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Rating: They're back! Less than a year and a half since the (disappointing) "Somewhere Else," Marillion delivers a work, their fifteenth (eleven from the Steve Hogarth era after Fish's departure-expulsion in 1988), double CD titled "Happiness is the Road," which confirms the admirable pace of a band now far from the spotlight of twenty years ago (long out of the major market, they self-produce and survive thanks to a solid fan base) but still very much alive after over a quarter of a century of existence.
This time, the five Englishmen, to launch this work, have chosen to "exploit" the fans again, who were previously willing to pre-order the album well in advance in exchange for a deluxe edition with the buyer's name inside the booklet. And so, for almost a year, they've "made money" (talk of 12,000 copies sold) and could meticulously work to produce "Happiness is the Road." But just a few days ago (and this is the real novelty), the album is also available, over a month ahead of the "real" CDs, for free download in mp3 format at 128 kbps. Not the best, but certainly enough to get a precise idea.
Basing this review on listening to the "horrible" files (awaiting the precious, approximately 30-pound postal package), this album will be reviewed. The assessment is thus incomplete, especially from a lyrical perspective, which is not a marginal aspect in Marillion's production.
The album, as mentioned, is double, and almost two separate works. CD1, "Essence," is a concept album aimed, tautologically, at reaching (or at least approaching) the essence of music, life, happiness (the "global" title is taken from a Buddha's maxim that says "There is no way to happiness, happiness IS the way"). The album flows in an exemplary manner, without falls and (but this is just a first impression), without even absolute peaks. Anyone expecting a Brave2, or the magic of a Neverland or an Invisible Man, would be mistaken. No breathtaking solos from guitarist Steve Rothery (who seems almost to hide, actually he devotes himself to a masterful "behind-the-scenes" work), no tear-jerking moments, emotion flows steadily on a compact sonic carpet where often the individual instruments (with perhaps the exception of Mark Kelly's keyboards, unleashed in seeking new samples and sounds) seem to disappear, leaving the "stage" to MUSIC in its essence. However, this is just an impression: this is an album to be read on various levels, to be listened to several times, perhaps with headphones, to be absorbed. And then the spark ignites. And even some individual episodes surely stand out, like the title track Happiness is the Road, ten minutes of magic with a subdued start (even Steve Hogarth's voice here reminds me of Jim Kerr from Belfast Child) and a keyboard-guitar-bass carpet (Pete Trewavas, a giant despite his stature) that rises to shout the anthem to happiness. The new-prog of the Fish era is a faint memory, this is rock played and thought out by five great professionals, there are Post-rock moments (the brief instrumental Liquidity, which reminded me of certain Depeche Mode), there's Ambient. In short, an album not immediately accessible but of great class. It closes with Half Empty Jam (a track that will have the "ghost track" status in the CD), half-improvisation on a recurring theme where everyone plays their part with a syncopated rhythm where bass, keyboards, and Ian Mosley's still effective "skins" chase and play with usual mastery.
CD2, "The Hard Shoulder," is instead a more heterogeneous collection of tracks, nine in total. Perhaps more directly a child of "Somewhere Else" (the production was again entrusted to Mike Hunter, despite much criticism of his supposed "flattening" work done with the previous album. And this time he seems to have hit the mark). Here there are also a couple of "little songs" that so annoy the twenty-year-old fans: the single Whatever is Wrong with You, launched at the beginning of the summer with a contest for the creation of a video (with a prize of 10,000 pounds, hundreds of works competing), is a rather catchy pop-rock, with an immediate riff and a nice, very dirty solo from Rothery; rather disappointing is Half the World, medium rhythm and rather bland choruses. But there are also the jewels, and what jewels. Particularly standing out, in my opinion, are The Man from Planet Marzipan, eight minutes of rock with fusion overtones where bass and keyboards create an unsettling background with various tempo changes on which the solo instruments intrude, the magical voice of H (since 1989 the "New singer of Marillion," as a t-shirt worn by little Steve says in response to supporters of the now stale dualism with Fish) and the six strings of "chubby" Rothery. Also beautiful is the following Asylum Satellite 1, a long track divided into various sections in this case dominated by the guitar (the sound is similar to that of the beautiful When I Meet God, from the controversial Anoraknophobia), in this CD2 definitely coming out of the shadows. The rest is still enjoyable, never below a broad sufficiency.
