Dalnagar Castle – August 1988)
  • String Groove (with Synths)  (Dalnagar Castle – August 1988)
  • Amsterdam (The Space… Demo – March 1989)
  • Easter (Demo – March 1989)
  • Hooks in You  (Early Version – March 1989)
  • At the End of the day (The Release – Early Version – March 1989)
  • Sunset Town (M8 idea – H Dictaphone – March 1989)

(All tracks below previously released on 1997 remaster edition)

  • The Uninvited Guest  (12” Mix)
  • The Bell in the Sea
  • The Release
  • The King of Sunset Town  (Demo)
  • Holloway Girl  (Demo)
  • Seasons End  (Demo)
  • The Uninvited Guest  (Demo)
  • Berlin  (Demo)
  • Bell in the Sea  (Demo)

Montreal Bootleg – Le Spectrum, 2nd & 3rd February, 1990

  1. The King of Sunset Town
  2. Slainte Mhath
  3. Script for a Jester’s Tear
  4. Easter
  5. Warm Wet Circles
  6. That Time of the Night (The Short Straw)
  7. Holloway Girl
  8. Berlin
  9. Seasons End
  10. Kayleigh
  11. Lavender
  12. Heart of Lothian
  13. Hooks in You
  14. The Space…

Video Content:

  • ‘Seasons Change’  – Documentary Film (83 Mins)
  • ‘From Stoke Row to Ipanema’ –  Documentary Film (63 Mins)
  • Rock Steady Concert Film

Live at Leicester de Montfort Hall, 1990  (90 mins)

Promo Videos

  • Hooks in You
  • Easter
  • The Uninvited Guest

MUSICIANS:

Steve Hogarth – Voice

Steve Rothery  –  Guitars

Mark Kelly  –  Keyboardsm 

Pete Trewavas  –  Bass

Ian Mosley  –  Drums & Percussion

With:

Phil Todd – Saxophone  (Berlin)

Jean Pierre Rasle  – Pipes  (Easter)

THANKS:

Progradar would like to thank Fraser Marshall of the website:

‘Marillion – Explanations of Song Elements’ for his permission to refer to his blog about some of the background to the songs.

Other information is available at:

http://marillionations.blogspot.com/

Sources include:

  • Jon Collins – Marillion biography – ‘Separated out’
  • Mark Kelly – ‘Marillion Misadventures and Marathons : the Life and Times of Mad Jack’
  • Steve Hogarth – ‘The Corona Diaries’ podcast

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

  • Year of Release : May 19th,  2023 (Original version released in 1989)
  • RECORD LABEL: Parlophone Records

2022 Progradar’s Best Of The Year – The Editor’s Top 20

Your intrepid editor running a 24 hour event earlier in 2022.

As most of you know I am a very committed runner so the above picture is really my personal running highlight of 2022 (a 24 hour running event) but below you will find my top 20 albums of the year for 2022.

The first fifteen are in no particular order, they are just brilliant albums that I really enjoyed throughout the year but the final five are my definitive favourites of the year. So, without further ado, here we go…

David Longdon – Door One

A wonderful collection of songs that made a fitting and poignant epitaph for an amazing songwriter, musician and, above all, a wonderful man. I was lucky enough to meet David a few times and he was the least likely ‘rock star’ you could ever meet but, boy, what a voice and this album was the culmination of his musical career. One that was tragically cut too short.

Gandalf’s Fist – Widdershins

The ‘Clockwork Saga’ will always be seen as a monumental piece of work but, as a stand-alone release, ‘Widdershins’ sees Gandalf’s Fist at their absolute vibrant and dynamic best, every musician giving 100% and, while I’ve always been a fan of this very distinctive band, this new release sees them hitting an entirely new level.

Avandra – Prodigal

AVANDRA have created a thrilling and compelling take on the progressive-metal genre and one that is delivered with not a little expertise and finesse. ‘Prodigal’ is one of those intricate and influential albums that takes some understanding at first but when you peel back the final layer of this epic behemoth, it is a wonder to behold.

The Opening Song – Hidden Walls

Imagine music written like a classic novel of the 20’s and 30’s, there’s a wide eyed and wistful innocence that you just don’t get anymore in the world but behind that innocence, there’s also a world weary knowledge that the world isn’t always what you think it is or what you want it to be. ‘Hidden Walls’ is achingly beautiful but also wistfully painful at the same time. It’s made me quite emotional and that’s a rare thing but, isn’t what what music should do?

Comedy of Errors – Time Machine

After a long five year absence, ‘Time Machine’ is a fine return from one of progressive rock’s premier artists and an album that I am constantly revisiting. Cementing Comedy of Errors‘ status as one of the foremost artists in the genre, it is sure to be one of 2022’s most welcome releases.

Esthesis – Watching Worlds Collide

An object lesson in combining the stylish sensibilities of smokey jazz grooves with an almost 50’s noir film score to deliver a slick musical experience, all wrapped up in a sharp suit. Overall, ‘Watching Worlds Collide’ is a seriously good album with tons of Gallic flair, intelligence and inventiveness, it is also the coolest thing you are going to hear this year and I love it!

The Round Window – self-titled

A high quality release with wonderfully emotive songs and superb musicianship, this self-titled album may be The Round Window’s debut release but it shows a group of musicians who are already playing at a very high level and have creativity to burn. I can’t recommend it highly enough, this should be in everyone’s music collection…

Oak – The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise

Oak have a unique, innovative sound and you can hear it mature and transform on every album they release. Their approach to music is refreshing and sees them deliver meaningful music that has heart and soul and, with ‘The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise’, these talented musicians have created their most accomplished and consummate work yet.

Glass Hammer – At The Gate

Melodic, symphonic and, at times, monumentally heavy, ‘At The Gate’ is a superb, majestic leviathan of an album that enhances the band’s legacy as masters of the genre. This final instalment in the impressive trilogy brings things to a triumphant and proudly pompous conclusion, this is Glass Hammer at their finest, hugely expressive and sonically brilliant.

Threshold – Dividing Lines

For fans of the band it’s been a long five years since ‘Legends Of The Shires’ but when they return with an album as strong as ‘Dividing Lines’, you could say it has been worth the wait. Threshold are one of the pre-eminent proponents of prog-metal performing today and this fantastic new release has cemented their position right at the top of this particular musical tree.

VLMV – Sing With Abandon

There are times when you hear a piece of music that leaves you open mouthed in appreciation and, when I first heard ‘Sing With Abandon’ I was utterly stunned. Albums like this are more than mere music, they pervade your very soul, take over your life and almost bring you to tears at their beauty. VLMV have created something so good that it almost becomes a state of mind and I thank Pete Lambrou from the bottom of my heart for doing so.

Dim Gray – Firmament

I was seriously impressed with Dim Gray’s debut release ‘Flown’ but the last forty five minutes has shown me that this band have elevated themselves to another level entirely. ‘Firmament’ is a magnificent achievement, twelve songs that ebb and flow superbly and sum up perfectly what music is truly about. These three truly inspiring musicians have created something that is prime and organic, their music can get under your skin and influence your very moods and my life would truly be a much sadder place without it!

Ghost Of The Machine – Scissorgames

This superb album was reviewed for Progradar by my good friend Leo Trimming and I have to agree with every single one of his words:

‘Scissor Games‘ is a remarkable debut album. It clearly owes so much to earlier eras of Prog Rock but when it is done with this sheer amount of brio and skill, allied with powerful, impactful lyrics, then it is entirely valid and worthy as a piece of music and art. Many Prog fans will absolutely fall in love the style and emotional content of ‘Scissor Games‘ which will very probably be rightfully be regarded as one of the best debut progressive rock albums of 2022.

Gustaf Ljunggren with Skúli Sverrisson – Floreana

Philosophical and meditative, ‘Floreana’ will leave you in place of utter calm and leave you ruminating on life, the universe and just about everything. It’s as much about the spaces between the notes as the notes themselves and the state of mind that your are left in. To me, it is one of the surprises of the year so far and an album that I implore you to listen to at least once, trust me, it will be worth it…

Omega Point – A Great Escape

Matt Cohen has brought together a stellar group of musicians and, in Omega Point, created a powerful musical statement, close-knit and cohesive. ‘A Great Escape’ is another fantastic addition to the ranks of accomplished new releases we have already been lucky enough to hear in 2022 and can proudly hold its head high along with the best of them. Let’s hope this is just the start of things to come!

So that’s fifteen of the best albums I’ve heard in 2022 and they all rightly deserve a place in this review but now for the top five…

In fifth place:

Bjørn Riis – Everything to Everyone

Music can make a world that seems to be falling into monochrome light up and be revitalised with blazes of colour and vitality and this wondrous new album from musical maestro Bjørn Riis brings all that and more. Power, soul and grace are infused throughout its six tracks and combine to make it one of the outstanding releases of 2022 so far.

