“It all began with the bright light, The bright light and the noise
The chaos of the senses and the scream of desire”
The Holidays In Eden tour took place between July 10 1991 and April 16 1992 beginning in England and ending in San Francisco California. The Toronto show was at the former Diamond Club now rechristened The Phoenix Concert Theatre where I have seen a slew of amazing bands from Teenage Fanclub to Wilco to Television and many many more. The balance of old to new material naturally began to shift at this point with 13 of the 21 songs featuring from the h era and 8 from the other guy’s. From the pre Hogarth era Slainte Mhath, Hotel Hobbies, Warm Wet Circles, That Time Of The Night, Sugar Mice, Kayleigh, Incommunicado and Garden Party were performed. Nine songs from Holidays In Eden and four from Seasons End were performed including Easter, The King Of Sunset Town, Hooks In You and The Space… A bit of a broader mix was played at other shows as Marillion typically don’t play the same songs every night. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the band EMI released the band’s first greatest hits compilation titled A Single’s Collection, though retitled Six Of One, Half-Dozen Of The Other in North America. It was comprised of the six of the most successful Fish era songs jumbled up with the six Hogarth era songs released to date. The album also contained two new songs by the band. Sympathy is a cover of the Rare Bird song. It isn’t a song I was familiar with so I have no context for comparison. It is a nice tune and a lot of fans love it. It was released as a single to support the album as was as a re-packaged version of No One Can. The flip side/other new song is I Will Walk On Water which musically reminds me a bit of Emerson Lake And Palmer’s Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends mixed with In The Air Tonight. I’m fine with both songs but neither are something I find myself seeking out to listen to. The band then set off on another tour to support the compilation album between July and October of 1992 which included 10 shows in North America and a second in Toronto in seven months. The same venue and pretty much the same songs, plus or minus a couple, were performed. It felt like we were being spoiled with Marillion shows having had 4 in two an a half years. It would be almost three more before they returned.
The band and record company found themselves at a bit of an impasse at this point. EMI was disappointed with the sales from Holidays In Eden and the band were eager to return to their progressive rock roots. The struggle between band creativity and record company involvement is one that has plagued many music groups. RUSH found themselves in a similar situation after their Caress of Steel album failed to do much damage in the sales department and feeling like they were on the threshold of being canned, the decided to say fuck it and just do the album that they wanted to make. That album ended up being 2112 and it changed the course of their career. Similarly the album that Marillion came up with would do exactly the same thing.
Brave was recorded in France between November 1992 and August 1993 but wasn’t released until February 1994, more than 3 years after Holidays In Eden was released. This album passed me by at the time. I think the length of time between the releases combined with the fact that they did not tour North America for this album left a bit of a hole in my Marillion timeline. I’m not even sure when I actually got the album but I suspect it was closer to 1995 when they released and toured here again for the Afraid of Sunlight album.
That said, Brave is an astounding record. It is the one that most often tops people’s lists of favourite h era Marillion albums, and even both eras for others. There are also some that find it extremely boring. For the most part, however, the consensus by fans and the band is that this one is right up near the top of the pile. The band began working with producer Dave Meegan on this record. Meegan was a Trevor Horn disciple and would produce three other Marillion albums after this one. It is an extremely deep, dark, complex and highly satisfying album that probes the depths of mental health. The story was inspired by a news report Hogarth had heard many years prior, involving a girl with amnesia who was found wandering around the Severn Bridge, taken in by the Police and wouldn’t speak. Not recalling the details of the story but finding it intriguing, Hogarth decided to write a fictional account of what might have led her to this point.
Part of the reason the album took so long to record was that Dave Meegan would painstakingly record all the band’s work in progress and then labour over it to find and pull out parts that he thought were good ideas for the band to work on. This was a paradigm shift in how the band wrote music moving forward. They had always jammed up ideas for songs and then Fish would write the vocals. Hogarth is a musician as well, however, so he contributes to, and is involved in the writing of the music, as well as the lyrics. Starting with Meegan’s approach on this album, they would continue to gravitate more and more toward not just jamming up song ideas, but recording everything and plucking the best ideas for use. Genesis moved to this approach as well around the Mama album, though in my opinion, Marillion have perfected it down to a science and with much better results. The lead single was The Great Escape which was released in January of 1994 but I think I’ll talk about it in the context of the album. Which by the way needs to be heard straight through from beginning to end, and per instruction on the cover…loud with the lights off.
