Fugazi (Deluxe Edition) – Marillion
Introduction…
Marillion’s second studio album Fugazi I am pretty sure is the final of the albums in the Fish era of the band to get released in these Deluxe Edition hardback books and I must admit I have been waiting in great anticipation for it. To be honest I have no idea how many albums the band intend to release in these splendid packages but I am pretty sure it is only those they made from the time the band were signed to EMI. Although my only personal interest is in the Fish era of the band and the day he left Marillion so did I so to speak.
One of the particular reasons as to why I have been waiting for this new release of the album is for the 5.1 mix. Simply because even though both Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh done a superb new stereo mix for the bands debut album Script For A Jester’s Tear they do appear to be abysmal at doing 5.1 mixes and that is exactly how I would describe the 5.1 mixes they done for the Deluxe Editions of the bands debut album and their fourth studio album Clutching At Straws.
However, according to Mike Viera’s Life In Surround Tube Channel (I always watch) he did inform me that the engineers have improved and done a very good job on the 5.1 mix for Fish’s double album Weltschmerz that got released last year and was expecting them to do a lot better with this latest Deluxe Edition of Marillion’s. He was also surprised that I never brought the Weltschmerz Deluxe Edition especially as I have all of Fish’s albums.
Though I do draw the line when artists charge extortionate prices for their product and I see it as GREED! Everything about the way Fish put out that release was a complete rip-off in my book and although the Scotts can be known for being “Tight” quite frankly I think he was taking the PISS! 😊😊😊.
The Deluxe Edition of Weltschmerz (as seen above) is very much packaged in the same way Marillion’s Deluxe Editions have been put out. The only difference is that it comes housed in a cardboard slipcase. The other notable difference is that it also comes with less discs yet he’s charging more than twice the price for his package. Furthermore, he refused to put it on Amazon (where people like myself who are Prime members can save on the postage and packaging) and released it on his own website only which meant that this thing was near enough £60 to buy which is near enough 3 times the price of the package I am about to review here.
I was gonna get the CD instead which he did put on Amazon. Only when I saw the price of £23.99 for a double CD to which most artists only charge around £14 I simply refused to buy the album. I have heard the album on the Tube and in comparison to the last album he put out A Feast of Consequences back in 2013 I can honestly say it’s not in the same league and does not speak to me very well at all. It’s certainly not worth shelling out the ridiculous price he’s charging for it and it’s no wonder more people are buying downloads or streaming music when artists do things like this. He’s doing nothing at all to support physical media and killing it.
Thankfully the other members in the band were not Scottish 😊😊😊 and can see the importance of the physical product to support it and give you value for the buck and that is what you get with all these splendid packages both Marillion and Jethro Tull have put out over the past few years or so. Any box set should offer you value for the money and be put out at a bargain price and not seen as a way to exploit their fans by charging ridiculous prices for them.
The one thing that is noticeable about the Fugazi Deluxe Edition is that it comes with one less CD in relation to the other three Deluxe Editions I have. As far as I can tell there is also no unreleased material however just like the Deluxe Edition of Script For A Jesters Tear the blu ray certainly looks like you are getting your money’s worth and is once again rammed with some goodies. But before I go any further let’s take a look at the packaging and artwork as ever.
Packaging & Artwork…
As ever the 4 discs are stored inside a quality hardback book and because we only have 4 discs there was no need for any extra slip pockets and the discs are stored in plastic trays at the front and back of the book. The book itself comes with 62-pages and contains all the usual linear production credits along with the lyrics, photos and some very good useful informative information.
I pre-ordered my copy from Amazon UK on the 8th of July and by pre-ordering it early I managed to get it at the bargain price of £21.99. It also arrived on the day of its release. It’s still widely available at a bargain price and packages don’t come better than this and they are easy to store along with your DVD collection.
Artwork.
Once again the artwork was done by Mark Wilkinson and I have to say it looks STUNNING! It’s got scattered references to the songs on the album to which are placed in a highrise hotel room. It continues from the bands debut album in which the references were scattered around a bedsit and in a way of showing how the band have moved on since they first started. The pictures on the wall in the illustration were added by Julie Hazelwood and although Fish is not credited for the album artwork and sleeve design. There is no doubt he worked closely with Wilkinson and had some input with the ideas he wanted to be put into it.
