Lee Speaks About Music… #116

The Best Of Lee Speaks About Music 2018

2018 Awards

Introduction…

It’s been quite a busy year for buying both new and old music and I have amassed many more CD’s, DVD’s, Blu Rays, Box Sets and Digital Downloads to add to my music collection this year, and have had an exciting year listening and writing about them all. 2018 as certainly been more of a year for mainstream artists rather than unknown artists and I have purchased very little in the form of a Digital Download. In total I have added another 70 bits of music media that have come in the shape of all those formats I mentioned above.

As usual most of the music I have purchased this year comes from the past, and a lot of it would of been the case of me updating music I already had many moons ago with new reissued box sets and remastered albums. For example in total I purchased 27 new bits of music media that was actually released in 2018 and out of that lot only 14 of them were new albums. The other 13 of them were live releases on CD, DVD and Blu Ray and older studio albums that has been reissued in box sets.

Speaking of box sets I am going to kick off this year’s awards as I did last year by starting with them first. In total I did buy 8 of them this year, two of which were by last year’s winner of the award Jethro Tull to which seen the release of the 40th Anniversary of their 1978 album Heavy Horses, and the 50th Anniversary of their 1968 album This Was. Both are really splendid packages and come in the form of an hardback book just like the Deluxe Edition box set I brought of Clutching At Straws by Marillion who seem to have followed the same suit with how they are reissuing their back catalogue.

We also got to see the release of the 2nd and follow up box set from The Flower Kings with A Kingdom Of Colours II. Another excellent purchase and I also picked up some of the cheaper Clamshell box sets such as The Studio Albums (1979 – 1987) by Sky and even I Lost My Head (The Chrysalis Years 1975 – 1980) by Gentle Giant got reissued again. Another splendid package was Into The Electric Castle (20th Anniversary Earbook Edition) by Ayreon and the most expensive box set I purchased was Chris Squire’s Fish Out Of Water.

All 8 box sets were well worthy of buying and the biggest majority of them were focused on one particular album that comes with an array of bonus material, rather than just a collection of the bands discography or partial discography on CD sort of thing. But this award also takes into account of how well the package is made and presented, and not just the best artist sort of thing. So the biggest contenders up for this award will no doubt be out of Jethro Tull, Marillion, Ayreon, Chris Squire and The Flower Kings to which by far have the best presentations. And the winner is…

The Best Box Set Package Of The Year…

Well as you can see Jethro Tull have done it again and to be honest both the DVD Book Edition Box Sets that were put out by the band this year were purely superb. Even though Marillion’s package is very much identical, it does not give you the vast amount of information you get inside the book that comes with the array of discs that you get in a package like this. I would also say that Ayreon’s package was also quite a very high contender because that also comes with a vast amount of information, especially on the production side of things and is another high quality package.

But it also comes down to practicality of how easy it is to store the package, especially for myself who no longer collects vinyl, and the size of the Ayreon package would be better suited for vinyl and not putting CD’s & DVD’s inside them. Whereas with the Jethro Tull packages they are the same size of a DVD and can simply be stored away on a DVD shelf along with all your other DVD’s. They are also easier to hold in your hand to sit down and read them, unlike the Ayreon package to which you would need to put on a table to able to read it more comfortably.

Heavy Horses is a terrific album and the second in the folk rock trilogy of albums that follows up from Songs From The Wood. Both are very much alike with the really GREAT! material that was written for them, and would of even made a perfect double album in reality. To be honest I never seen the 3 albums as a trilogy and I would  not say that the album Stormwatch was ever in the same league. You can read more about the album here: https://wordpress.com/post/leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/

Up next we have the award for the best mainstream artist album that I brought in 2018. I know last year I only had about 3 new albums that were released in 2017 to choose from out of the mainstream albums I brought, which just goes to show you how much new music I buy ;)))))). This year looks slightly a bit better and I have 10 of them to choose from and they are as follows:

Neal Morse – Life and Times. Robert Reed – Sanctuary III. Fernando Perdomo – Out To Sea. Arena – Double Vision. Crack The Sky – Living In Reverse. The Sea Within – The Sea Within. Gryphon – ReInvention. Tiger Moth Tales – Story Tellers Part Two. Jean Michel Jarre – Equinoxe Infinity and The Tangent – Proxy.

All of them are pretty much decent enough albums and some are very strong contenders to win the award and there is a couple of really GREAT! surprises that got released this year, the first being Gryphon’s new album after some 41 years which was something I never thought I would get to see either after all this time. The other surprise was to see Jean Michel Jarre had returned to fine form after near enough 2 decades and he really done well with his latest sequel to Equinoxe.

There is also 3 newcomers to my collection from this lot too. Crack The Sky’s new album had quite a fresh approach and feel about its production which I thought was very good, and Fernando Perdomo also came out with quite an exciting prog rock album based around guitar styles from other prog rock bands from all those years back such as Peter Banks of Yes for example. Though both of these artists did not exactly float my boat enough for me to backtrack on their albums or follow them in particular. Unlike Peter Jones did who is the man behind Tiger Moth Tales. He was that good I snapped up his entire discography and the sequel he did to Story Tellers this year was a brilliant piece of work and album.

Both Arena and The Tangent produced very strong albums this year and Robert Reed once again came up with a masterpiece with his 3rd album in the Sanctuary series. Neal Morse produced a fine mediocre songwriter album and The Sea Within’s debut album featuring Roine Stolt & CO was perhaps a bit of a hit and miss album and perhaps my least favourite of this bunch. So there are at least 6 very strong contenders here. And the winner is…

The Best Mainstream Artist Album Of The Year…

Before I even had this album and knew it was going to be released this year, I very much felt this could be the album of the year, and I was not wrong. All 3 albums Robert Reed has released in the Sanctuary series are all Masterpieces in my book. These musical masterpieces bring nothing short of joy to my ears as Reed emulates the music Mike Oldfield so skilfully crafted out back in the early 70’s, and even though he may use all the instrumentation and even rework and reshape some of Oldfield’s melody lines in parts, it’s still very much highly original material that produces the end result.

Effectively Reed brings back to life the sound of Oldfield in 70’s and early 80’s in his own way with these GEMS, and just like myself he has a genuine passion and love for Oldfield’s early music, some may call it plagiarism and style wise they may very well be right, but one thing you will not find in Reeds music is one single Oldfield melody line and to me he is another genius. He’s not only a very skilled multi talented musician, but he’s also a very good producer who not only brings you quality in stereo, but also in 5.1 and all his albums come with 5.1 mix as a bonus too with the cheaper price he charges for his music. Sanctuary III is just like Sanctuary 1 & II and give you 100% Satisfaction. You can find out more about the album in my review here: https://leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/lee-speaks-about-music-75/

Next up we have the award for the best Unsigned Artist album and whereas last year I had brought 19 albums done by 12 different bands and individual artists to choose from, this year I only have 4 albums to choose from and one of those is more or less the same artist. So there is not a lot of competition for one of the albums to win this year’s award. The 4 albums are Preliminaries by a new band from Poland I discovered who go by the name of Artyfiction. Monuments by Napiers Bones which is a project by Gordon Midgley and Nathan Tillett.

Another of Gordon Midgley’s projects which is a new one he done with Joan Silentio and Dirk Radloff’s 2 man project of HeartScore that sees him this year venture into Metal with his latest album Black Riders Part 1. All 4 albums are very good and very well produced though there can only be one winner and that is…

The Best Unsigned Artist Album Of The Year…

Messrs Midgley & Tillett upped the game with this year’s new album Monuments and without doubt produced their best Napier’s Bones album to date. As a matter of fact this album is that good I would even put it in contention with many mainstream prog rock albums, simply because this is genuine quality writing and musicianship and is a very well produced album too. The albums material and concept is based around some very interesting historical people who not only made their way into history, but did enough to leave behind a monumental monument to make an impact and leave their mark on it.

If you are into prog rock I seriously suggest you check this album out, because it is without doubt up there with even the more wider known mainstream prog rock bands and it genuinely is an excellent album. You can read more about it in my review here: https://wordpress.com/post/leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/50127

This year I got to discover a total of 7 new artists who I had never heard of before and all of them had been out for quite awhile too. One of those bands were England who released a one off album entitled Garden Shed way back in 1977 and was very much like finding a golden piece of prog rock treasure and no doubt is a truly GREAT! album. I also took a step back to the 90’s to what Andy Tillison was doing before The Tangent and purchased a double compilation by Parallel Or Ninety Degrees entitled A Can Of Worms to which I found interesting, but it was not enough to entice me to try and get any of their albums.

