•
Rating: In the first half of the 1980s, Marillion, thanks to the albums "Script For A Jester's Tear" and "Fugazi," had the merit of re-proposing a style, progressive, that seemed to be forgotten, that seemed to have had its time and that interested only a few enthusiasts, suffocated by the commercial sounds of the period, a period that based everything on simplicity and sales success. A nice punch, surely, but now the definitive deathblow was needed.
Marillion delivers it in 1985 with "Misplaced Childhood," a concept album based on broken love stories and lost childhoods. For Fish's band, it is a commercial consecration. Probably, the credit goes to its less intricate and more catchy sound compared to the previous two albums but also to its strong melodic impact.
The album represents in my opinion (and probably not only mine) a real stroke of genius for the particular way it is structured, although it doesn't actually seem that particular! The album indeed seems to result as a perfect meeting point between the well-disposed melodies of neo-progressive and more "easy" structures with a pop-rock imprint. In fact, if we delve into specifics, we realize how many of the tracks seem meticulously crafted in melodies but at the same time immediate in listening. They have a predominantly verse-chorus structure or anyway not very elaborate compared to the two previous albums but include typically prog elements such as well-emphasized keyboard parts, moderately intricate passages, and well-studied rhythmic solutions... and moreover, they are connected by a single musical flow typical of the concept album.
And the album indeed seems capable of attracting lovers of prog atmospheres and the devotees of an easy-listening sound. A reconciliation between two types of fans that might seem somewhat uncomfortable and unlikely but that is indeed reality here.
The album is, as mentioned, Marillion's greatest commercial success and probably all this wouldn't have been possible without its relatively immediate sound. Tracks like "Kayleigh" and "Lavender" (with its piano and guitar intro very much in Genesis style), melodic and effective, could turn out to be keys to success; the former even reached 2nd place on the chart in England and that's certainly not a small feat for a band of the prog scene. But in the album, there are other moments that manage to prove effective but full of interesting cues: an example can be "Heart Of Lothian" with its beautiful piano-guitar intro, its rhythmic onset that flows into a repetitive yet harmonious guitar solo accompanied by powerful keyboards before the atmospheric finale; another gem is "Childhood's End?" with its radio-friendly structure alternating delicate guitar passages accompanied by keyboards in the verses to more energetic guitar riffs in the chorus; and what about the splendid pair opening the second part of the album, formed by the brief "Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)" and "Lords Of The Backstage": the beautiful percussion play of the former, well complemented by keyboard sounds and lively almost funky guitars, also splendid the latter, rhythmically excellent and characterized by the beautiful duet between guitar and keyboard touches. Equally excellent are the album's intro and outro; that "Pseudo Silk Kimono" with its cold and vibrant keyboard that proves perfect for introducing us into the heart of the album and that "White Feather" very guitar-oriented which represents the final jolt of it all. And for lovers of more relaxed and less immediate atmospheres, there are also two longer tracks: "Bitter Suite" and "Blind Curve," which give more space to the melodic and always vibrant keyboard background and the more pronounced progressive-inspired guitar arpeggios.
But probably it wasn't what Fish and company really wanted; most likely, there was no intention to sound so immediate. The album was supposed to be originally composed of two 20-minute suites each... but in a time when record labels were becoming increasingly powerful and "tyrannical" towards their dependent artists, the label says no! Because modern people don't want to listen to two long suites but want singles with high commercial potential. And so the choice to break the album into 10 tracks. A choice not wanted but that proved fundamental in making the album's structure extremely ingenious and effective.
In any case, this album is fundamental for the rebirth of the progressive genre. It is a point of reference for future generations of proggers and an example of how we can create well-crafted melodies without becoming tediously verbose, without ever overindulging in virtuosity (often opposed), without artificially extending tracks when maybe it's unnecessary. An album that makes its simplicity a point of strength, that through it distinguishes itself from any prog album conforming to well-known stereotypes; an album rich in personality!
Personally, I prefer the previous two albums, because they are better structured and more complex, but the compositional level of this album remains very high, and one is practically forced to acknowledge its importance. I, in truth, am more of an admirer of the Marillion of the following phase, therefore the Marillion led by Steve Hogarth, because they are more experimental and escaping from the neo-prog canons, but credit to Fish's Marillion for knowing how to reinvent prog giving rise to a new generation of proggers.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Pseudo Silk Kimono (02:14)
Huddled in the safety of a pseudo silk kimono
Wearing bracelets of smoke, naked of understanding
Nicotine smears, long, long dried tears, invisible tears
Safe in my own words, learning from my own words
Cruel joke, cruel joke
Huddled in the safety of a pseudo silk kimono
A morning mare rides, in the starless shutters of my eyes
The spirit of a misplaced childhood is rising to speak his mind
To this orphan of heartbreak, disillusioned and scarred
A refugee, refugee.
02 Kayleigh (04:03)
Do you remember chalk hearts melting on a playground wall
Do you remember dawn escapes from moonwashed college halls
Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square
Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair
By the way didn't I break your heart
Please excuse me I never meant to break your heart
So sorry I never meant to break your heart
But you broke mine
Kayleigh is it too late to say I'm sorry?