The album starts quietly with the sound of wind, water, ominous ocean liner type horns, and a quiet female voice that says “A bridge is not a high place” before a mournful keyboard enters creating an blanket of notes evoking worry and sadness. Bridge is both the intro to the album and the location of the distressed woman this album centres around. “Staring out over the bridge. A million photo flashes from the water down below. Dawn light bouncing through the mist. The roar of traffic and the crack of police radios. When they ask her name. Could she please explain. She simply chooses to say…Nothing”.
Rothery’s harmonics enter bridging Bridge and Living With The Big Lie which takes us back to the girl’s life beginning with her birth. The song gently builds with lovely tension as Hogarth tells the story of a sad reality of a sad life led, contrasting horrors in the world with horrors of childhood, with the music building in intensity over 6 minutes into a frenzy of beauty and chaos until professing finally “You get used to it”. It is an absolutely breathtaking piece of music that sets the stage for the rest of the album that will pretty much stay as deeply intense and heavy throughout the entire album. The lyrics are superb rivaling the intensity of a song like Fugazi but surpassing it in it’s humanity, its empathy and its ability to be relatable while wrenching emotion from every nuance both vocally and musically.
Living With The Big Lie fades into Runaway which is a deeply touching song. Hogarth evokes the isolation of someone with no where to go. It is musically powerful but incredibly restrained at the same time. The song is a slow burn whose intensity builds but never overpowers. It is all very subtle and very emotional music. Steve Rothery squeezes a gorgeous guitar solo out that feels like a personification of grief and fear. It is a tension filled song that is often overlooked when thinking about how great the songs on this album are. And I mean that sincerely. This is one of the single most emotionally realized records I’ve ever heard. I don’t like to compare but it is hard not to…but I think this album slays Misplaced Childhood in both the execution of subtle mood and textures, but even more so in its ability to convey a real sense of empathy.
The song dissolves into a quite piano bit that introduces the monster mashup of the album, Goodbye To All That. This 12 minute onslaught of terror and intensity and fear and sadness is similar in style to Misplaced Childhood’s Brief Encounter and Bitter Suite sections but far more realized in scope. Similar to those songs, this one is divided up into five parts. The beginning touches on the piano part from Bridge but builds on it adding the line “Heading for the great escape, heading for the rave, heading for the permanent holiday” before dissolving into a whirlwind of chaotic music titled Wave and Mad which are driven by Mosely’s powerful drumming. Hard to describe this type of music other than it is heart poundingly evocative, intense and emotional. Part III is The Opium Den which rocks and sways like a drug induced lullaby, Rother sounding as much like Steve Hackett as he has ever sounded with swelling notes. This whole section is incredibly well performed as the bass just rolls out from under it supporting the tripped out mood. Rothery manages to eek out the highest note playable in standard tuning on a guitar as well, with perfection. I would equate this whole section to a much more melodic Perimeter Walk from the Blind Curve section of Misplaced Childhood. Don’t be fooled though, even though I am citing some comparisons, they are only for context. These albums are totally different beasts. The lullaby feel increases in intensity but every so elegantly till it fades away revealing the final section of this song, Standing In The Swing which starts as just piano and vocals, ending with the line “ Easy, you said I was easy. This world sharpens teeth. Eat your words…”. I’m not being overdramatic when I say this song is one of the most realized, astounding pieces of music the band did to this point and still stands as one of their most fantastic moments.
Out of Standing In The Swing comes the raging Hard As Love which is a bit more of a straightforward rock song…something that is reminiscent of something from Quadrophenia. It is a welcome respite from the intensity that preceded it. Despite being rocking and upbeat it isn’t too complicated a song…but then suddenly it is…even more so, desperately so. The subtleties of the music they have created in places all over this album are remarkable. It twists and turns seamlessly between moods and intensity in a way that I’ve seldom heard. No one should be able to create music this good. Anyway Hard As Love is one of those songs that when discussed I’m like Yeah I like it but I don’t LOVE it. Then I listen to it and I absolutely fucking LOVE it every time. It is a wild song that truly captures both the band at their most cohesive while individually managing to showcase the exceptional talent of every member. Jesus Christ this song is great. The song fades out and it is the first break on the album in 32 minutes.