Fourth place was taken by:

The Tangent – Songs From The Hard Shoulder

‘Songs From The Hard Shoulder’ is just a wonderful piece of work, The Tangent at their brilliant best. People need some cheer in the world and music has the power to lift people, after just one listen to this amazing album I was smiling again. Andy and the band could just have released their most important record yet…

Now on to the top three, starting with:

cosmograf – Heroic Materials

The sumptuous, questioning ‘Heroic Materials’ is undeniably brilliant. Robin has laid his heart and soul, his whole being in fact, down as music. Emotive, melancholy at times, this record is a story and history at the same time. A plea for the future of the planet it may be but, above all, it is an immersive artistic triumph and one of the best releases of recent years.

And, as hard as I tried,I couldn’t split the final two so we have joint winners of my album of the year and I’m listing them arbitrarily by release date:

Joint First Album of the Year – Marillion – An Hour Before it’s Dark

I have been a fan of Marillion for over three decades and, in a career of superlatives, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ can truly be seen as one of their most accomplished albums. It is an outstanding piece of music that the band should be incredibly proud of and, even though we are only in February, it will take something amazing to knock it off the top of my album of the year list.

Joint First Album of the Year – Galahad – The Last Great Adventurer

When music is as good as this and touches you in a very personal manner, it can’t really get any better. In my opinion Galahad have returned with what can only be described as a modern progressive masterpiece and one that will stand the test of time and should be remembered as being one of the best albums of recent years. It’s my joint first album of the year and I really can’t give it any higher praise than that.

So, in a year of high quality releases, this is my definitive top twenty, a collection of superb albums that would grace anyone’s music collection, tomorrow will see Progradar’s respected contributor John Wenlock-Smith’s top 20 albums and I am already looking forward to what 2023 will bring…

Review – Marillion – Holidays In Eden – 2022 Remix Deluxe Edition – by Leo Trimming

‘Holidays in Eden’, first released in 1991, is the latest edition in Marillion’s series of deluxe re-releases. This was a release for which their record company E.M.I. had high expectations of the band after Steve Hogarth’s debut album with the band in 1989. ‘Seasons End’ was relatively successful, but crucially for E.M.I. it did not spawn any great singles success which would have helped it ‘cross over’ from the niche rock market, as ‘Kayleigh’ had so memorably done in the mid-80’s. Therefore, the pressure was on for Marillion to become more commercial although the band were largely more interested in writing more ambitious pieces than three-minute radio hits. Out of this tension developed an album which certainly divided opinion at the time, but which also produced some classic Marillion songs, particularly the stark brilliance of Splintering Heart, which remains to this day a staple of their tours, often opening shows with a dark grandeur.

So let’s put this album in context – It is a common perception that most bands have a ‘difficult second album’ (and Marillion certainly did so with ‘Fugazi’ with Fish in 1984!!), but uniquely somehow Marillion contrived to have a ‘second difficult second album’ as ‘Holidays in Eden’ was a far from smooth process for Steve Hogarth’s sophomore album with the band. What the band were finding is that working on the next release with Hogarth was simply not flowing in the same way as their experience with ‘Seasons End’. Writing sessions at Stanbridge studios near Brighton were lengthy and frustrating, producing little material. ‘Seasons End’ had already had a lot of the music formed with sessions with Fish that never reached fruition. Lyrically, John Helmer had also written significant contributions, so when Steve Hogarth joined it felt deceptively easy to hone this material with some added material, such as Hogarth’s ‘Easter’, into an excellent album. Their second album with Hogarth was much more of a challenge, starting more or less from scratch. Hogarth and the band were discovering they had very different approaches to song writing and it took them some time to adjust to each other. Indeed, at one-point tensions grew to the point that Hogarth was effectively ‘sent home’ as his more rapid, business-like song-writing style just was not matching the rest of the band who were rather more into improvised jamming over long periods, looking for that elusive spark amidst hours of often fruitless playing. However, after that ‘break’ Hogarth returned two weeks later with a whole new song for the band, ‘The Party’ very much in the Marillion mould. Additionally, in his absence the rest of the band returned to material they had originally demoed in 1988 with Fish in ill-fated sessions at Dalnagar Castle in Scotland and eventually out of those ideas grew the closing suite of ‘This Town / Rake’s progress / 100 Nights’… but it was clear that generally things were not quite flowing second time around.

The band attempted to recreate their happy memories of the recording of Season’s End, returning to Hook End Manor in Oxfordshire – but they do say ‘never go back’. Marillion found this was not such a magical experience, partly because it was in winter and not a glorious summer as it had been for the previous album, and possibly because E.M.I. were not being quite so ‘laissez-faire’ with funding their rather extravagant life in the country! Marillion’s previous producer Chris Kimsey was not available so E.M.I. put forward Chris Neil as their next producer, who had previously starred as Jesus on the West End in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’… and rather more curiously had also been the lead in a cheap early 70’s sex comedy film ‘Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate’! In the music industry he was rather more well known for great success with pop acts like Shakin’ Stevens, Dollar and Sheena Easton. In the period leading up to ‘Holidays in Eden’ he had also produced Mike and the Mechanics for their massive hit album and single ‘The Living Years’, so it seems evident that E.M.I. had aspirations for Marillion to similarly have success as a chart friendly soft rock band. Chris Neil’s association with the main ‘Mechanic’ Mike Rutherford of rock behemoths Genesis certainly made him a palatable and quite enticing option for the band. Chris Neil also told them that his son was a massive Marillion fan, so he really did not want to mess them up. On the other hand, he also knew that the record company were expecting him to produce three hit singles off the album to project the band onto the next level and match their previous mid-80’s chart successes. Hence, out of that tension between Marillion’s progressive leanings and a record company’s desire for ‘hits’ was born the curious creature of ‘Holidays in Eden’.

It is probably fair to say that fan reaction at the time was mixed. Jon Collins in his fine Marillion biography ‘Separated out’ shared that the Dutch Progressive Rock Page reported that on the ‘Holidays in Eden’ tour at the Ahoy in Netherlands ‘a substantial part of the audience booed when Steve Hogarth announced they would be playing quite a lot from the new album’. In contrast, notable fans such as guitarist Janick Gers of Iron Maiden has said that ‘Holidays in Eden’ is one of his most favourite albums and apparently Formula One Racing driver Jacques Villeneuve used to listen to the album while practising for races! Pete Trewavas wisely said in the fascinating accompanying Blu-ray ‘Pain and Heaven’ documentary, for some fans who had started following Marillion with ‘Seasons End’ or ‘Holidays in Eden’ this album may well be one of their favourite Marillion albums as ‘these albums end up becoming other peoples’ really.’

So how does it sound over 30 years later?

There will probably be two sorts of potential listeners considering this album – those that have bought it previously and are interested in the musical ‘extras’, the remixed sound, and the packaging. There will be others who may be discovering Marillion more recently who may know little about this album and wonder whether it’s worth buying?

The short answer is a qualified ‘YES’ – in truth this album was too hamstrung by compromises to be considered as one of their best albums, but there is enough quality in the original material and the extras to satisfy punters old and new. Unlike the flawed and rushed original mix of ‘Fugazi’, which the deluxe edition remix transformed wonderfully, this remix of ‘Holidays in Eden’ does not have the same transformative effect, as the original version was pretty well produced and mixed. However, this remix does add a new dimension to some of the songs and there is much else to attract longer term followers. A little more information on the tracks may help new listeners, and may provide some insights for long-time fans.

The more progressive elements of Marillion are well represented on this album with ‘Splintering Heart’, ‘The Party’ and the closing ‘This Town’ suite. ‘Splintering Heart’ started out rather differently in the demos, beginning much more heavy with a wall of wailing guitars, as can be heard rather spectacularly on the Blu-Ray with an early version recorded live at the Moles club. Chris Neil in Steve Hogarth’s ‘Corona Diaries’ podcasts has shared that he felt that the original version did not have enough dynamic range as an album opener so he suggested a different spookier intro, which rather belies the notion that he was just there to make them sound more ‘poppy’. Steve Rothery and Mark Kelly spent quite some time devising the atmospheric opening sequence of loops and synthesisers – it helped transform a fairly standard rock song into a classic, dripping with menace as ‘h’ sings with such feeling over the extended intro until the jaw dropping moment when he sings ‘but not as much as this…’ and the whole band crashes in like an avalanche, with Rothery’s guitar screeching like a banshee. The piece drops again into a more contemplative, shimmering section based on guitar samples Hogarth used to trigger with his white midi-gloves for live renditions of the ‘Seasons End’ song ‘Berlin, apparently one of the few times that something emerging from a Marillion gig soundcheck has evolved into a song. The song rises to a crescendo with Rothery seemingly wringing the neck of his guitar with pain filled guitar sounds and one can really imagine someone’s heart shattering. Hogarth has previously shared in the 1998 remaster version that he wrote the lyrics in a rather icy Toronto in 1990 and that he was ‘imagining a heart shattering from its own hardness… or coldness’. Splintering Heart continues the fine Marillion tradition of brilliant album opening songs and it remains a sure fire way to start a Marillion gig all these years later.