A great comeback, a rebuttal to those who feared a rushed album given the short time compared to the release of "Somewhere Else." It won't be "Brave," it won't be "Marbles" (much less "Script for a Jester's Tear"), but once again, approaching the age of 50, a jewel of great music from these five extraordinary musicians. Excuse the verbosity.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Dreamy Street (01:59)
I had this dream. That monkey inside o'me.
Gone skulkin away.
Leavin' me seeing.. Being.
Seeing
Being
Drinking lemon tea
And feeling free
Chilling in the sunshine
On this dreamy street
06 Nothing Fills the Hole (03:20)
I wanted it til I got it
I wanted it til I got it
Believed in it til I saw it
I needed it til I had it
I guess I live to regret it
I dreamed of it til I got it
Believed in it til I saw it
I needed it til I had it
I wanted it til I got it
I wanted it til I got it
I wanted it til I got it
Believed in it til I saw it
I needed it til I had it
Then I wanted something else
I wanted to be free
I didn't last a week
There aint no pleasing me
That's how it's gonna be
Nothing fills the hole
Nothing fills the hole
Nothing fills the hole
07 Woke Up (03:37)
Woke up in a city that doesn't sleep
Full of rain
You woke me up
Woke up in a city down by the sea
Like a dream
You woke me up
I woke up in a city full of snow
And history and beauty and Christmas-lights and cold
With angels that come when all is lost
In golden light at dead of night
They take you home
And I woke up
I woke up
Woke up in a city that doesn't sleep
You woke me up, You woke me up, You woke me up
And I woke up in a city by the sea
You woke me up, You woke me up, You woke me up
You woke me up
I woke up in a city full of rain
The world had stopped
I woke up to feel no pain
Day from night
Anti-gravity and light
It's so clear, just what I'm doing here
The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.
12 Thunder Fly (06:20)
The little corn flies are messing with my nerve endings
Just like you
My little corn fly
She comes with the sunlight and the perfect summer days
And she never stays
Just like you
My corn fly
The little corn flies are messing with my nerve endings
Just like you
My little corn fly
Into my clothes and under my picture frames
Before it rains
Just like you
My little thunder fly
Ooh
She comes with the sunlight and the perfect summer days
She comes with the sunlight and the perfect summer days
Ooh
She belongs in the great outdoors
Kickin off her shoes in a field of corn
Even though she's only very small
She'll leave you in no doubt at all
The little corn flies are messing with my happy endings
The little corn flies are messing with my happy endings
The little corn flies are messing with my..
The little corn flies are messing with my..
And I feel her in the sweat at the back of my neck
I feel her in the sweat in the back of my neck
Feel her in the sweat in the back of my neck
Ooh
She belongs in the great outdoors
Kickin off her shoes in a field of corn
When the winter rains bring you down
Thunderin' around you
She'll take you where she found you
In sunshine..
Sunshine
Sunshine
14 Asylum Satellite #1 (09:28)
It said in the paper that 90% of the universe went missing this morning
Tonight I lost 90% of what was left..
They send us up here to get us out of the way
We worry, and they don't like what we say
Seems obvious to us what's right and what is wrong
But it seems that our opinions don't belong
La la la
So we're all up here together on Asylum Satellite 1
We're looking down together from Asylum Satellite 1
I can remember, back in '22
They changed the law - came knocking on the door
In that same moment, the broadband seemed to go..
Phones all dead. Gone dizzy in the head..
La la la
Next thing y'know
They put us on a transport to the stars
So we're orbitting the earth together
And, right now, slightly to the left of Mars
It's all so clear
We can see the madness perfectly from here.
19 Especially True (04:34)
I gazed upon you from the bleachers
A creature so foreign to me
With the stars and the stripes wrapped around you
Well how could I know there was England below?
I gazed upon you and I wondered
Cheerleader with hair of red flame
But that was first glance - I saw only the dance
And the distance from New York to Yorkshire
Truth's always stranger than fiction
And here it's especially true
Here in the home of Miss USA
What's a wide-eyed English boy going to do?
I never knew much about baseball
But I was quick with the US cliché
The crowd gave a roar and I don't know what for
The Major League rules get me so confused
Truth's always stranger than fiction
The cheerleader showed me around
You with the heart of the USA
And me with the spite of a small English town
Central Park after dark, is safe these days
Depending on the game you play..
America. House of Blues
What do you know?
Gimme the news.
America. Shock and awe.
Not any more.
America I'm ready for you
Tell me what to do
Tell me what to do
Tell me what to do.
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