From the furiousness of Hard Of Love comes the diametrically opposite song The Hollow Man. Sigh…The Hollow Man…possibly one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. It tears at the heartstrings with its forlornness and resignation to depression and how it eats away at one’s soul, through a façade of happiness. Hogarth has mentioned that this song is actually autobiographical and the emotion he squeezes out of just him, a piano and the most delicate of other instrumentation is hypnotic and overwhelming in its ability to overtake one emotionally. It is so quiet and yet so raw and open. It’s a phenomenal piece that stands on its own on the album without anything fading into or out of it. I’ve seen this song performed a few times live and it is always absolutely silent in the venue and riveting in execution. One of my great live experiences is hearing this song played in person…the piano notes just shuddering through your body and the guitar textures simply reek of emotion. The ending is a gorgeous little outro of diminishing notes and the song just fades away to the spoken words “We’re tin-hard and we rattle when we’re shaken”.
The Hollow Man is bookended by rockers that rivet it in place as the fulcrum of the record. Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury rips in with a guitar riff and settles into a mid-tempo rocker, picking up the pace from the slow burn that preceded. It is another stand alone song. An amazingly written piece of music that was released as the third single from the record. Hollow Man was the second. This song just soars with harmony and intensity. It contains the most realized and distinctive chorus on the album. In it’s full album form the song is over 8 minutes long. There is an extended rocking outro with multiple interlayered guitar solos which lead into a subsection of the song titled Now Wash Your Hands. It brings the mood back down into the mire briefly.
Quick on the tails of Now Wash Your Hands is Paper Lies, which is a super charged straight ahead rocker of a song. Maybe too much so. Actually it is the only part of this album that seems out of place to me. It makes sense as I believe the song was added at the insistence of Meegan who felt the album needed another kick. The song was actually inspired by the death of newspaper mogul Rupert Maxwell. For me it is the only stumble on an otherwise perfect album. Lyrically it doesn’t really add to the narrative but musically it does succeed in bringing up the angst and anger a notch, before the title track emerges from the ending drone as if emerging out of the fog. So I will say this, the transition between these two songs is so sublimely incredible that it justifies any misgivings one might have about Paper Lies. The way Brave resolves out of the end of Paper Lies is truly truly outstanding on every level. It is actually my absolute favourite part of the entire album and it is almost not even there it is so subtle.
From the droning keyboard at the end of Paper lies emerges haunting and beautiful Uilleann Pipes played by Tony Halligan. It is a completely hypnotic song from beginning to end. At almost 8 minutes long, it is a perfect exercise in absolute musical control and restraint, paying off as the absolute heart of the entire album. It is one of the most emotional and moving songs I’ve ever heard. In 2011 in Montreal as part of my band’s Marillion set, this was one of the songs we performed (well half of it). It was my favourite part of our entire 1.5 hour set. What a truly special song and my top pick on the record. That is until The Great Escape which follows. I’m gonna just lay this one out there. The Great Escape is my favourite Marillion song…period. It is also one of my favourite songs ever…by anyone. It is one of the most astonishingly beautiful songs I have ever heard in my life. I’ve never heard anything with the emotional power and intensity and sublime musical proficiency, subtlety, and execution as The Great Escape. It touches every single thing I love about music in a masterful way that seems effortless. It sounds to me like something that was a gift from some other dimension, cause no one should be able to write music like this. It is unfair to every musician out there. It is the climax of an album that spends 60 minutes building up to it and delivering in a way that is almost unimaginable. And then it shifts four minutes in…to something even better. I know it sounds like a hyperbole but the second half of this song titled Fallin’ From The Moon (the first half is titled The Last Of You) reduces rooms full of 50 something year old men and women to tears. No joke if you know and love this song and you see it performed live I promise you it will end in tears. I’ve succeeded every time I’ve seen it played in weeping…because of this song. There are guitar notes played here that are better than some of my favourite songs. And this little point, here in the middle of my eighth post about the band, and 28000 words in…this is the essence of why I love this band. I can actually pinpoint my love for the band to the ability to make me cry when experiencing them play The Great Escape live. As far as the story, the entire musical motif which started in Bridge and reappeared at the beginning of Goodbye To All That makes up the foundation of The Great Escape…like scattered hints leading to the payoff when they all come together. The story finds our nameless girl where the album started…on a Bridge proclaiming the phenomenal words describing someone considering their own demise…
Don’t ask me why I’m doing this, You wouldn’t understand
You’re asking the wrong questions, You couldn’t understand
A bridge is not a high place, The fifty-second floor
Icarus would know, A mountain isn’t far to fall
When you’ve fallen, When you’ve fallen from the moon
It is an exceptional and truly outstanding piece of art. Also…Rothery…that guitar solo at the end…just fuck off already…no one should be good enough to do what you did here. It isn’t fair…fucking perfection.
