Fish - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors and Internal Exiles to be mixed in Atmos (4CD+BluRay Deluxe Sets Shipping July 29, 2024)

[JulesRules]

"Marbles," which was a POS to my ears.

OT but while there is a lot of grumbling about modern Marillion albums among fans, Marbles is usually held up as the high water mark of the post-EMI era.

 

[Shermatz]

Did you try his last two albums? They're excellent from a musical point of view

I gave up on Fish after "Internal Exile," maybe the next one after that. I concede that later albums might be good, but ESPECIALLY since the new releases are expensive imports, I'm frequently unwilling to risk a new purchase from an artist like Fish who was steering into ideological snarling.

 

[Shermatz]

OT but while there is a lot of grumbling about modern Marillion albums among fans, Marbles is usually held up as the high water mark of the post-EMI era.

Pointless to argue but "Marbles" was my exit point. They had several good Steve Hogarth albums, but after "Marbles," I couldn't have any confidence that I'd like what Marillion was producing was worth my $.
Again, anyone who likes Marillion "Marbles" or later isn't wrong. I'm just not hearing it.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Pointless to argue but "Marbles" was my exit point. They had several good Steve Hogarth albums, but after "Marbles," I couldn't have any confidence that I'd like what Marillion was producing was worth my $.
Again, anyone who likes Marillion "Marbles" or later isn't wrong. I'm just not hearing it.

I tried Marbles on the car system, cause it gets some hype and I’d never heard it. Wondered how excited I should be for Marbles in Atmos.
Not very excited…
Got so bored that I didn’t finish the album.

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

I tried Marbles on the car system, cause it gets some hype and I’d never heard it. Wondered how excited I should be for Marbles in Atmos.
Not very excited…
Got so bored that I didn’t finish the album.

Pointless to argue but "Marbles" was my exit point. They had several good Steve Hogarth albums, but after "Marbles," I couldn't have any confidence that I'd like what Marillion was producing was worth my $.
Again, anyone who likes Marillion "Marbles" or later isn't wrong. I'm just not hearing it.

I have a soft spot for Marbles. My unsolicited thoughts on Marillion's timeline:
Fish era -> mostly good, some great;
Season's End and Holidays in Eden ->some good but kind of 'growing pains';
Brave and Afraid of Sunlight -> spectacular in different ways;
This Strange Engine, Radiation, marillion.com, Anorkanophobia -> mostly radio nonsense with a few of their best songs in between somehow;
Marbles -> Excellent but long, and understandably a few songs not so great (but considering there are a lot of songs and most are really good);
Somewhere Else, Happiness is the Road, Sounds that Can't be Made -> my least favourite albums, hardly more than one or two decent songs between them;
FEAR -> Surprisingly good
An Hour before it's Dark -> OK, similar to FEAR but not as good

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

I have a soft spot for Marbles. My unsolicited thoughts on Marillion's timeline:
Fish era -> mostly good, some great;
Season's End and Holidays in Eden ->some good but kind of 'growing pains';
Brave and Afraid of Sunlight -> spectacular in different ways;
This Strange Engine, Radiation, marillion.com, Anorkanophobia -> mostly radio nonsense with a few of their best songs in between somehow;
Marbles -> Excellent but long, and understandably a few songs not so great (but considering there are a lot of songs and most are really good);
Somewhere Else, Happiness is the Road, Sounds that Can't be Made -> my least favourite albums, hardly more than one or two decent songs between them;
FEAR -> Surprisingly good
An Hour before it's Dark -> OK, similar to FEAR but not as good

Just replying to myself again, but Marillion are just this wonderfully unique band in the end of it all. They have plenty of terrible songs. And plenty of masterpieces. Really, there are other bands that do have better albums and songs. But they just have such an amazing track record of putting out music, engaging with fans, basically inventing crowdsourcing, running their Marillion weekends, etc.; for me whether their music is good or bad is almost inconsequential. They're just a band that I almost feel like I am friends with after 25 years of listening. I can't really say that about any other artist, personally.

 

[JulesRules]

I gave up on Fish after "Internal Exile," maybe the next one after that. I concede that later albums might be good, but ESPECIALLY since the new releases are expensive imports, I'm frequently unwilling to risk a new purchase from an artist like Fish who was steering into ideological snarling.

Well, at least he's done us a favour by making pretty much all the material from his CDs available on streaming, so it's possible to "try before you buy" (while you still can buy them...)