Marillion - Brave

Marillion, a band mostly known for neo-prog, turns a unique statement: an accessible concept album worthy of Pink Floyd or Radiohead landmark status.

[note" this was originally written for intune.org before they went defunct]

Marillion Brave
1994 IRS/EMI Records


Production: Dave Meegan and Marillion


Personnel:
Steve Hogarth - vocals, additional guitar and precussion
Steve Rothery - guitars
Mark Kelly - keyboards, vocals
Pete Trewavas - bass and vocals
Ian Mosely - drums & percussion

Lyrics by Steve Hogarth and John Helmer

additional personnel:
Tony Halligan - Uilleann pipes
Liverpool Philharmonic - Callos, and Flute
Darryl Way - orchestral arrangemment on 'Falling From The Moon'

Marillion is a cult band, having had only one major hit in the US in 1985, Kayleigh. Since then they have changed iconoclastic singers and changed their sound to be one of the few bands that I would argue are actually *progressive* rock, along with bands like King Crimson, Tool, Radiohead, and Gordian Knot. Their fans are so rabid as to having put a fund together (60K USD) to bring the band to tour in the US. Their website marillion.com actually has regular, new content from the band members that isnt just self-serving piffle. They asked fans to pre-pay for an unmade album so they wouldn't have to take an advance from a record company. Now that's not only ballsy, but it shows what happens when you really have resolve in what you are doing and have a real trust with your audience.

So a band like this makes generally damn good music, but once in a while you get a true opus that pales all others in the catalogue. For Marillion, this is Brave. A concept album that can be accessible, and that I would argue sits with the Who's Quadrophenia, Pink Floyd's The Wall, and the Genesis 3 album Lamb Lies Down on Broadway but sonically closer to Radiohead's more organic work and Peter Gabriel. These guys have it down on this album.

The liner notes make a small but important request: "Play it Loud with the lights off". Curl up with a favorite wine and tune in, because by the end of it, you will have consumed the rest of the bottle.

Starting with the sounds of waves and a deep repeating drone that carries into the first seconds of symphonics, the start is one that pans and takes you down a slow path until the singing begins and a small ripple of fear climbs up the back of your neck.

The opening lyric starts:

Staring out over the Bridge
A million photo flashes fom the water down below
Dawn light bouncing through the mist
Roar of traffic and police radios

Apparently Brave is a story extrapolated from a famous UK newscast where a runanway girl was found looking over a bridge with amnesia and apparently ready to commit suicide. Brave is Hogarths lyrical attempt to write a history and a story around it. While it is fictional, it feels real in its empathy and heavy in its anguish.

The album cuts no corners but doesn't come off as pretentious. Its a narrative with highs and lows, brief glimmers and dark abysses. The band is beyond solid, and the sound is so full as to almost bursting (apparently it was recorded in a large castle owned by IRS Records impresario Miles Copeland, with impeccable acoustics - certainly couldn't have hurt), with Hogarth pushing the limits particularly; he changes rapidly between full songs to sweeping segues and quiet interludes. Rothery has never sounded this good and into his sound; he can switch course on a dime, his solos are tasteful and dynamic - no unecessary wanking here. Mark Kelly fills the sound with his varied array of atmospherics and piano flourishes, but does shine in several spots on the ivories and particularly on hammond organ, where he takes some ballistic right hand runs during Hard As Love. He turns Hollow Man into almost hopeful dirge, with the title track into an eerie dream sequence coupled with near liquid basslines and H's ethereal vocals (worthy of any Enya album). The rhythm section of Trewavas and Mosley are far too underrated - Pete is a master of economy, no over the top slap antics, but completely solid, slinky, punchy bass. His sound is dense and precise, while Mosley compliments him by keeping impeccable time (be those times odd or not) and never cluttering the compositions. Of particular note would be the lead single from the album Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury and Runaway. The album is not without it's radio-friendly bits, with Paper Lies, Hard As Love and Alone Again being good to give your Top 40 friends a taste, and Made Again makes a great ballad (it starts with a vague flavour of the Beatles Blackbird and builds to a stunning ending to not only the song, but the entire album).

Now, being an ardent Marillion fan, I could be seen as patently biased, I would like to say that while I have pretty much completely enjoyed every album since H joined as vocalist (1988), Brave sits in its own space that had I place as worthy of special status. Few can pull off something of this scope, and to have done it once, it deserves some recognition and a wider audience. It is a nearly flawless album (a line of lyric here, a symphonic section that could have been lengthened there). It shows no signs yet of being dated after 7 years, it isn't condescending or pompous while it is grand and expansive, and it actually seems to offer something for almost everyone without seemingly trying to pander to anyone.

Making this album was its namesake, and I thank Ian, Pete, Mark and the 2 Steves for being so.