Fugazi Deluxe Release Editions…
Like the Deluxe Edition of their debut album that got released last year once again, the band decided to stick to two formats for the release and no Digital Download of the release has been made available as far as I can make out. Besides the Limited 3 CD/Blu Ray Edition it was also released with a Vinyl Box Set.
The Vinyl Box Set comes with 4 X 180gram LP’s in 2 Gatefold Sleeves plus a booklet stored in a cardboard slipcase. The 4 albums contain the new 2021 remixes and live concert of the band playing at The Spectrum, Montreal, Canada that was recorded in 1984. It’s currently still available to purchase and on Amazon UK it’s priced at £60.
Fugazi (Deluxe Edition) In Review…
Marillion’s second studio album Fugazi was originally released on the 12th of March 1984. The album contained 7 tracks spread over an overall playing time of 45 minutes, 56 seconds. It was an album that was written at a difficult time and presented them with many problems due to the sacking of the bands previous drummer Mick Pointer. You could say they had a Spinal Tap moment looking for the right replacement with the many drummers they auditioned. They even used 10 studios to record and mix the album was never happy with the final production and how it was put out with them not quite being finished with it.
It was a very expensive album to make to which the band had blown most of their budget on drink and intoxicating substances, part of it even went on a stage prop for their live shows. It also never helped having a dealer close by to Mountain rehearsal and recording studios in South Wales to which they treated as a busman’s holiday and got nothing done. Basically, the band had well overspent and it cost over £120,000 to make the album and a further £70,000 was spent making a video for one of the singles that got released from the album. With a huge debt hanging around their neck it left the band no alternative but to record a live album and put it out at a budget price to pay for the debt.
Although many drummers had auditioned to play for the band it was Camel’s drummer Andy Ward who was the first to replace Pointer. All the band were into Camel and knew that Ward was a well-experienced drummer who was well capable of doing the job. However, they were not aware of his mental health issues at the time that had resurfaced which led to them having to cancel the band’s first American tour midway through it. Ward appeared in the video of the hit single “Garden Party” from their debut album and also can be seen performing “Forgotten Sons” live with the band on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test.
John Marter of Mr Big was the next drummer to take the stool when the band got the opportunity to support Rush on their American tour. Though his stint with the band was short-lived down to his “you don’t wanna do it like that” attitude. Jonathan Mover was the next drummer to take the stool having auditioned for the job in London a few days before the band were off to Germany to play a gig. According to form he got the role on a Wednesday, flew to Germany on Thursday, and without rehearsals, performed on Friday with the band.
Apart from Fish, the rest of the band got on with him very well and liked his technical skills and approach to the drum kit. After the gig in Germany, they headed straight to Rockfield Studios in Wales to write and record material for their second studio album and it was here that they managed to actually get something done and completed “Punch and Judy” to which Mover was even given a writing credit. However, due to conflict with Fish, it was not long before Mover moved on and once again the band were without a drummer.
Ian Mosley was brought in as a session player to help the band with the rest of the material they were working on at Rockfield Studios, he had been previously linked with the band when they were auditioning for drummers but on that day he could not make it prior to another engagement. Mosley had previously played for Darryl Way’s Wolf, Gordon Giltrap and Steve Hackett so he came with the right credentials and it did not take long for him to get on with all the members of the band including Fish who was perhaps the hardest one to please.
Some of the other studios they used to make the album were The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England where Mike Oldfield’s iconic album Tubular Bells was born. Sarm East Studios, Ian Anderson’s Maison Rouge Studios and Eel Pie Studios located in The Boathouse, Twickenham, London on the banks of the River Thames.
EEL PIE STUDIOS
Formerly known as Oceanic Studios, Eel Pie Recording Studios was owned by Pete Townsend and was originally a 1960s boathouse to which Townsend used to commute there by boat, having lost his driving licence. He brought the Boathouse in 1975 and used it initially for the purposes of his band The Who. It became known as Eel Pie Studios in September 1981 when they were rebuilt and run as a commercial operation. Other artists such as A-ha, Rachel Fuller, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Thin Lizzy recorded some of their albums at the studios.
