I remember first hearing Marillion in a Tower Records store in NYC in 1983. I was taken by lead singer Fish and his Peter Gabriel-like vocals and the group’s lengthy songs. When I held their debut album Script For A Jester’s Tear in my hands, I noticed that the back cover showed an image of Pink Floyd’s Saucerful Of Secrets on the floor amongst a pile of records. Nice. Following them during their illustrious first phase with Fish when they scored their most popular American cross-over hit “Kaliegh,” I felt Marillion was the best of prog’s second wave of bands (sometimes called “neo prog”) that included Spock’s Beard, Dream Theatre and others. Losing track of Marillion after Fish left and Steve Hogarth took over, I had the opportunity to catch up listening to A Sunday Night Above The Rain, a double live set that reveals a good chunk of the band’s post-Fish material.
“Gaza,” from 2012’s Sounds That Can’t Be Made, has a deep solid beat with spicy middle-eastern synth flavoring from keyboardist Mark Kelly and solid repetitive choruses. The enthusiastic audience, representing 44 countries on this one night, is right with the band from the beginning, singing with Hogarth pretty much every step of the way. Kelly steps out front again, this time playing a delicate piano for “This Strange Engine” (the title track of the band’s ninth release) before it kicks up speed and races to a big stadium-rousing ending. The highlight is the band’s popular “Neverland,” with Kelly, bassist Peter Trewavas and guitarist Steve Rothery playing afterthoughts — mere pull-offs and trills he spontaneously throws at the crowd. Like David Gilmour, Rich Williams of Kansas and James Young of Styx, Rothery is one of those subtle players who can bring you to tears with just a handful of notes.
There are many more songs on here from Sounds That Can’t Be Made. “Montreal” sounds very Floyd-flavored with Kelly stepping out and drummer Ian Mosley gathering momentum behind him on some solid tom work. Mosely and Trewavas get that bass and drum thing happening to high hard effect on “The King of Sunset Town,” the first real execution of a high tone on Hogarth’s voice. There’s more beautiful piano on “The Sky Above the Rain.” Hogarth sings his way round very competently as Trewavas and Mosely ride their duet pocket. The furthest the band travels into its past is on a very weak “Garden Party,” from Script For A Jester’s Tear. Hogarth circles the airport vocally throughout, never finding his footing (actually the audience sings most of the song at his prompting). Recorded on March 10, 2013, during the band’s biannual Marillion Weekend at Center Parcs in Port Zelande, the Netherlands, A Sunday Night Above The Rain gives us a good feel of what Marillion is presently about — mainly longer songs led by piano and a good beat with a singer who sometimes makes the material his own.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
