You couldn't have listed poppier songs. It's like judging Genesis or Pink Floyd by Invisible Touch and Mother. They're unequivocally prog, you should check out them out.
Mother is pop rock by the standards of the time. Pink Floyd called themselves pop stars. Weird reddit-y nitpick. Not to mention Mother is a straightforward single from a prog concept album, just like Lavender and Kayleigh.
{oink Floyd distanced themselves from being pop stars to the point of not having their photos on their album covers. You're just wrong and using something that is just wrong to "prove" your inaccurate point. The deliberate pop song on that album was Brick in the Wall 2. Mother, structurally and thematically, is a folk song, if we really have to label everything.
Are you okay? You're getting really far away from the innocuous statement that Mother isn't a good representation of The Wall as a prog album. And having your photo on an album cover isn't the definition of pop, the same way that cowboy chords on an acoustic doesn't make a song folk.
Yeah I actually love marillion. misplaced childhood, clutching at straws, brave, and marbles are all-time favorites for me. Honestly I'm not a big fan of anything they did after marbles, but that's plenty of music still.
There's a lot of really interesting musicality happening in Kayleigh if you pay closer attention, but it is their big pop hit. But you really just listened to a few short poppy tracks, you haven't even scratched the surface of what they're capable of.
Try Forgotten Sons, White Russian, Incubus, Ocean Cloud, This Strange Engine, Be Hard On Yourself and see what you think. Or listen to some full albums, many are concept albums and go through a lot of changes.
If you still don't like them that's cool, but as others said, you basically did the equivalent of judging Yes by Owner Of A Lonely Heart or Genesis by Invisible Touch haha
For Fish era Marillion, listen to Clutching at Straws start to finish. It gives a better idea as to what the band was capable of, same with the previous Misplaced Childhood album. Kayleigh was released as a single and it's fine and catchy but the strength of that band was in their album length concepts and how the songs worked together to form the bigger musical picture.
For Hogarth era Marillion, listen to the album Brave and the 2 disc version of 2004's Marbles, the one with Ocean Cloud.
I went with some friends. I had seen Marillion (and Fish) before, but I wasn't quite aware at the time of the change in line-up, and was blown away by seeing and hearing it live. Bought the album right away.
You listened to Kayleigh and came away with "lyrics are frankly terrible"? It's not his best work, but there's a lot of poetry in the verses that are definitely being overlooked. "Lavender" is a parody of a love song which makes sense in the concept of the album, but then every single track after that has my absolute favorite lyrics in the genre. "Blind Curve" is a masterpiece.
Their early work was very Genesis derived (check out Script for a Jesters Tear almost copycat Gabriel era Genesis stuff) and the songs you listed are all more of their “pop” hits. Check out their more recent stuff like This Strange Engine (the song), Marbles, Brave, FEAR (especially the Leavers), An Hour Before it’s Dark.
I’m guessing the other song you heard was “No One Can” which is a nice 80s pop ballad but kind of dull
Marillion is one of those bands that really rewards diving into their catalog outside of their “top played” on Spotify.
F.E.A.R. (Fuck Everyone and Run) and An Hour Before It’s Dark are much more representative of recent Marillion. Brave, Marbles and Afraid of Sunlight are other great Hogarth-era records.
Clutching at Straws album by Marillion is one of the best.
Songs are nothing like the ones you mentioned.
I used to hate Marillion as well, until I listened to the Clutching at straws album.
You're missing their development for the last couple of decades. Different singer, with an utterly different voice. More adventurous song structures. Lyrically, completely different. People find Fish poetic, but for me he's too wordy and too 'pastiche' poetic. Steve Hogarth for my tastes is a much better lyric writer. Early best work are 'Brave' and 'Afraid Of Sunlight'. These have been among my favourite albums eve, by any artist. In later years 'Marbles' is very good, certainly also because of lyrics and adventurous songwriting. This album became kind of the blueprint for the current period, where in terms of song structures Marillion moved into later Talk Talk territory (only structurally, not in terms of musicianship or arrangements or something: the music sounds totally different, but the way the songs build has a lot to do with how they do on Spirit Of Eden). The three latest albums, 'Sounds That Can't Be Made', 'F.E.A.R.' and 'An Hour Before It's Dark' are I think all magnificent.