The more Progressive flavour of the album continues with ‘The Party’. Hogarth had started work on this during the ‘Seasons End’ writing sessions but largely finished it whilst he was on his aforementioned ‘break’ during the ‘Holidays…’ sessions. This song goes totally against the idea by some fans at the time that Hogarth was the pretty ‘pop boy’ trying to commercialise Marillion – as Hogarth wrote in the 1998 remaster sleeve notes ‘if Splintering Heart and The Party are pop songs, I’ll eat my pink telecaster!’ Indeed in the ‘Pain and Heaven’ documentary Pete Trewavas described ‘The Party’ as ‘quite classically Marillion’. ‘The Party’ is a recollection of teenage parties, drawn from Hogarth’s adolescent memories of dubious underage drinking and the sexually charged atmosphere pervading such gatherings. Some of the lines were also inspired by another party – Hogarth’s experience with Magic Mushrooms after a memorable ‘Mexican Party’ at Stanbridge studios! ‘The Party’ starts quite simply with Steve Hogarth singing about a girl buying a bottle of cider over a simple Kelly piano motif, initially mirroring the naivety of a young girl going to her first party. The rising tempo and power of the music evokes the developing drama with ‘strange aromas, and noises and candles, that was where he found her’. Chris Neil recently shared in ‘The Corona Diaries’ podcast how impressed he was with Hogarth’s lyrics for ‘The Party’. He loved the lyrical story with its plot and nuances, describing Hogarth’s songs as ‘one act plays’. The rest of the band provided the backdrop for this drama as the trippy middle section in which ‘she never felt like anything like this before’ gives way to a distorted, guitar solo and great rumbling bass work and dissonant drumming, evoking how she would have been feeling after her first drug experience. Hogarth screams in anguish before the inevitable ‘come down’ over a plaintive piano and Hogarth’s voice conveying the feelings of the girl after losing her virginity in less than romantic circumstances. In some ways there are echoes of the much more celebrated classic psychodrama ‘Incubus’ song from ‘Fugazi’, and in my view ‘The Party’ is a highlight of ‘Holidays in Eden’, and rather an underestimated gem in the Marillion songbook. Curiously, Hogarth also shared with ‘Prog’ magazine that the teenage party upon which this story is based was also the first time he ever heard ‘The Yes Album’ by Yes which he says ‘changed my whole idea about music’– sounds like quite a party!! (😊)

The album is closed with the 12 minutes progressive rock three act play comprising ‘This Town’, ‘The Rake’s Progress’ and ‘100 Nights’. During the early writing sessions the band were struggling to find a creative spark so they returned to material from the abortive Dalnagar sessions in 1988 with Fish, and they found the basis for this closing epic.’ ‘This Town’ rolls in on a police siren , a wave of Mosley’s drumming and some gritty guitar from Rothery. Kelly’s keyboards rise as they reach the rousing chorus. Rothery’s guitars get dirtier as the story descends into corruption and Hogarth’s vocals become more strident, and after the final chorus Rothery’s guitars reach skyward conversely just as the narrative takes a decidedly darker  descent:

‘This Town takes us down, takes us down, I feel like I’m losing you to This Town,

The morning breaks and I watch you awake and This Town takes you down away from me again.’

The semi-autobiographical but mainly fictional story focuses on how a couple move to a city to make their fortune. However, they discover that cities can corrupt, and it starts to tear them apart as they follow their own ambitions. The short middle bridge in the suite, The Rake’s Progress, takes a very different direction musically with muted dreamy synth tones, subtle bass pulses, restrained rolls and splashes of toms and cymbals and eerie guitar phrases conveying a sinister, shadowy world in which our main protagonist transforms from being the jilted broken heart into a manipulative, cynical gigolo. The title is also a play on words as ‘The Rake’s Progress’ is a series of paintings by C18th painter William Hogarth (no relation!) about a young man’s descent into drunken debauchery and eventual insanity.  

The final piece of this suite is the dark brooding ‘100 Nights’ which chimes in on a simple echoing guitar motif and synth accents with our anti-hero manipulating all around him without compunction. Hogarth sings with deceptive gentleness, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, ruining a relationship with cool indifference. Rothery’s screeching guitar break almost screams out the real corruption at the heart of this story and Hogarth’s vocals rise in power with the whole band. ‘100 Nights’ seems to just fade away with a rolling guitar riff and echoing vocals on a subtle bed of keys, drums and bass – maybe it signifies that the main protagonist will drift on exploiting others endlessly, but it is rather disappointing as a finale. In the documentary Mark Kelly comments that in his view ‘we skimmed the surface of it in terms of what we could have done with it instrumentally’ which seems to confirm the nagging feeling that this was a lost opportunity with a great foundation which was not fully explored or expanded enough. Kelly has also said that Chris Neil worked very quickly and that his no nonsense approach rather limited musical experimentation, especially for the keyboards, except notably his inspired suggestion for the start of ‘Splintering Heart.’ For a producer with an ear for hooks and hits it is probably not too surprising that when it came to helping the band fashioning more ambitious extended pieces, he was rather less motivated or instrumental in realising those sorts of musical visions.

This is perhaps borne out by the interesting lineage of ‘This Town’ which can be traced on the deluxe edition as the Blu-Ray includes a very early demo version at Stanbridge, and then a later live demo at the Bath Moles club, through to the recorded album version. What is notable about the Stanbridge demo, recorded without the producer, is that it has a distinctly staccato and rockier feel much in the vein of classic songs by The Who – indeed Ian Mosley shared in the documentary that it was known as ‘the Who number’ in the Stanbridge sessions. The later Moles Club version seems to take it further into heavier territory with great energy. In that context it is easier to understand some of the disappointment expressed by both Ian Mosley and Steve Rothery in the documentary about the loss of that energy and feel in the final recorded version. Steve Rothery did remark that the new remix does restore some of the ‘meat it lacks on the original’ album version. It is also notable that now if Marillion play the ‘This Town’ suite they embellish it sonically and with much more power as if making up for not having done so originally.

Mark Kelly in his entertaining autobiography ‘Marillion Misadventures and Marathons : the Life and Times of Mad Jack’ describes ‘Holidays in Eden’ with the old football analogy as ‘an album with two halves. The pop approach of our singles… and, so not to scare the horses and some of our older fans, the longer episodic pieces…’ Before venturing into the ‘Pop half’ there is one halfway house in the shape of the far more straightforward rock of title tune ‘Holidays in Eden’. Based on a John Helmer lyric about going on holiday and losing your identity ‘Holidays in Eden’, begins with birdsong and a jet plane before launching full tilt into the main riff with crashing drums, banks of keyboards and power riffs before receding into jangling guitars and soft drumming on a synth bed. The rolling anthemic refrain precedes some meaty organ work from Kelly and the whole piece bounces along rather jauntily before some steepling guitar lines at the rather apt mid-song break ‘You wake up one morning, wondering who you are’, which may have crossed the minds of the band during this recording process as they sought to find their new identity.

The song ploughs on with the same rock driven pattern with a rising Rothery guitar and Kelly keyboard crescendo and a rather abrupt ending and a muted ‘well, that was a laugh, wasn’t it?’ heard in the background. It’s a straightforward engaging piece of rock/pop but it seems to have disappointed the band. Written by the rest of the band whilst Hogarth was on his ‘break’, in the 1998 remaster notes he suggests the music could have been a lot wilder to reflect the primal elements of the story. Pete Trewavas shares this reservation stating that it ‘should have been more than it was’. Similarly, Rothery states in the documentary that their live version gives it more energy and rawness, and in his view the remix has restored some of that edge.