Fernando Perdomo’s album Out To Sea I felt was very good, but the fact that this artist tends to do too much all at once very much meant it would be far too costly to follow him. The unsigned Polish band Artyfiction I thought made a very good debut album, and I shall be keeping a look out to see what they come out with next. Another GREAT! band I got to discover was the Italian band Conqueror. Their 2005 album Storie Fuori Dal Tempo is a truly GREAT! prog album and I do still intend to complete my collection of this bands discography and shall do in the new year.

The two artists that impressed me the most I discovered this year are the one man project of Peter Jones who is Tiger Moth Tales and the Norwegian band Wobbler. Both of these artists impressed me more than enough for me to purchase their entire discography all at once more or less. Both of them I would also consider the most consistent artists to pick up this award too, but there can only be one real winner and that is…

The Best New Artist/Band Of The Year…

Wobbler are without doubt one of the finest prog rock bands there is in today’s world of prog rock. This is a band that crafts out music to make it sound as if it came out of that golden decade of the 70’s, and they have successfully achieved it by using very much the same instrumentation that those prog rock bands were using back in the 70’s. It all started for them back with the release of their debut album Hinterland back in 2005 and even though the band have made 2 line-up changes and produced a further 3 albums over the past 12 years, all 4 albums the band have released have been pretty much consistent and are excellent.

All 4 albums Hinterland, Afterglow, Rites At Dawn and From Silence To Somewhere could easily merit this award the band have never put a foot wrong, and all 4 albums contain individual influences from many bands that came out of that golden decade of the 70’s that the band have adapted and adopted to their own unique style. You can find out more about the bands 4 albums on the following links:

Hinterland. https://leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/lee-speaks-about-music-84/

Afterglow. https://leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/lee-speaks-about-music-85/

Rites At Dawn. https://leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/lee-speaks-about-music-87/

From Silence To Somewhere. https://leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/lee-speaks-about-music-88/

Well next up we have the award for the best surround mix, and this year I certainly brought more CD’s and even some DVD’s and Blu Rays that do not even come with a surround mix at all. Being a surround freak it is surround mixes that entice me the most to buy an album all over again and in relation to any remaster and remix, this is where the real value and quality is by far, or should I say should be. Simply because not all surround mixes will blow your socks off, and it’s really down to the guy behind the mix in the first place to how they turn out. Some 5.1 mixing engineers are simply dreadful and do no real justice to surround sound and can be disappointing.

In total I purchased 15 items that come with surround mixes ranging from live concerts and studio albums that come on a DVD or Blu Ray and most were actually released this year even if most of the studio albums themselves were released many moons ago. Thankfully I have not had too many disappointments out of this lot and they range from good, very good, excellent and superb. Being as I always tend to score things from a scale of 1 to 10,  a score of 5/10 I would call “Fair” or “Mediocre” being as it was half way there sort of thing.

I suppose you could say if it scored 5 out of 10 it was half decent. But half decent would certainly not be something worth shouting about when scoring a 5.1 mix, and anything lower would certainly be “Poor” or even “Diabolical”. Both 6/10 and 7/10 scores I would call “Good” but in the world of a 5.1 mix I would also say that they could of been mixed better. So for any 5.1 mix to be really good they really need to score between 8 out of 10 to 10 out of 10. 8/10 being “Very Good”. 9/10 is “Excellent” and 10/10 is “Superb” and would be where you would have to be to win this award. So let’s first take a look at how all 15 surround mixes faired, starting from the lowest to the highest.

The Good Pile.

4 of the 15 surround mixes fall in the “Good” pile. Haken’s live concert entitled L – 1VE scored 6/10 and so too did Marillion’s studio album Clutching At Straws that came in the Deluxe Book Edition. Being a studio album Marillion should really be scoring a lot more points here especially as it is a lot harder to get a really GREAT! live mix in relation to recording in a studio. So even though it did score a 6/10 it was a bit on the disappointing side and I certainly would not be approving the both engineers who mixed it either, and they have a lot to learn when it comes to mixing 5.1.

To be honest both of these releases came with better stereo mixes, and the 5.1 mixes were not really an improvement at all. If there was any improvement it was on the odd track and certainly not by any large enough margin to be that significant. The other album we have in this pile was another studio album which was A Curious Feeling by Tony Banks. This I did give a 7/10 and it was mixed by the same engineer who did the 5.1 mixes for the Genesis albums Nick Davis.

This one does have a better 5.1 mix than the other 2 albums, but it’s not up to the par of the early Genesis albums he did the mix for, but I think this was perhaps a very difficult album to mix, and it’s perhaps not an album that is really suited for a 5.1 mix, and I certainly do not think even Steve Wilson could of give this one any better justice. Also scoring a 7/10 is Ayreon Universe by Ayreon and this is a live concert that comes on a Blu Ray though I will stress it does not come with the sound formats you will expect to find on a Blu Ray that’s for sure, and when it comes to doing 5.1 mixes Arjen Lucassen certainly has a lot more to learn.

However I give credit where it is due and I do think Arjen is improving and he did do not too bad here. But an exciting concert to which this certainly is, does need to have a more professional 5.1 mixing engineer to bring out the best here. He still has not discovered DTS yet, and the fact that his 5.1 mixes are in your box standard Dolby Digital do not really do them any real justice at all, especially as far a Blu Ray is concerned.

The Very Good Pile.

5 of the 15 releases made the “Very Good” pile and scored 8/10. 3 of this lot are live concerts and are all on Blu Ray and come with the lossless high end audio you would expect to find on a Blu Ray. I do not have any gripe with either of these concerts either and they all are very good 5.1 mixes. They are as follows: Steve Hackett – Wuthering Nights Live In Birmingham. Led Zeppelin – How The West Was Won (Blu Ray Audio) and Yes – Live At The Apollo. To be honest I even think the 5.1 mixes of these live concerts are slightly better than the both studio albums that are in this pile.

Speaking of the studio albums they are Chris Squire’s 1975 album Fish Out Of Water that came in the Deluxe Box Set to which I do feel the 5.1 mix could of been better. I would also say the same for Ayreon’s 1998 album Into The Electric Castle that came in the Earbook Box Set Edition but I so see another improvement from Arjen with this mix, but once again he uses the same box standard Dolby Digital surround sound instead of DTS decoding to which would bring out better quality.

The Excellent Pile.

2 of this lot made the “Excellent” pile and one is very much a concert film that’s been reissued on Blu Ray and although the picture quality is not a vast improvement over DVD Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same certainly benefits in the sound department and this is quite an excellent 5.1 mix. But here we also have film footage which is perhaps more suited for 5.1 and most films in 5.1 in all honesty do fair better than music for 5.1 mixes, but even the live concert you get here sounds way better than the vinyl, the video and the DVD formats it was previously released on, and this is really an excellent purchase.

Jethro Tull’s 1978 album Heavy Horses that comes in the New Horseshoes Book Edition is certainly another excellent 5.1 mix that brings this album back to life. Though I must confess none of the Tull albums from 1968 – 1978 needed waking up for me, simply because this is a band who’s albums are never that far from my turntable and I have played consistently every year since I originally brought them back in those days. Having this album in 5.1 brings sheer joy to my ears.

The Superb Pile.

The final 4 of the purchases I brought this year fall into what I call “Superb” 5.1 mixes, in other words they are the superior 5.1 mixes out of them all, and it comes as no surprise to see that 3 of these albums were mixed by Steven Wilson. To be honest both the Gentle Giant albums Octopus and The Power And The Glory he did 5.1 mixes for are quite mind blowing and anyone of these two albums are well up to win this award. But even the 4.1 mix he did for Jethro Tull’s 1968 album This Was is very impressive as well. The other superb 5.1 mix is Robert Reed’s Sanctuary III album, and he is another truly GREAT! sound engineer who does a very impressive job of 5.1 mixes.

Like Steven Wilson it’s very hard to say who is better at doing 5.1 mixes, and they are both superb in this field. But if I had to choose between the both of them, it would have to be Steve Wilson. Simply because he works on other peoples albums that will present him with more of a difficult challenge. But both of these know the ins and outs of what it takes to do a superb 5.1 mix, and they have never let me down. No doubt all these 4 albums are worthy of picking up this award, but there can only be one winner and that is…

The Best Surround Mix Of The Year…

I would not say that the 4.1 mix of Jethro Tull’s 1968 album This Was is as mind blowingly staggering as both the Gentle Giant albums with their 5.1 mixes. But boy is this mix impressive and as brought out the sound of this album superbly and to be honest none of its previous recordings will even get near to how well this album sounds with its remarkable detail. This album literally breathes new life with how good the 4.1 mix is, and it’s by far the best 4.1 mix I have ever heard on this planet.

