I was really into music in high school and college in the 80's. The other day I was cleaning house and ran across a box containing all of my CDs, mostly from that time period, and none of them listened to in at least five years. I decided to listen to each of them one by one and blog my thoughts about them here.

If you find this interesting, you might also visit Dave, with whom I discovered much of this music (though he is not to blame for The Grateful Dead).

Friday, January 14, 2005

Marillion, Misplaced Childhood
When I discovered this album early in college, I remember reading reviews that said that Marillion was maudlin music for lovesick teenagers, and thinking that this characterization was grossly unfair. I still think it's a little unfair, but I see their point. Musically, it's not bad, but it's not great either. Clearly its strength is the transmission of emotion, especially lyrically and vocally. I know I found it very powerful eighteen years ago (yikes!), but the emotions captured here don't resonate with me any more. More superficially, there are some good hooks in here, and "Kayleigh" can still stand alone as a fairly catchy piece of 80's rock. (Buy)

posted by Joe at 2:12 PM

1 Comments:

dave said...

I agree completely - I think the main problem with Marillion is the music. A classic example is the title track of Script for a Jester's Tear. It goes so far over the top and has good wordplay that it's hard not to be caught up in it (a la Shakespeare), but the power chords are so dang plodding.

I never listen to them anymore, and all of their albums have dropped off of my top 100 list.

2:32 PM  

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