Chris Neil had a brief from E.M.I. to find three hit singles. The first obvious candidate was ‘No One Can’, based on a chord sequence by Mark Kelly upon which Hogarth wrote a touching love song for his wife and shared memories with his children, about distance not mattering if you are in love. Mark Kelly considers it a good pop song although felt a little frustrated that for Neil the main focus was always about the vocals, which are lushly arranged with Hogarth sounding gorgeous, but no real room for any musical experimentation or embellishment, except a short clean and compressed guitar interlude. There are definite echoes of the smooth jangling chimes of The Police’s ‘Every Breath you take’, but alas despite extensive radio play at the time and a stylish video it did not really penetrate the higher reaches of the U.K. charts. It is probably the most commercial song the band have ever produced and certainly caused some consternation with some older fans at the time, but looking back now it just feels like a pleasant, pretty pop song – indeed, as Hogarth has said in his ‘Corona Diaries’ podcasts it definitely sounds like a hit from 1992… but it wasn’t!

The first single off the album was the rather more upbeat pop/rock of ‘Cover My Eyes’ (Pain and Heaven)’ which was not even a song before Chris Neil joined them to produce the album. He suggested marrying a distinctly U2 or Simple Minds like guitar riff and vocal melody by Rothery with a verse from an old song by Hogarth’s previous short lived ‘How We Live’ band, called ‘Simon’s Car’. Apparently, the lyrics are partly inspired by the glamourous 60’s British film actress Eleanor Bron, probably embodying all such unobtainable beautiful women, as reflected in the beautiful women populating the rather stylish pop video. It is a fun piece of rollocking pop/rock with an anthemic ‘hey, hey, hey’ call echoing a certain Simple Minds refrain. The band roll along to great polished effect with Rothery sounding suitably heroic on guitar. One curiosity about this song is that for some strange reason Chris Neil brought drummer Roland Kerridge into the studio to sample Ian Mosley’s drums so they could be played on an electronic kit, which was quite the fashion at the time. Mosley plays the drums on this song but they are all electronic, hence their rather ‘shiny’ and ‘bright’ sound – they sound ‘OK’ but why sample drums electronically when you have a drummer of the class of Ian Mosley in the studio? Chris Neil has since had the good grace to admit that this probably not his best idea!

There was still one more ‘single’ Chris Neil needed to fashion for the album to satisfy the label, so he suggested that Marillion cover ‘Dry Land’ from the only ‘How We Live’ album. Hogarth explains in the documentary that this felt rather awkward and weird for him as it was ‘not something I would have pushed for myself’, thereby squashing further the notion that it was Steve Hogarth who was pushing the band in a poppier direction. Nevertheless, Hogarth gives a great vocal about the sexual tension of thinking there may be something going on with someone you like, but not being quite sure. ‘Dry Land’ is very close to the original ‘How We Live’ version – indeed , it’s almost a carbon copy! Marillion smoothly lay out a bed of softly chiming guitars and string synths underpinned by a cool bass and drums foundation. The main variation to the original is Rothery’s delightfully tasteful guitar solo, which surprisingly Rothery states is the solo he is most proud of on the whole album.

Every Marillion album has at least one ‘hidden gem’ which seems to not quite gain the attention it may deserve in comparison to other more celebrated songs. For me on this album it is Waiting to Happen, and it was pleasing to note in the documentary that Steve Rothery feels it is one of his favourite songs from the album and ‘it’s what I would have wanted from the whole album’. Apparently, the band were considering dropping it, but Chris Neil wisely encouraged them to persist with the song which was eventually beautifully realised. It starts gently on a pillow of acoustic guitars and softly undulating synths upon which Hogarth sings with such grace about the magic and beauty of Love just below the surface in our lives. Hogarth shared that this lyric was based on a memory of lying in bed in his house unable to sleep ‘I lie awake at night, listening to you sleeping, I hear the darkness breathe’ and such is the gentleness of the words and music you almost feel you are in the same room. Out of this soft cocoon the spirit and music build to the bright sunburst of the chorus. Steve Rothery inevitably crowns this gem with a short but lovely guitar solo. The balance of the restrained verses and the celebratory choruses is the real power of this song, and Hogarth excels himself with some beautifully poetic imagery… insomnia never sounded so glorious!

Despite the attention Chris Neil and the band skilfully paid to these three ‘pop’ elements of the album none of them reached far up the charts, and from that album onwards it was clear that E.M.I. were losing patience with the band. Similarly, after the experience of being guided in a direction with which they were not totally comfortable Marillion were determined that in future they would remain in full control of future albums. Being typically Marillion they next moved almost 180 degrees from the ‘poppiest’ album of their career to one of their most progressive and ambitious releases, ‘Brave’ in 1994… but their days with E.M.I. were numbered. The main flaw with ‘Holidays in Eden‘ is that it simply tried too hard to satisfy conflicting aspirations, chart pop success versus expansive progressive rock pieces, and frankly it was largely unsuccessful on both counts. That does not make it a poor-quality album – there’s some great songs on here, and none of them are below standard. However, that unresolved tension resulted in diluting the focus with significant compromise and undermined the cohesiveness and feel of the album. The consequence many point to that arose from ‘Holidays…’ is the very different ‘Brave’ which was clearly a reaction to this one, but interestingly in the documentary Pete Trewavas intelligently draws a link to their great ‘Afraid of Sunlight’ album in 1995. He feels that what Marillion were trying to do on ‘Holidays in Eden’ was an album like ‘Afraid of Sunlight’, but ‘we just didn’t know how to do it’, which is a fascinating thought.

That’s the album – so what do you get with the deluxe edition, particularly if you are already familiar with the original album?

There is not the revelatory experience akin to the remix of ‘Fugazi’ for this remix, but it is definitely crisper and more impactful. It is perhaps significant that the songs which benefited most from the remix were the more ambitious, expansive pieces. Splintering Heart’s sinister programmed intro is more resonant and chilling, and The Party is noticeably sharper, with Pete Trewavas’ bass definitely and pleasantly higher up in the mix. ‘Holidays in Eden’ clearly has more ‘balls’ sonically. The remix for the shorter, more pop oriented pieces seem less obvious in impact, but in truth none of these changes are startling which is a testament to the quality of the original production. Of course, some with high end music systems will probably be able to detect the tiniest differences and pick up on them, but to most mere mortals with standard equipment the differences are not enormous, but definitely do improve some of the songs.

Discs 2 & 3 of the deluxe edition contain a brilliant recording of the band at Hammersmith Odeon in 1991 – it’s a fantastic recording of a great gig. Marillion may have gone through some changes and challenges in their career, but they are never less than great on stage. There is a healthy mix of old and new material, and it was clear that by this time Hogarth was growing into the skin as the new Marillion vocalist. Unexpected gems include the sinisterly delicate ‘A Collection’ and two deep cuts from ‘Misplaced Childhood’. The material from ‘Seasons End’ sounds particularly effective in this show, especially ‘King of Sunset Town’ and ‘The Space…’, as they had more time to ‘bed in’ with the band.

The main attraction of the deluxe edition are the extras, including the ‘Pain and Heaven’ documentary in which each band member and the producer are interviewed individually. This may have been a covid issue, but interviewing them singly does seem to free up some band members who may not speak so much in a group interview. There are some fascinating insights from the band members into the album, although it is interesting to note that Steve Hogarth has admitted in the ‘Corona Diaries’ podcasts that the director Tim Sidwell had to re-edit the film as they were so self-critical that ‘it comes across everyone thought the album was a huge mistake’!! (😊) To be honest, you still sort of get that sense underlying Steve Rothery’s contributions, but it would be unfair to completely dismiss the album when one considers the quality of some of the songs already described.

In addition, the Blu-ray includes the album in 5.1 Audio which reveals the album in more satisfying surround sound clarity. The B-Sides and Bonus tracks from the 1998 remaster are also included on the Blu-ray, although I know some fans without that previous version will be disappointed that these tracks are confined to the Blu-ray on this edition. There are 4 videos of the band, including the great ‘crunchy’ original Stanbridge demo of ‘This Town’. The Blu-Ray also features the glossy videos for the three aforementioned singles – these are definitely ‘of their time’, but are fascinating insights into the ‘Pop machine’ E.M.I. wanted Marillion to join… but they resisted… and are still going strong over 30 years later.

Finally, one of the best elements of the deluxe edition is ‘Rockpalast’ video of their gig in Germany in 1991. What is clear is that this is a highly professional and confident live outfit with impeccable musicianship. Needless to say, they all look SO much younger, and Hogarth is impossibly handsome as their dynamic front man – no wonder E.M.I. wanted him to feature in the videos. It’s a television recording, but the quality on Blu-ray is fine and the crowd seem to lap up the show.  What is rather different to the Hammersmith show is the extended encore section with five Fish era songs, perhaps with a German TV audience in mind, which Hogarth handles with aplomb.  Somewhat unexpectedly they break into Cliff Richard’s ‘Summer Holiday’ during ‘Garden Party’ and ‘Sugar Mice’ is presented acoustically without Rothery’s guitar solo. The deluxe edition is presented in the usual attractive book form with Sarah Ball’s original striking beautiful blue illustration given more space – this as the first Marillion album to ditch the classic Marillion logo as it seemed clear they wanted to break from that image. The book and lyrics are decorated inside with some gorgeous artwork from Simon Ward and there is an interesting essay by Rich Wilson.