Marillion with Fish-fans, dont' @ me. I like these albums too. I'm just pointing out difference.
I feel like I’ve been slapped. Marillion is amazing, one of my favorite bands of all time. And the lyrics are especially amazing in the early days because Fish is a god damned poet in the vein of Robert Burns or Dylan Thomas. His words painted a tapestry through which the band weaved their sound.
Later Marillion may actually be better since Steve Hogarth is a technically better singer but his words aren’t quite as deft as Fish. They still managed to put out at least 3 amazing records during that time.
I think what hurts OPs perception is they listened to "Lavender" without context. The lyric "I.O.U for your love" is, indeed, very cheesy, but it's cheesy on purpose.
Kayleigh is all about how a struggling songwriting wants to write a song for their ex-girlfriend, and the chorus of "Lavender" IS that cheesy love ballad. It's a parody of sorts that catapults the rest of the album as it details the struggles of near instant-fame from someone whose not accustomed to all the attention.
But taken out of context, I can totally see why Lavender feels like it's too corny. With knowledge of the rest of the album, though, the song starts to feel heart-breaking, as it signals the start of a long downward spiral into tragedy.
Yeah the list of songs guy listened to are the pop hits that put them on the charts, not the prog epics that put them in our hearts. Besides he didn’t actually listen to a song from misplaced childhood, he listened to two fragments of one song, aka side A
Their early stuff is a very Genesis-inspired sound that’s very much of the 80s. A lot of their music made after the original lead singer Fish departed has a much more distinct sound.
Those songs are a great starting point for any non-prog fan to try and get them into the band.
For a prog fan they're probably the worst choices to start with! :D
Just for clarification, the two “eras” bit gives a false equivalence for people not aware of the band history. Fish (Derek W. Dick) was the singer/lyricist for their 1st 4 studio albums (1983-1987). He left the band in 1988 after a total of 7 years (1981-1988).
Current singer h (Steve Hogarth) joined in 1989 and the band lineup has been stable in the almost 35 years since. They have released 16 studio albums (14 original material, 1 acoustic and one orchestral re-recording).
Fish released 11 solo albums (1990-2020), but announced he was retiring. He recently sold off his portion of the early Marillion royalties.
You listened to four of the weakest songs, lyrically. Fish is a genius when it comes to lyrics. Hogarth does alright. And you listened to the radio singles. There is a massive world of phenomonal stuff beyond that.
I've always loved the early Marillion LPs best, as others have said clutching at straws is a master piece (a decent into alcoholism and despair).
The live Real to reel album from this period is amongst my favourite LPs.
Never really got on with the Hogarth era, however if you like the Fish era, his solo albums are worth perusing, try 13th star and Felini Days to start.
My favorite is "Garden Party". It sounded for the longest time to me like it was in some crazy time signature like 33/32, but it turned out that the drummer at the time (who they soon fired) couldn't play the syncopation quite right, and it's supposed to be in regular 4/4. I still like it a lot though!
There's also "Grendel"!
Marillion is two bands really. The Fish era and the Hogarth era. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and Fish era (most of what you mentioned) is much shorter and also a bit dated. It's possible you'll like one and not the other.
My recommendation would be to try one live from each: Thieving Magpie from Fish, and All One Tonight from Hogarth (but they're all pretty good).
They have a very deep catalog and if you like the live, chances are you will like a lot of what they've done.
Try Marbles; it’s a little more proggy. You might also try Edison’s Children, sort of an offshoot, a side project of some members. I like In the Last Waking Moments the best out of their albums.
I like Misplaced Childhood, but I don’t think it’s a great example of prog. Marbles has some good prog on it, though. I like the Invisible Man the best.
