Marillion – Less Is More
“You can’t live without making mistakes”
After the release of Happiness Is The Road the band embarked on another short tour of 34 dates in support of the album, beginning in Inverness Scotland on November 8 2008 and ending February 16 2009 in Paris France. On the heels of the tour was the band’s fifth Marillion Weekend, this time expanded to two locations. “The” Netherlands weekend was held March 20-23 2009 in Port Zelande. Friday night featured Toby Sebastian followed by a full run through Seasons End including b-sides The Release and The Bell In The Sea, as well as five songs from Happiness Is The Road. Saturday night was “Tumbling Down The Years” i.e. songs recorded in each year starting in 2008 and working backwards to the beginning…skipping a few on the way but ultimately a nice variety of songs. Opening the night were Andrew Morris, Steve Rothery’s The Wishing Tree, and The Reasoning. Sunday featured Anne Marie Helder, Pete and Rob, and A Genuine Freakshow. The theme for the final night was “Size Matters” i.e. The Epics…all the band’s longest songs (to date). You can read everyone’s feedback on this archived page – https://web.archive.org/web/20090913075608/http://www.marillionweekend.com/. The big news for us in North America, however, was that the band would be expanding beyond the Old World for Weekend number 5. I quickly bought a ticket and booked a room at the Gouverneur Dupuis close to the L’Olympia venue in Montreal, along with the rest of my band members from Tempus Fugit. Prior to the first night Richard Bruce and Annick Gauthier, both from Montreal, had arranged online for anyone in town prior to the first night, to gather at a pub on Crescent Street for a pre-show get together of fans. That venue was Brutopia Brew Pub…and has been to this day, the social centre point of every weekend since. The weekend itself ran from April 3-5 2009. We were told ahead of time that the setlists would be the same as the Netherland’s shows. In order to try to remain surprised I shut myself off of social media for the duration of time between the first weekend and the Montreal shows…..Actually that was my intention but my self-control only allowed me to resist the temptation for exactly zero days and I pretty much found out the setlists as soon as they were posted. I’ve tried every weekend to resist and I’ve managed to fail ever single time. Support acts were as follows: Friday and Saturday featured Sun Domingo…who little did I know would play a part in my own story in 2011. Saturday also included The Wishing Tree and Sunday John Wesley. In the end the setlists were almost the same but slightly different on Saturday night. The weekend was an incredible experience and I’ve urged people ever since to attend. It is hard to explain but I have tried on many occasions. One of the great things about the first weekend was the relatively relaxed vibe of everyone involved. The band came out after all the shows to mingle, take photos, sign stuff, chat etc. The crew were super nice and fun to hang out with, and since Brutopia didn’t quite have a reputation for post-show hang outs yet…there was a pretty easy going feel it all. I met some fantastic people that trip…people I’m still friends with to this day…including Andy Wright, Charles Kellum, Eric Heiss, Annick Gauthier and many others. Also, Malcom Harris, Stephanie Bradley, Pete Harwood and the lovely Jim Sanders who no longer works with the band. We had a not so funny but memorable experience trying to get to Brutopia before closing on the last night…with a taxi driver who had no idea where he was going. It was a super fun night and I have a few photos attached. The evening ended with Mark Kilminster playing Easter on Guitar at about 3AM with everyone in attendance singing along. Mark would, for a period, end up in a band called The Tin Spirits with former XTC Guitarist Dave Gregory…I think that might be my last XTC reference in these posts. Anyway following the weekend I sent an email to the band and actually got a response back from Steve Hogarth himself (via Lucy). What I wrote was posted on their website and bear in mind this was the weekend with the version of This Strange Engine that fell apart (I wrote about it all a few posts ago). “Just wanted to say thank you all so much for doing this for us over here in NA. It was without doubt the best three days of music I’ve ever heard in my life – beating out the 9 Radiohead shows which were in my top 5 shows ever seen. Actually, Sunday was truly the most amazing live show I’ve ever seen by any band in my 1000s of shows I’ve seen over the past 25 years. TSE though fraught with problems was the single most memorable live experience I’ve ever had – from the frustration, to h passing over top of me and back – to the band maintaining their poise throughout and ultimately the reaction from the crowd – it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen at a show and I doubt I will ever see anything like it again. It was pure magic which had me in tears by the end..which was the only time in my life I’ve cried at a concert.”Steve’s response was “Thanks Darrin. Knocking Radiohead off their pedestal is praise indeed. I saw em on the “OK Computer” tour and they were quite mindblowing. I hope we can do it all again in a couple of years.. or maybe sooner..h” This and other feedback about the weekend can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20090913075608/http://www.marillionweekend.com/ Following the two 2009 Marillion Weekends the band announced they were working on a new acoustic based studio project that would involve