To be honest I am not into Quadrophonic and thankfully this does have a point 1 next to it, so it’s not Quadrophonic or a like those dreadful 4.0 mixes you can get. This mix leaves them in the dust by a massive margin and simply blows them away. Any surround mix that comes without utilising the subwoofer is purely a waste of space in my opinion, and you will never get the best from those type of surround recordings. If you want to hear what a real bass guitar and the low end of a drum kit sounds like, you need a subwoofer and this 4.1 mix sounds like the band are in your living room playing it. It’s purely FANTASTIC.

For this year’s special album award it was very difficult for me to choose just one album out of the all the albums I brought this year. This final award goes to what I thought was something special that I brought this year and was worthy of a mention all the same, regardless of it being released this year or not. For example last year it was Chris Fry’s 2012 album Composed that won the special album award. I basically boiled it down to 3 contenders and the first that sprang to mind was the 1977 album by the English prog rock band that go by the name of England and their GREAT! album The Garden Shed.

Another truly GREAT! prog album that came out in 2005 was by the Italian band the Conqueror with their 2nd album Storie Fuori Dal Tempo. Both of these albums scored 10 out of 10 in my ratings and are certainly more prog rock than my third choice which was released this year which was the latest album by Tiger Moth Tales entitled Story Tellers Part II. Which incidentally scored 8 out of 10. All 3 albums have brought me tremendous pleasure and are new artists to my record collection that I only discovered this year. I would also consider all 3 albums worthy of this special award, but there can only be one winner unfortunately and the winner is…

The Special Album Of The Year…

From the moment I stumbled across the 31 minute epic track “Morgana” on Youtube I instantly knew that this was a special album that would speak my language regarding prog rock, even though the band the Conqueror only sing in their own native language of Italian. The music will always come first to me with the biggest majority of genres of music in this world, especially when it comes to prog rock.

I mean let’s face it does Jon Anderson’s lyrics back in his heyday when he was with Yes make any real sense? Answer! Of course they don’t, and words are only really that effective with the expression a singer will apply to them and the way the vocal line contributes to the music. I am not saying all prog rock is the same regarding the lyrics they write about, but in general I find Singer Songwriters a lot more meaningful when it comes to lyrics, though half the time they are banging their head against a brick wall by making protest songs I will say.

What I have always enjoyed about prog rock is how the music can take you somewhere else, that is something any lyrics or story you write for it can only follow and in reality it is always the music that takes you on the journey. So even having an album like this that you cannot even understand what they are singing about, will not make a blind bit of difference as long as the music takes you on a GREAT! journey and every song on this album will do that precisely and in superb prog rock style that will even take you back to the 70′ itself with how skilfully this album has been crafted.

Storie Fuori Dal Tempo is one terrific prog rock album and even though it was released back in 2005. It very much feels like a long lost GEM from the 70’s. You can find out more about it here: https://leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/lee-speaks-about-music-60/

Well that about wraps up this year’s awards and it’s been another GREAT! year for music and my collection has grown a bit more. Things will however slow down a bit in the new year due to me saving up for a new TV and Blu Ray player right now, and I dare say I shall be buying some more films as these new devices will be in 4K. But I have no intention of reviewing films and it will be more than likely a new little phase that will take up 3 or 4 months of the new year leaving me very little to buy new music for awhile.

So my music reviews will be way less frequent during the first quarter of the year at least. But no doubt it will pick back up again later on in the year and no doubt certain new releases will certainly entice me to get them as well. Finally I would like to thank everybody who has taken an interest in my blog site and wish you all a happy and creative new year.

Music was my first love and it will be my last. Music of the future and music of the past…

The immortal words of John Miles….

Lee Speaks About Music… #115

Subjects – Gordon Midgley & Joan Silentio

Introduction…

Subjects is the latest project and album by Gordon Midgley to which he has teamed up with the Polish singer songwriter Joan Silentio so it’s very much a joint project. Midgley is no stranger to working with other people on other projects and it was not that long ago we seen the release of the 5th Napier’s Bones album Monuments done with Nathan Tillett and what a terrific album that really was. Though it’s now been a year since the release of his last solo album Lifetimes Ago and over this year he has been keeping himself very busy and even added a drum kit to his arsenal of instrumentation, and Subjects is the first album that features real drums played by himself.

Another thing that Midgley is no stranger too, is that he mostly likes to work around the subject matter in the way of it being a concept in one way or another, and the biggest majority of his works are in fact concept albums. He also tends to focus on the haunting dark side of things as with most of his solo material, and this new album Subjects does have quite a dark feel with its atmospheres, and does also contain some of the finer ingredients one might find in prog rock along its path too. Though it does also step into more modern territories with its genres and styles such as dubstep and even a bit of hip hop is thrown in for good measure and the result is quite a mixture of styles and as well as the dark side of things, we also have a few shades of light perhaps.

I have to confess that I do not know a great deal or really anything at all about Joan Silentio, and even though I am not into all the projects that Midgley has been involved in, this one did grab my attention enough for me to purchase it. The album is also sold at a very reasonable price for a digital download, so its not really gonna break the bank and it suits my pocket so to speak. But before we take a deeper look at what you get here for your money, let’s take a look at the packaging and artwork.

The Packaging & Artwork…

Well as you can see the packaging is nothing really to look at with any digital download and it will not give you something you can hold in your hand either. But for many unknown artists who have not got a massive following to sell their albums by the bucket load, this is by far the most sensible way to sell your music these days. But even a package like this once opened up, can give you a much bigger picture with the contents that are inside it, and the way the music presents itself to you.

Artwork.

The albums artwork was is a photograph taken by Joan Silentio and is very fitting to the albums concept which is based on the context of Christian mysticism back in medieval times, though at first glance the albums artwork instantly reminded me of this classic album by Dire Straits :))))).

Though I have to confess it was the border and not the actual photograph that gave me this impression, and there is a lot more to someone being in an empty living room living in dire straits here that’s for sure.

The Album In Review…

The album Subjects by Gordon Midgley & Joan Silentio was released on the 30th November 2018. The album contains 14 tracks spread over an overall playing time of 42 minutes, 26 seconds which is a very reasonable and comfortable time slot for my liking too I might add. The album itself consists mostly of shorter tracks ranging somewhere between a minute and half to the two to three minute mark. Only a few of it’s tracks are a bit longer and are around the five minute mark.

The material for the album was recorded during the autumn in both England and Poland and mixed and mastered at Scanulf Studios which is Midgley’s home studios. Apart from one of the tracks entitled “Sometimes” to which was mixed and mastered by Russ Sinfield at The Chaos Cookhouse at his home studio also in England. He also contributes guitar to that track as well.

Most of the instrumentation is played by Midgley himself whilst Silentio takes care of the vocal side of things, to which on some of the tracks she uses her own native language to put across the words, and others are sung in English. Silentio also contributes some keys to some of the tracks too, and I am pretty sure it would be mainly the electric piano that features on quite a few of the tracks. I would also expect that most of the musical side of things here, were also written by Midgley.

Musicians & Credits…

A Scanulf Studios Production. Recorded, Mixed & Mastered in England & Poland by Gordon Midgley at Scanulf Studios except ‘Sometimes’ mixed & mastered by Russ Sinfield at The Chaos Cookhouse. All texts derived from Meister Eckhart ‘Collected Works’. Cover Photography by Joan Silentio.

Musicians:
Gordon Midgley: Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keys.
Joan Silentio: Vocals & Keys.

Additional Musicians:
Russ Sinfield: Lead Guitar (On ‘Sometimes’).

The Album Tracks In Review…

The album Subjects is like I mentioned earlier based on the context of Christian mysticism and all the words we have here on the album are quotations that were made by Johannes Eckhart who was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic commonly known as Meister Eckhart back in the medieval times around the 13th and 14th Century. Although there is no authority for giving him the Christian name of Johannes, which sometimes appears in biographical sketches and its believed that his Christian name was actually Eckhart and his full name was Eckhart von Hochheim.

I suppose you could say that Eckhart was like most religious nutters who liked to derive their own interpretations of the bible and form their own religion by finding a suitable spot on a busy market day and stand there preaching a load of Gobble De Gook :))))). Only the Gobble De Gook he was preaching certainly had a darker side to it all. That much that his own teachings (and the fact that many people were taking notice of them) created a bit of a stir with the Catholic Church in particular. He was tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII and may very well had been burned at the stake, had he not died before the trial was concluded.

It’s said that Meister Eckhart can be considered a symbol of the intellectual spirit of the late Middle Ages. His teachings had a strong influence on the thinkers of the Reformation, including Martin Luther. Some of his ideas have been compared to Buddhist teachings. His texts and quotations put into historical context Midgley first encountered back in the early 2000’s. More recently he experienced a different kind of acknowledgement and resonance to them, and no doubt they would be well apt for the kind of dark haunting music he tends to focus on mostly with his music.