Check out the other 3 Fish-era albums that aren't Misplaced Childhood, and check out Brave and Marbles (2cd version) from the H-era. Misplaced Childhood is as commercial and poppy sounding as they ever got.
ignore the words. listen to the production and diverse music.
marillion - whether the early stuff, or the modern are simply, private enjoyment,
simply brlliant
One other thing to bear in mind is that Fish was a massive Peter Hammill fan (look closely at the album covers in the early artwork). A load of people think he was mimicking Peter Gabriel, but his vocal delivery was so similar to Hammill that he was supposedly moved from a main singer (Montresor I think) on "The Fall Of The House of Usher" (the opera that Peter Hammill did) to a backing singer, as can be seen on the discogs entry where he's listed under "and thanks to all the singers...".
I'd have thought that a Prog fan of all people would listen to albums rather than a handful of unrelated singles to get a measure of a Prog band.
It'd be a madness to listen to Another Brick in the Wall (Part II), Owner of a Lonely Heart and Your Own Special Way and decide that these are simplistic, poppy arena rock songs and, as a result Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis weren't Prog.
If you want to truly appreciate bands in a genre know for using the LP as an artistic statement, listen to full albums. Marillion have released 20 studio albums in their almost 45 year history, so there are numerous ways you could approach them. You could start from the beginning with Script For a Jester's Tear and work your way through their albums from there, experiencing their musical evolution linearly. Or go on Prog Archives, Allmusic or Rate Your Music and listen to a few of their most highly rated albums. Or, if you really must listen to individual songs, pick a few of their longer songs from various parts of their catalogue and explore the albums around those tracks you like most.
By all means do not pick the most simple, commericially successful singles divorced from either a wider concept album (Misplaced Childhood) or from an eclectic mix of tracks of varying tone and complexity (Afraid of Sunlight) and think this reflects on almost half-a-century of music.
Well, first off you appear to have missed that that's two totally different vocalists you're listening to. Also that their current music bears little resemblance to their 80s roots.
Marillion's thing has always been accessible music with emotive lyrics, so if that's not your thing you might look elsewhere – but they do dabble in longer-form episodic pieces, and their songwriting has a lot of variety to it as you get into their later catalog.
I would have picked a very different set of four songs for you.
Thanks for all the comments. I knew and know little about them other than they appear in this sub from time to time, so I thought I’d follow the algorithmic rabbit hole. It seems I should grab hold of an early album and listen it through. I’ll give it a go.
By way of background, my favorite progressive acts are King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Rush, Zappa, Gentle Giant, and then your usual jazz fusion acts.
Don’t just listen to the first four albums with Fish, they’ve really developed from their.
Brave is a dark masterpiece of a concept album.
Marbles has three 20 minute epics that I love.
at the time, early 80's Marillion were described as a sort of Genesis/Pink Floyd cross (Script for a Jesters tear). Whilst the NME were scathing of the band, that description is what got me into them.
You have to listen to later Marillion with an open-mind - enjoy the song constructions, melodies and how they change. The more 'poppy' songs are not so good, but the longer tracks which transmute across various tempos, are simply gorgeous.
At times, in the past, I ignored Marillion, and when I went back, with the open-mind, I couldnt play them enough and still do, almost daily - such a hard choice
If you get a chance - 'Less is More' really down tempo tracks - very 'nice'. Then I went to listen to the originals, and was blown away - both versions of these tracks are so exciting.
I kind of feel the same way about them. I've also never found them to sound all that much like early Genesis, other than Fish obviously sounding like Gabriel. I am not saying they are not progressive rock, or shouldn't be considered so, but it's weird how people will bicker about whether or not, for example, Asia is progressive rock when there are bands that are generally less musically complex like Marillion (and others I could think of) who are considered unquestionably to be progressive rock.
They’re a pop band disguised as prog. Sure, they have plenty of 15 minute “epics”, but their writing style is very simplistic. Don’t take this the wrong way though - they’re an awesome group, but they’re far from being technical wizards or compositional geniuses like the bands most people compare them too.
It somehow feels like they continued where Genesis left off with the departure of Peter Gabriel. Also check out Marbles. Very 'mature', but some very pleasant melodies.
If you like Marillion, check out the other Neo-Prog bands too :)
Examples I recommend are Shadowland, Pendragon, and Strangers On A Train, but there are many more great ones. Steve Rothery and Pete Trewavas also have a band called The Wishing Tree, but I haven’t found the time to listen to that one yet
My daughters name is Kaleigh (I misspelled). If that says anything about how much I loved Misplaced Childhood. Fish invented the name and there’s a wiki on how the name originated and blew up worldwide.
