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Photo: David Randall
Self sufficient free spirits who keep getting better, and in spite of “Sugar Mice”…
Marillion’s entry into our hallowed portal coincides with the period that they have been self-sufficient. By 1998 ostracised by the likes of EMI they flipped the situation on its head and with ‘Anoraknophobia’ (2001) achieved their first truly crowd-funded release. This trend continued through the millennium.
By 2003 there was no mucking around with the whys and wherefores of Steve Hogarth v. Fish. He was firmly established and for the most part the band never really looked back. A feature of this period is that, in the live format, the band had gradually divested themselves of the Fish-era material.
Ultimately it was left to founder member Steve Rothery to dig deep into their earlier back catalogue during his own live solo work. And whilst the likes of ‘Sugar Mice’ creeps in fairly regularly (and others that satiate the faithful at the band’s legendary “weekends”) for the most part their conventional tours focus on the Hogarth era. And rightly so.
Photo: David Randall
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Believe it or not, I was accepted by the hardcore following almost immediately during the very first tour we made together. The fans made their mind up by the third song in the show each night and nobody has ever really given me a hard time about it, much to my surprise. I STILL get journalists asking me about it though even after 15 years and 9 albums. I guess I always will. Steve Hogarth, 2004 |
The band are careful not to repeat themselves in terms of album content but maintain a superior consistency of output and they rarely allow themselves moments of indulgence.
As Steve Hogarth told David Randall in 2004: “It is our nature to react to each album we have made by attempting something very different from it.”
Our first review appeared in 2004 when Jason Ritchie remembered his last outing to see the band was in fact the last tour with Fish in 1988. Jason noted that there were still a few hecklers asking for ‘Grendel’.
Finally got to see Steve Hogarth in the live arena and he doesn’t disappoint and not a single track from the days when certain large Scotsman fronted the band – just shows how well the band have adapted and moved on, taking the fans with them.
In 2004 two DVDs were released that effectively showed the band “before” and “after”. ‘Brave’ reflected the band’s 1994 concept piece whilst ‘Live At Loreley’ was late-period Fish era, recorded in 1987.
We asked, reviewing the 2-CD ‘Marbles’ in 2004, “So have Marillion finally lost their “marbles” or have they put the balls back firmly in their own court?” It would seem the latter as they produced their most commercial album since ‘Anoraknophobia’.
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‘Marbles’ could have been overblown, self-indulgent, and slightly irrelevant. What emerges (and, rather splendidly indeed, from the sumptuous ‘Campaign Edition’ box if your funds can stretch to it) is easily one of their strongest offerings and may just put them back where they belong, in front of a wider, more receptive audience. Album review (Marbles, 2004) |
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We are self-sufficient. So we don’t have any constraints on our music at all. We write, record and play exactly what excites us and we have no rules. We don’t even make this music for our fans. We make it for ourselves. Steve Hogarth, 2004 |
Jason Ritchie reviewed the live DVD from the ‘Marbles’ tour and decreed: “For fans pretty indispensable and just right for a perfect Christmas present. For lapsed fans like myself, ‘Marbles’ heralds a return to form for the band…”
The band played Guilfest in July 2005 when Nick Edwards wrote:
“”Play Grendel!” shouted the man behind me, almost as soon as ‘Los Marillos’ (as the band seem to have taken to calling themselves in fan-club updates) hit the stage.
“They’ve only got 40 minutes!” came the instant response, thus ending that particular long-time fan’s dreams of hearing one of the lengthy epics from the old days.”
David Randall chatted to Steve Hogarth in March 2007.
2007′s ‘Somewhere Else’ is sometimes overlooked in the band’s post-2000 output but David Randall thought it was a return to form and markedly different to its predecessor.
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This might not be Marillion as we know them. There’s not a ‘Kayleigh’ or ‘Built In Bastard Radar’ within ear-shot. But it may just be their best album yet. Album review (Somewhere Else, 2007) |
Reviewing their gig in Liverpool, in June 2007, Randall noted that they mixed up the setlist each night and the songs from the new album were mingled with complementary tunes from the first two Hogarth-era albums.
