earMUSIC [Release date 27.11.20]
Thirty years in the making… well, ok, thirty years in the planning, Marillion’s much sought after keyboard player, Mark Kelly at last releases his “solo” album, the appropriately titled “Marathon”.
He’s enlisted the help of a number of ace musicians… guitarists Pete Woods and John Cordy; drummer Henry Rogers, and nephew Conal Kelly on bass. The inspired decision was bringing in Oliver M Smith on vocals. He treats each song’s lyrics (written by the band’s Keith Reid equivalent, Guy Vickers) with real respect, subtly changing his voice’s tone and timbre to suit the mood. It’s very impressive.
Together, they assembled the constituent parts in Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio.
The disappearance of world famous pilot Amelia Erhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, in 1927, is one of the album’s focal points. ‘Amelia’ is a song in 3 parts. Part 1, ‘Shoreline’, an instrumental, gives us a sense of place. Part 2, ‘Whistling at The Sea’ Kelly goes on to ponder the tenuous hold we have on life, and in Part 3, the focus moves forward, to the speculation that a find of buried bones, on a small Pacific island, had given up the brave adventurer’s last resting place.
This opening suite, despite being something less than epic, celebrates the power of grown up rock music, and grown up themes. It’s sharply observant, full of humanity, illuminated by insights on life in general. And yes, it has some excellent tunes.
And the subject matter, knitted together by eloquent musicianship and beautifully blended arrangements, is compelling… a natural union of words and music, giving birth to some plangent progressive rock.
Like his parent band, Kelly doesn’t neglect to provide accessible entry points, ‘When I Fell’ is a graceful, elegantly structured ballad, leaning gently but firmly into a more commercial sound. ‘Puppets’ again strikes that balance between artistry and accessibility. The song’s subtle collision of pop’s and prog’s musical values provides some of Kelly’s most interesting material.
The futuristic, twenty minute, 4 part suite, ‘Twenty Fifty One’ closes the album. Kelly switches his keyboards into Space Odyssey mode, and everybody else follows suit.
The instrumental passages are a treat. And again, Oliver M Smith’s expressive voice (inhabited by the ghost of Peter Gabriel) acts as our guide, carefully capturing the sense of wonder that sparks our imagination, as humanity reluctantly beats a path to the stars. ****
Review by Brian McGowan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
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