Published on Mar 31, 2000
When Marillion came out with their debut disc
Script For A Jester’s Tear, it often sounded like Fish and
company were uncertain which direction they wanted to take their
music. And while it was still quite listenable, often the more
lengthy pieces sounded like they had glued together two entirely
different songs to create a pseudo-epic.
Their second effort, 1984’s
Fugazi, takes the lessons that Marillion learned from their
first foray into full-length album work and builds upon them.
Musically, this is a stronger album from the band, and it’s even
more approachable than anything of Marillion’s I’ve listened to up
to this point. After just one listen, I felt comfortable with the
album, something that normally would take me three listens with
everything else I’ve gotten to. Yet the picture still seems a
little incomplete.
Some people have said that
Fugazi represented Marillion’s venture into the area of
“hard rock”; this really is a misnomer. The track “Assassing” does
have a bit crisper of a beat, but it’s not like Marillion had
always been exploring folk options (check out “Market Square
Heroes” off the bonus disc from
Script From A Jester’s Tear). If anything, Marillion sounds
like they’re much more comfortable in their musical skin here.
There’s still a lot of tempo switching – but as any long-time
Marillion fan will quickly point out, this has been a constant
throughout their career. Besides, it does sound more natural this
time around going from tracks like “Punch And Judy” to “She
Chameleon”. (Yes, I know they don’t follow each other on the
album.)
An additional bonus with
Fugazi is the re-released version’s bonus disc helps to
reinforce the power of the tracks with demo versions of four of the
album’s seven songs (as well as an alternate mix of “Assassing”).
Could hearing the same songs so close together get a bit tiring?
Maybe to some people – but at least to my ears, it was interesting
to hear the progression of the tracks, even if the changes were
minute. (I also happened to think the alternate mix of “Assassing”
was much crisper.)
For all the words of praise about
Fugazi, Marillion still sounded like they weren’t entirely
sure what they were trying to accomplish on this disc. Yes, the
focus was better – but the overall picture was still a bit cloudy.
Still, this is not a major setback for this disc, and it is better
remembered for the marked improvement over their debut effort.
After the live set
Reel To Real (which I’m still searching for), Marillion
would return to the studio to make the album that quite possibly
best defined the Fish era of the band,
Misplaced Childhood… but that’s another tale for another
review.