| Quartz Map of the World When I Meet God The Fruit of the Wild Rose Separated Out This is the 21st Century If My Heart Were a Ball it would Roll Uphill |
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Marillion
'Anoraknophobia'
| Quartz Map of the World When I Meet God The Fruit of the Wild Rose Separated Out This is the 21st Century If My Heart Were a Ball it would Roll Uphill |
|
Home page http://www.marillion.com/
Steve Hogarth's
dislike of progressive rock and its associations with Marillion
have been well documented. In fact recent efforts to distance the
two parties have almost become farcical, with the press release
for the new album demanding a fair trial for this 'important and
contemporary work' where words such as 'Genesis', 'progressive'
and 'derivative' should be avoided at all cost…
Such moaning is all well and good but in real terms is a
pointless, self destructive and frankly embarrassing gesture. You
may be thinking that I am one of those Marillion fans unable to
escape the bubble of 1983-88 but you would be wrong - alongside
my collection of Yes, King Crimson and Floyd you will find
Radiohead, Massive Attack, Grandaddy, Air and Orbital in
contrasting abundance. The problem I have with Marillion's recent
efforts has had nothing to do with 'new directions' and 'experimentation'
but all to do with the sheer poor quality of the releases. 'Radiation'
was dreadful while '.com' was only bearable, and unfortunately 'Anoraknophobia'
is no better.
Steve Hogarth's obvious mission to drive the band down completely
new roads has finally reached its destination with this new album.
Quite simply it sounds nothing like Marillion at all. Worst still
it is bland and (gulp) more derivative than anything they have
released before. As mentioned one of Hogarth's especially
passionate hang-ups was the 'progressive rock' tag that has hung
round the band's neck since its inception. In retrospect I would
agree with him - to me Marillion was never really about prog.
They were special because they fused together ingredients that
gave them the identity that was to give them such a huge
following - gifted song-writing, superb use of dynamics, subtle
sense and use of structure, great musicianship and above all the
stunning melancholic atmospheres and emotion of the music. 'Brave'
and 'Afraid of Sunlight', both stunning albums, worked so well
because they moved into new musical territory without dismissing
the fundamental heart beat of their sound.
The erosion of this has meant that each subsequent release has
sounded less like Marillion and more like a poor man's
representation of the bands Hogarth desperately wants the band to
be classified with. 'Anoraknophobia' is the desperate sound of a
band losing all sense of what made them so very special in the
first place.
'Between You and Me' starts proceedings in less than impressive
fashion. Being somewhere between a U2 b-side and a Crowded House
album filler it rocks, but rocks without distinction. Fashioned
around an uninspired guitar riff and a dull chorus it is both an
understated and disappointing opening.
'Quartz' begins against the backdrop of a dubby bass line and
drum pattern that reminds of the early 90s when the style first
surfaced. The main body of the track flits between a nice enough
atmospheric verse and typically 'Afraid of Sunlight' symphonic
crescendo type chorus. Some clever guitar touches from Rothery
are also nice enough but the track suffers from a directionless,
meandering quality, which plagues the album through out. In fact
over-repetition of what is a fairly simple melody for near on 9
minutes is just tiresome.
'Map of the World' sees the band wanting to be The La's. Not only
is this a dubious desire in the first place, the song has the sort
of head-swaying banality that has this particular reviewer
fumbling for the Forward Wind button… A delightful Rothery
solo does little to raise the spirits, only reminding of what an
absolute waste of talent he is within this clichéd milieu.
'When I Met God' is one of the better tracks on offer here. It
opens with a very atmospheric and dreamy passage, very reminiscent
of the 'Afraid of Sunrise' track from the 'Afraid of Sunlight'
album. Mid-song a change of direction but not pace is introduced
against the gentle strum of acoustic guitar and vocal fx. It's all
very mellow and all very pretty but again drags on for 9 minutes.
'Fruit of the Wild Rose' opens with a nice bluesy guitar riff and
the song contains some great touches from Rothery and Kelly. The
chorus is good, benefiting from some uncharacteristic atonal
guitar work and a nice wash of choral keys. The highlight of the
track (and the whole album) comes mid-song, built around a
splendid synth arpeggio. For perhaps the first time the album
benefits from Marillion being Marillion. It's a wonderful spine
tingling moment, which at the same time I found shaded with
sadness with their insistent avoidance of such Marillionisms. The
conclusion of the track reverts to the main theme that is again
stretched out much longer than necessary.
Of the rockier numbers 'Separated Out' is probably the most
effective. Centered on a driving riff and some rough Hammond work
it is enlivened by some more traditionally Mosley drum work and a
quirky instrumental break that is coloured by some intriguing
fairground atmospheres. The song concludes with a solid driving
chord sequence that is more than reminiscent of 'Hard as Love' from the
excellent 'Brave' opus.
'This is the 21st Century' is far and away the finest track and
is a stunning marriage of all that was great about 'AoS' and more
than a stiff nod in Massive Attack's direction. In fact they
probably wouldn't want them to hear it because they would most
likely want to sue! Backed by some great bubbling sythn sonics,
subtle guitar lines and a very delicate melody the song ebbs and
flows with mysterious intent. A mid-song guitar break sees
Rothery at his finest. Unfortunately the track certainly doesn't
warrant being strung out for 11 minutes.
Concluding track 'If My Heart was a Ball it would Roll Uphill' is
perhaps the worst thing Marillion have ever recorded. In fact it
makes songs such as 'Hope for the Future' and 'Dry Land' sound
great. Being somewhere between a badly performed jam and a road
accident, it is a stodgy, shoddily constructed mish-mash of ideas
and sounds thrown together with little or no cohesion.
'Anoraknophobia' is pretty awful. It's dull, it contains songs
that go on for far too long, but worst of all seems painfully
lacking in any type of good song writing or originality.
More troubling still is how derivative the album is. It seems
like the band have sat down and listened to bands they think they
should sound like, and then done their best to realise it. This
has had two results - they sound like a poor imitation of
these bands, and they have lost the core attributes that made them
so special in the first place.
Nil points.
Gareth
Long July 2001
Copyright Bathtub of Adventures 2001
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