‘Holidays in Eden’ will never be regarded as one of the great Marillion albums. It showed a band at the crossroads, looking for a new direction but still not sure where to go at the time and pulled in different directions. Nevertheless, it is a significant album which strangely did influence their next step and underlined to the band the importance of artistic freedom when writing their music. Look back and wonder what might have happened if one of those singles had been a big hit – what would we have missed? Look back and see a band evolving towards a different future – clearly there was ‘Something Waiting to Happen.’

TRACK LISTING:

CD One –  Holidays in Eden 2022 Remix

  1. Splintering Heart                                     (6.45)
  2. Cover My Eyes (Pain & Heaven)           (4.04)
  3. The Party                                                  (5.37)
  4. No One Can                                              (4.46)
  5. Holidays in Eden                                      (5.23)
  6. Dry Land                                                    (4.45)
  7. Waiting to Happen                                  (4.55)
  8. This Town                                                  (3.19)
  9. The Rake’s Progress                                (1.54)
  10. 100 Nights                                                 (7.47)

CD Two –  Live at Hammersmith 30th September, 1991 (pt 1)

  1. Splintering Heart                                      (6.47)
  2. Garden Party                                             (7.13)
  3. Dry Land                                                     (4.51)
  4. The King of Sunset Town                        (8.12)
  5. The Party                                                   (6.08)
  6. Easter                                                         (6.34)
  7. The Space…                                               (7.50)
  8. Holloway Girl                                            (4.05)
  9. A Collection                                               (3.14)
  10. Waiting to Happen                                  (5.08)

CD Three – Live in Hammersmith 30th September, 1991 (pt 2)

  1. Cover My Eyes (Pain & Heaven)            (3.55)
  2. Lords of the Backstage                            (1.51)
  3. Blind Curve                                                (4.15)
  4. The Uninvited Guest                                (4.25)
  5. This Town                                                  (3.44)
  6. The Rake’s Progress                                 (2.15)
  7. 100 Nights                                                 (4.46)
  8. Slainte Mhath                                           (5.10)
  9. Holidays in Eden                                      (4.47)
  10. Hooks in You                                             (3.15)
  11. No One Can                                               (4.56)
  12. Berlin                                                          (8.14)
  13. Kayleigh                                                      (3.52)
  14. Incommunicado                                        (5.11)

Blu-Ray Disc

‘Holidays in Eden’ 2022 Stephen Taylor Remix – 5.1 Audio Version:

  • Same Track listing as CD 1

B-Sides & Bonus Tracks   (1998 Remaster Bonus Tracks):

  • Sympathy
  • How Can it Hurt
  • A Collection
  • Sympathy (Acoustic version)
  • I Will Walk on Water (Alternate Mix)
  • Splintering Heart (Live at Moles Club)
  • You Don’t need Anyone (Moles Club Demo)
  • No One Can (Moles Club Demo)
  • The Party (Moles Club Demo)
  • This Town (Moles Club Demo)
  • Waiting to Happen (Moles Club Demo)
  • Eric
  • The Epic (Fairground) (Mushroom Farm Demo)

Film – ‘Pain and Heaven’  (Approv 85 Mins)

The Story of Holidays in Eden  (Documentary)

‘Rockpalast’ Live show – German TV 1991.

Order direct from Marillion here:

marillion.com | Racket Records Store

Review – Marillion – An Hour Before It’s Dark

“No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

With ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’, Marillion release one of their most upbeat albums of their career while, at the same time, they once again do not shy away from uncomfortable topics, reflect on their own behaviour, and put their finger in the wounds of time. 

The band’s 20th studio album, Like its predecessor, 2016’s critically acclaimed and chart-topping album ‘F*** Everyone And Run (F E A R)’, was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. But, whereas it’s predecessor was more a dark and condemning comment on the government and the bureaucrats who ran the country, this new release deals with the pandemic in a much more hopeful and enriching manner leading to the band calling it their most upbeat album in quite a while.

There’s no getting away from it, a new Marillion album is always a great occasion and a cause for celebration but the release of ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ coincides with us hopefully seeing the pandemic diminishing rapidly and a sense of normality returning to everyday life and mirrors this new found feeling of optimism and promise.

I’d been one of the lucky ones who saw the band on their ‘Light At The End Of The Tunnel’ tour (in fact, I saw them on at the first gig in Hull) so my appetite had been whetted by already hearing the wonderfully dramatic Be Hard On Yourself, albeit in a live setting. Nine minutes of intense but fast paced music with Steve Hogarth’s distinctive vocals at the centre of this impressive track, it certainly opens the album in style. Reprogram The Gene delivers a powerful missive with the hard edged guitar and drums driving the song along, aided and abetted by a sharp suited bassline and keyboards. Steve Rothery has been given free reign to deliver some mighty power chords and Ian Mosley delivers an utterly mesmerising performance behind the drum kit. There’s a determined and catchy feel to this song and it resonates throughout the album as the short, sweet instrumental, Only A Kiss segues into the second single from the album, the irrepressibly infectious Murder Machines, a song that was born in the challenging times of lockdown and social distancing and has become so much more than just a mirror of our times, more than a song that deals with the precious as well as dark sides of human relationships. Steve Hogarth is in fine voice, especially on the buoyant chorus and Rothery’s guitar just sings perfectly.

Three songs into the album and I’m already hooked, it’s a record of, and for, its time, emotive and emotional and that is felt throughout the wistfully brilliant The Crow And The Nightingale, a nostalgic nod to Leonard Cohen and one of my favourite tracks on the album, one that just flows beautifully and shows the band’s thoughtful and contemplative side impeccably. That reflective tone carries on into the sublime Sierra Leone, another great song that sees the band in a storytelling frame of mind. This is a set of musicians who are playing at a ridiculously high level and delivering some of their best songs of a long and illustrious career, a band who are comfortable with themselves and their music and it is really obvious. This track builds gradually, the tempo increasing almost imperceptibly, before Rothery’s guitar breaks out, accompanied by Hogarth’s ever more dynamic voice. There are lulls as it ebbs and flows elegantly, always holding your attention, a fine piece of music indeed.

This superb and entrancing album comes to a close with one of Marillion’s finest ever tracks. In a long career of superlatives Care has to be right there at the top, a three part song that plumbs the depths of despair before rising through to end in promise and optimism. Pete Trewavas shows he is still one of the best bass players around and Rothery’s guitar is just transcendent, he really is at the top of his game. Mark Kelly delivers some bewitching keys throughout the album but none more so than here. This track really showcases the band’s impressive song writing abilities. Impassioned and passionate and, ultimately, uplifting, it is, possibly, the most perfect song they have ever written.

I have been a fan of Marillion for over three decades and, in a career of superlatives, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ can truly be seen as one of their most accomplished albums. It is an outstanding piece of music that the band should be incredibly proud of and, even though we are only in February, it will take something amazing to knock it off the top of my album of the year list.

Released March 4th, 2022

Order from the band here:

Marillion Album 20 Official Pre-order Store (ear-music.net)

Marillion – ‘The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’ Tour – Live At Hull City Hall – Sunday, November 14th, 2021

“Live is Life…”

Life came full circle at Hull City Hall on Sunday evening, 14th November 2021. I first saw Marillion at this venue on the 9th July, 1990 and, thirty-one years later, here I was, about to watch one of my favourite bands on the first gig of their ‘The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’ tour.

It’s been a long time since Marillion last played live to their loyal fans, as Steve Hogarth said at the start of the gig, over 700 days! and you could sense the excitement in the venue beforehand. For the only time in living memory, the queue for the merch stand was way longer than the queue for the bar!

Antimatter

The support act was a duo called Antimatter and their short set was an excellent appetiser for what was to follow. Powerful vocals with electric and acoustic guitars made for a great listen and the audience were very appreciative.

The atmosphere in Hull City Hall had been building to a crescendo as the band came onto the stage full of vigour and enthusiasm and an honest joy at playing in front of a live audience again.

I saw the band last at the Royal Albert Hall nearly two years ago, in November 2019 and they just seemed to be so up for this gig, Steve Hogarth was laughing and smiling had a great rapport with his band mates, Pete Trewavas was bounding around the stage with obvious energy, Ian Mosley was a powerhouse behind the drum kit, Steve Rothery patrolled his corner of the stage in his usual stately manner and Mark Kelly was dominant, raised at the back of the stage behind his impressive bank of keyboards.