Marillion managed to complete the recording of “Incubus” at the studios and it was later mixed at Abbey Road Studios. In 1989, part of the upstairs of the building was taken over by Cocteau Twins and set up as September Sound studios. Townsend sold the studios in 2008 and the building was converted into a private residence.
The Package Contents.
The Deluxe Edition of Fugazi was released on the 10th September 2021 and although this release comes with one less CD in relation to the other three Marillion packages I brought. What I do find more interesting about this new release is the 62-page book to which does give you more informative content in relation to the other Deluxe Editions. It also took me slightly longer to read and unlike the Deluxe Edition of SFAJT. I never read it in a couple of minutes whilst sitting on the toilet taking a dump 😊😊😊. It also contains some of Mark Wilkinson’s STUNNING! artwork and some GREAT! photos of the band and its members along with the lyrics and linear credit notes.
CD 1.
The first CD contains the albums 7 tracks newly remixed by Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh and no other bonus tracks are included. As many will know the original mixes perhaps sound a bit outdated and the band were never happy with the final production as the album was rushed out by the record company. Just like the outstanding job Bradfield & Mackintosh did with the stereo mixes of SFAJT and CAS they have very much done the same here and breathed new life into the album.
CD’s 2 & 3.
The other couple of CD’s contains a live concert of the band playing at The Spectrum in Montreal, Canada on the 20th of June 1984. Although it does not mention on the package I am fairly sure that this concert (in the form that is in as the whole show) has never been released before. However some of the live tracks (if not all) from this concert may have surfaced over the years and I know for a fact that “Assassing“, “Incubus“, “Cinderella Search” and “Emerald Lies” from this show were included on the live Reel To Reel album released in 1984.
Blu Ray.
The Blu Ray is what I really buy these packages for and it not only replicates all the content that is on the 3 CD’s but comes with a load of other goodies besides and this is where the real value of the package lies. My main incentive to buy albums like this all over again and the packages they come in are mostly for the Surround Mixes. However, even given that so far I have been extremely disappointed with the 5.1 mixes done by this pair of jokers in the past I was not disappointed with the other array of extras you get and my money was well spent.
The Blu Ray’s main menu is sharp and pristine as ever and has the feel of quality about it. It’s also well animated and all the key objects that relate to every track on the album in Mark Wilkinson’s artwork are floating around and fading in and out of view sort of thing. You do get the sense that the menu is “Totally Fucked Up” with how everything is segmented and evolves around the centre picture and you could say they were aiming to make it look Fugazi. I would also say they have done an excellent job of it as well, though some might not quite get it and not like it.
As you can see there are quite a few extras you get on the blu ray and you get a total of 7 features to choose from and by default, it’s set the main feature which is the album itself. As you select each of the 7 options to choose from it highlights the title in white. It’s a very fast and responsive menu as you will see in the picture below.
The navigation is straightforward and by clicking on a highlighted option a box pops up displaying all the options including the track selection and choice of audio. To be honest it’s the first time I have ever seen a menu done this way and it’s obvious that a lot of thought went into it.
The other thing (though it’s not quite a first) is like Steve Wilson did on the new mixes for Jethro Tull’s recent re-release of the 1980 album “A”. They have done away with the standard Dolby Digital format. Everything in the Audio Department is high-resolution quality all the way offering two LPCM 96/24 in Stereo and 5.1 plus a DTS-HD Master 5.1 mix again with a resolution of 96/24.
The other nice touch is that whilst listening to the album tracks it displays a different picture for each track which is also animated and they have used the key objects that represent each track that you will find on Wilkinson’s artwork. To be honest I would have liked to have seen the albums full cover used for the main menu. But you do get to see it when you play the 3rd track “Jigsaw” as seen in the picture above.
They really have done a GREAT! job with the animation and you get to see the picture being built up piece by piece and disassembled piece by piece a few times whilst listening to the song. That’s about it for the main menu so let’s take a look at the rest of the features and see what other goodies they have included.