But even though the subject matter of Eckhart’s texts and quotations works very well here, does the albums title of Subjects one might ask? To be honest regarding the albums title even I am confused, especially considering some of the material on the album does tend to be more acquainted with the 11th track on the album “Sometimes” in the way of a reprise before you even get to it. So let’s take a deeper look at the album as I go through the individual tracks.

Track 1. In Darkness.

The album opens up with the longest track on the album which weighs in at 5 minutes, 36 seconds. Musically we have Midgley’s more Cinematic approach like we got on his first 3 solo albums Vanished Age, Out Of Doors and The Darkness of Error, only here we have the element of a voice added to the equation, and I have to say even though Silentio’s voice plays more of a minimalistic role on the most of the tracks we have on the album, it does effectively work extremely well for it.

Silentio is very much playing more of a speaking role on this track as with most of the tracks on the album, and also uses her own native language as well as English to put across the words just like we have on this opening track. The only words she does speak in English do happen to be one of Eckhart’s more popular quotations that reads as thus: “Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us”.

I think the other thing that sets this album apart from his first 3 solo albums is that it does have more of an electronica feel to it with the use of the keyboards. No doubt you are still getting all the familiar guitar FX and Steve Hackett like lead guitar swells thrown into the pot, but even on this track I am hearing both early Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk.

For example the Geiger counter sound reminds me of Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity” and the section in the middle with the sound from the mellotron reminds me of Tangerine Dream’s “3 AM at the Border of the Marsh from Okefenokee” from their album Stratosfear. I get a bit of King Crimson with the use of the mellotron in particular too. The piece does have a really GREAT! build to it, and I like the vibes from the Electric piano in that middle section too. It’s a cracking starting point for the album  and gets the albums off to a GREAT! start.

Track 2. Deserted.

The first of the few short pieces on the album that effectively build their way up to the actual 11th track on the album “Sometimes“. I do like how this album uses most of that songs melody lines to give you a hint, and this has quite a ThemeIstic relation to the 11th track and uses minimalistic parts of it, including the words.

Track 3. Shadowland.

Another piece where the vibes from the electric piano work very well and contains minimalistic words spoken in Polish. This is a very haunting and distant piece and the electronic side here also reminds me of the dark haunting fear that was projected into a truly GREAT! 1969 album entitled An Electric Storm by White Noise. That album also featured an electronic genius by the name of Delia Derbyshire. It’s certainly an album worth checking out if you have not heard it, and one that can strike fear into you and even makes dogs go NUTS :))))).

Track 4. Awareness.

No doubt Midgley likes to get into the groove with the drums and bass on most of these tracks and once again we have quite a theme going on with the guitar lines. It even sounds like he brought in a violin player especially at the beginning of the track. The minimalistic words once again go along with the flow and the groove and it’s quite an effective piece of work.

Track 5. Nothing Of Our Own.

This one starts off like Vangelis with the sound from the sequencer, and the sound of the lead guitar work quite reminds me of Mick Rogers back in the early 70’s with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. The words are part of Eckhart’s teachings which are quite similar to Buddhism, and they also sound a bit like his own version of the Lord’s Prayer. He quite often taught the darker way to God and led people up the garden (or wrong) path so to speak, and both Midgley and Silentio do a GRAND! job here of it all here.

Track 6. Derested.

Here we have a reprise of the 2nd track “Deserted” and judging by the title we have here Midgley has either made a spelling mistake or has jumbled up the words in attempt to derail them a bit. Once again it puts the mind in focus of what is to come with track 11 “Sometimes” and I suppose effectively it could be like you are getting a reprise of that track before you have even heard it.

Track 7. Worlds Are Forming.

This is perhaps the first track on the album that Joan Silentio sings on instead of talking. Her voice works very well both ways to be honest, and on this track it sits very well in the groove of the bass and drums. The electric piano features very well here too along with a reversed cymbal effect, it also has a fine lead synth and nice bit of guitar adding to it’ touch towards the end. This is also the first track on the album to have more of a song structure in relation to the other snippets and is a really GREAT! piece of work.

Track 8. First Parting.

A dramatic change of mood here and apart from a couple of words this is more of an instrumental piece than anything else. It’s another step into the lurid territory of the dark and this actually gives me the impression of being stuck on an haunted battleship in dense fog with the picture the music paints. This track is also slightly longer than the other short tracks at its 3 minutes, but oddly enough seems to be over in no time at all and does not seem any longer at all.

Track 9. Ex Nihilo.

The title is written in Latin and means “Out of nothing”. It refers to the view that the universe, the whole of space-time, is created by a free act of God out of nothing, and not either out of some pre-existing material or out of the divine substance itself. It’s also the shortest track on the album at 1 minute 4 seconds and is another fine piece of work that utilises the bass, drums, guitars and synths and also Silentio’s voice in a minimalistic way.

Track 10. In My Heart.

This is quite a beautiful drifting piece with some lovely vibes from the electric piano that blends in very well with the more spacey pad sound and lead synth. Silentio’s voice is very sweet on this track and it reminds of some of the soulful intros you would get from some Tamla Motown Records back in the late 60’s with groups like Diana Ross & The Supremes and Martha & The Vandellas or even a bit later with The Chi Lites as an example.

It’s a really GREAT! track that I would of liked to have seen go on a bit longer and the bass and drums work well in it too. Had it have done I could of also have seen this making a very good single release from the album and it really is a strong contender for the top spot on the album.

Track 11. Sometimes.

Without a doubt this is the stand out track on the album, and even when I play this album it gives me the impression that everything was building up to this one track alone for some reason. Everything about this song tells me its a smash hit and this album is worth buying for this track alone. To me this is the ultimate track on the album and by far the best structured piece of them all. This is where Joan Silentio really gets a chance to sing on the album, and boy does she deliver the goods here.

I love how the album actually builds it’s way along to get to this point, and even in the previous track you can tell more of a song was starting to develop in relation to all the little small snippets that are all effective and have more of darker side to them all. The light on this album starts to appear on the previous track “In My Heart” and with “Sometimes” you get the whole reflection of the light and it truly opens up the light on the album and shines.

“Sometimes” is very much like a combination of the Alan Parson’s Project, Pink Floyd and perhaps Donna Summer or some soulful singer like that. The combination we have here purely works a treat. The song contains a super stand out bass line, backed up by the drums, glistening vibes from the keys and rhythm guitar and one terrific guitar solo by Russell Sinfield that echoes David Gilmour. Oh and one hell of a GREAT! voice to marry it all up.

The song really is a potential hit and brilliant piece of work, and for me personally by far the best track on the album that merits the top spot award of the album.

Track 12. Love By Nature Flows.

This is another of the better tracks on the album that also contains some Pink Floyd elements about it, once again we get the glistening vibes coming from the guitar alone this time and the bass and drums are well good too and provide the GREAT! groove here. Silentio’s voice also works very well in both Polish and English, and  we also have a little operatic vocal sample thrown in here too by the sound of it. This is another very well constructed piece of work and both this track or the next one that follows it would potentially make a fitting B-Side for a vinyl release of “Sometimes“.

Track 13. One Good Path.

Here we are back to the electronic synth vibe, and once again the sequencing reminds me of Tangerine Dream, but once again it works very well with the electric piano adding to it, and it has a gorgeous lead synth sound to it as well. It’s another one of the more lengthier tracks that is very well constructed with its melody lines and use of Silentio’s voice in the all the right places.

Track 14. Fountain.

We are back in the darkness where the album began for the final track on the album, and this piece is more like Midgley’s earlier work on his first 3 solo albums that is spacious and uses great guitar and effects, only here we have Silentio’s voice and vibes on keys of the electric piano adding it all very well indeed. More GREAT! Hackett like guitar swells and once again Silentio gets to use her GREAT! singing voice for a change at the end too with the harmonies. It puts the album to bed very well and is another really GREAT! track.

Summary…

To sum up the album Subjects by Gordon Midgley & Joan Silentio I would say that having the extra voice is the key element to making this album sound different in relation to Midgley’s earlier material which tends to focus more on dark dramatic cinematic soundscapes. Much of that side of things also still exists on this album, and I would even stick my neck out and say that some of the material may of come from left over material from his other albums.

But it’s not only Silentio’s voice that makes the difference here, and her vibes on the electric piano are also a key element to that difference, not to mention the fact that Midgley is also working with real drums which also makes this album work very well for it as well. As a musician Midgley’s talent never ceases to amaze me, and he already seems to have found his way even on a drum kit after no time at all in learning how to play them over the short period of time he has had them.

One of the things I did notice about this album is that the writing credits are missing, and I could of easily of asked Gordon if he wrote all the music we have on this album, but my guess is that there is very much a joint thing going on regarding some of the written material we have here. I could be wrong, but it certainly does have some fresher modern elements along the path of this album that I feel could not have been achieved without Joan being onboard.

