After the debut EP, this beautiful album by Marillion follows, their first full-length release. To this day, it remains one of my favorites and most listened to (even though it’s one of the most derivative and heavily indebted, particularly to… well, we all know which band I'm talking about: the Cugini di Campagna, of course) from a band that I appreciate but don’t quite adore (this applies to almost the entire "Neo-Prog" scene, which certainly includes some valid works). I find it a beautifully compact, homogeneous album, with six very nice tracks, even if I wouldn’t label any of them a masterpiece, and the cover art is stunning as well. Musically inspired, this is where the best side of the devotion (at least the most evident) to the band shines through, which was still active that same year with masterpieces like "Illegal Alien" (but that’s another, sad story). For me, the worst part remains Fish: guys, he's good, yeah, great voice, excellent frontman, but damn, his blatant "Gabriel-ism" sometimes crosses the line from inspiration to pure imitation (and that’s not okay); it’s not just the tone, it’s the style, the accents he puts on the words—it’s... too much. He becomes a caricature when he overdoes it. Oh, and then the Cugi... I was saying, Genesis are not the only muse; listen to the intro of the title track: an apocryphal gospel from the more melodic VDGG, it’s incredibly obvious.
more