stripping back some of their songs and rearranging them from the ground up. The idea wasn’t totally out of the blue as the band had already done a host of shows at Los Trios Marillios, Unplugged At The Walls restaurant and had even released some acoustic renditions of some of the Brave material as b-sides. What I’m not sure of is what actually inspired them do this project. Perhaps they had just finished writing a huge amount of material over the preceding few years and needed some time to recharge. Maybe this was an interesting distraction from the cycle of writing new material and touring. Steve had a baby at home and maybe they just needed a change. Or maybe they were inspired by the Los Trios idea and it was a way to include everyone in something related. Maybe it was both…maybe neither. From June 18 2009: “We thought we would take this opportunity to give you news on our acoustic project as it has been unfolding over the past 2 weeks. The early stages of this process have seen us stripping back some of our favourite Marillion songs – old and new – to their bare bones, and rearranging them from the ground-up using, where possible, only acoustic instruments.Pete has been playing Balalaika, Xylophone and Glockenspiel as well as bass: Mark has been discovering autoharp in addition to his piano, organ and harmonium; Steve has been exploring the delights of mandolin and Portuguese guitar along with 6 and 12 string acoustic whilst Ian has been playing a few African drums in addition to drum kit and skulls. h has been hammering on his dulcimer and “Dulcitone” – a sort of keyboard instrument involving struck tuning forks – in addition to vocal and percussion.All in all it’s been an exciting time spent roughly sketching what’s possible with this new palette of sounds. Next week we’ll get down to the serious business of fine-tuning the musical arrangements and starting recording.We’re sure we’ll have something really special for you in the Autumn.Some of you seem a bit confused by what we are planning, so we thought we’d give you some feedback..The first thing to emphasize is that this is a full-band Marillion studio recording. This will comprise – for the most part – new and radical versions of our previously recorded work. Not remixes – completely new performances. We’ll limit ourselves to the acoustic format, although it’s likely that Steve R will avail himself of electric guitar for the solos.The staff at the Racket Club have been occasionally wandering through the studio area as we’re working and the reaction has been unanimously positive so we are confident that Less can indeed be More!The plan is to record the album in the studio over the Summer and the finished project should be with you some time in the early Autumn 2009.From the end of July we are planning weekly videos to show us in action in the studio and to give you the chance to get a glimpse of the music ahead of its release.We will then be supporting the album with the ‘Less Is More’ Tour later in the year – something the five of us are really looking forward to. The tour will give us the opportunity to do something totally different on stage and play songs from the L=M album plus loads of other tracks which already lend themselves to an acoustic arrangement.Thanks as ever for your continuing support, We’ll send you more news as it breaks! h, Ian, Mark, Pete, Steve” As of August 2009, the album was completed and ready for mastering and was released on October 2 2009. Michael Hunter and the band produced while Hunter mixed the album. I’ve got to admit I haven’t listened to Less Is More very much. I think I think I’m not fond of it but I’m going to review it with open ears and an open mind. Comparison to the originals are inevitable but I’ll try to consider the revised versions on their own merits. Go! from Marillion.com starts things off on a very sparse note before some acoustic guitars supplement the glockenspiel intro. Some strings are added as well. Overall, it is a pretty pleasant arrangement of a song that was already somewhat minimalistic by Marillion standards so in the end it probably serves more as a slight arrangement adjustment. I find overall the tension of the original song is lost on this version and the buildup to the ending “Wide awake at the edge of the world” is kind of diminished in translation. Interior Lulu also from Marillion.com is a wild ride in its original form. Here it takes on a bit of a middle eastern vibe with some dulcimer and bongos taking lead in the verses, which are a nice toned-down version of the original. I quite like the “You thought you couldn’t feel like this, But it’s happening again and you’re waking up in pain” through “If you can break it, It’s already broken” section. I’m not as big on the ending as I feel the song kind of dies on this version where it really takes off on the original. Also, the last verse is missing for some reason. The Less Is More version is actually more than 50% less in length but it seems odd to have cut out the last part. The acoustic guitar-centric beginning of Out Of This World is very nice though it does remind me a bit of Winter Time by Steve Miller. The middle section is fairly similar in vibe to the Afraid Of Sunlight original. Although this version is quite nice, the grandeur and intensity of the song is lost somewhat and not a lot is gained in the transformation. Up next is Wrapped Up In Time from their then most recent album Happiness Is The Road. The song was already pretty stripped back. Here it is slowed down further into a half time piano based shuffle. I do quite like this treatment of the song which has