chris@politik.UUCP (Christopher Seiwald) (11/14/84)
In article <> acsgjjp@sunybcs.UUCP (Jim Poltrone) writes: > Innovative Presentations of Lyrics ? >What is the most unusual way you have heard of for presenting lyrics? >I'll start the ball rolling by suggesting "Forgotten Sons" by Marillion, >from the album "Script for a Jester's Tear". Marillion...Now there's a band! Anybody ever see them live? They cancelled their show in the San Francisco area last year due to lack of interest, but I would have killed to see them. Along the same lines of strange delivery is music from Pink Floyd's Wall, where the echoes of the lyrics arrive first. (That and the television continually playing throughout the album.) All Deep & Dark. -- Christopher Seiwald dual!ptsfa!politik!chris
kissell@flairvax.UUCP (Kevin Kissell) (11/15/84)
(Is this thing on?) >Marillion...Now there's a band! Anybody ever see them live? They cancelled >their show in the San Francisco area last year due to lack of interest, but >I would have killed to see them. I saw Marillion in August '82 at the Marquee Club in London. At that time they had a local following but (as it turns out) had only just signed their first record contract with EMI. All I knew was that Time Out had described their act as "progressive rock with dramatic vocals - remember that?", and so, as a proggie from way back, I had to check them out. Marillion is really about "Fish", their vocalist/lyricist. The rest of the band (Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Drums, forgive me if I forget the names) are competent and well-rehearsed, but the musical material is uneven. I found their arrangements to be a little mechanical and their musical approach to be pretty imitative of old Genesis. Still, they put across their odd phrasings with enough conviction that when I saw them the crowd (all fans, of course) were clapping right along in syncopated synchrony. Fish is one of the better "rock" vocalists I've seen, not for his vocal quality but for delivery, expression, and presence. He's right up there with Alice Cooper (I'm serious, AC was one of the great showmen of rock), Peter Gabriel, and Peter Hammill (who is obviously a big influence on Marillion - check out the album covers in the cover painting for Marillion's "Fugazi" if you can't hear it in the lyrics). During the middle instrumental section of "Forgotten Sons", which I thought was their most effective song that evening, Fish slipped on a camouflaged helmet liner so that its shadow from the stage lights turned his eyes into black hollows as he picked up a microphone stand and held it like an automatic weapon to menace the crowd. Very simple, very effective. "He Knows (You Know)" was performed with enough power that, a year after having seen it performed exactly once, I recognized it within a few bars when it first hit the radio out here. I was sufficiently impressed by Marillion when I saw them that I raved about them to anyone who would listen when I returned to the States, but I must confess that I don't think their albums are all that great. In particular, on "Fugazi" many of the lyrics walk right over the edge of pretension without even looking down, and without having enough going on musically to save them (for me). Still, I too was disappointed when they canceled last year's show. If you like Marillion, you'll *love* old Van der Graaf/Peter Hammill!