I feel the source of material used for the albums concept and the use of text quotations from Meister Eckhart himself for the words is all very fitting. I like how Gordon describes the album too in his own words of being “related musical and lyrical motifs are presented in different contexts at various stages of the journey” to which they truly are.

The only real thing that confuses me, is why the album was titled “Subjects” and that would of been more fitting of a name to call themselves, rather than the title of the album. The only re-occurring theme on the album comes from the track “Sometimes” and I do feel that should of been the albums title. I am sure they have a perfect explanation as to why it was not. My personal highlights from the album are “Sometimes“. “In My Heart“. “Love By Nature Flows“. “One Good Path“. “In Darkness” and “Fountain“.

Conclusion…

In conclusion of my review I very much feel that the album Subjects may appear to be an album that mostly consists of little snippets with the biggest majority of the short tracks you get here. But they all make up quite and exciting album that even has quite a wide variety of styles thrown into the pot, yet somehow maintains to flow quite consistently throughout. The analog synths on the album work a treat, though I do also hear what sounds to me like soft synths in some small parts on a couple of tracks, the operatic vocal on “Love By Nature Flows” for example reminds me of Omnisphere and I also hear some sounds that remind me of Camel Audio.

I like the minimalistic approach with the words and I do get the feeling that the album does work its way up through the darkness and builds up to what I would call the track that has the shining light on the album, which is “Sometimes“. Like I said earlier the album is worth getting for that track alone, but you do get much more for the small price of the album and its well worthy of its price point.

Once again the production values are high and there is nothing here that disappoints either, and I like the way both Midgely and Silentio work as a team. I hear all sorts of influences such as the Alan Parson’s Project, Pink Floyd, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, White Noise, King Crimson and loads more. I can even hear a bit of  Tamala Motown soul thrown in here too, and I never thought I would get that remotely from anything Gordon Midgley as ever done. Even down to the fact that is also touches on hip hop and a bit of dubstep, it’s not over the top and all works and blends together extremely well.

Overall the Subjects is perhaps a slightly different road for Gordon Midgley to go down, but I cannot take anything away from what both he and Joan Silentio has put into this album, and I would even welcome more of this in the future. Perhaps something more along the lines where Silentio can get to use more of her singing voice, because I do feel that “Sometimes” would make a hit record and it deserves to be heard a lot more.

You can listen to the album for free on Bandcamp, or even purchase it for as little as £3 and I do highly recommend you give it a whirl. https://gordonmidgley.bandcamp.com/album/subjects

Sometimes I Can Sense That It Is Dark…

The track listing is as follows:

01. In Darkness. 5:36.
02. Deserted. 1:58.
03. Shadowland. 2:06.
04. Awareness. 2:10.
05. Nothing Of Our Own. 2:34.
06. Derested. 1:26.
07. Worlds Are Forming. 2:36.
08. First Parting. 3:08.
09. Ex Nihilo. 1:04.
10. In My Heart. 2:22.
11. Sometimes. 4:58.
12. Love By Nature Flows. 2:54.
13. One Good Path. 4:42.
14. Fountain. 5:02.

Lee’s Price Point Rating Score. 10/10.

Lee’s Album Rating Score. 8/10.

Lee Speaks About Music… #114

Clutching At Straws (Deluxe Edition – Marillion

Introduction…

Marillion’s 4th studio album Clutching At Straws gets the Deluxe Edition treatment and this is the 2nd of their albums from the era when Fish was with the band to be re-issued in the same packaging as the Jethro Tull re-releases in these book editions that come with an array of discs plus an informative book. Clutching At Straws may not have had the success of their previous album Misplaced Childhood but nevertheless it still had quite a bit of commercial success reaching number 2 in the UK album charts. It was the bands 2nd best highest charted album and it also produced 3 top 40 singles. So it was not that far away from the popularity of their previous album and personally I felt it was a better album overall.

The band were at the height of their success back in 1987 and like many bands it can be also familiar for a band member to leave and go off to do something else at the pivotal point of their career, and this was to be the last straw for the bands front man Fish who bowed out a year later in 1988 after the band done a successful tour of the album. I also bowed out from the band myself and went on to follow him rather than the band, though Marillion still went on to make many more albums with their new front man Steve Hogarth and are still doing well and are going strong still even today.

Fish went onto have quite a successful solo career of his own just like Peter Gabriel did when he left Genesis back in 1975 and since they both departed from the success they had in their previous bands, many fans were hoping that one day they would return back to the fold. Unfortunately it was never to be and it’s way to late now for it ever to happen, even if it did I personally do not think they could never recapture what they had back in their heyday with their former bands.

The only way you really can go back to those magical times, is really by getting these type of new reissues to rekindle the old flame, and ignite the old spark to relive it all again. And I have to say that these type of box sets can really do that and the way they have presented them in packages like this, really does give the album the type of respect it deserves. So let’s now take a look at the packaging and artwork.

The Packaging & Artwork…

As with all these Book Editions they are superbly constructed out of thick cardboard with plastic trays to hold the discs firmly in place and look like a quality hardback book. The fact that they are also the same size of a DVD makes them so easy to store too. To be honest the way these packages have been constructed is even better than most box sets that cost over £100. I personally think the way they have been designed, they are by far the best designed package you can get especially for a packaged box set that comes with CD’s/DVD’s and Blu Rays.

Artwork.

The artwork was done by Mark Wilkinson who also done all the artwork for the other Marillion albums during the Fish era of the band. He also done many of Fish’s solo album covers too and covers for other rock bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The setting for the artwork on Clutching At Straws was a picture taken at a British pub in Colchester called the Bakers Arms.

Fish wanted some of his heroes in the picture who had inspired the lyrics for the songs on the album, and amongst the crowd in the bar on the front of the album are Robert Burns, Dylan Thomas, Truman Capote and Lenny Bruce. On the back cover it had John Lennon, James Dean and Jack Kerouac.

Wilkinson expressed his disappointment with the artwork, and it was down to the fact that the record company had brought the release date of the album forward, that he was rushed to get it done which did not give him the time to add some more characters he wanted to include and put more detail in the overall picture.

Clutching At Straws Deluxe Released Editions…

The Deluxe Editions come in 3 formats the cheapest of them being the Digital Download which contains all the new mixes, demos and a live concert that are on the 4 CD’s and is currently priced on Amazon at £11.99. That’s quite value for money considering you are getting 4 albums worth of material here, especially when you consider that most single albums are generally around £7.99 for the MP3 digital download.

The 4 CD + 1 Blu Ray Book Edition Box Set is currently priced on Amazon at £35.90 though some places right now you can get for around £30 if you shop around a bit. This is the edition I opted for and got it for £22.73 by pre-ordering straight away on the 7th September from Amazon. It does pay to pre-order things before the release date and I saved a good £13.17 by doing so on this occasion. The vinyl release is the most expensive and you get 5 LP’s that come in a box for around £60.

The Album In Review…

Marillion’s 4th studio album Clutching At Straws was originally released on the 22nd June 1987. The album contained 11 tracks and had an overall playing time of 52 minutes, 14 seconds. Due to vinyl restrictions the vinyl release did not contain “Going Under” although they did release “Going Under” on the B-Side of the single vinyl release of “Incommunicado“. It was also the first Marillion album to be released on CD too.

Just like the bands previous album Misplaced Childhood it was Chris Kimsey who was again behind the production for Clutching At Straws and the album was recorded at Westside Studios in London which is now very much defunct and has been for quite awhile. To be honest this studio is so defunct that it’s practically impossible to find out any history of the place even though many artists recorded their albums there when it functioned as a recording studio.

The success that their previous album had brought the band meant that they was now more busier than ever with an heavy schedule of gigs booked up all over the world to play, they also had the pressure of coming up with another album to live up to the more commercial success that Misplaced Childhood had brought them. It was only the success of that album where the band made any real money to which all the band members could actually now go out and buy their own house at last.

The bands first two albums brought them nothing more than a heavy debt with the record company to pay off, and they had to play more live shows and release a live album just to pay it off. Being well off and more famous all of a sudden can bring all sorts of problems, and it’s not all like a bed of roses and easy to cope with for some people. It was during this period that Fish started to isolate himself more from the other members of the band and his addiction of drugs and alcohol did not really help him or his family out either.

Fame can be a struggle and too much to handle at times, and when you are the front man of the band you are always going to be the centre of attention for the press to get their teeth into. The only way to follow up success is to come up with something that was more of less a carbon copy of the album that brought in that success, and the band decided to try and do that by making a follow up to Misplaced Childhood.

They even wrote and recorded a few songs to try and do that, but soon found out they was not working out and they may have been trying too hard. So they scrapped that idea and those few demos they wrote can be heard on the 4th CD in this box set. So let’s now take a closer look at the package contents you get here.