Photo: Lee Millward
On the same tour Jason Ritchie exclaimed “I liked ‘Marbles’ and ‘Anoraknophobia’ but bar these their albums since ‘Afraid Of Sunlight’ did little for me. What a great set though with the new single ‘Thank You Whoever You Are’, the rather excellent ‘Between You And Me’ (this really comes alive on stage) and ‘You’re Gone’.”
Jason’s thoughts might well chime with others who lost their way with the band in the 1990s but re-connected with ‘Marbles’ and stayed with the band ever since.
Photo: Ian Pollard
In November 2007 our reviewer Ian Pollard saw the band at Manchester Academy. “Having neglected the band for almost 2 decades, I am unsure what to expect from them. Clearly, I have been missing out on a band that are full of confidence, with a large dedicated following, enjoy playing together, and are true masters of their craft.” Ian was further impressed when he saw Hogarth playing a cricket bat.
Rounding out this year, the band released a DVD ‘Somewhere In London‘ and we commented that the band was back in favour amongst reviewers with best band and album nominations in our end of year poll.
Photo: Ian Pollard
Reviewing the band’s next album ‘Happiness Is The Road’ (2008) it seems that David Randall was having a similar love-hate relationship that Jason had experienced in the 1990s. “The band always aim to deliver an album that moves them on in terms of what went before. Whilst this adds an element of surprise, the constant need for reinvention can be slightly unnerving for the listener.” What didn’t help matters was that the band actually leaked the album to a fileshare site before official release.
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Happiness Is The Road? An interesting diversion, maybe, but – after that band-approved free fileshare – some may feel more led up the garden path. Album review (Happiness Is The Road, 2008) |
The band headlined Cambridge Rock Festival in July 2008 when Andy Lock enthused: ” it becomes for me a perfect festival set turning into a Best of Marillion: the Steve Hogarth years collection with many of the tracks released as singles.”
Photo: Ian Pollard
David Randall pontificated on the whys and wherefores of prog rock and our modern attention span when reviewing the band’s next album ‘Less Is More’:
The truth is we have less time these days to luxuriate in extended melodic prog, as our music is consumed largely via computer, the ubiquitous shuffle play, and invariably not at one sitting. In essence ‘Happiness’ was an album crying out to be appreciated on a reasonably priced hi-fi system, at length through headphones in a darkened room, but probably not via a PC sub-woofer system or an iPod.
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With the arrangements pared back, the album once again highlights Steve Hogarth’s fine vocals and the band’s effortless musicianship. The title of course sums up the approach where – deconstructed – the songs take on a whole new texture and reveal hidden depths. **** David Randall Album review (Less Is More, 2009) |
Andy Lock then reviewed the band’s “weekend” gig in the Netherlands in March and then at his local venue The Assembly in Leamington (November 2009) following the release of their stripped down album ‘Less Is More’ when he wrote: “The new song treatments worked very well and as usual with this band the musicianship and performance was just about perfect…”
In 2010 Marillion played a warm-up show at the same venue prior to their appearance at the inaugural High Voltage event in London and Andy also reviewed their “Weekend” in August 2011.
At these annual events, held across Europe mainly but sometimes further afield, the band brings together the faithful, with different sets each night and perhaps playing an entire album.
At this event that album was ‘Holidays In Eden’ and Andy commented “not universally adored by the Marillion family as has a light pop feel at times (one of my favourites though).”
The following day saw a “A – Z run through of Marillion tracks”, so that was at least 24 songs as they improvised X and Z.
2010 saw the release of ‘The Official Bootleg Box Set Vol.2‘ which concentrated on the early Hogarth era.
In 2011 Darius Drewe Shimon enthused about the band’s gig at The Forum in London: “As Townshend is to Daltrey, as Barre is to Anderson, so Rothery is to Hogarth: the perfect dynamic pairing of frontman and axeman both with a ‘cry’ in their sound and still, after all these years, rage in their insides.” He continued:
Truly, they are one of the great British rock bands, as good as Floyd, Genesis, The Who or anyone they ever took inspiration from – The Blue Nile being another, if less obvious, name that springs to mind at intervals – the only unfortunate factor being that outside of their immediate and fanatical fan base (many of whom populate this sold out theatre) nobody knows it.