The second feature is the live concert which they played at The Spectrum in Montreal, Canada that is also on CD’s 2 & 3 only here it comes with a high-res stereo mix of LPCM 96/24. It does sound a lot better than the CD’s and was GREAT! to see it included. Like the main feature, the pop-up box displays all the options to choose from and they really have gone to town on this menu system.
One of the things that are included on the Blu Ray unlike the CD’s are bonus tracks. Although I am pretty sure none of these are unreleased and have surfaced on various remasters of their albums before over the years. In total, you get 7 tracks of which 5 of them are the original Demos. The audio is only 48/16 CD quality and the tracklisting is as follows:
1. “Cinderella Search (Extended Single)”. 5:31. 2. “Assassing (Alternate Mix)”. 7:40. 3. “Three Boats Down From The Candy”. 3:59. 4. “Punch & Judy (Demo)”. 3:50. 5. “She Chameleon (Demo)”. 6:34. 6. “Emerald Lies (Demo)”. 5:31. 7. “Incubus (Demo)”. 8:10.
You also get two documentaries and the main one “The Story Of Fugazi” runs for 72 minutes, 36 seconds and here all 5 members of the band go back in time and talk about the many things they can remember about the making of their second studio album. Each member was captured on film individually in their own homes and it also includes some old film footage and photos of the band including the producer of the album Nick Tauber.
The second documentary “The Story Of The Songs” has a total running time of 35 minutes and once again the individual members of the band have been captured in their homes only this time they are discussing the songs lyrics and the meaning behind most of them.
They have also included the promotional video they made for “Assassing” and as you can see in the picture above it gives you a couple of audio choices to choose from. You can either watch the video footage with the original remastered audio that comes with a sample rate of 48/24. Or the 2021 mix in a high-res sample rate of 96/24.
Also included is a live concert from 1984 that was filmed and broadcast by Swiss TV. I am pretty sure this has never been released before and I could not even find it on the tube. But obviously, they must have obtained the licence to include it here and even though it’s old video footage with a 4:3 Aspect Ratio and the audio sample rate is 48/16 it’s still quite good to watch.
As you can see by the song setlist they roll out some GREAT! numbers here and you get to see the band being interviewed in the dressing room before the show. It comes with a total playing time of 49 minutes, 47 seconds and it’s another GREAT! extra.
Overall the bonus content on the Blu Ray is excellent and you certainly get an array of it for the money. The picture quality of both documentaries looks like it’s been shot in 4K and I was quite blown away by how STUNNING! the picture quality is. They are also interesting and worth watching however I did read the book first and found that the documentary was running over the same ground.
The 5.1 Mix.
Having already experienced how bad the 5.1 mixes Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh did for Clutching At Straws and a Script For A Jesters Tear I honestly had no hope for this new release of seeing any improvement. Especially having seen them both being interviewed by Mike Viera not long after they did the mixes for the CAS album. Mike did throw a few pointers their way to try and help them improve the 5.1 mix for SFAJT they were about to work on at that time. However, the end result was more of a move backwards than forwards and it was dreadful.
When it comes to doing stereo mixes I would say that these pair have almost got Steve Wilson’s ears and like Wilson they can breathe new life into them without a doubt. The problem is doing a 5.1 mix presents a major problem for most engineers in this world and their 5.1 mixes are no exception considering the biggest majority of 5.1 mixes that have flooded the market are bad mixes. To be honest, even though Mike said they had improved with the 5.1 mix they did for Weltschmerz last year I never had any great expectations for this release.
However, they have surprised me and this 5.1 mix is quite a major improvement in relation to their previous mixes on the two Marillion albums. I think they may have raised Fish’s vocals a bit much in the mix especially in the centre channel, but that can be fixed easy enough by simply turning down the volume of the centre channel a couple of notches. They have paid more attention to utilising some of the other instrumentation and backing vocals in the rear channels instead of reflecting too much of the same thing into them as they did with the CAS 5.1 mix. They have also made good use of the panning in parts and paid attention to where they have placed them as well and overall I quite like this mix and I think it’s well worthy of 7.5 out of 10.