The Package Contents…

With any package or box set like this it’s bound to come with an array of bonus material and extras in relation to just having the album on CD. Even the book that comes with it could be seen as a very good extra and good thing to have. Though the one thing I will point out is that the ones that come with these Marillion packages are nowhere as good as the ones you get in the Jethro Tull packages, and are nowhere near as informative.

For example you do get a 60 page book, but most of it is filled with pictures, the production notes and lyrics, and it contains very little informative information about the time the album was recorded. As a matter of a fact what little informative information you do get in this book is quite disappointing, and you get no more in reality than you would in a booklet that comes with a CD. I would even say you could read it in the time it would take you to have a dump on the toilet :))))).

The other difference between the Jethro Tull packages and Marillion’s is that we get a Blu Ray instead of a couple of DVD’s. To be honest apart from the documentary they include I cannot see any other real reason to use a Blu Ray disc, and effectively a DVD would of been just as suffice. They also give you 4 CD’s in relation to the Tull packages were they will give you 2 or 3 depending on the album and the bonus material they had around that time. Whereas it appears that Marillion are sticking to a format of giving you 4 CD’s and a Blu Ray by the looks of things. So let’s now take a look at the contents starting with the CD’s.

CD1.

The first disc contains the new mixes of the original album and as Steve Wilson was not available like he was with their previous re-issue of  Misplaced Childhood they have brought in both Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh to do the new stereo and 5.1 mixes of the album. To be honest I have never heard of any of them before, but apparently they are known for mixing albums for well known pop artists such as Anastacia, Robbie Williams, Howard Jones and many others.

Hardly the right qualifications to mix a Marillion album I would of thought, but I have to say they have done a very good job on the new stereo mixes, they so sound fresh and it revitalises a bit of life back into the original recordings, something they may have needed too to stop them from being too outdated. Overall I am quite impressed with these new mixes and they are ticking all the right boxes here and have not gone over the top at all. I would even say they present you with a new feel in relation to the original album and it works very well for it.

You do not get any bonus tracks on this disc either, and you only get the original album tracks to which I like. In total you get 11 tracks spread over the original playing time of the original CD which makes the album weigh in at 52 minutes, 14 seconds.

CD’s 2 & 3.

The next 2 discs contain the whole of the concert the band performed live at the Edinburgh Playhouse on the 19th December 1987. In total you get 19 tracks spread over the 2 discs. The concert was mixed by Michael Hunter and it’s never been released before in its entirety, although 4 of the tracks from this same concert “Slàinte Mhath“. “Sugar Mice“. “Incommunicado” and “White Russian” was put on the double live album The Thieving Magpie that was released back in 1988.

This live concert is without doubt the best bonus material you get in this package and it really is a GREAT” live show they put on at the Edinburgh Playhouse. The 2nd disc contains 10 tracks and comes with an overall playing time of 62 minutes, 9 seconds. Disc 3 contains 9 tracks with an overall playing time of 52 minutes, 14 seconds making the whole concert 1 hour 54 minutes, 23 seconds long.

It may also be worth noting that this CD Box Set also contains an incomplete recording of the last song they played at the concert which was “Market Square Heroes” to which the band also played “My Generation”. “Margaret” and “Let’s Twist Again” during it, though it does get cut off after 10 minutes, 9 seconds and I guess they must of run out of tape. But this track is not included on the vinyl Box Set.

CD 4.

The 4th disc contains a load of demo tracks and you get 13 in total and the disc comes with an overall playing time of 68 minutes, 14 seconds. The first 9 demos were previously released on the 1999 remastered edition of the album. The other 4 demos are all previously unreleased and the first of them is “Hotel Hobbies/ Warm Wet Circles” that are the original Mosaic Demos. The other 3 demos are of “Just for the Record“. “Torch Song” and “Slàinte Mhath“.

To be honest I never had any of these demos before and it’s quite interesting to hear their original ideas for the album, before they scraped a majority of them, and how the songs that made it on the album were developing. Some of these recordings are quite good too, though not all of them I will stress. Some of the music from these demos got uses on Marillion’s 5th album Seasons End to which John Helmer penned new lyrics for Steve Hogarth to sing them. Fish also used some of his lyrics from some of the demos on some of is solo albums.

The Blu Ray.

The Blu Ray contains the 5.1 mix of the album and a few other bonus features that were not included on the CD’s. The main menu is simple enough to navigate and get around and I like how by clicking on some of the featured options it simply displays them, rather than having to load up to another screen. For example by clicking on the “Track Select” option at the top, it displays the tracks that have been given the 5.1 treatment as seen on the next snapshot I took with my phone.

As you can see by the tracks it’s only the album tracks that have had a 5.1 mix done on them, and everything else on the Blu Ray is in stereo only. You may also notice on this screen that it’s also hidden the other bonus features and it looks as if it has loaded up another screen to get here. But it’s not the case at all and it simply just hid the other options. Next up we have the “Audio Select” which is only for the 5.1 mix of the album.

All the audio for the 5.1 and stereo mixes in this section are in 48/24 and by default it’s set to Stereo. It comes with 2 choices for the 5.1 surround sound the first being my preferred option of the DTS-HD Master Audio and a Dolby Digital mix.

As you can see from the picture above they have also included the original 3 videos that were made for the 3 singles that got released from the album. These have not been enhanced in anyway and not even the fact that your Blu Ray Player can upscale the picture is not really gonna exactly do any favours by doing so either. Even the audio on these things is not that good in particular either, and they are only really good for a bit of nostalgia more than anything else.

The Blu Ray also includes the original 1987 flat transfer mix of the album and also contains the other 3 bonus tracks that was included on the 1999 remastered release of the album. They come with an audio quality of 48/16. The only remaining bonus feature is the documentary to which I will discuss in a bit.

During the playback of the audio only album and bonus tracks it also plays a slide show of pictures and displays the title of the track you are currently playing. This is always good to have rather than one still picture that could potentially burn out your pixels or backlight and flat panel TV’s.

The Documentary.

Just like the Deluxe Box Set Edition of Misplaced Childhood you also get 1 hour documentary that features the original line up of the band being interviewed this time by  Mick Wall. Here they discuss the making of the album and the events that happened around that time, and even how most of the members of the band went out and brought a house from the success of their previous album  Misplaced Childhood. Mick Wall also interviews them in one room all together and also individually in some parts throughout the course of the interview.

To be honest just like the interview of Misplaced Childhood I reviewed last year, I was not that overall impressed by this interview either. There was some interesting points such as how Steve Rothery wrote about 90% of the music for the album and how Fish was left to do all the interviews with all the radio stations and magazines on his own all the time. How the band were busy gigging with them being on the road, and how they did not have much time to write any the new material for the album. It even touches on Fish’s addiction problems and why he decided to leave.

I have watched it a couple of times and I do like the fact that they all appeared to get along with each other as well, despite the fact that they were all interviewed separately on their own as well.

The 5.1 Surround Mix.

Both Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh have done the 5.1 surround mix and sometimes or you would think that two heads are better than one. Here I am pretty sure it was not the case at all and this is not a mix to write home about and neither of these two really have the right head on their shoulders to do 5.1 mixes, and they are without a doubt missing Steve Wilson’s expertise this time around.

To be honest because the album does tend to have a lot of atmospheres throughout a lot of its music, it can make it quite a challenge and very difficult to do a 5.1 mix. It may not be the type of album that is really suited to 5.1 simply because of the way the atmospheres can reflect quite heavily in the first place in the mix, and this particular 5.1 mix they have done, does give you the impression that mostly they are bleeding reflections from the front into the rear channels too often, rather than focusing on the right elements of instrumentation to take out of the front and place in the back.

I personally felt the pair of them did a much better job with the new stereo mixes and were not really the right engineers to be put in charge of a 5.1 mix. This 5.1 mix is not very impressive at all and lacks quite a bit of focus and imagination when it comes to placement and the placement of the right instrumentation in particular you need to move around to make it work in a 5.1 mix.

I think overall they managed to do the mix without really going overboard and taking away the original way and feel the album should sound and project itself to you. But the 5.1 mix does somehow sound more bland in relation to the new stereo mix, and it does not quite grab me as much or really do anything to bring out any better dynamics or clarity. Overall it’s not bad but could of been better and it’s way off giving you a more of a spectacular way of listening to the album that really good 5.1 mixes can do.

Musicians & Credits…

Produced by Chris Kimsey. All music written and arranged by Marillion. Recorded at Westside Studios London 1987. Recording Engineer Nick Davis. Assistant Engineer Richard Sullivan. Mixed at Advision Studios London by David Jacob. Assisted by Avril Macintosh. Sleeve Concept by Fish. Illustrations & Design by Mark Wilkinson. Photography by Janus Van Helfteren. 2018 Credits Mick Wall Linear Notes. Photography by Steve Rothery. Fish. Stuart James & David Plastik.