Steve Hogarth explained that the setlist would be a sort of greatest hits that the band had collaborated on and the concert opened with a blistering version of Sounds That Can’t Be Made and followed it up with the iconic King, Hogarth central on the stage with his guitar raised in tribute. There was a fizzing intensity and power to the band’s performance this evening and, while the venues acoustics may have not been up tot he standard of some of the modern arenas, it certainly did not effect the enjoyment of the enthusiastic crowd.

A rather emotive version of Beautiful had a lump in my throat and a scintillating rendition of one of my favourites, You’re Gone, had the whole hall in thrall. It’s been so long since we have been able to enjoy live music that everybody in the room was obviously enjoying themselves immensely, standing up and cheering and whistling at the end of every track.

The party was in full swing and Mr Hogarth was evidently enjoying himself as the band ran through really strong renditions of The Party, Bridge, Living With The Big Lie and Runaway, every song raising the roof even higher. Steve Rothery’s guitar playing just blows me away every time and the power and precision of Ian Mosley’s drumming has to be seen in a live setting, the man is just a machine!

Steve Hogarth is a most engaging frontman and has a very special rapport with the audience, his utter joy at being out at the front of the stage was obvious to all, no more so than when introducing Be Hard On Yourself, the first single form the forthcoming new album ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ and, according to Steve, ‘It’s going to be a belter…”.

Well, Be Hard On Yourself was an absolute belter in itself and Steve was in fine vocal form, delivering a finely tuned and stirring vocal, ably backed by Pete Trewavas, the band building in confidence as every song was performed. Fine performances of Berlin and The Release led into my favourite song of the evening, an utterly spellbinding arrangement of perennial favourite, the haunting and electrifying Neverland that closed out the set.

Of course there was going to be an encore, the crowd demanded it with their hands, voices and feet (all in a good natured fashion, of course!) and the band returned to rapturous applause to deliver a rather fantastic version of every part of The Leavers, a phenomenally compelling and powerful piece of music that always makes it mark. We weren’t happy with just that song though and, as the band left the stage again, the noise levels rose to a crescendo before we were treated to a rocking, fun, sing-along version of Garden Party that brought the house down and finished things on an ultimate high!

Nearly two years of frustration and pent up energy were released in considerable style at Hull City Hall tonight and it will be a gig that will live long in my memory, oh what a night…!

Setlist:

  1. Sounds That Can’t Be Made
  2. King
  3. Beautiful
  4. You’re Gone
  5. The Party
  6. Bridge
  7. Living With The Big Lie
  8. Runaway
  9. Be Hard On Yourself
  10. Berlin
  11. The Release
  12. Neverland

Encore:

  1. The Leavers: I. Wake Up in Music
  2. The Leavers: II. The Remainers
  3. The Leavers: III. Vapour Trails in the Sky
  4. The Leavers: IV. The Jumble of Days
  5. The Leavers: V. One Tonight

Encore 2:

  1. Garden Party

Marillion ask fans to ‘insure’ they keep the show on the road…

The legendary progressive rock group, Marillion, have come up with a unique way to solve the problem of not being able to buy Pandemic insurance ahead of their UK tour.

The band has already invested more than £150,000 on preparations for the 10-date “The Light at The End Of The Tunnel” road trip, but risks losing it all if just one of the band is forced to isolate with Covid.

The tour would be cancelled, but the group would have to honour payments for lighting, trucks, tour buses and crew. This would be on top of not receiving any money from any remaining gigs that had not been played.

“The band has not played live since the Pandemic began, and to lose such a huge amount of money would be absolutely devastating,” explained their manager, Lucy Jordache. “We tried to get the tour insured, but it has proved impossible. No companies want to take the risk.”

Lucy and the band have come up with a revolutionary way of keeping the show on the road. The first to use crowdfunding back in 1997, Marillion, will now appeal to their massive worldwide fanbase to join forces and become their insurers for the upcoming tour.

Lucy explained: “We’re calling it Lightsavers as the tour is called “The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’. We’re asking our fans to pledge money that will be held in escrow and if it all goes Covid free it will be returned to them at the end of the tour. But if we do have to cancel, then their money will be used to pay the bands unavoidable expenses.”

However, all would not be lost for the loyal fans. Regardless of whether their money is eventually returned or not, every person who donates will receive “money can’t buy” items in return.

Depending on the amount donated, this could be anything from seeing your name in a tour programme, or a free download of a gig, to a group chat or even a personal meeting with the band via Zoom.

They will also be entered for a raffle with prizes such as a handwritten lyric of their choice, a full set of guitar plectrums, and personal shout-outs at concerts.

Marillion frontman, Steve Hogarth, believes fans will be only too happy to help them out.

“We are blessed with having the most amazing fans. They are incredibly supportive and loyal. We are desperate to play in front of those wonderful crowds again and I know they are so excited to see us,” explained Steve.

“They have come to our rescue before. Way back in 1997, they helped raise $60,000 to underwrite our entire US tour. It was the first noteworthy instance of online crowdfunding – a world first in fact. We also used the same method to underwrite some of our studio albums.”

Steve said the pandemic had been “absolutely devastating” for the music industry and everyone was now desperate to return to normality.

“Like so many other bands, we’ve been in deep freeze for the last 18 months and it’s been incredibly frustrating. It has been a dark time of course for everyone but now there is, indeed, light at the end of the tunnel, and we need our Lightsavers to ensure we reach there,” added Steve.

Marillion’s tour begins at Hull’s City Hall on November 14th. For a full list of dates and venues go to www.marillion.com/tour

Interview With Steve Hogarth – 29th September, 2021

Legendary British progressive rock band Marillion embark on a UK tour, ‘The Light At The End OF The Tunnel’, in November 2021, ahead of their recently announced 20th album ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ and I sat down to chat with frontman Steve Hogarth about the upcoming live gigs…

Progradar: Hi Steve and thanks for talking to me, I am coming to see the band play on the first night of the upcoming tour, Hull City Hall, on the 14th November and, in a strange kind of synergy, the first time I ever saw Marillion was at Hull City Hall on the 9th July, 1990, so you’re talking 31 years ago!

Steve Hogarth (SH): Blimey! Do you know, I think that was the last time we were there.

Progradar: I’m pretty certain it was too! You know what, I saw you twice before lockdown, at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019 and I also saw you at the York Barbican in 2018, I can remember the songs better, obviously, from the last two but the one that sticks out most in my mind was that one, going back all those years ago. I even remember that Little Angels were the support band, a local band from Scarborough.

SH: Yeh, they were good, I remember them.

Progradar: It’s funny how you can remember these things from all those years ago. Are you looking forward to getting back out there again and playing in front of a live audience?

SH: Yes, very, very much, I think it’s all the more precious because it’s been denied us, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. I think, for the audience and the band alike, it will be quite something to walk back on stage in Hull. I’m looking forward to it immensely, yes.

Progradar: I went to see Keane at the open air theatre in Scarborough and it just threw it down with rain all through the gig but I just didn’t care, it was spine tingling to see live music again. I am so excited about seeing you guys in November, I’ve been a fan for over thirty years. The ‘Seasons End’ album and tour are where I really got into the band so, to actually think I’m going to get to see you guys where it all started for me, over thirty years ago is a quite a spine tingling thought actually.

Do you find that there is a difference in audiences in the UK and audiences when you go to the continent or all they all pretty much the same?

SH: Yes there is, audiences even vary from one part of the UK to another, to be honest. To be fair, about 18-20 percent probably travel, so there are people in the UK that are moving around. In that sense the geography is not as important but there are certain hotspots in the UK, Manchester, Liverpool are always terrific, Birmingham and London are usually good. Cardiff is a bit of a slow burner, they’re usually quiet but they go nuts at the end. You get used to the kind of dynamics of what to expect from a crowd, after a few years.

Across in Europe, again, certain parts of Germany, you know you are going to have an amazing show. We’ll have a great show in Cologne and Munich, we’ll usually have a great show in Hamburg. Not so much in Frankfurt and Hanover and, if you go over to France, we’ve always had amazing shows in Paris, it’s just about my favourite place to play on earth. Lyon will be good but not that same electric thing you get in Paris.

Over in Holland, it’s only a small country so it doesn’t vary quite as much there but playing Utrecht and Amsterdam is also special as well.

Progradar: I get a strong impression that Marillion fans have a real affinity with the band and you have a real affinity with the fans, do you agree and do you think it helps when you do the live gigs?

