“The first time I started listening to Marillion’s past work – namely, albums recorded with original vocalist Fish – I couldn’t help but think that I was listening to Peter Gabriel-era Genesis.\u201d I wrote those words about Script For A Jester\u2019s Tear<\/i>, the debut album from Marillion, back in 2000.<\/p>\n
Watching Recital Of The Script<\/i>, the first home video from Marillion (captured at Hammersmith Odeon on the tour for that album), I\u2019m more convinced than ever that Fish took more than a few lessons from Gabriel in terms of his stage presence. The final show featuring drummer Mick Pointer (and, as Fish announces from the stage, the final night of the tour), it showcases a young band who were already masters of their craft musically, but who seemed to over-rely on Fish\u2019s animated stage presence.<\/p>\n
Fish is, in essence, the jester featured on Script<\/i>\u2019s cover, as he bounds across the stage, seemingly exorcizing the lyrics from his soul as he sings them. If one didn\u2019t understand the melancholia in the original album, Fish brings it front and center during songs like the title track, \u201cThe Web,\u201d and \u201cForgotten Sons,\u201d often using his own microphone and stand to hammer home certain imagery in the songs.<\/p>\n
Other than Fish, only bassist Pete Trewavas has any real stage presence, So, it\u2019s not a surprise that Fish has the yeoman\u2019s share of working the crowd as the frontman, but one almost wishes that the other lads would have played at least a small role in building the excitement. Maybe it was the size of the Odeon stage \u2013 I don\u2019t know, I\u2019ve never been to that side of the pond \u2013 but I found myself wishing that Steve Rothery would interact more with the crowd, rather than lock himself in with his effects pedals.<\/p>\n
Of course, one listen to the crowd and you know that they don\u2019t need any incentive to be excited. Just listening to them taking over the chorus of \u201cMarket Square Heroes,\u201d one has to wonder just why the hell Marillion didn\u2019t make it bigger than they did at the height of their career. Then again, Marillion has always maintained a loyal fan base, so this easily could be the first glimpse of that forming.<\/p>\n
The casual listener might be scared away by Recital Of The Script<\/i> on the grounds that it only features music from Script For A Jester\u2019s Tear<\/i> (although tracks from the Market Square Heroes<\/i> EP are included \u2013 those have all since been on Script<\/i>\u2019s reissue), almost all the songs are mammoth in length, and there are no \u201chits\u201d to speak of. Well, maybe\u2026we\u2019ll get to that in a minute. Diehard fans who hang on to every note of Marillion\u2019s history will naturally love this, especially the bonus featurette of the band performing at the Marquee one year prior.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go back to that casual listener \u2013 yeah, you. Recital Of The Script<\/i> is an important disc for Marillion in that it does capture Fish and crew in their \u201chungry youth,\u201d almost seamlessly charging through their rather musically challenging works without missing a beat and daring you to follow along for the ride. Having followed the band since starting this site, I can honestly say it renewed my interest in the album these songs came from; I\u2019ve tried listening to it again over the years and still found it difficult to listen to.<\/p>\n
It also is the antithesis of all the pre-packaged crap that is out there. Yes, there are no three-minute pop songs here, and these songs dare to challenge you to pay attention and think about what you\u2019re hearing and seeing. This, to me, is a good thing.<\/p>\n
Yet, I must admit, getting through this in one sitting was something I found difficult to do, and ended up breaking it up over two nights\u2019 viewing. And, as much as Recital Of The Script<\/i> renewed my vigor for the early works of Marillion, I confess that I still found myself wishing that they had lopped off about two minutes of the performance of \u201cForgotten Sons,\u201d as it just seemed to drag at times.<\/p>\n
Is Recital Of The Script<\/i> one of those DVDs I\u2019ll be finding myself watching repeatedly? Honestly, no\u2026then again, if you remember those halcyon days in \u201983 well and have a special fondness for Script For A Jester\u2019s Tear<\/i>, your opinion might be slightly higher than mine. Still, this is the kind of disc that I will find myself watching when I need my faith in music for the sake of its own art form renewed, and while it\u2019s a little long in the tooth, is an important historical piece in the history of Marillion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5884],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-42296","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-marillion","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42296","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=42296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42296"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42296"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}