This is one of the Marillion albums I tried to like...and failed.
This is one of the Marillion albums I tried to like...and failed.
It's probably a rights issue, is my guess. I dunno. On one hand, the film is an obvious piece of the puzzle to include in a completist package. On the other... I never thought it was all that good. (Great idea in theory, intermittently successful in execution.) I for one wouldn't miss it.Originally Posted by Paulrus
No way to be sure without more digging, then. AFAIK Steven's always been a fan during the H years--enough to have friendly chats with them at shows and offer to help with mixing, as he did with .com and Marbles. Then again his opinion of the Fish era may have been a bit different.
Same here. I really disliked the imagery in the movie, and IMO the actors in it looked all wrong.
As I mentioned, I definitely remember in an interview in the 90s Wislon saying he wanted "to drag progressive rock kicking and screaming into the 21st century." That's almost a direct quote, and it was probably in Progression, but I can't remember. So that was an overall opinion of prog at the time. But see my quote above where he says he "loves" Marillion.
RE: Fish-era Marillion he seemed to only have good things about Misplaced Childhood when that recent reissue came out. And he played on Fish's Sunsets on Empire and I believe also did some mixing for it? I forget exactly, but I think he did more than just play guitar on the album.
So I think it's safe to say he likes Marillion, from the early days on.
On Sunsets On Empire he was producer, arranger, co-writer and guitar player. He also played guitar on Raingods with Zippos (on some tracks).
Yes, it definitely seems that Steve considers these guys an exception to that rule where neo-prog was concerned. Maybe moe was misremembering that tidbit, or maybe SW's views on the early days evolved before he met and worked with Fish--not that I'm terribly curious either way, but it'd be a vaguely interesting story if that's how it went.
I'll see if I can find anything. All Jed's references are a later date than I'm thinking.
What I'm thinking of (the interview) was from around the time that Signify came out. But then the reasons he clearly likes Marillion are since he started working with them all, so from whenever Sunsets was recorded at least.
Wilson has stated in interviews that he used to go see Marillion in the early (early) days. He has also had a number of their new records in his "current playlist" upon their release.
Safe to say he is a fan.
Wilson did production and mixing work on the marillion.com album.
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I'm sure I read the interview to which Jed is referring, in Progression, around '97 or so, or a similar one. I recall him mentioning how he likes Ozric Tentacles but they make same album over and over again. I'll have to try to dig up my old Progression collection some time...
Wilson was in a band called Karma, who were a bit like Castanarc or Multi-Story, but by the late 80s had changed direction with the much more Psychedelia/Krautrock influenced Altamont, and Psychedelia influenced solo project Porcupine Tree. If his views of 80s Prog-Rock became less favorable around this time, it would be entirely in keeping with the direction expressed in his music.
Steven Wilson also mixed "Angelina"
And a couple of other tracks from Marbles, because the band needed extra hands at the mixing desk in order to meet their deadline.
the older i become the more >meh< “brave” is becoming. there are things of devastating beauty on there – but also stuff which i find very bland and half-baked; the main offenders being “hard as love” (working much better in its acoustic torch song mode on “L=M”) as well as “paper lies” which seem to go nowhere and symptomize what happens when MARiLLiON leave their highly emotive slow-burn pond and go “heavy”. it never fully works. it's a strong statement, maybe even a classic album, but not their best. it is all too clear that they were still in their formative mode with hogarth at the helm and went from one extreme – the overtly commercial and slightly dull “holidays in eden” – to the other (with this one). i stand by my opinion that MARiLLiON finally got it right with “afraid of sunlight” which, to these ears, remains their best album to date – “marbles” and “F E A R" as close runners up. i am aware of the fact that i am repeating myself here ;-)>
I'd like to concur with someone further up this thread and just say that while I think the 'Brave' album is a masterpiece, the companion film is absolutely terrible. I've only watched it twice in the past two decades.
I agree with AOS being their best (IMHO of course !). I absolutely loved Brave when it was released, I had waited quite a long time for it and it was a clear statement after HIE : a long, uncompromising concept album with many beautiful moments. In retrospect, even if I still love it, I think some of it sounds a bit forced. AOS, which was released only one year later has a kind of natural flow, although it's not really a concept album and although it is stylistically quite diverse. They were on a roll at the time.
I basically agree with iguana except it's how I've always felt about Brave. I've always loved it's best parts, but there are a few songs that are just pretty skip-able. As you say, hard as Love and Paper Lies. I'm also not in love with Hollow Men or Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury (although Now Wash Your Hands which is part of Alone Again is very good. And people always seem shocked when I say I don't care for Made Again. I would have preferred the album to end with...whatever it ended with on the double-groove vinyl that wasn't Made Again. The Great Escape followed by some coda?
That said, I don't HATE any of those songs, and when I listen to the album I'm happy enough to let it play through.
That leaves about 40 minutes of what I think is some of their best stuff from the earlier Hogarth days, so not too bad really.
HiE slightly dull? Well, it too has about 40 minutes I really like. Dry Land never clicked with me - I don't like the vocal melody at all, and the guitar solo can't save it for me. No One Can and Waiting to Happen are poppy, but I like them. For a long time I disliked the title track and This Town, but I've warmed to them over the last several years. So nothing I really don't like aside from Dry Land.
I agree that AoS is great. I think some people aren't keen on Cannibal Surf Babe, but I like it, and the basically dark lyrics help the song from being overly upbeat, IMO. For some reason Out of this World never really grabbed me, but I can certainly listen to it. I just find it a bit of a slog, which I know is weird.
I will second you on out of this world never quite understood why it seems to be represented live more than other songs (I have similar feelings for fantastic place which seems to be played more than its due)
Conversely, 'Hollow Man' is one of my absolute favourites... Not just from 'Brave', but from the whole of the Marillion catalogue 1989-present. Also, 'Holidays' has been my go-to Marillion album for some time now.
This top ten generated a few raised eyebrows a while ago: http://www.realgonerocks.com/2017/05...n-of-the-best/
That's not a bad list, and it is a very respectful article.
Thank you!
WHOA!
Major auto-buy for me. It's still my favorite Marillion album. I'll buy the box just for the 5.1 mix. I have the film DVD. It's boring, won't miss it.
Chad
I think King of Sunset Town and Splintering Heart are the only ones on that list that would make it to my top 10, but the rest of the list is certainly not bad.
BTW, as I was writing my post above I struggled to remember it it was Hollow Man or Hollow Men, but of course I should have just thought about the lyrics, which always say "hollow men." Silly me.
I like Hollow Men, it just isn't a peak on Brave for me, maybe because it's so simple. This Strange Engine I've just heard too many times, I'm a bit bored by it even though it has so many great parts.
Immediate auto buy.
Marillion are one of my all-time favorite bands, and Brave is one of my all-time favorite albums. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I must admit that to this day I have no idea how Paper Lies fits into the storyline.
'The smell of strange colours are heard everywhere'- Threshold
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