Marillion “Curtain Call”
Review by
Gatot
(Gatot Widayanto)
[Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator]
Posted 1:43:39 AM EST, 11/4/2004
For those of you who claim as early Marillion die-hard fans, you should visit
www.marillion.com and order this boxed set of 6 CDs comprising live set from three
different stages at different times during FISH era. Each live set is packaged in a
double CD. I just got this boxed set 3 weeks ago through a friend of mine, Stephen
Lindlay, who ordered it for me when he was in England last month. I had dreamt of
having this set since it was announced in the web thru FRONT ROW issue no. 15. I did
not want to risk by ordering directly from my country where it might have some slippage
in delivery like when I got pre-order of Marbles very late. Finally …. I got it in my hands
directly from Stephen who flew from England to Jakarta bringing my stuff. Yeah. I spin
the CD right away at Stephen’s house in Jakarta. It blew me!
I love live albums. I usually use a set of criteria to review a live album, ie: 1.) the
extent to which the recorded live music is more dynamic than the studio album, 2.) the
extent of communication between the band and the audience, 3.) audience
participation (hand clapping, shouting, etc), 4.) mixing and sound quality (including is
there any cut or edit from original performance), 5.)the extent of musicians emotional
control to maintain the best delivery of the music. The sonic quality is not as good
as “La Gazza Ladra” but it’s better than bootleg version. Overall performance of the
band was recorded continuously as per original concert order, with minimum cuts. It’s
natural.
Volume A – 2 CD (76:47) Live at Rundsporthalle, Baunatal, Germany (1 October 1983)
This was taken during “Script for a Jester’s Tear” Tour. It was actually a mystery gig by
the band but luckily it turned out to be a groundbreaking gig and was key calling card
for the band’s expansion to Germany. The band just hired a new guy to look after the
drum stools, Jonathan Mover
on limited rehearsals. (Well, one of my considerations to buy this set
was actually I want to hear how Jonathan performed his duty. He played
really well and different with Pointer or Mosley). So, the line up was:
Fish (voc), Mark Kelly (keys), Pete Trewavas (bass), Jonathan Mover
(drums), and Steve Rothery (gtr).
Overall, the live performance sounds dynamic and interactive. Almost all breaks
between tracks were fulfilled by Fish humorous (about sex) communication with the
audience. The live set opens with a bit of “Assassing” intro that continues to the intro
of “He Knows You Know” with some words from Fish. Nice opening. Jonathan’s
drumming work is really cool before Fish sings “Problems! Problems” – it sounds more
dynamic than Mosley’s style in La Gazza Ladra. In some segments Fish changed the
lyrics to Germany. Creative. At the end of the track he started the conversation with
the audience “BTW .. we are extremely sorry that in the past year we did not actually
manage to come over here. This will be rectified next year when the full European tour
starts ..”. It’s a very warm opening. “Garden Party” was then performed with some
technical problems with Trewavas’s bass guitar that bit disappear at beginning part of
the track.
One thing that I like with this live set is the inclusion of “Three Boats from a Candy” that
has never been included in previous release (as far as my knowledge). The other thing
is “Assassing” that by the time of this performance was not released under FUGAZI
album even though Fish did already mention the name of the album. The dazzling drum
beats at intro by Jonathan was performed excellently. This version is a little bit
different with the album version, especially Mark Kelly’s punchy keyboard sounds. The
percussion interlude used the single version. It’s probably by that time only this version
was composed by the band prior to an album. The detail sounds of bass and guitar also
different. I do enjoy listening to this version. COOL ….
The other part that really blew me is FORGOTTEN SONS. Before the track starts, Fish
made a long conversation with the audience about the song. “The main part of the
story is about our generation. This generation is supposedly an intelligent generation
that has the rights and the know-how to say NO. …. This is our chance to say NO to
the invasion of other people’s land.”. He continues :“This is a song that we as a band
wrote about peace; especially peace. This is for peace of northern island. This is
dedicated to us tonight. This is called FORGOTTEN SONS!”