Musicians:

Fish: Voice.
Steve Rothery: Guitars.
Pete Trewavas: Bass & Vocals.
Mark Kelly: Keyboards.
Ian Mosley: Drums & Percussion.

Additional Musicians:

Tessa Niles: Backing Vocals (“That Time of the Night” and “The Last Straw”)
Chris Kimsey: Backing Vocals (“Incommunicado”)
John Cavanaugh: Dr Finlay Voice (“Torch Song”)

The Album Tracks In Review…

The album Clutching At Straws contains a set of songs that’s lyrics are basically a concept around Fish’s own struggles with handling success and the problems that came with it, such has his divorce from his wife, his abuse of alcohol and drugs and even down to the pressures put on the band by the record company to some extent. You could say that Fish carries the “Torch” for the character he portrays in the story who has all these problems including writers block and the character Torch evolved from the “Jester” from an earlier album cover of theirs. The album even starts off like a concept album with its opening 3 tracks which are very much joined together in the way of a suite, and all the other individual tracks are related to it all.

Clutching At Straws was very well received by the critics and for many of the bands fans it was their favourite album. Even today without Fish many of its songs are still being played live and feature strongly in a Marillion live set. No doubt it’s an album that fleshes out some of Steve Rothery’s finest guitar solos and it oozes and wreaks of them. For me personally as with all 4 studio albums the band made with Fish. it is he himself that puts the balls and grit into the bands music, and that was certainly something that was lost when he quit the band.

For me he is very much a singer that has dynamic aggression in his voice that can raise the game when it needs to be lifted up. Without him the band just never said the same thing to me afterwards despite having some really GREAT! musicians. Just like all 4 of the album he made with the band, they all contain some truly GREAT! classic songs. So let’s mow take a deeper look at the albums tracks.

Tracks 1. Hotel Hobbies.

The first part of a 3 part suite, and collectively the opening 3 tracks on the album over its 14 minutes have always been amongst my personal favourite tracks on the album along with the 9th track on the album “Slàinte Mhath“. Though no doubt this album does have a few other classics along its route over the course of the album too. “Hotel Hobbies” is the shortest of the 3 pieces than make up the suite and it kicks off with some excellent vibes from Mark Kelly’s keyboards to which he does use quite a lot on this album.

Another strong feature on this album is not just the bass guitar from Pete Trewavas but also the use of the bass pedals he uses, and they are put to good use here along with Steve Rothery’s guitar that features a lot throughout this opening track and lift it up along with the pace of Ian Mosley‘s drums. This song has quite a powerful build up that allows Rothery to let rip with his guitar and this part and the 3rd part of the suite do have more of a pace about them.

Fish has always had the ability of writing such brilliant lyrics, and the fact his voice can change in an instant from a more ballad-ESC style to something with a lot more grit and aggression, allows him to express his own words superbly and raise the game and turn up the heat so to speak. Effectively when you look at the lyrics and the character of Torch that Fish portrays here, you could quite easily make a comparison with the lyrics that Peter Gabriel wrote for the character Rael and story he portrayed for the Genesis album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. They are both stories about being off the rails so to speak. “Hotel Hobbies” very much sets the opening scene and gets the album off to a flying start.

Track 2. Warm Wet Circles.

I suppose you could call this the come down section of the suite, though it does build it’s was up very well to lead into the more powerful section and final part at the end. It also contains a very tasty guitar solo from Rothery that very much has the same tone that Steve Hackett had on his guitar on “Spectral Mornings“. It’s perhaps my favourite part of the 3 tracks that make up this suite, though they are all extremely very well crafted pieces and fit perfectly together. “Warm Wet Circles” was the 3rd and final single to be released from the album and it was released on the 26th October 1987 and broke into the UK Top 30 and reached number 22.

The lyrics are pertaining to the character of Torch thinking back to his old haunts and seeing how his life used to be scares him, the warm wet circles are how most alcoholics will sit in a pub and run their fingers around the rim of their glasses, I suppose those with spirits in them like brandy and whiskey could be seen as a warm drink in that it can warm up the cockles of your heart or something like that:))))).

Track 3. That Time Of The Night (The Short Straw).

The atmosphere of how the final section of the suite opens up cinematically depicts the nights time with its presence. Both the bass line and drums are ticking over the hours and the delay and reverb on Rothery‘s guitar blend in very well with the keyboards and provide the perfect ambience. It’s the longest section of the suite at its 6 minutes and builds up to a more chaotic and melodramatic finish. The chorus of previous track “Warm Wet Circles” is reprised towards the end with Tessa Niles singing out the last few words of the song.

Fish describes the lyrics of the song as being a sort of resignation statement with how they relate to the arguments and sorting out all the problems for the band both existent and non-existent, into the early hours of the morning. He would often lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling considering his options of where he wanted to go with his life, He was tired of the touring and felt trapped. It ends off the 14 minute suite very well indeed.

Track 4. Going Under.

The opening 3 songs on the album that make up the suite are not the only part of the albums concept story based around the character of Torch, and “Going Under” and the rest of the albums tracks are still very much part of the whole concept. Though the only way you got the full story was with the CD release only and this track was left off the vinyl release due to time restrictions. Although it did get put on the B-Side of single release of “Incommunicado“.

The lyrics describe Torch’s concerns about his drinking habit though as with many alcoholics they can often think about how stupid it is with what they are doing, but do nothing to stop it. I have known a good few over the years and trust me giving them advice is like going in one ear and out the other. Trying to knock some sense into them is like fighting a losing battle yourself and many of my friends have gone under, and are literally 6ft under as well.

The lyrics in this song were also improvised and Fish sung them from the top of his head, and because they did not want to change the vocal line they left the as they were. It’s another atmospheric dreamy song and contains some fine guitar work from Steve Rothery though like many of the songs on this album, the lyrics pertain to the same subject more than being an actual story, and effectively most of the tracks on this album can stand up on their own with how they have been written. So even though this track was omitted from the vinyl release its not as if you are losing anything from the story.

Track 5. Just For The Record.

One of the more happy up-tempo tracks on the album that really pertains to having a good time at the bar knocking drinks back with your mates and forgetting all about your problems, and nothing else matters when this happens either, and sometimes you even forget you have a wife and kids at home and they are miles away. I know I have been there a few times myself in the past :)))). This is also a song that features some terrific keyboard work from Mark Kelly and it does sound quite a bit different from the other songs on the album this one.

To be honest the way I myself have always seen the more up-tempo side of this song and the way it projects itself, is that it sounds more like the pop side of Genesis with Phil Collins on vocals. The sort of thing they was doing in the 80’s with the songs “Another Record” and “Who Dunnit” from their 1981 album Abacab. I have always seen Marillion being more like what Genesis would of sounded like in the 80’s had Peter Gabriel had not of left the band with most of their songs, particularly on their first 2 albums and when they first started out. Here they are more like the 80’s side of the band but I do quite like this song and how it leaps and springs its way into the action.

Track 6. White Russian.

No doubt when it comes to spending your time drinking away in a bar, politics will always crop up in most conversations and all the shit in the world that is happening will come along with it. White Russian is very much a drink or cocktail made with vodka, coffee liqueur and cream or most often milk served on the rocks with ice, and no doubt after a few of these things you will be racing and chasing the clouds home :))))))).

The song itself is very much a Marillion classic and has it all with really GREAT! guitar and keyboard work along with all the grit, edge and aggression in Fish’s voice which is perhaps expected as the subject matter of the lyrics deals with the rise of neo-Nazism and violence in Europe during the 1980s. Fish got his inspiration for the lyrics from an encounter he had with a Jewish American DJ who was working in Austria whilst the band were tour there in 1986. It was an election year and the DJ was troubled by what he saw as anti-Semitism in the campaigning of some parties and was ordered not to voice his thoughts on the air about it which led him to resign. The President of Austria elected that year would later be revealed as a former Nazi and accused of war crimes.

White Russian is both a cocktail and a term for Russian anti-communists of the early 20th century. Ultimately the song is less about political ideology and more about personal conviction and courage. At this point in the story Torch is dismayed by what he sees and feels strongly that something must be done, but he lacks the will to do anything about it himself being in the mess he is in with his own addiction, and jumps on a plane and races the clouds home so to speak.

Track 7. Incommunicado.

The first of the 3 singles to be released from the album and it was actually released before the album in the UK on the 11th May 1987. It also broke into the Top 10 of the UK singles charts and reached number 6. The song is heavily keyboard based with it’s main riff played at a fast pace by Mark Kelly in the same kind of style they wrote “Market Square Heroes” much earlier. It’s also said that Kelly got his inspiration from Adam Wakeman whilst Fish may have been inspired by The Who with the lyrics.