Forever besmirched by a dodgy sword-and-sorcery name, as well as the Fish connection and cheesy 80s ballads like ‘Kayleigh’, which have as much to do with their sound today as Lerwick has to do with Cowes (even if they do relent and allow the audience one singalong nostalgia moment with ‘Sugar Mice’)
Marillion remain that most misunderstood of British bands, capable of turning out the type of epic mood music Radiohead, Muse, Elbow and their ilk earn huge plaudits from (let’s face it, all three bands rip the Bucks boys off shamelessly but refuse to acknowledge it) whilst simultaneously seeming doomed to never receive due credit for it in their own country, and it’s still bloody annoying.
Jason Ritchie reviewed 2011′s Live From Cadogan Hall recorded during the band’s ‘Less Is More’ acoustic tour noting “Steve Rothery must have been hard pressed to resist the urge to whip out his electric guitar for a solo or two. It can however see the band drift perhaps too far into MOR-ville as ‘Out Of This World’ demonstrates.”
2012′s ‘Sounds That Can’t Be Made’ was trailed as close in spirit to ‘Afraid Of Sunlight’. David Randall – still fixated on the band’s more commercial offerings – thought that the latest album was perhaps closer in spirit to his beloved ‘Holidays In Eden’ echoing the concise nature of ‘Somewhere Else’. The album made a respectable Top 3 position in our end of year popular poll.
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This latest album is immediate enough to suck in the doubters and expansive enough for the hardcore. All in all, Marillion just keep doing what they do, and as ‘Sounds…’ confirms, they do it very well indeed. ****½ David Randall Album review (Sounds That Can’t Be Made, 2012) |
Photo: Steve Goudie
In September, Pete Whalley reviewed the band’s gig at Manchester Academy. He noted that the biggest cheer was reserved for ‘Sugar Mice’ “Surely it must be time to put to bed that part of the Marillion legacy?”
Pete continued “Of course, the Hogarth era, while not without its challenges, has been remarkably consistent musically. Perhaps tellingly though, there has been no ‘classic’ album and in many ways that may have been the band’s salvation. Not only do classic albums often signal the beginning of the end for internal relations, but they also hamper a band’s ability to make the best of their back catalogue.”
Throughout their self-supporting life, Marillion have offered all forms of releases via their website; live recordings, reissues, exclusive downloads. But it didn’t stop previous labels taking advantage of their new-found ascendancy and independence. In 2013 EMI reissued The Singles Vol.2, 89-95 set which whilst not quite emulating the original release (12 CDs in repro sleeves) was a great way of catching up.
Photo: David Randall
Pete Whalley and David Randall were in attendance at the band’s pre-Christmas gig in Manchester. Pete described them as “one of the few bands whose artistic integrity remains unquestionably untainted by the dismal current state of the music industry. 13 albums into the Hogarth era, that’s quite an achievement.
One that’s firmly underpinned by a civil partnership between the band and fans, and one that that is so much more than a marriage of convenience. Crowd funding – a potential the band grasped long before the masses – may be the equivalent of a pre-nuptial declaration of trust, but make no mistake, it’s love:love relationship.”
The intricacies of Marillion’s music did not deter many in the audience from a sing-a-long: “It certainly presented no difficulty to the chap behind me with the paunch and Freddie Mercury ‘tash’ that was a little too cultured to be a Movember sprouting. He gave it everything, and in truth wasn’t a bad singer. Although the air guitar and chest beating that accompanied Sugar Mice took things a tad too far.”
Sugar Mice?! Still there after 25 years!
Steve Hogarth chatted to David Randall about his career, the newly-published diaries and Marillion. First broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, 8 July 2014.
The band’s next live album was released in 2014 ‘A Sunday Night Above The Rain‘ recorded at one of their “weekend” jaunts in the Netherlands. As Whalley commented: “in these strange days Marillion are one of an increasingly rare breed – a band that play ‘real’ music on their own terms, and you simply have to admire them. More power to their elbow.” The “weekend” events were also celebrated again in 2016 which saw the release of ‘Marbles In The Park‘.