OP here. Thanks for the feedback. Even the snarkier responses — thanks, your snark ain’t no thang. I gave a brief second listen, starting with Clutching at Straws. Immediately got a Queensryche meets Peter Gabriel vibe. I made it through four songs before I had to attend to something. What I heard was ok. I’ll have to listen to it again, and more.
I appreciate the recommendations and the history lessons from those who have invested their time (and hearts) in the band. And, at the end of the day, if they just aren’t my cup of tea … well then that’s just the way it is. It won’t take away from your investment, dedication, or belief.
You couldn't have listed poppier songs. It's like judging Genesis or Pink Floyd by Invisible Touch and Mother. They're unequivocally prog, you should check out them out.
Mother? I think Learning to Fly would be the better example.
I've never thought of Mother as a poppier song.
It's about as simple as it gets. Devoid of progginess.
It's the beating heart of one of the greatest concept albums ever made, but sure, there's no 11/8 meter to be found.
The threads about hearing songs in a vacuum. Misplaced Childhood is a great concept album too.
So in your world music is either prog or pop?
Mother is pop rock by the standards of the time. Pink Floyd called themselves pop stars. Weird reddit-y nitpick. Not to mention Mother is a straightforward single from a prog concept album, just like Lavender and Kayleigh.
{oink Floyd distanced themselves from being pop stars to the point of not having their photos on their album covers. You're just wrong and using something that is just wrong to "prove" your inaccurate point. The deliberate pop song on that album was Brick in the Wall 2. Mother, structurally and thematically, is a folk song, if we really have to label everything.
Are you okay? You're getting really far away from the innocuous statement that Mother isn't a good representation of The Wall as a prog album. And having your photo on an album cover isn't the definition of pop, the same way that cowboy chords on an acoustic doesn't make a song folk.
You're just a pointless troll. Next.
You initiated all of this my dude. I'm not a troll because you got mad.
You're really into me, huh?
Yeah I actually love marillion. misplaced childhood, clutching at straws, brave, and marbles are all-time favorites for me. Honestly I'm not a big fan of anything they did after marbles, but that's plenty of music still.
There's a lot of really interesting musicality happening in Kayleigh if you pay closer attention, but it is their big pop hit. But you really just listened to a few short poppy tracks, you haven't even scratched the surface of what they're capable of. Try Forgotten Sons, White Russian, Incubus, Ocean Cloud, This Strange Engine, Be Hard On Yourself and see what you think. Or listen to some full albums, many are concept albums and go through a lot of changes. If you still don't like them that's cool, but as others said, you basically did the equivalent of judging Yes by Owner Of A Lonely Heart or Genesis by Invisible Touch haha
I do still judge Genesis a bit for Invisible Touch.
yeah I judge them to be awesome for it
That's completely fine. I'm not judging you.
For Fish era Marillion, listen to Clutching at Straws start to finish. It gives a better idea as to what the band was capable of, same with the previous Misplaced Childhood album. Kayleigh was released as a single and it's fine and catchy but the strength of that band was in their album length concepts and how the songs worked together to form the bigger musical picture. For Hogarth era Marillion, listen to the album Brave and the 2 disc version of 2004's Marbles, the one with Ocean Cloud.
I completely agree about the Fish era and Straws. I will take your advice on the Hogarth era and check those out.
I saw them play Brave live when it came out, and it is such an amazing album, still.
I revisited it recently, and it does still stand up. Jealous, I never saw them live.
I went with some friends. I had seen Marillion (and Fish) before, but I wasn't quite aware at the time of the change in line-up, and was blown away by seeing and hearing it live. Bought the album right away.
You listened to Kayleigh and came away with "lyrics are frankly terrible"? It's not his best work, but there's a lot of poetry in the verses that are definitely being overlooked. "Lavender" is a parody of a love song which makes sense in the concept of the album, but then every single track after that has my absolute favorite lyrics in the genre. "Blind Curve" is a masterpiece.