The music was performed excellently with great voice of Fish, stunning lead guitar and
symphonic keyboard. Drumming style is different with other live versions of the band.
The solo keyboard is really nice and different. Overall, this version is much more
dynamic and more symphonic compared to other versions of Forgotten Sons, even
better than “Real to Reel” version.
“Forgotten Sons” seemed to be the last track until the audience requesting “More!
More!” (in Germany’s) and the band backed on stage. Fish started again the
conversation followed by “Market Square Heroes”. This track was performed excellently
with high energy by the band. The interlude is really amazing. One complaint that I
have with this track is the backing vocal quality (Pete Trewavas) when he
sings “..market square heroes” .. so bad voice. Otherwise is excellent. Rothery’s guitar
is really rocking, followed by nice keyboard solo by Mark Kelly. Bass line is excellent.
Volume B : 2CD (112:18) - Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, England (3 February 1986)
This live set surprisingly starts with the intro of “Emerald Lies” and continues seamlessly
to “Script for A Jester’s Tear” which was performed at its best by the band. It seemed
that Fish sung with his heart. This track has some problems with sound recording and
technical glitches that make this live set much natural, with no overdubs. It seems the
original master tape has damaged especially at the end of the track (minute 7:56). It
flows to “Incubus” with different (and nice!) keyboard sound. At the completion
of “Incubus” Fish starts his first conversation with the crowd; talking about Simon Le
Bon (Duran-Duran ?). He talked, with his Scottish accent, about to whom the next track
(“Jigsaw”) was dedicated. As I expected, the crowd sung “stand straight!” following the
song.
At the end of “Jigsaw” Fish continues his long conversation with the crowd and
answering the crowd’s request for “Grendel”. “No .. no Grendel tonight. I’m extremely
sorry, I’m very story” and some conversation (jokes). “This next song is dedicated for
the people who were here four years ago. It’s called .. the WEB!” and then the music
starts with nice keyboard work of Mark Kelly. I like this intro of the web because the
keyboard is different than the studio version; it’s little bit mellow and simpler. Wonderful
intro!
Having done with “The Web” the band continues with the main menu of the concert:
The A side of “Misplaced Childhood” album until the end of Disc 1. The five songs in this
set was performed excellently by the band. It’s probably the band got used to the
Hammy stage as stated by Pete Trewavas in the sleeve note: “It seemed in thosed
days we played here all the time.”. The climax of this part is my all-time favorite “Heart
of Lothian”; a wonderfully crafted song with tasty melody and great lyrics ..”It’s getting
late ….” WOW … what a fantastic song! Unfortunately, Disc 1 is about to end so that
the B side of Misplaced must be continued on Disc 2.
Disc 2 kicks off with “Waterhole”. I like the vibes-like sound (played by keyboard, I
think) than sounds so obvious in this version compared to studio or La Gazza Ladra
version. There is a tendency that during this track the band almost lose control because
of the fast tempo this track has. Fortunately, it continues with slower tempo
track “Lords of Backstage” and “Blind Curve”. What a great track this one is… “Last
night you said I was cold. Untouchable ….. I just want to be free. I’m happy to be free.
I’m happy to be lonely. Can’t you stay away! Just leave me alone with my thoughts. I’m
just to runaway .. runaway” (drum shot in here is cool man …).
Having completed the whole “Misplaced” set Fish continues with his words “This is a
song for a generation. It’s for you and it’s called Fugazi” and the intro starts “Vodka
intimate …” (unfortunately there are technical glitches here that disturb the voice
quality – but it’s OK, it’s natural isn’t it?). This track is performed longer than the studio
version. I like the exploration of bass line by Pete, guitar by Steve and keys by Mark.
