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1. The Invisible Man
2. Marbles I
3. You're Gone
4. Angelina
5. Marbles II
6. Don't Hurt Yourself
7. Fantastic Place
8. Marbles III
9. Drilling Holes
10. Marbles IV
11. Neverland
12. Bonus Track: You're Gone (Single Mix)
Track listing - 2CD version Disc 1:
1. The Invisible Man
2. Marbles I
3. Genie
4. Fantastic Place
5. The Only Unforgivable Thing
6. Marbles II
7. Ocean Cloud
Track listing - 2CD version Disc 2:
1. Marbles III
2. The Damage
3. Don't Hurt Yourself
4. You're Gone
5. Angelina
6. Drilling Holes
7. Marbles IV
8. Neverland
With 20 UK Single Chart entries and 14 million in album
sales, 21 years after their debut, Marillion are set to release their
13th album.
The last decade has been unkind to Marillion. Following 1995's Afraid of
Sunlight, their last album to garner a top 40 single, Marillion parted
company with record company EMI. They signed a new deal with Castle, but it
soon became apparent that their new "partners" were only really interested
in exploiting the current fan base. The profile of the band rapidly
diminished, with only core fans being aware of and buying the albums. This
suited Castle as it still guaranteed a certain number of sales, with minimal
promotional effort. A couple of token singles followed, but a combination of
zero promotion, zero airplay, and minimal retail presence ensured that
Marillion's top 40 days were numbered.
After three albums with Castle, Marillion again decided to break away from
their record company. Album sales were decreasing and the band realised that
if they were to survive, they would have to try something radical.
Marillion had latched on, early, to the potential of the Internet for
communicating with their fans. For their next album Anoraknophobia (2001),
they contacted the fans on their e-mail database, and asked them if they
would be willing to buy and pay for the next album, in advance, before a
note had even been recorded. 13,000 orders later, the band had enough money
to pay for the production of the album. This enabled them to not only be
creatively free, with no record company interference, but also to retain
ownership of the music. Ironically, EMI were contracted to handle retail
distribution. For the first time since 1985, album sales went up from the
previous release, with the vast majority of sales coming from retail.
The success of the pre-order campaign encouraged the band that something
even bigger and better could be achieved, and once again offered the next
album for pre-sale, this time at a higher price. The aim was to raise enough
money to fund a worldwide marketing campaign, and hopefully bring the name
Marillion back into the public eye. The fans reward would be a double album,
a 128-page campaign book, and receipt of the album before the official
release date.
The first result of this success was when Marillion went to number 7 in
the UK Top 40 singles charts, without record industry support, or a record
deal, and this success has generated much press coverage. Job done.
The culmination of 3 years of writing and recording, Marbles is quite
possibly the best album they have produced, and for a 13th album, that is
quite an achievement. The retail album is a single CD, and is compiled from
about 60% of the tracks of the full double album. It opens with The
Invisible Man, a 14-minute piece of musical cinema that sees Marillion
marking their territory with startling confidence. It is an intense and
moody piece, that takes its time to get under your skin, but reveals more
with each listen.
Like the best Marillion albums, it works better taken as a whole, rather
than as a collection of individual songs, although, the songs still hold up
well in isolation. The sound is a distillation of the musical
experimentation and styles that the band has been dabbling with in the last
decade. If the last few albums had seemed a little disjointed stylistically,
Marbles by contrast, is cohesive and coherent, and unmistakably Marillion,
yet thoroughly modern. Each of the band members are on top form, and songs
like Fantastic Place are a master class in arrangement, as it builds from
quiet ambience to an uplifting finale. Steve Hogarth's vocal on this track
is the very definition of a vocal performance, as he drags himself from the
near inaudible, mumbled, beginning to the powerfully delivered closing
section. I can think of a few "technically" excellent singers who wouldn't
know subtlety if it hit them in the face. The psychedelic rock of Drilling
Holes continues to impress, the bastard child of The Beatles and Pink
Floyd, retro yet modern.
The weaker tracks include the top-10 single, You're Gone, and the
straightforward rock-pop of Don't Hurt Yourself. Marillion singles have
always seemed to suffer in comparison to the rest of the album, but they are
still as good examples of this type of music that you are likely to hear.
The closing track, Neverland, with the subtly brilliant guitar work of
Steve Rothery and tremendous 'faux' vocal echoes of the stirring closing
section, ranks with the very best that Marillion have produced.
The 2CD version contains four additional tracks, which clock in at about 35
minutes, but they are by no means second best. The retail release is more
obviously tailored to the commercial market. Both versions' running orders
work very well, but for me the double album is the album proper.
Both versions will be available to the public, but the 2CD version is only
available from
Marillion.com
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