SH: Yes, absolutely, like a family. It’s not ‘us and them’ anymore, it’s very much ‘us and us’, we’re all in this thing together. Way back, at the end of the 90’s, when we (together) invented crowdfunding and we found a way to move forward by having fans pre-order the albums we hadn’t even finished yet, that’s almost become a commonplace thing now but it didn’t exist before we did it. That brought us closer together with the fans, it kind of gave us common cause, in a lot of ways.

The feeling of trust when somebody sends you their hard earned money, sometimes quite a lot of it! We are selling these packages where you don’t get much change out of fifty quid, they buy them with no guarantee at all that we won’t just go to Rio and have a party with their money. There’s a lot of faith and trust there and responsibility on us not to let anybody down, that’s pulled us closer together (with the fans) as well.

Progradar: I think for a lot of fans, you genuinely feel involved in what’s going on with a new album. A lot of bands involve the fans in what’s going on so they do feel invested and that helps when you come to the live stage. Fans feel they are going to see people they know, to a certain extent, play a gig. I feel you will have the goodwill from day one of a tour as 70-80 percent of them will have been fans from day one.

SH: Yes, I’ll probably recognise half of the front row just from all the years of doing it and seeing people. Bit by bit, we, as musicians, become conscious of who’s listening to us, I recognise people at the front and it is very much a family now.

Progradar: Do you get many fans who literally pay to go to every gig on a tour?

SH: It’s quite common to see and to get a message from someone to apologise for missing one like, “I’m sorry I couldn’t get down to St Austell”, and we’re like ” I’m not bloody surprised!”. We do, there are people that will travel to all of the shows and wear that like that a badge of honour, there are people who have even travelled around Europe as well! Similarly, Ive met people from all around the world who’ve travelled miles for a show, Americans who’ve just flown in for one gig and flown out again.

A few years ago we did a show at Shepherds Bush Empire and I met a couple of guys in the alley by the back stage door from Venezuela! I asked them what on earth they were doing there and they said we’d come to see you! So, when people are prepared to do that, it’s extremely mind blowing.

Progradar: I’d imagine it’s pretty humbling when you think they could have spent the equivalent of six months salary just to see one concert?

SH: It is humbling, it’s extremely humbling, it makes my head swim. I don’t think I’ve ever travelled more than sixty miles to see a band in my entire life! I can’t imagine getting on a plane and going to see somebody.

Progradar: Like I say, I saw you at the RAH in 2019 and, apart from having the most uncomfortable seats of any venue I’ve been to, it was an amazing gig, do you find that there is a difference in the atmosphere when you play the bigger venues to when you play the smaller ones?

SH: You can’t really generalise because you can amazing gig in a little club and you can have an amazing gig in a football stadium and every size in between. Each venue, and the space of that venue, has its own character. My job is to walk out there on the stage, get a feeling for it and wring it out like a cloth, get the very best out of that space that I can. That’s part of my job, although it’s not necessarily a conscious process to be fair, part of my job is to go, right, what can we do with this then?

Royal Albert Hall, November 2019, Picture is Author’s Own.

Progradar: I’ve been to concerts where they’ve really dragged and I’ve been to gigs, like the RAH and York Barbican gigs, where the time has flown by and I haven’t wanted to leave. We won’t call it working the audience as you say it is not a conscious process but, you certainly look like you’re enjoying it when you’re up on stage?

SH: Yes, to be honest, it’s dead easy to do when you’re meeting those waves of affection that I’m very fortunate to meet. It doesn’t make my job very difficult at all, all I’ve got to do is kind of bounce it back and see it for what it is, not take it for granted. Just go with what is special about a show from one moment to another, the vibration in the hall, I’ve kind of got to have my radar up, to pick that up and acknowledge it.

Progradar: I would imagine that, even if you played the same set list in two different venues, you’re still going to have two different events, two different concerts?

SH: Totally, yes!

Progradar: So, the new album, which you’ve had a bit of fun with, the fans guessing the album name, there were some quite interesting ones that came up in the Facebook group, some humorous ones as well!

SH: Yes, my favourite was ‘All Hard Bastards In Doncaster’, that really creased me up!

Progradar: You said that you are probably going to play one or two tracks from the new album, are you excited about giving the new music an airing in that live setting?

SH: Yes I am, because a lot of the stuff on this new album is really quite upbeat and will work really well live. In the end, we decided we would only play one track. When I say one track, it is about ten minutes long, it’s the equivalent of three of anyone else’s.

Progradar: Long gone are the days of tracks like Hooks In You, three and a half minute radio friendly stuff!

SH: Never say never but, we haven’t written a three minute song for quite a while now, it takes us three minutes to get to verse one these days. We’ve got a song called Be Hard On Yourself and I can tell by the nature of how we wrote it that it is going to be great live, it’s really going to kick arse! I’m looking forward to giving that an airing for sure.

Progradar: I’m really looking forward to hearing it, I have been prevaricating but finally got around to ordering the double vinyl today, especially when I saw it was the last day to get your name in the credits! I don’t know about you but, I grew up on vinyl and cassette tapes, then sold it all to make way for CDs and now we are buying vinyl reissues and remasters at ten times more than we we paid for them when they first came out in the 70’s and 80’s!

I have bought good quality pre-owned copies of ‘Holidays In Eden’ and ‘Seasons End’ and boxsets of ‘Marbles’ and ‘Brave‘. If you pushed me I would say that ‘Marbles’ is my favourite Marillion album, closely followed by ‘Seasons End’.

SH: Great, what’s your favourite track on ‘Marbles’ then?

Progradar: Funnily enough, I have just been listening to it in the car, it’s Fantastic Place, it’s one of my all time favourite Marillion songs. You played it live in York with a couple of my other favourite Marillion songs which are Seasons End and Easter but I absolutely love Fantastic Place.

SH: That’s a feather in my hat because I wrote two out of the three of those songs.

Progradar: There’s also Steve Rothery’s guitar in that song, it has no edges, do you know what I mean? It’s smooth and the solo just bleeds emotion. Leading on to the next question, you’ve also said you are going to play what you consider to be the best of your catalogue. With so many albums behind you, how do you pick the tracks on the setlist? Is it a democratic process, do you get a massive list and then just whittle it down?

SH: Yes, more or less. We all get a vote each, make a list, whatever wins gets chosen. We did decide for this particular tour that we would play what we all personally felt were our most important songs. Anyone who comes hoping to hear a couple of obscurities will probably be disappointed but anyone who’s hoping to hear the really big songs, they’ll be delighted because that is what they are going to get.

Progradar: So I can sort of live in hope that I am maybe going to hear one of my favourite three on the 14th November?

SH: You certainly can, for sure.

Royal Albert Hall, November 2019, Picture is Author’s Own.

Progradar: Not being a musician, I find this quite fascinating, are there songs that you like off studio albums that you think wouldn’t work in the live experience?

SH: There’s certainly a couple, yes. The Fruit Of The Wild Rose has always been very tricky live because, I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, it kind of goes into a groove at the end that is set down by an acoustic guitar, playing a loop and then it kind of kicks off with a guitar solo overlapped and we just don’t have enough guitar players in the band to do both! I’m not a good enough acoustic guitar player to be able to lay that loop down while Steve solos, Pete probably is but then I’m not a good enough bass player to cover the bass duties!

So there are one or two that kind of came into the world as studio works and are a bit of a struggle. I mean, we have still done them but they’re trickier things to roll out.

Progradar: I don’t want to put you on the spot as there’s hundreds of songs you’ve written but, are there a couple of songs that you particularly enjoy playing live yourself?

SH: Yes, for sure, I really like to sing The Invisible Man, that’s one of my favourites to perform. What else would I look forward to doing? I enjoy playing Gaza, I enjoy playing A Few Words For The Dead, to be honest. Seasons End and Estonia, they’re both great to play.

Progradar: I remember Seasons End at York Barbican in 2018, my friend Iain Sloan came down from Scotland, he lives near Edinburgh and is a guitarist in an Americana band call The Wynntown Marshals. We were stood together, almost in tears, it was one of those moments you’ll remember forever.

You said you enjoy playing in Holland and that leads me on to my next question, are you intending doing Marillion Weekends again?

SH: Yes, we absolutely are, we had to keep kicking it down the road. The thing about Port Zelande is that we promote the entire thing ourselves and we’re about half a million quid in the whole before anyone turns up. If, god forbid, the Dutch government decided to lock the country down, it would cost us more money than we could stand to lose, to be honest. So we had to keep postponing it and we moved it to next spring and then we decided we couldn’t even risk that. We moved it again, I think it’s booked in for March 2023 now, it’ll happen but we’ve just got to get through this strange pandemic that seems to be a bit slow to leave.

Progradar: I’m 54 this year and none of us are as young as we used to be. You’ve been touring for donkey’s years, do you find it more tiring now or does just getting out on that stage just infuse you with energy?