Photo: Iain Scott
2014 also saw the release of two volumes of Steve Hogarth’s diaries covering the period up to 1994. Whilst not dishing the dirt on early frustrations when settling in with the band (and they only date from 1991), the two books do provide valuable insight especially to the band’s touring routine. It all seems rather hectic and only tempered by surreal episodes at home as David Randall described:
Fans will, however, lap up the whirlwind narrative of their hero crossing several countries, sometimes in one day, in pursuit of his art form and their band. The diary details the relentless touring and promotion but also those quieter moments when Steve can do some catch up at home, cuddle the kids, settle down with Inspector Morse and brush the leaves up in his garden. This is only going to endear Steve more to his fans, more than half of whom must surely be female?
Two years later Steve Rothery published ‘Postcards From The Road‘, a photographic travelogue mainly focusing on the Fish era. The narrative charts the rise of the band in the 1980s when the amount spent by the label on promotional video would exceed that of recording costs and had to be recouped from 50 per cent of the band’s album royalties. As Rothery says “despite selling millions of albums, we were never wealthy.” The book was reissued in 2020.
Photo: Simon Dunkerley
In August 2014 the band played Cropredy when Simon Dunkerley stated: “There is no doubt that this is a band at the top of their game and, with the newer material, still producing great music and gigs.”
The band rounded off the year at the Forum in Kentish Town, London when Yiannis Stefanis reflected: “It is a well-known fact that Marillion fans are amongst the most devoted and loyal but these have been hard won. It is the quintet’s unsurpassable musical pedigree and their ability to perform such highly entertaining and interactive shows that has endeared them to thousands of fans around the globe…”
Photo: David Randall
In July 2015 when the band played the Ramblin Man Fair in Maidstone, Kent, Yiannis described “the best performance of the whole festival.
Steve Hogarth is a very charismatic singer who knows how to work an audience, really getting the crowd going during “You’re Gone” and “Sounds That Can’t Be Made” and he truly made us all burst into laughter by introducing “Sugar Mice” with the mighty words “these guys write great music but I prefer their older stuff”!”
Andy Nathan saw the band for the first time since their appearance at the ‘Garden Party’, Milton Keynes Bowl in 1986. This was the Stone Free Festival at London’s O2 Arena. Andy was impressed “Indeed by the end of the set after another lengthy epic ‘Neverland’ with more tasteful, stately soloing from Steve (Rothery) I found myself wanting more after their allotted 50 minutes.”
| I suppose we have a responsibility to say something, though I don’t know what difference it makes”. So, we can be political, but we are very much a democracy and if one person is against something we won’t do it. Mark Kelly, May 2022 |
Many will regard F.E.A.R. as Marillion’s album of the millennium. A sprawling semi-political piece it received universally glowing reviews. David Randall’s enthusiasm was tempered by his love of the shorter songs. On F.E.A.R. he detected a certain familiarity with the song format and a sense of déjà vu. Regardless, F.E.A.R. was a popular choice in the Get Ready to ROCK! end of year poll in 2013.
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…any sumptuous, extended, instrumental passages are few and far between with the focus now very much on Steve Hogarth’s admittedly superb vocals. Marillion’s last album – ‘Sounds That Can’t Be Made’ – was more immediate and with a sense of urgency lacking on this opus and the more mellow, rambling, FEAR will take more time to reveal its undoubted charms. ***1/2 David Randall Album review (F.E.A.R., 2013) |
At their gig in Manchester in November 2016, Pete Whalley noted that most of the audience age-wise were of near- or at pensioner status: “while there can be no complaints in terms of set length – the band perhaps need to have a have a thought for ageing bones, ligaments and tendons (and those of us who are vertically challenged) and play some seated gigs. The Lowry is only just down the road, and if it’s good enough for Steve Hackett …”
Steve Rothery chatted to David Randall about Marillion and his solo work. First broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, 18 September 2016.
Photo: David Randall
The more civilised approach was almost previewed in September 2017 when the band played the Royal Albert Hall for the first time (and captured on the multi-format release in 2018). They were accompanied , for the first time, by a string quartet.
At their gig in November 2017 David Randall noted “when we saw the band perform at this venue last November it was shocking that nearly all the audience was made up of old (or older) men. Either Steve Hogarth has lost his sex appeal (unlikely) or he now only appeals to an ageing male populace. I blame Brexit: we’re all fucked up.”
Randall continued: “Hogarth is a wonderful, charismatic frontman, totally engaging, good humoured and multi-tasking. Most of all, a great voice. The rest of the band give the aura of serious musos offering restraint and decorum where necessary along with the more incendiary when pushed. Whilst there might not be much in the way of band interaction/acknowledgment they are happy to keep the spotlight on Hogarth and, frankly, who wouldn’t?”
