The Marillion Starter Pack: Five Essential Albums

A beginner's guide to classic Marillion. Two albums from Fish, three from the Steve Hogarth era. You could just get Six of One and Half a Dozen Of The Other, The Best Of Both Worlds or The Best of Marillion but they're really an album band. This ought to get you started. Ooh and they're all concept albums!



Misplaced Childhood (1985)
The third album is a concept record dealing with Fish's broken heart and attempts to regain one's childhood emotions through the filter of a strong acid trip. Contains much majestic soaring music, along with the singles "Kayleigh", "Lavender", and "Heart of Lothian." The bonus disc has demos and B-sides, including "Lady Nina" and "Freaks."

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Clutching At Straws (1987)
Darkness descended on Marillion and the band takes the listener with them. Not cheerful stuff, (except for the gloriously lurching "Incommunicado") but great songs including "Warm Wet Circles", "White Russian", "Slainte Mhath" and "Sugar Mice." The second disc includes the demos for the band's unfinished fifth album with Fish, found on a cassette in a bickie tin by keyboardist Mark Kelly. Superb.


Brave (1993)
It can be argued that the H edition of the band hit its stride with this searing 70-minute concept album dealing with a young girl's intention to throw herself off the Severn Bridge. Told in flashback, the grim story has three possible endings, depending on where you decide to stop the album. Brilliant.


Afraid of Sunlight (1995)
AoS was therapy following the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The eight songs muse on the problems of celebrity and self-destruction, examining such diverse stories as the crash of the Bluebird craft and the death of Elvis. "Beyond You" is about Phil Spector, and it was recorded in mono in a successful effort to reproduce the Spector "Wall of Sound" technique.


marbles (2004)
The band's thirteenth album closes the circle with Misplaced Childhood. Two discs inspired by an event from H's early years take the listener from darkness to light, as the self-loathing and paranoia of "The Invisible Man" end in the starry skies of "Neverland". With the singles "You're Gone", "Don't Hurt Yourself" and the gorgeous should've-been-a-single "Angelina."

To get you started even faster, click here for "Crash Course", a free sampler of Marillion music from the band itself.