And Kayleigh could we get it together again
I just can't go on pretending that it came to a natural end
Kayleigh oh I never thought I'd miss you
And Kayleigh I thought that we'd always be friends
We said our love would last forever
So how did it come to this bitter end
Do you remember barefoot on the lawn with shooting stars
Do you remember the loving on the floor in Belsize Park
Do you remember dancing in stilettoes in the snow
Do you remember you never understood I had to go
By the way didn't I break your heart
Please excuse me I never meant to break your heart
So sorry I never meant to break your heart
But you broke mine
Kayleigh, I just want to say I'm sorry
But Kayleigh I'm too scared to pick up the phone
To hear you've found another lover to patch up our broken home
Kayleigh I'm still trying to write that love song
Kayleigh it's more important to me, now you're gone
Maybe it will prove that we were right
Or it'll prove that I was wrong
03 Lavender (02:27)
I was walking in the park
Dreaming of a spark,
When I heard the sprinklers whisper, shimmer
In the haze of summer lawns,
Then I heard the children singing,
They were running through the rainbows.
They were singing a song for you.
Well it seemed to be a song for you,
The one I wanted to write for you, for you, you.
Lavenders blue, dilly dilly, lavenders green,
When I am King, dilly dilly, you will be Queen.
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
I.O.U. for your love,
I.O.U. for your love.
Lavenders green, dilly dilly, lavenders blue,
When you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you.
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
I.O.U. for your love,
I.O.U. for your love.
06 Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) (02:12)
When the taxis gather in mock Solemnity
Funeral hearses court the death of virginity
Was it paradise lost or paradise found?
Did we gain respect or were we holding ground?
You had found true love, or so you believed
And the wideboys tattooed your hearts upon their sleeves
So when you think it's time to go
When you think it's time to go
Don't be surprised, the heroes never show
And the patter merchants selling false impressions
Tipping eyes at the waitress with American expressions
Tie angels to the bar with sweet Martini's and their charms
They're lying on every word and every arm
They're turning down their noses to the best lines
And the cheap wines
And the wideboys
They wear their lovebites for their crimes
07 Lords of the Backstage (01:52)
A love song with no validity
Pretend you never meant that much to me
Numb, a Valium child, bored by meaningless collisions
A lonely stretch of headlight, diamonds trapped in black ice
A mirror cracked among the white lines
I just wanted you to be the first one
I just wanted you to be the first one
Ashes are burning, burning
Ashes are burning, burning
A lifestyle with no simplicities
But I'm not asking for your sympathy
Talk, we never could talk, distanced by all that was between us
A lord of the backstage, a creature of language
I'm so far out and I'm too far in
I just wanted you to be the first one
I just wanted you to be the first one
Bridges are burning, burning
Bridges are burning, burning
08 Blind Curve: I. Vocal Under a Bloodlight / II. Passing Strangers / III. Mylo / IV. Perimeter Walk / V. Threshold (09:29)
09 Childhoods End? (04:32)
And it was morning
And I found myself mourning,
For a childhood that I thought had disappeared
I looked out the window
And I saw a magpie in the rainbow, the rain had gone
I'm not alone, I turned to the mirror
I saw you, the child, that once loved
The child before they broke his heart
Our heart, the heart that I believed was lost
Hey you, surprised? More than surprised
To find the answers to the questions
Were always in your own eyes
Do you realise that you give it on back to her?
But that would only be retraced in all the problems that you ever knew
So untrue
For she's got to carry on with her life
And you've got to carry on with yours
So I see it's me, I can do anything
And I'm still the child
'Cos the only thing misplaced was direction
And I found direction
There is no childhood's end
You are my childhood friend, lead me on
Hey you, you've survived. Now you've arrived
To be reborn in the shadow of the magpie
Now you realise, that you've got to get out of here
You've found the leading light of destiny, burning in the ashes of your memory
You want to change the world
You'd resigned yourself to die a broken rebel
But that was looking backward
Now you've found the light
You, the child that once loved
The child before they broke his heart
Our heart, the heart that I believed was lost
So it's me I see, I can do anything.
I'm still the child
'Cos the only thing misplaced was direction
And I found direction
There is no childhood's end
I am your childhood friend, lead me on
10 White Feather (02:23)
When I hit the streets back in '81
Found a heart in the gutter and a poet's crown
I felt barbed wire kisses and icicle tears
Where have I been for all these years?
I saw political intrigue, political lies
Gonna wipe those smiles of self-satisfaction from their eyes
I will wear your white feather
I will carry your white flag
I will swear I have no nation
But I'm proud to own my heart
I will wear your white feather
I will carry your white flag
I will swear I have no nation
But I'm proud to own my heart
My heart, this is my heart
We don't need no uniforms, we have no disguise
Divided we stand, together we'll rise
We will wear your white feather
We will carry your white flag
We will swear we have no nations
But we're proud to own our hearts
We will wear your white feather
We will carry your white flag
We will swear we have no nations
But we're proud to own our hearts
These are our hearts
These are our hearts
You can't take away our hearts
You can't steal our hearts away
I can't walk away
No more
Loading comments slowly