In our end of year popular poll for 2017 Marillion were voted “Top Live Act”.
Pete Whalley’s wish was realised in 2018 when the band’s spring tour included such venerated places as Philharmonic Hall (Liverpool), The Sage (Gateshead) and Symphony Hall (Birmingham).
2018 saw a raft of reissues originally released on the band’s own Racket Records label. These were live recordings from a period 1988-2013 and most include a complete version of a studio album.
Dave Atkinson was an invited guest at the band’s launch of their Albert Hall package.
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Carried by the light and video show, with a bolder live mix, and with the scope of the shots, there was no point where the attention wandered from the performance. So much so that after ‘Living In Fear’ closed I applauded and whooped as if I was at the gig. An immersive experience. I half wondered if the band sat behind me might lean forward, tap me on the shoulder and ask me to keep it down… Album review (All One Tonight – Live At The Royal Albert Hall, 2018) |
In April 2019 Pete Whalley, now firmly in a comfy seat and with excellent line of sight, enthused: “It’s quite remarkable how, after nigh on 30 years together, something special happens almost every time this band walks on stage. As H put it, in referring to being in Liverpool, ‘we’re in a different world now, you lovely peculiar fuckers’. How right he was, on so many different levels.
An [other] imperiously commanding, and gripping, performance.”
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We get on really well. We’re all different but we have learnt to understand each other pretty well. It’s been 32 years with Hogarth and 40 with the rest of us, so I suppose we are like a family. We don’t hang out together outside of the band’s activities, but when we are together we have a good time. |
Photo: David Randall
And the civility kept on coming because in November 2019, just before Lockdown, Marillion toured with a string quartet.
At Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, Pete Whalley opined: “in a curiously unforgiving and largely bombastic set – a couple of intros (notably ‘Estonia’) and mid-section breaks (‘Season’s End’, ‘The Sky Above The Rain’) aside – the In Praise Of Folly String Quartet … were, to a large degree, lost in the mix. Perhaps only a full orchestra (as deployed last year by Steve Hackett) would have countered the band’s chosen approach.”
Whalley also bemoaned the development of a new method of recycling (a.k.a. string arrangements) as he had suffered a self-inflicted bout of prolonged Marillionitus, with a growing DVD collection that threatened marital harmony.
Two years later, reviewing their Hammersmith Apollo gig in November 2021, Dave Atkinson wrote “After such a long break, the atmosphere in the venue was something akin to an informal family reunion, only without the arguments.” Dave thought that the band could have included a few more rocky tracks to balance the more introspective stuff which included songs from the forthcoming album ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’.
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Full of lusciousness and loveliness, this is Marillion at their very best. ***** David Randall Album review (An Hour Before It’s Dark, 2022) |
2022 saw the penultimate “deluxe edition” of albums released during the “EMI Years”. David Randall got his mitts on a definitive version of his favourite Marillion album Holidays In Eden which appeared with 5.1 and high-resolution mixes. It would be followed, in 2023, by ‘Season’s End’.
Dave Atkinson returned to Hammersmith Apollo in September 2022 when they were playing the whole of the new album. “The new album, like its predecessor ‘F.E.A.R.’, is full of longform pieces of immersive, cinematic and lyrically conscious music. However live, its moods and textures are given a jolt of power and energy.”
And yes ‘Sugar Mice’ was still in the set, the last vestige of the early band who, since 1989, had been transformed from sometimes fantastical neo-proggers taking inspiration from Genesis to a modern prog colossus influencing bands such as Radiohead and Muse.
The band’s continued success is not least due to a loyal and fanatical fanbase reacting to a band always moving forward, a veritable cottage industry supplying infinite variations of audio excellence for the faithful, and as Atkinson noted “After 40-odd years, maybe Marillion are still getting better.”
Story coordination: David Randall
Contributors: Dave Atkinson, Simon Dunkerley, Nick Edwards, Andrew Lock, Andy Nathan, Ian Pollard, David Randall, Jason Ritchie, Darius Drew Shimon, Yiannis Stefanis, Pete Whalley, Dave Wilson
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Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024
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