The question of when a band should release a live album is a
\nsticky one. On one hand, some bands want to capitalize on their
\nsuccess and try to milk every last drop out of it; Vanilla Ice did
\nthis with
\nExtremely Live<\/i>, released after only one – count ’em,
\n
\none<\/i>
\n<\/b> – studio release. On the other hand, some bands take their
\ntime and make sure the time is absolutely right for the
\nmaterial.<\/p>\n
In the case of Marillion, I honestly would have questioned the
\nrelease of
\nReal To Reel<\/i> back in 1984. This was a band who had only two
\nalbums under their belt, with their best work still ahead of them.
\nYet this was also a group who were building up quite a following in
\nEurope, so maybe the time was right over there to release this
\ndisc. (For the record: I’m reviewing an import of the original 1984
\nrelease, not the newer version packaged with the later release
\nBrief Encounter<\/i>. That mini-LP will be reviewed soon – once I
\npay for the copy I won on eBay.)<\/p>\n
Recorded in Montreal and England, the seven songs featured do
\ncapture the spirit of Marillion well – but it also shows a band who
\nwas still very much in development. Granted, they had made
\nsignificant improvement with their second album
\nFugazi<\/i>, but they still didn’t have a treasure trove of
\nmaterial to draw from. Because of this, there are peaks and ebbs on
\nthis disc.<\/p>\n
There are some powerful moments on
\nReal To Reel<\/i>. It is a trip to hear Fish stop singing during
\n“Garden Party” and “Market Square Heroes” to let the audience take
\nover the job – and they don’t miss a single beat. But what
\nsurprises me is that the material from the
\nScript For A Jester’s Tear<\/i> period is just as strong as the
\ngreat material from
\nFugazi<\/i>. Yes, “Forgotten Sons” is still a bit overblown, and
\nthis version doesn’t change my mind about it. But “Garden Party”
\nreally shines, especially when paired up with “Market Square
\nHeroes”. It’s as powerful a one-two punch as “Assassing” and
\n“Incubus,” which open the disc.<\/p>\n
Of the
\nFugazi<\/i> material, only “Emerald Lies” falls a bit flat – but
\ncoming off of a powerful trio of “Assassing,” “Incubus” and
\n“Cinderella Search,” it’s not that bad of a fall for Marillion, and
\ncould have been easily recoverable. The problem is that the next
\ntrack is “Forgotten Sons,” which we’ve already mentioned. Maybe had
\nthey thrown in “He Knows You Know” as a buffer, it would have
\nhelped.<\/p>\n
Still, these are not major complaints, and as a live disc,
\nReal To Reel<\/i> turns out to be quite enjoyable – though, like
\nmany of Marillion’s albums, it takes more than one listen to really
\nwarm up to it. And, unlike their later live disc
\nThe Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra)<\/i>, this disc captures a
\nband who is hungry, not a band splintering under alleged excesses.
\n(We’ll eventually get to
\nThe Thieving Magpie<\/i> as well – gimme a break, I’ve been
\ntrying for six months to decipher
\nMisplaced Childhood<\/i>.)<\/p>\n
\nReal To Reel<\/i> is not the easiest disc to find, but if you are
\ndeeper into the Fish-era Marillion than just the few hits they had,
\nthis will be a nice addition to your collection. Even if you don’t
\nknow a lot about the band, it’s an interesting slice of their
\nhistory that’s worth checking out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5884],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-36600","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-marillion","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36600"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36600"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}