SH: I can’t remember, it’s so long ago! I am two years older than the last time I did it so there is a part of me thinking I hope I’m up to this? I’d better get out on the bike and get myself sorted out a bit. I’m going to find out, it may come as a terrible shock!

Progradar: Do you keep fit before you go on a tour, do you do anything extra?

SH: I’ll do a little bit, I won’t do enough because I’m a lazy sod but I should really. I mean, I can’t just expect to remain fit, I’ve got to make the effort. I live in a three storey house so I’m up and down the stairs and get a few steps in but I’m going to have to do a bit more.

Progradar: I really appreciate your time Steve, it’s been brilliant talking to you, just one final question before we sign off. It’s a question I ask everyone who I interview, do you prefer writing and recording and album or do you prefer playing the material live?

SH: Playing the material live, night and day, for me. I hate writing, I hate most of recording, once you get beyond a certain point then it does start to become exciting but that takes such a long time. Whereas to play live is the point of it for me so, hands down, I prefer playing live.

Progradar: I’ll just tag a little bit on the end of that, when you’re on tour, can you hit the same level of enthusiasm at the last gig that you had at the first?

SH: Absolutely, no problem at all, I love it!

Progradar: That’s brilliant, I really appreciate your time and I am so looking forward to seeing you at Hull City Hall on November 14th!

SH: Thanks for your time and thanks for your support man!

Marillion ‘The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’ tour starts on 14th November at Hull City Hall.

Pre-order Marillion’s 20th album, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ here:

marillion.com | Racket Records Store

Marillion – ‘The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’ Tour – November 2021

Marillion will bring their The Light At The End Of The Tunnel tour to the stages of Britain with a 10-date tour in November culminating in 2 nights at the London Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith. 

Steve Hogarth says: “No, it isn’t a train coming the other way, it is in fact, The Light at the End of the Tunnel. We spent our time IN the tunnel writing our twentieth studio album.

We will tour in the UK in November and debut one or two new tracks, along with what we feel is the best of our (let’s face it) huge catalogue.Our fans are legendary creatures of faith and enthusiasm – some say obsession – so we can’t wait for that feeling of reunification as we return from the wilderness, to the stage. The light is gonna feel good.”

Marillion are running a competition on their website (www.marillion.com) from Tuesday 31st August until Friday 3rd September for someone to win tickets to the whole ‘Light At The End of The Tunnel’ UK Tour.  The band will be first revealing the initials of the new album and asking fans to guess the title before revealing it on Friday 3rd September.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel tour dates for November 2021 

Sunday 14th Nov Hull City Hall

Monday 15th Nov Edinburgh Usher Hall

Wednesday 17th Nov Cardiff St David’s Hall

Thursday 18th Nov Manchester Bridgewater Hall

Saturday 20th Nov Cambridge Corn Exchange

Sunday 21st Nov Birmingham Symphony Hall

Tuesday 23rd Nov Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Wednesday 24th Nov Bath Forum

Friday 26th Nov London** Eventim Apollo Hammersmith (seated)

Saturday 27th Nov London** Eventim Apollo Hammersmith (standing)

**Please note the Apollo Hammersmith shows will be – one night seated and one night standing.

Tickets are available from: www.myticket.co.uk/artists/marillion

MARILLION are: Steve Hogarth – lead vocals, lyrics, keyboards, percussion, Steve Rothery – electric guitars, acoustic guitars, Pete Trewavas – Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals, , Mark Kelly – keyboards, and Ian Mosley – drums, percussion.

Marillion Announce The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Tour for 2021

Marillion have seen The Light At The End Of The Tunnel! With the long, dark days of Covid-19, hopefully, behind us by then, Marillion will shed some light across the stages of Britain with a 10-date tour in November 2021 culminating in 2 nights at the London Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith. Tickets go on sale from Friday 23rd October 2020.

Steve Hogarth says: “We’re currently writing album number 19 and, as you might imagine, looking forward with every sinew to getting back on the road and playing it to you. Not as much as my wife’s looking forward to getting me out of the house though…

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Tour dates for November 2021 are as follows

Sunday 14th Nov Hull City Hall
Monday 15th Nov Edinburgh Usher Hall
Wednesday 17th Nov Cardiff St David’s Hall
Thursday 18th Nov Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Saturday 20th Nov Cambridge Corn Exchange
Sunday 21st Nov Birmingham Symphony Hall
Tuesday 23rd Nov Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Wednesday 24th Nov Bath Forum
Friday 26th Nov London** Eventim Apollo Hammersmith (seated)
Saturday 27th Nov London** Eventim Apollo Hammersmith (standing)

**Please note the Apollo Hammersmith shows will be – one night seated and one night standing.

Tickets go onsale at Friday 23rd October at 10.00am from: www.myticket.co.uk/artists/marillion

MARILLION are: Steve Hogarth – lead vocals, lyrics, keyboards, percussion, Steve Rothery – electric guitars, acoustic guitars, Pete Trewavas – Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals, , Mark Kelly – keyboards, and Ian Mosley – drums, percussion.

We are extremely fortunate, we had set aside this year to make our 19th studio album and so we saved up a bit and we budgeted for a year on the ground, before this plague broke,” said lead vocalist Steve Hogarth.

2020 has been a terrible year for everyone and Marillion are grateful for the continued support of their family of faithful fans, particularly the wonderful donations from the Couch Convention weekend in September which raised £31,530 for their crew who have been hard hit financially by the pandemic.

Of the success of the weekend, Mark Kelly said: “What a weekend it was! We were totally stunned and knocked out by everyone’s involvement in everything that went on, from Steve Rothery’s late night cocktails to Pete’s Bass Masterclass. Ian’s Drum Q&A and my early morning fun run and all the music, chat and fancy dress in between.

“It was fun for us to be in the audience, too, reading and reacting to all your comments as the shows were streamed. The crew tip-jar was overflowing with your generosity, you raised a substantial sum for our wonderful crew. The money will go a long way to helping them survive a difficult year. Thank you!”

 

Marillion Couch Convention – 4th, 5th, 6th September 2020

Marillion join virtually with their fans, for a weekend of music and togetherness.

This coming weekend, UK Rock legends Marillion will come together with thousands of fans globally, for their first, and in the own words ‘hopefully only’, Marillion Couch Convention.

“We have a rare and beautiful relationship with our fans,” says Steve Hogarth, the band’s singer. “We wanted to do something to let them know that we are with them; find a way to show our appreciation for the support they give to us and more importantly in strange times like these, each other.”

The band will broadcast their three most popular gig films on YouTube across the three nights, with support acts, introductions from the band and even a live Q&A hosted by Prog Magazine editor Jerry Ewing. The band will also be hosting virtual Q&A’s with fans, music masterclasses, a quiz, fan club meetups with band members, and even a run-along with keyboard player Mark Kelly and a cocktail class with guitarist Steve Rothery. There are opportunities to win a virtual photo with the band, virtual coffee with a band member and all sorts of other competitions, including an online dog show and prizes for the best photos from the weekend.

Lucy Jordache, the band’s manager for the last 20 years, says, “When I realised that our 2021 conventions would not be going ahead, I wanted to give our fans something that might help them experience the amazing feeling our conventions famously have. As the COVID 19 crisis deepened, it became more and more important to bring our fans together in a virtual space, where they can feel the love and support from one another and the band.”

All events over the weekend are free. The band have pre-sold merchandise (t-shirts, cushions, wine and beer glasses, banners and even confetti) to help fans get into the spirit of the event, and a rarities auction will take place over the weekend. With tough times being experienced across the globe, Marillion were keen for this to be a free event. However, an online tip jar will be live all weekend, for fans who might want to help out Marillion’s crew who have been hit hardest by the lack of live events.Hogarth adds, “We’ve been completely amazed by the response of our fans to the idea of the Couch Convention and the merchandise we created for it. We sincerely thank them for their continuing love and support and hope to see them out on the road soon.”

Marillion are a British rock band with a successful 40-year history. Their last studio Album F E A R, debuted at number 4 in the UK Album Charts, claiming a top 20 slot in many European countries and charting across the world including the United States.

The band are known for their uniquely close relationship with their fans, and are widely attributed with reinventing the way bands work commercially, including the revolutionary crowdfunding of their 2000 album Anoraknophobia.

Marillion held their first global convention in April 2002. And now play Marillion Weekends all over the world including their bi-annual hiring of Center Parcs in Holland where they play to over 3000 fans from over 50 countries.

Marillion Couch Convention 2020, 4th, 5th & 6th September 2020More information at: https://www.marillionweekend.com/athome/main/whatson.html