a bit of a Born To Run guitar feel. The notes indicate the choir is “The Preston Bisset Singers” though I can’t pick out any of it in the mix. I’m thinking it might be an inside joke. On the original I always think the last words of the song are “Morning Stinks”. Here I can actually make it out as “Long extinct”. The Space from h’s first album Seasons End follows and this version starts with a piano based chorus before moving to a … jazz version of the song? I guess? I totally dig the band’s attempt to reconstruct this song but…just…no… I mean it is such a powerful song in its original form that this level of reconstruction feels like an abomination to me. The choruses are better than the verses. The ending doesn’t help things much. Hard As Love is a powerhouse of a song on Brave but here it feels more like Let It Be. Mark’s piano is nice, and the Hammond sounds great but overall, I find this song kind of falls flat. The stripped back approach on this song actually makes it feel pretty uninspired to me. Quartz keeps the tempo of the original, but the rejigged approach actually works quite well to my ears. I like how the tempo is established through different instrumentation than the original bass line. I think this version is different enough and reimagined in a way that makes it feel unique and it stands on its own as one of my more favourite songs on the album. It retains a cinematic quality that feels unforced. The left turns in the vocal melodies are fresh to my ears. Rothery’s playing is really nice on this song. The second Anoraknophobia track follows. I have always loved the song If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill. Here the song takes on a bit of samba tempo. I’m guessing if you don’t like sambas or…this song…this version probably won’t change your mind. H’s high-end vocals sound quite strained on this version. In addition to losing about 4 minutes from the song it also lost “It Would Roll Uphill” from the title. I don’t mind this version as much as I’ve read about other’s views on it. I think it is a pretty decent reimagining of the song. The only new song on the album is It’s Not Your Fault. This is a pretty straight Hogarth piano driven ballad. The song fits the album but is strangely bereft of contributions from the rest of the band. The chorus is a bit repetitive and overall, I find it doesn’t add all that much to the record. It is fine but not a song I miss not listening to. Considering the idea of this album it would have made much more sense for the band to build up this song in a way that would have elevated it beyond just a solo spot. OK now on to the band’s third version of Memory Of Water. The original was on This Strange Engine and the Big Beat version was then released on the single These Chains (and the North American version of the Radiation CD). This time the song is a guitar-based tune. Again, it is OK. I’ve never been a huge fan of it to begin with so…I don’t know…I guess it is fine, but this version doesn’t make me like it or dislike it any more or less than I did to begin with. The third entry from Anoraknophobia sees the band taking a stab at the amazing This Is The 21st Century. Here the song is more than half the length of the original and is mainly acoustic guitar and piano. I’m not a big fan of the tempo revision on this one and overall, I find the new version to be a bit sleepy and stripped of its beauty. The final song on the album is Cannibal Surf Babe which is listed as a hidden bonus track. I don’t really understand the logic of a hidden track on an album at this point, as it appeared on all release formats. This version is a bit calypso and though not too dissimilar to the original, it does pop with a sense of fun and vibrance that is missing from some of the other songs on this album. In some ways I feel like if they had taken this approach with the rest of the material it might have been a more successful experiment. Listen I’m aware there are many people who feel this is a great addition to the band’s work. Is it a studio album? Is it something different? Well, the answer is kind of both. It is definitely a studio album, but it doesn’t really add any new material other than It’s Not Your Fault and that one is the only song that doesn’t feature the full band. I’ve tried to be unbiased in my assessment. There are songs I think are quite nice with the revised treatment and others that don’t really gain anything. In the end it is not an album I find myself ever really spontaneously wanting to listen to. The musicianship is great as would be expected, but I just find it overall a bit of a blander version of songs the I generally love. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t love it either. I often wonder what made the band decide to make this album. As noted maybe it was something new to try, maybe it gave them time to recharge their creative batteries after so much music in 5 years. Maybe it allowed for them to take a bit of a break. Their hearts are in the right place but for me it falls short of what I feel it could have been. It is like all the moments that make these songs shine have been washed out of them. It is a nice glimpse into a different approach and perspective on songs but in the end none of the songs are bettered by the stripped back execution in my opinion. Kudos to the band for trying something different, though. Not everyone’s taste but it has its supporters, much like most of their post Marbles releases. Recommended Listening: Wrapped Up In Time, Quartz, If My Heart Were A Ball, Cannibal Surf Babe
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