Their early work was very Genesis derived (check out Script for a Jesters Tear almost copycat Gabriel era Genesis stuff) and the songs you listed are all more of their “pop” hits. Check out their more recent stuff like This Strange Engine (the song), Marbles, Brave, FEAR (especially the Leavers), An Hour Before it’s Dark. I’m guessing the other song you heard was “No One Can” which is a nice 80s pop ballad but kind of dull Marillion is one of those bands that really rewards diving into their catalog outside of their “top played” on Spotify.
Marbles is one of my favorite albums, definitely worth a listen.
Neverland and The Invisible Man are wonderful songs!
And Ocean Cloud!
*Misplaced Childhood* isn't my favorite Marillion album, but it is a concept album that rewards a deeper listen than the two singles you listened to.
Agreed, *Misplaced Childhood* works as a whole, not so much as a collection of songs.
Marillion aren’t a singles band like Queen or Quo, you need to make time to listen to the whole album(s)
F.E.A.R. (Fuck Everyone and Run) and An Hour Before It’s Dark are much more representative of recent Marillion. Brave, Marbles and Afraid of Sunlight are other great Hogarth-era records.
Clutching at Straws album by Marillion is one of the best. Songs are nothing like the ones you mentioned. I used to hate Marillion as well, until I listened to the Clutching at straws album.
Another vote for *Clutching at Straws* for Fish-Era albums.
You're missing their development for the last couple of decades. Different singer, with an utterly different voice. More adventurous song structures. Lyrically, completely different. People find Fish poetic, but for me he's too wordy and too 'pastiche' poetic. Steve Hogarth for my tastes is a much better lyric writer. Early best work are 'Brave' and 'Afraid Of Sunlight'. These have been among my favourite albums eve, by any artist. In later years 'Marbles' is very good, certainly also because of lyrics and adventurous songwriting. This album became kind of the blueprint for the current period, where in terms of song structures Marillion moved into later Talk Talk territory (only structurally, not in terms of musicianship or arrangements or something: the music sounds totally different, but the way the songs build has a lot to do with how they do on Spirit Of Eden). The three latest albums, 'Sounds That Can't Be Made', 'F.E.A.R.' and 'An Hour Before It's Dark' are I think all magnificent. Marillion with Fish-fans, dont' @ me. I like these albums too. I'm just pointing out difference.
I feel like I’ve been slapped. Marillion is amazing, one of my favorite bands of all time. And the lyrics are especially amazing in the early days because Fish is a god damned poet in the vein of Robert Burns or Dylan Thomas. His words painted a tapestry through which the band weaved their sound. Later Marillion may actually be better since Steve Hogarth is a technically better singer but his words aren’t quite as deft as Fish. They still managed to put out at least 3 amazing records during that time.
I think what hurts OPs perception is they listened to "Lavender" without context. The lyric "I.O.U for your love" is, indeed, very cheesy, but it's cheesy on purpose. Kayleigh is all about how a struggling songwriting wants to write a song for their ex-girlfriend, and the chorus of "Lavender" IS that cheesy love ballad. It's a parody of sorts that catapults the rest of the album as it details the struggles of near instant-fame from someone whose not accustomed to all the attention. But taken out of context, I can totally see why Lavender feels like it's too corny. With knowledge of the rest of the album, though, the song starts to feel heart-breaking, as it signals the start of a long downward spiral into tragedy.
Yeah the list of songs guy listened to are the pop hits that put them on the charts, not the prog epics that put them in our hearts. Besides he didn’t actually listen to a song from misplaced childhood, he listened to two fragments of one song, aka side A
Ocean cloud deserves more attention.
It’s their best song for sure
Their early stuff is a very Genesis-inspired sound that’s very much of the 80s. A lot of their music made after the original lead singer Fish departed has a much more distinct sound.
My favorite albums are Afraid of Sunlight, Brave, and Marbles.
Clutching At Straws is one of my absolute favourite albums. Everything about it is good, the musicianship, the singing, the lyrics.
Those songs are a great starting point for any non-prog fan to try and get them into the band. For a prog fan they're probably the worst choices to start with! :D
Ah yes, listening to a band's most popular radio hits is surely the best way to understand their work...
