How can anyone resist a band with such a beautiful name?
I came across Marillion a few years ago, while watching a Dream Theater DVD that had a clip of DT playing at some lucky-ass jazz club in the States with various guest artistes, two of whom were Marillion band members. Easter is a beautiful and underrated song.
Marillion then popped up again after an opportune trip to the UK resulted in my picking up a crateload of excellent prog music cds (prog-- progressive rock / metal) that I would've found impossible to get in India. The bass player, Pete Trewavas, was a member of the prog rock supergroup Transatlantic, which had the sensational lineup of:
Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) - drums
Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) - guitar
Pete Trewavas (Marillion) - bass
Neal Morse (Spock's Beard) - vocals/keyboards
Dream Theater and Spock's Beard are US bands, Marillion is a UK band, and The Flower Kings are Swedish, so Transatlantic was an apt choice of name. Most of these bands have gone on to become some of my favourite groups.
Marillion's music doesn't really feature the instrumental virtuosity that draws me to Dream Theater, nor the soft keyboard-heavy genius of Spock's Beard or Transatlantic. Their music is far more radio-friendly (not that that's a bad thing), and in fact the Wikipedia page informs me that Marillion have had a string of UK chart hits spanning their career. I like this description, which I have flicked from the said Wikipedia page:
Many current fans would endorse the description of 'complex, melodic rock with a spiritual and sometimes melancholic edge.'
It's strange to see spirituality cropping up here, for Transatlantic (the supergroup) came a cropper when Neal Morse quit both Spock's Beard and Transatlantic to pursue his Christianity. Hmm.
So, to the music.
I really like this video. Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci look so young! And Steve Hogarth has the cutest pointy ears. Do watch it through to the end, where Hogarth does some interesting vocal hopping.
Marillion -- Easter (live with Dream Theater)
The next video is a montage of album art and band pictures. An interesting fascination with jesters seems to emerge. It's a nice song too, and I suspect many of you will enjoy this music more than 'Easter'. I love the line, "For she's got to carry on with her life/ And you've got to carry on with yours!"
Marillion -- Childhood's End
Edit: Sorry Yohan, I know you're not a fan of embedded videos. But one of them is a concert clip, and the other one shows the wonder that is album art!