Musicians & Credits…
Produced by Nick Tauber. All music written and arranged by Fish, Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas, Mark Kelly (Except “Punch and Judy) written by Fish, Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas, Mark Kelly, Ian Mosley, Jonathan Mover. “Incubus”, “Fugazi” and “Cinderella Search” written by Fish, Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas, Mark Kelly, Ian Moseley. All lyrics written by Fish.
Recorded & Mixed by Simon Hanhart between November 1983 – February 1984 at Various Studios. Mastered by Arun. New Stereo & 5.1 2021 Mixes by Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh. Illustrations & Design Layout by Mark Wilkinson. Artwork Pictures (on the wall) by Julie Hazelwood. Linear Notes by Rich Wilson. Photography by Brian Aris, Gered Mankowitz, Mark Drake, Mike Black, and Stuart James. Guitar, Photography by Steve Rothery.
Musicians.
Fish: Vocals.
Steve Rothery: Guitars.
Pete Trewavas: Bass.
Mark Kelly: Keyboards.
Ian Mosley: Drums.
Additional Musicians.
Chris Karen: Additional Percussion.
Linda Pyke: Backing Vocal (On “Incubus”).
The Album Tracks In Review…
Marillion’s second album Fugazi done quite well upon its release though only in Europe. The album managed to reach number 5 in the UK and spent a good 20 weeks there, in the following year was certified Gold selling over 100, 000 copies. Although the band were never happy with the production you could say that it had more of a polished production in relation to the bands debut album. It also managed to reach two places higher than their debut in the album charts though in terms of sales Script For A Jesters Tear sold 3 times as much and went Platinum and it even produced a Top 20 single release with “Garden Party“.
The material that was written for Fugazi was built on top of their debut album and in terms of how it all sounds I would say it’s the nearest thing to it especially in relation to their 3rd and 4th album they did with Fish. Although there is no mistaking Marillion’s formidable style that was injected into their first 4 albums. But when it comes to balls and grit I certainly think their first two albums had a lot more of it which is perhaps why I tend to play them the most. So let’s now delve a bit deeper into the 7 original tracks that were placed on the album.
Track 1. Assassing.
The opening track on the album is amongst some of the earlier songs the band had worked on and they had most likely started work on it whilst Andy Ward was in the band. They even further polished it with drummer Jonathan Mover though it was not completed till Ian Mosley came in though he was not given a writing credit. Fish has always had a good head on his shoulders to come up with such GREAT! lyrics and could not only speak in tongues but in metaphors and this song is full of them.
To be perfectly honest I think it is the lyrics that carry this song and they have been more cleverly constructed than the music. Though you do have to delve deep into them to really cypher them and listen to the narrator-character describing himself as an assassin sort of thing. According to the documentary on the blu ray Fish directed the lyrics at the bands first bass player Diz Minnitt and they were not in reference to some of the verbal arguments he had with former drummer Pointer as many would believe.
“Assassing” was the second single to be released from the album and almost broke into the Top 20 Singles Chart here in the UK peaking at number 22. Surprisingly the band decided on a much more uptempo and brighter song they had also written for the B-Side entitled “Cinderella Search“. Personally. I think they would have had a better result if they released it as the A-Side and I was also surprised they decided to leave it off the album. Both songs were shorter edited versions for the single release. The edited version was also used for the video that was made for the song which may have helped it reach its position in the singles chart.
Looking at it now I think it’s plain to see that you never got a lot for your money back then and to even think this thing cost 70 Grand to make goes to show how expensive making records was back then. There are hardly any special effects here either and I dread to think how much it cost Peter Gabriel to make the video for his smash hit “Sledgehammer“.
Musically it does have a bit of an eastern vibe going on in the intro and it also utilises the skills of Chris Karen who plays the tablas and I have to say he does a TOP JOB! on them as well. Karen is an Australian jazz drummer and percussionist of Greek descent and has played for almost everyone you could think of including The Beatles. He toured and recorded with Dudley Moore for many years and became the drummer in the Dudley Moore Trio back in 1962.
Track 2. Punch & Judy.
The first single to be released from the album and unlike the previous song, it was released before the album on the 30th of January 1984. Also unlike the previous song, they never made a video for it and it is the only single released from the EMI years that they never either. It did not do quite as well as “Assassing” and peaked just inside the Top 30 UK Singles Charts at number 29. The first completed demo of the song was done whilst Jonathan Mover was working with the band and he was even given a writing credit.