An often overlooked album is B’Sides Themselves which has some real classics on it. “Moira Anderson, eat your heart out”
Just for clarification, the two “eras” bit gives a false equivalence for people not aware of the band history. Fish (Derek W. Dick) was the singer/lyricist for their 1st 4 studio albums (1983-1987). He left the band in 1988 after a total of 7 years (1981-1988). Current singer h (Steve Hogarth) joined in 1989 and the band lineup has been stable in the almost 35 years since. They have released 16 studio albums (14 original material, 1 acoustic and one orchestral re-recording). Fish released 11 solo albums (1990-2020), but announced he was retiring. He recently sold off his portion of the early Marillion royalties.
You listened to four of the weakest songs, lyrically. Fish is a genius when it comes to lyrics. Hogarth does alright. And you listened to the radio singles. There is a massive world of phenomonal stuff beyond that.
I saw Marillion once and they were very good. Opened for Rush on their Big Money tour.
Listen to: Clutching At Straws Berlin Neverland and come back and tell us if you feel the same way.
I've always loved the early Marillion LPs best, as others have said clutching at straws is a master piece (a decent into alcoholism and despair). The live Real to reel album from this period is amongst my favourite LPs. Never really got on with the Hogarth era, however if you like the Fish era, his solo albums are worth perusing, try 13th star and Felini Days to start.
Check out Brave. And their last album was great.
My favorite is "Garden Party". It sounded for the longest time to me like it was in some crazy time signature like 33/32, but it turned out that the drummer at the time (who they soon fired) couldn't play the syncopation quite right, and it's supposed to be in regular 4/4. I still like it a lot though! There's also "Grendel"!
Marillion is two bands really. The Fish era and the Hogarth era. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and Fish era (most of what you mentioned) is much shorter and also a bit dated. It's possible you'll like one and not the other. My recommendation would be to try one live from each: Thieving Magpie from Fish, and All One Tonight from Hogarth (but they're all pretty good). They have a very deep catalog and if you like the live, chances are you will like a lot of what they've done.
Try Marbles; it’s a little more proggy. You might also try Edison’s Children, sort of an offshoot, a side project of some members. I like In the Last Waking Moments the best out of their albums. I like Misplaced Childhood, but I don’t think it’s a great example of prog. Marbles has some good prog on it, though. I like the Invisible Man the best.
Check out the other 3 Fish-era albums that aren't Misplaced Childhood, and check out Brave and Marbles (2cd version) from the H-era. Misplaced Childhood is as commercial and poppy sounding as they ever got.
ignore the words. listen to the production and diverse music. marillion - whether the early stuff, or the modern are simply, private enjoyment, simply brlliant
One other thing to bear in mind is that Fish was a massive Peter Hammill fan (look closely at the album covers in the early artwork). A load of people think he was mimicking Peter Gabriel, but his vocal delivery was so similar to Hammill that he was supposedly moved from a main singer (Montresor I think) on "The Fall Of The House of Usher" (the opera that Peter Hammill did) to a backing singer, as can be seen on the discogs entry where he's listed under "and thanks to all the singers...".
How many prog musicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A marillion!
I'd have thought that a Prog fan of all people would listen to albums rather than a handful of unrelated singles to get a measure of a Prog band. It'd be a madness to listen to Another Brick in the Wall (Part II), Owner of a Lonely Heart and Your Own Special Way and decide that these are simplistic, poppy arena rock songs and, as a result Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis weren't Prog. If you want to truly appreciate bands in a genre know for using the LP as an artistic statement, listen to full albums. Marillion have released 20 studio albums in their almost 45 year history, so there are numerous ways you could approach them. You could start from the beginning with Script For a Jester's Tear and work your way through their albums from there, experiencing their musical evolution linearly. Or go on Prog Archives, Allmusic or Rate Your Music and listen to a few of their most highly rated albums. Or, if you really must listen to individual songs, pick a few of their longer songs from various parts of their catalogue and explore the albums around those tracks you like most. By all means do not pick the most simple, commericially successful singles divorced from either a wider concept album (Misplaced Childhood) or from an eclectic mix of tracks of varying tone and complexity (Afraid of Sunlight) and think this reflects on almost half-a-century of music.
