I have said it a million times before and I will repeat it until everyone agrees: if there is one band that truly deserves to be called "progressive" it has to be Marillion. Especially since the arrival of Steve Hogarth the band has progressed and fused all kinds of styles in order to create a new adventure time after time. When the band released Anoraknophobia I was enormously disappointed, yet again, by the attitude in the media and also by the way fans approached this magnificent album. Also live you would encounter fans that were disappointed because they didn't play this and they didn't play that. For god's sake, Marillion played far more interesting music than any of the upcoming bands that are plastered on the cover of every issue of Q magazine. So what is the reason why these guys no longer get a chance? Because they're not so young anymore? Bollocks! Because they don't have a sense for fashion? Bollocks, as you'll be the coolest one around when you visit your friends sporting that blitz anorak! Because the music is no good? Triple bollocks, as their music has never been so good! Probably the band thinks the same hence the fact that they decided to release a live recording from their latest tour. Recorded in Manchester and London in 2001, half of this disc is filled with material from Anoraknophobia. The rest contains highlights from Afraid Of Sunlight, Brave, Holidays In Eden and Season's End. So no material from Marillion.com, no songs from Radiation and no stuff from This Strange Engine, all of which nevertheless contain some wonderful songs as well. The band opens strongly with the fierce, uptempo "Seperated Out" which shows the band focusing on a total sound as opposed to a collection of solos. This is as contemporary as you can get and the audience loves it! Hogarth sings with a lot of emotion and power throughout the entire set, which sounds very "now." Just listen to "Quartz" with its ingenious beat and great bass playing that illustrates what great hooks Rothery and Co. come up with these days. As said before, the sound of the various instruments blend together ever so well in order to create wonderful tapestries of sounds. Just take the magnificent "Out Of This World" as an example, where Mark Kelly's keyboards add extra dimensions to the whole rather than take away the attention by including meaningless solos! I also need to mention the great enthusiasm of the crowd which acts like the sixth Marillion member here. It's as if you're attending an important soccer game and the supporters are helping their team to win. And those supporters dance along on the waves of the rhythmic "Between You And Me." And then it's time to take your loved one as close as you can and enjoy the beauty of "The Great Escape." Probably one of the most "daring" songs is "If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill." I know from the beginning that a lot of people thought this was the worst song on Anoraknophobia but the song started to grow on them each time they heard it, making it one of their favourites in the end. Only one or two chords are necessary before the crowd knows it will be treated to yet another stunning version of "Easter" including one of the most mindblowing of guitar solos ever to emerge from an electric guitar! The audience sings every single word of the song whilst the acoustic opening holds a lot of that Clannad magic. But then, as said before, there's that superb guitar solo from Rothery which simply has to be placed amongst the top five guitar solos of all time in my book. A fantastic ending to a great live album, proving for the upteenth time that Marillion should be filling stadiums and having their faces on the covers of the world's top magazines. Instead call yourself lucky it hasn't happened so you can enjoy this band in all its glory in the comfort of a cosy venue enjoying their music even more! Maybe thanks to Pete Trewavas' stint with Transatlantic more young people have discovered Marillion which can't be a bad thing altogether. The "commercial" version of this album contains a single disc and is available all over the world through EMI. However there is also a 2CD set which you can only obtain through the band's fanclub, the Racket Club. Tracklisting for the second disk can be found at www.marillion.com/discog/anoraklive/index.html where you can also find details as to how you can purchase it. Reviewed by: John 'Bobo' Bollenberg |