It’s a very attractive live track. It’s the best “Fugazi” the band has ever performed so
far. (I have some bootleg versions of Fish era; but the one in this set is much better:
it’s dynamic, energetic and much more rocking!). I like the part where Fish introduced
the band members to the audience during the “Where are the prophets?” part. It’s very
nice and I keep repeating this track. It’s not just the way Fish sings to introduce each
member, but the background music is really cool: symphonic in nature, stunning guitar,
great keyboard and punchy bass line. The crowd then follows shouting “Where are the
prophets?” repeatedly. Oh boy … what a great chunk of music here. So dynamic, so
lively! It seems I was in the middle of the crowd!
The encore “Punch and Judy” – “Market Square Heroes” was performed seamlessly in
lively style. As usual, the crowd shout together “I’m a market square heroes!!!!”.
Interlude was performed wonderfully (starting at minutes 2:50) where Fish invites the
audience to dance together and giving instructions on what the audience should do.
The background music is great, dominated by keyboard backed with dazzling bass
guitar and guitar fills. The solo bass guitar during Fish invitation to audience to
dance “Yeah twist again …!” is really nice. Great concluding track!
Volume C: 2CD (97:07) - Live at Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy (26 January 1988)
I don’t expect much of this live set as it seems similar with “La Gazza Ladra” or “Live
from Lorelei” version. The difference is that this live set has incomplete “Misplaced
Childhood”. Venue wise, it seems Marillion had loyal and fanatic fan base in Italy. I can
sense it through the crowd participation even during the first track “Slainthe Mhath”.
The even react actively to Fish’s conversation before “Assassing”. Through this live set
I can feel the soul of live performance where the audience actively participated with
the band.
I like Fish conversation just before “White Russian” where he talked about the political
conditions in the world; nothing has changed – like in Nicaragua, South Africa, El
Salvador. Where do we go from here, White Russian? What a great talks! It flows to
the music of “White Russian”. Personally, this is my favorite track of “Clutching at
Straws” album. The ending part is really an ultimate climax: Racing the clouds home ..
We place our faith in human rights.
It seems the crowd were die-hard fan of Marillion as they shout together the beginning
part of “Fugazi”. Vodka intimate on affair …Mosley did a short drum solo after Fish
sings “of a Friday’s night supper …”. And again at the part when the lyric is “Where are
the prophets?” all the crowd sung together with loud voice. It’s very lively and I like it!
After “Fugazi” all crowd shout loudly like in a football match. Great! The band continues
with first three tracks of “Clutching At Straws” album: “Hotel Hobbie” - performed
differently with longer and ambient intro followed by vibes sound intro. The crowd was
really hot here where I can here clearly the hand clapping. “This pilgrimage to happy
hour ..!!” uuugh I like this part man – rocking guitar, dazzling bass line, stunning guitar
and great drumming. It flows to “Warm Wet Circle” and “That Time of The Night”.
Again, crowd participation is wonderful. The nice and touchy clavinet sound at the
beginning of “That Time of The Night” was accompanied by “Ooooo” by the crowd. Nice.
There is small technical problem here where the start of “That Time of The Night” was
cut too early. But it’s OK.
I don’t know for what reason the band did the “Misplaced Childhood” part in a reverse
way starting from Side 2 and continued with Side 1 without “Pseudo Silk Kimono”
and “Bitter Suite”. Regretful, actually because if I look at the CD duration, there are
ample space and definitely can accommodate these 2 songs. Anyway, the crowd
participation in “Kayleigh” is really amazing – the can sing the lyrics on top of their head
and it happens to “lavender” as well. Wow! Fantastic!
The other regret is that “Heart of Lothian” is not started from the end of “Bitter Suite”.
The encore of the live set is “Incommunicado” and “Garden Party”. During “Garden
Party” the crowd voice even louder than other tracks. Almost all of them participated.
OVERALL it’s an excellent live set. For me personally I give FIVE STAR as it is a
masterpiece because I am an Early Marillion aficionado and I’m sure I must have
been “bias” in reviewing this boxed set. But I don’t want to be so naïve, that’s why I’d
give 4 stars for this page. This rating applicable for those who have listened to the first
four albums of the band. For those who are NEW to the band, you should start with
the studio album “Script for a Jester’s Tear” and don’t buy this boxed set. GW,
Indonesia.