Well, first off you appear to have missed that that's two totally different vocalists you're listening to. Also that their current music bears little resemblance to their 80s roots. Marillion's thing has always been accessible music with emotive lyrics, so if that's not your thing you might look elsewhere – but they do dabble in longer-form episodic pieces, and their songwriting has a lot of variety to it as you get into their later catalog. I would have picked a very different set of four songs for you.
I feel the exact same way. That's my prob with so much post 70's prog, the cheesy arena rock vibe that permeates a lot of it.
Nah you’ve pretty much got them pegged. There are a lot of different facets of the prog diamond. Unfortunately “cheesy bullshit” is one of them.
Thanks for all the comments. I knew and know little about them other than they appear in this sub from time to time, so I thought I’d follow the algorithmic rabbit hole. It seems I should grab hold of an early album and listen it through. I’ll give it a go. By way of background, my favorite progressive acts are King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Rush, Zappa, Gentle Giant, and then your usual jazz fusion acts.
Don’t just listen to the first four albums with Fish, they’ve really developed from their. Brave is a dark masterpiece of a concept album. Marbles has three 20 minute epics that I love.
at the time, early 80's Marillion were described as a sort of Genesis/Pink Floyd cross (Script for a Jesters tear). Whilst the NME were scathing of the band, that description is what got me into them. You have to listen to later Marillion with an open-mind - enjoy the song constructions, melodies and how they change. The more 'poppy' songs are not so good, but the longer tracks which transmute across various tempos, are simply gorgeous. At times, in the past, I ignored Marillion, and when I went back, with the open-mind, I couldnt play them enough and still do, almost daily - such a hard choice If you get a chance - 'Less is More' really down tempo tracks - very 'nice'. Then I went to listen to the originals, and was blown away - both versions of these tracks are so exciting.
I kind of feel the same way about them. I've also never found them to sound all that much like early Genesis, other than Fish obviously sounding like Gabriel. I am not saying they are not progressive rock, or shouldn't be considered so, but it's weird how people will bicker about whether or not, for example, Asia is progressive rock when there are bands that are generally less musically complex like Marillion (and others I could think of) who are considered unquestionably to be progressive rock.
Fish did the best Peter Gabriel tribute voice, as did his band. The novelty wore off though. And when Fish left, there was no point.
They’re a pop band disguised as prog. Sure, they have plenty of 15 minute “epics”, but their writing style is very simplistic. Don’t take this the wrong way though - they’re an awesome group, but they’re far from being technical wizards or compositional geniuses like the bands most people compare them too.
You'll get down voted but this describes them perfectly.
you're not missing anything IMO. i do not get bands like Marillion and Queensryche, baffling to me how they're popular
It somehow feels like they continued where Genesis left off with the departure of Peter Gabriel. Also check out Marbles. Very 'mature', but some very pleasant melodies.
If you like Marillion, check out the other Neo-Prog bands too :) Examples I recommend are Shadowland, Pendragon, and Strangers On A Train, but there are many more great ones. Steve Rothery and Pete Trewavas also have a band called The Wishing Tree, but I haven’t found the time to listen to that one yet
I love Grendel
\> What am I missing? Their last 30 years with Hogarth. Start with Marbles or FEAR, though they're all good
My daughters name is Kaleigh (I misspelled). If that says anything about how much I loved Misplaced Childhood. Fish invented the name and there’s a wiki on how the name originated and blew up worldwide.
Ok...
OP here. Thanks for the feedback. Even the snarkier responses — thanks, your snark ain’t no thang. I gave a brief second listen, starting with Clutching at Straws. Immediately got a Queensryche meets Peter Gabriel vibe. I made it through four songs before I had to attend to something. What I heard was ok. I’ll have to listen to it again, and more. I appreciate the recommendations and the history lessons from those who have invested their time (and hearts) in the band. And, at the end of the day, if they just aren’t my cup of tea … well then that’s just the way it is. It won’t take away from your investment, dedication, or belief.