Originally the band had planned to use “Emerald Lies” as the B-Side but they decided to use the freshly new re-recordings of “Market Square Heroes” and “Three Boats Down from the Candy” that they recorded with John Marter instead.
These two songs were the only tracks they recorded with the drummer and his name was erroneously credited as John Martyr. Both of these newer versions of the songs also appeared on the B’Sides Themselves compilation album that got released in 1988. As for “Emerald Lies” it wound up on the album instead.
Personally, I think this song has strong lyrics pertaining to the in and outs and doos and don’ts of married life accompanied by a better musical structure than the opening track on the album though both went down very well at their live shows. It’s got quite a strong chorus line and I particularly like how Pete Trewavas works his punctuating bass lines into it all.
Track 3. Jigsaw.
This is the ballad track on the album and I quite like the refined sweetness in Fish’s voice with how he delivers this song and I personally think this is a much better ballad of a song than “Kayleigh” which was the single from their next album that launched them into more commercial success. Musically the song is perhaps more keyboard orientated but nevertheless, Steve Rothery manages to squeeze in a fine guitar solo.
The lyrical content pertains to how one does not really see things properly or everything till the last piece of the jigsaw is put in place sort of thing. Besides the sweet side of Fish’s voice, you also get the fiery angst that gives it that bit more grit and edge in the chorus of the song. It’s a song that he could not sing today and found more difficult to sing as the years went by as he explains in the documentary. Just like Peter Gabriel back in the early years of Genesis the band members never really gave any thought to what key would be more comfortable for their singer to deliver the song.
Track 4. Emerald Lies.
One of the two songs on the album that the band felt needed further developing and were not happy when the album got rushed out by the record company before they had time to finish it properly. It’s very much a song about a relationship being destroyed by a lack of trust and the emerald’s green colour pertains to the jealousy side of things in the relationship. Some of the musical transitions in the song do put me in mind of early Genesis and even though you can hear how further developed the song had been done in relation to the earlier demo I do get the feeling that it needed a bit more work done on it.
Track 5. She Chameleon.
This is a song that goes back further than any of the other songs on the album though most of the lyrics for many of the songs on this album were written well before the music. It’s also the other song on the album that the band never thought was ready and wanted to further develop it. It was very much part of the bands live set before they even put out their debut album. Mark Kelly played the main backing track on a church organ which was recorded at another of the many studios they used and it was the bands producer Nick Tauber who suggested they used the Angel Studios that was situated in Islington, London.
The lyrical content does tend to come across that the song is about prostitution and many have drawn similar conclusions with their interpretations of them. They are not that far off either because the inspiration for the words “Was it just a fuck, just another fuck?” came from a drunk conversation between Fish and Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes backstage at the Friars, Aylesbury. Where some female groupies wanted autographs and a snog.
Some of the members of the band were disappointed with the outcome Pete Trewavas in particular was very negative about the song and stated “no remix of any sort could redeem this song” he also went on to say it was a waste of space. Personally, I think it’s much better than the previous song though I will stress that it’s not on par with anything off their debut album.
Track 6. Incubus.
The final two songs on the album are perhaps what I would call the backbone and strongest points that hold the album up. They have certainly been given the works in terms of their musical structure and when comparing this particular song to the original demo you can easily hear how much more was put into its development. Lyrically I personally could not fault any of the songs on this album and they are a fortress by themself. The words “I’ve played this scene before” might even suggest that he has done before with the classic song “Chelsea Monday” in the way it’s set for the silver screen sort of thing and the performance has once again begun. When it comes to classics this is another one for sure.
It’s a song that was put together in stages in different studios but it was perhaps the Manor in Oxfordshire where it started to develop further. It also uses some of the eastern or Islamic influence heard in “Assassing” and no doubt Chris Karen is once again is being very well utilised in the percussion department. It also features Linda Pyke who contributes backing vocals to the song.