Ok I need a moment…..
Ok I’m better now…..
Brave is an story that could end in two ways. One being death and the other life. It’s that simple. Originally the album was to end at this point…however, at the urging of their record company to come up with a happier ending, they worked up the song Made Again which Steve Rothery had written the intro for his newborn daughter. What the band came up with is a beautiful alternate ending to the album. One filled with hope and possibility. It acts in the exact same way emotionally as The Morning Fog which ends Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave suite on side 2 of her Hounds Of Love album. It is super delicate and effective. Almost like a lullaby that sweeps you away in acoustic bliss. For an add on song, it is pretty spectacular. As a compromise to adding the song, the band had the record company agree that the vinyl release of the record would contain a double groove. This is totally cool and something you don’t see often as it takes up twice the space. The way it works is there are two different music tracks on side four of the record. Both start with the song The Great Escape. One of the grooves ends with the song Made Again and includes the full version of The Great Escape with the Falling From The Moon section (https://youtu.be/7jcDmkyEDtg). The other groove, however has an entirely different mix of the song without that section. It ends in a slow repeat of the beginning of the song and the lines “Uncurl the fingers that hold, Summon the strength to let go, Out of the tired world, Out of the upset, Into the sunset”. It is then followed by 5 minutes of water sounds…without Made Again (https://youtu.be/kM4djWdBxww). You put the needle on the record and it is a 50/50 shot which ending you will get. I love the creativity of this and also the idea that not everything has a happy ending, and that the outcome of some things can be a matter of chance or choice. Life is like that. In some ways what they managed to do was capture the essence of the endings of their previous two concept albums. Misplaced Childhood’s survival story is like Made Again while The Last Straw on Clutching At Straws is much more gloomy in prospect…the equivalent of the album ending with The Great Escape. Either option works amazingly well in execution. I personally prefer the ending with Made Again for two reasons. First because it was the version I had on CD and I only heard the “spiral version” alternate ending many years later. The second reason is that the Spiral Remake version cuts off the entire Falling From The Moon section which is almost criminal. It would be like fading out Stairway To Heaven before the guitar solo, or cutting out the sax solo in Jungleland or cutting Love Reign O’er Me from Quadrophenia altogether. The build up and pay off is too much to give up. Actually this album reminds me a lot of Quadrophenia if you drowned it in sorrow. I mean that in a good way as Quadrophenia is my favourite album ever and I thrive in sorrow and melancholy. My Blog description should actually read “Darrin Cappe, thriving and surviving on melancholy since 1968”.
Despite reaching number 9 in the UK album charts, none of the singles really had much chart success. The label was not happy but the band had succeeded in ways no one could have predicted. With this album, the fans who hadn’t jettisoned to this point, were rewarded with an absolutely classic album. One that has gained in stature over the years to the point that it is now considered one of the best concept albums of all time. I wholeheartedly agree with that status and for me is in my top 3 or 4 Marillion albums. Sometimes it is number 1 and sometimes it is number 4. Depends on the day. Brave restored confidence in the band that they should be following their own path and doing what they felt was right, despite anything their record company might think. It was another fork in the road that could have led to more label involvement and a desperate search for hit singles, but instead led to a world of creative freedom, and one where they would from this point forward, always trust their instincts. The seeds of their future were also sewn, as they started to think about how exactly they wanted to move forward from a business perspective…but it would take one more album before they started that trip. Luckily they had used the advance for the Brave album to set up their own studio called The Racket Club, which is also a key part of that journey.
The band at the time also wanted to create a movie related to the concept and shockingly EMI agreed to give them a budget, despite the album’s lackluster sales. Richard Stanley was hired to direct the Brave movie which was 57 minutes in length and was released in 1994. By all accounts it is…well…not good…not good at all. I have never had the pleasure of seeing it so I can’t say for certain. I really should check it out if only for curiosity sake, though judging from the comments I’ve seen about it over the years, I’m pretty sure it won’t be a pleasant experience.
If you are interested there is a great article here that does a great job of elaborating on the whole Brave era – which I’ve merely touched on – https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-inside-story-behind-marillions-brave
Recommended Listening: Brave – all of it. Play it loud with the lights off. You won’t be disappointed.