“Incommunicado” could be seen as a status of prisoners not being allowed to communicate with the outer world. But in a more verbal sense it can also refer to somebody (as Torch) not being able or not willing to communicate with people. Torch really wants to be famous but he doesn’t want the responsibilities that go with fame. ‘Incommunicado’ is another word for ‘pissed’ is how Fish would put it himself. It’s another of the many classic songs on this GREAT! album and features the producer Chris Kimsey on backing vocals.

Track 8. Torch Song.

Another really GREAT! song with atmosphere and one that portrays perhaps the romantic side of fixation to drink in the way that you are not really bothered if it kills you. It features the voice of John Cavanaugh playing the part of Dr. Finlay from the Scottish TV program Dr. Finlay’s Casebook that ran from 1962 – 1971. The coughing noises you hear are for real as Fish had a heavy night the night before :))))).

Track 9. Slàinte Mhath.

The title in Gaelic and means “Good health” and often used when someone buys you a drink in Scotland. It’s at this point that Torch reflects on the down and out stories one would hear in a bar, and as to where they are now in life. It also takes in some of the history where Fish grew up such as the Bilston Glen area in Lothian were several large coal mines which were closed by the Thatcher government in the 1980’s. The “‘Firing Line” refers both to Flanders and Bilston Glen\ Clydeside in the First World War.

In the more recent context, it refers to the lines of men waiting to see whether they would keep their jobs in the heavy industries, the implication being that the men of the 80’s unemployment lines were no more or less fucked than their grandparents standing in front of the guns. This is very much another superb classic song from the album that lifts up the album and the band rock it out.

Track 10. Sugar Mice.

The 3rd and final single release from the album once again broke into the top 30 singles charts in the UK and peaked at number 22. Fish wrote the lyrics whilst he was on tour in the US and in the very town that is mentioned in the song Milwaukee. They very much relate to the time spent away from his family being on tour with the band that led to his divorce from his wife. The fact that unemployment was also at an all time high in Europe is also mentioned in the song and he even dedicated the song to all the unemployed people in Europe when they play live at Loreley in 1987.

In an interview back in 1987 he quoted “Torch has run away from everything and everybody and gone in search of a dream that doesn’t exist!”. He also quoted “I ended up in some shit hotel, imagining what it would be like if somebody left their wife and kids in Scotland or whatever, and went half way across the world and ended up in a horrible hotel with a disgustingly sad bar downstairs. We checked in on a Sunday, and all you saw out the window was the dealers standing out on the corner, and that’s kind of what the song was about”. It’s another excellent bit of songwriting and really GREAT! ballad of a song.

Track 11. The Last Straw / Happy Ending.

The final song on the album is where the character Torch has gone that far down that the only way he can go now is back up, and he starts writing again and is back in the bar drinking again. I suppose you could say he’s back to square one with his own observations and look of life and realises he is no martyr and there is no point in trying to be like one, as deep down everyone at some point has a bit of Torch in them and ate some point we can all be clutching at straws so to speak.

The second part “Happy Ending” is just Fish yelling the word “No” followed by some muffled laughter fading off into silence, and Fish said himself that he does not like happy endings and there is not one here either, and it ends off a really GREAT! album and sadly it was to be the final straw for Fish with Marillion.

Summary…

To sum up the latest Deluxe Edition of Clutching At Straws by Marillion. I can only say that it’s another really splendid package that’s well worth getting, and the way it’s been presented with all 5 discs fitting neatly into a 60 page hardback book that will sit proudly along with your DVD’s on the shelf, will even make a GREAT! Christmas present for someone special at this time of the year. With all you get here it does offer extremely GREAT! value for the money.

The new stereo mixes done by Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh are very good, and the fact that they have also included the original mix of the album on the Blu Ray is good to have too. So effectively you could sell or pass on your old CD simply because you have everything and more besides than what all the previous issues will give you. The bonus material is very good and it’s GREAT! that they have included the live concert they performed at the Edinburgh Playhouse. Which is personally my favourite bonus feature you get here. The demos are quite interesting too.

Although both Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh have done a really GREAT job on the new stereo mixes, I cannot say that I am that impressed by their work on the 5.1 mix and things could of been a lot better had Steve Wilson been available to do it that’s for sure. To be honest the 5.1 mix is my main reason for buying a release like this in the first place and this 5.1 mix does not really impress me enough to say it’s any better than the new stereo mixes they done. But overall I am quite happy enough with the bonus material you get here, so I am not too disappointed.

Conclusion…

To conclude my review of Marillion’s Deluxe Edition of Clutching At Straws there can be no doubt that the bands 4th album is a truly GREAT! album, and even though it is done in the way of a concept album, it presents itself more like a collection of individual songs that are related to the same subject matter, rather than it being a continuous story and it works very well for it. For me personally this is an album that merits a 10 out of 10 score just like the bands first 2 albums Script For A Jesters Tear and Fugazi and is very much another solid album with all the material they wrote for it.

Personally for me I do not think a lot of truly GREAT! music came out of the 80’s, and around the time Marillion came out in the 80’s with Fish they was without doubt the nearest band you could get to early Genesis. These days there are several bands that try and emulate what Genesis did back in their heyday with Peter Gabriel. They was one of the very few bands that kept prog rock alive in the 80’s more so than what Genesis did themselves or Yes did for that matter.

Marillion were very much a force when they had Fish with them in the 80’s and the material they wrote back then even allowed both Steve Rothery and Mark Kelly to shine with their solos. Something that I felt went out of the window by trying to work around a totally different singer they got in to replace Fish with. I am not saying Steve Hogarth is a bad singer, but he was a bad choice and does not have the aggression and balls Fish had in his voice for the rest of the band to work in the same way it carried on.

They just totally mellowed themselves out of the game for my liking. You might just as well well buy a Porcupine Tree album, or an album filled with constant ballads and no balls. That is truly what Marillion are today I am afraid, and that is why they no longer speak to me at all, and why I went on to follow Fish rather than stick with the band. My highlights from the Clutching At Straws album are very much the first 3 tracks on the album along with “White Russian“. “Incommunicado“. “Slàinte Mhath” and “Sugar Mice“. Alternatively just simply stick the whole album on, it does not disappoint.

So If You Want My Address It’s Number One At The End Of The Bar…

The CD track listing is as follows:

Disc One: 2018 Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh Re-mix

1. “Hotel Hobbies”

2. “Warm Wet Circles”

3. “That Time of the Night (The Short Straw)”

4. “Going Under” (Alternate Version)

5. “Just or the Record”

6. “White Russian”

7. “Incommunicado”

8. “Torch Song”

9. “Slàinte Mhath”

10. “Sugar Mice”

11. “The Last Straw”

12. “Happy Ending”

Disc Two: Live at the Edinburgh Playhouse 1987 (2018 Michael Hunter Mix)

1. “La Gazza Ladra”

2. “Slàinte Mhath”

3. “Assassing”

4. “White Russian”

5. “Incubus”

6. “Sugar Mice”

7. “Fugazi”

8. “Hotel Hobbies”

9. “Warm Wet Circles”

10. “That Time of the Night (The Short Straw)”

Disc Three: Live at the Edinburgh Playhouse 1987 (2018 Michael Hunter Mix)

1. “Pseudo Silk Kimono” (Intro)

2. “Kayleigh”

3. “Lavender”

4. “Bitter Suite”

5. “Heart of Lothian”

6. “The Last Straw”

7. “Incommunicado”

8. “Garden Party”

9. “Market Square Heroes” (incomplete, featuring “My Generation,” “Margaret,” and “Let’s Twist Again”)

Disc Four: 1999 Remaster Demos            

1. “Beaujolais Day” (Demo)

2. “Story From A Thin Wall” (Demo)

3. “Shadows On The Barley” (Demo)

4. “Exile On Princes Street” (Demo)

5. “Sunset Hill” (Demo)

6. “Tic-Tac-Toe” (Demo)

7. “Voice In The Crowd” (Demo)

8. “White Russians” (Demo)

9. “Sugar Mice In The Rain” (Demo)

10. “Hotel Hobbies/ Warm Wet Circles” (The Mosaic Demos) *

11. “Just for the Record” (Demo) *

12. “Torch Song” (Demo) *

13. “Slàinte Mhath” (Demo) *

* Previously unreleased

Lee’s overall Complete Package Value Rating…

The Packaging Rating Score. 10/10

The Price Point Rating Score. 10/10

The Bonus Material Rating Score. 8/10

The 5.1 Mix Rating Score. 6/10

The Original Album Rating Score. 10/10