From: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews
Subject: Kronto Review: Marillion - Holidays In Eden
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 92 19:38:41 GMT
Reply-To: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Followup-To: rec.music.misc
Organization: Delft University of Technology


Marillion - Holidays In Eden (1991)
EMI CDP 796822 2
48:09 min, 10 tracks
Produced by: Christopher Neil

Getting a nice surprise is, eh, well, *nice*. After a disastrous 
first Fish-less album, I had all about given up on Marillion. But 
this second album, still with new singer Hogarth, is so much better 
than what came before that I think everybody who was disappointed in 
"Season's End" would do wise to at least give it a listen. In fact, 
I would go so far as to say that this album is possibly better and 
certainly more consistent than both albums by Fish solo.

My two main criticisms about "Season's End" were that (a) Marillion 
was repeating themselves musically to the point of self-parody, (b) 
most of the songs were long, boring, and going nowhere, Both issues 
have been addressed.

Most traces of musical repetition are gone. Sure, Marillion is still 
Marillion, so they'll always have a certain style, but Mark Kelly 
for instance has changed his keyboard playing dramatically: he uses 
organ sounds that are unfamiliar to the Marillion fan, he has mostly 
dumped his synth layers and his u-lee-wu-lee-wu-lee playing that had 
become way too familiar, and more important: he is simply much less 
present on this album than on any other Marillion album. Steve 
Rothery has also gone easy on his patented solo's (for which he now 
uses a slightly more aggressive sound), and is playing more rhythm 
guitar. It is unbelievable how much difference these small changes 
make to the overall sound.

The drums and the bass are more upfront and naked than on "Season's 
End", and this is one way in which they address item (b) on my list: 
the songs have more bite and punch to them. Hogarth sings with 
exceptional power and conviction (although his slightly whiney voice 
will definitely not be to everyone's liking -- but then neither was 
Fish's snarl) and sounds much surer of himself than on "Season's 
End". They keep it accessible and nice, so there's nothing even 
remotely as aggressive as 'Fugazi' or 'Forgotten Sons' here, but 
it's a big improvement over "Season's End". The songs are also much 
more vocal/guitar than keyboard oriented (shorter, as well), and 
that helps too, though the hardcore Marillion fan will probably not 
forgive them for the Americanization of the sound.

Regarding that: I think Marillion would still like an American 
breakthrough, but this time they are doing it much more subtle than 
with a horror like 'Hooks In You'. Again there is an atypical song 
(the title track 'Holidays In Eden') that seems to me to be 
explicitly tailored to the American rock market, but on this song 
they sound like The Police, and the effect really works for me. 
Other atypical Marillion songs include 'Cover My Eyes (Pain And 
Heaven)' and 'This Town'. Of the more standard Marillion songs 
'Splintering Heart' and 'Dryland' are outstanding, simply because of 
the nice songwriting and because of Hogarth's vocals.

The lyrics are inoffensive and not especially noteworthy. 'The 
Party' sticks out like a sore thumb: a tacky Girl-Goes-To-Party-
Tries-Alcohol-And-Drugs-And-Sex-For-The-First-Time-And-Is-Doomed 
sort of anecdotal song that makes me curl my toes with embarrassment.

So is this new Marillion so good it can be compared with old 
Marillion? No. For me, Marillion + Fish == Magic, and since the 
split that special magic is simply gone. The sum was truly greater 
than the parts. But Marillion has now become a very different sort 
of band, and apparently needed some time to get used to that as 
well. If they continue on this path, I see no reason why they should 
not enjoy renewed commercial and critical success with perhaps a 
different audience.

Concluding: if you disliked "Season's End" because of the American 
rock sound, or because of Hogarth then you probably won't like 
"Holidays" either. If you disliked "Season's End" because you felt 
Marillion was musically stuck in a creative rut, then you should 
definitely listen to "Holidays" because I think they properly make 
up for a lot of their previous mistakes.

-- 
Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
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