According to Fish, it’s his favourite song that he did with Marillion. I personally find it hard to choose between this song and the self-titled track on the album though both are what I consider to be the major highlights of the album. It also contains an excellent guitar solo from Steve Rothery who thought at this stage of his career he had nailed what he was intending to do.
Though I personally think “Chelsea Monday” contains his best solo work. But nevertheless, if you want to hear GREAT! guitar and keyboard solos you do have to go back to this early period of Marillion’s career. With Steve Hogarth they very much diluted things right down and never spoke the same language for my personal taste.
Track 7. Fugazi.
Another sure-fire classic song and its title was a word that Fish had come across in the book Dispatches written by Michael Herr. As for the word itself, no one is really sure of its origin but it does have an Italian ring about to me and could have been used by the Mafia many moons ago. According to form it’s a slang word that refers to something that is fake or damaged beyond repair. In other words, it’s how Fish describes it as “totally fucked up” which is another way of putting it.
Looking at the lyrics you will notice references to the Vietnam war that Herr’s novel was based on but there are a ton of other references, wordplay and metaphors throughout and these words are pretty complex and like travelling through his intoxicated mind on London’s underground. Though I do like the inspiration that Fish got out of London’s underground and I remember getting stranded in Barking with a friend on the night we went to see Jean-Michel Jarre live at the Docklands.
The following morning we managed to get on the tube to Euston and we both stood on the platform for an hour observing all the people going to work. Honestly, it was the maddest thing I have ever seen. The tube trains run every minute of the day and yet everybody was in a mad rush to get on them and quite often they were squashed like sardines in a can when they did get on them. People were literally legging it down escalators just to get on them. I thought the world had gone Fugazi looking at that lot 😊😊😊.
Once again this is a song that has GREAT! musical structure and lots of progression throughout the build and transitions. It starts off subtly on the piano to which is supposedly the same piano Freddie Mercury played “Bohemian Rhapsody” on according to Mark Kelly. “Fugazi” has it all and along with “Incubus” it jointly merits the albums TOP SPOT AWARD!
Summary & Conclusion…
To sum up and conclude my review of Marillion’s Deluxe Edition of Fugazi. Like the Deluxe Edition of a Script For A Jester’s Tear, I do feel you are getting more for your money and I would say both of these Deluxe Editions give the most for the buck in relation to the Deluxe Editions of Misplaced Childhood and Clutching At Straws. The added bonus with this edition is that it comes with a better 5.1 mix and I would even go as far as to say it’s the best 5.1 mix of the 4 Deluxe Editions I have. It’s just a shame that Andy Bradfield & Avril Mackintosh had not had more experience working with a surround mix before they did the mixes for CAS and SFAJT.
However, regardless of the surround mix even the stereo mix completely breathes new life into the album and I can honestly say that the album Fugazi sounds much better for it. I do find with a lot of albums that came out of the 80’s they do start to sound outdated after a while and as good as the songs are on their albums they can gather dust over the years. The new mixes have very much rejuvenated them and make you want to go back down this road once again and no doubt Marillion were on fire at this point in their career. My personal highlights from the album are “Incubus“, “Fugazi” and “Jigsaw“.
As an album, I don’t think that the material written for Fugazi quite capitulated their debut album though it’s quite a solid album in some respects. I also find that the material we have here is the closest to their debut album and the two studio albums that followed were more or less aimed at the more commercial side of the market especially with songs like “Kayleigh” and “Sugar Mice“. Though you cannot blame them for heading in that direction because back in the 80’s if you wanted to stay signed to a major record label you had to keep them happy. It was not like the early 70’s were record labels such as Atlantic let you do your own thing. However, I thought their 4th studio Clutching At Straws was also a very good album.
Overall, the Fugazi Deluxe Edition gives you plenty for the buck and could even be seen as a steal at its bargain price. Besides its main feature, you get an array of GREAT! extras and you would be totally Fuzazi not to take advantage of its excellent price point and let it slip by.
You’ve Played This Scene Before…
The CD tracklisting is as follows:
07. Fugazi. 8:04.
05. Chelsea Monday. 8:06.
06. Emerald Lies. 5:24.
07. Cinderella Search. 5:52.
08. Incubus. 9:09.
06. Market Square Heroes. 10:48.
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