This is one of the best albums made, not just by Marillion
but by anyone. I urge you to forget who made it and just be open minded and
listen. Don’t take it the wrong way, as I am a Marillion fan, but I know many
of you will see the group’s name and not bother reading any further. You’re
missing out!
Afraid of Sunlight was released in 1995, their last album
for EMI. It’s not a concept album but the songs do sound better together. There’s
a good flow to the album, each track complementing the previous or next one.
If there is a theme it is of the destructive side of being a
celebrity. References to James Dean, Mike Tyson, Kurt Cobain and O.J. Simpson
can be found in various songs and there is a melancholy feel to most of the
album.
‘Out of this World’ is the stand out track for me. It is
based on the land and water speed record holder Donald Campbell, who died in
1967 whilst attempting another record bid on Coniston Water in the Lake District, England. The track has a wonderful atmosphere and is beautifully sung by
Steve Hogarth. I never get tired of hearing this piece of music. It is truly
inspiring to listen to. So inspiring that diver Bill Smith heard it and decided
to go looking for the missing body of Campbell and of the wreckage of his boat,
Bluebird K7, in the lake that claimed his life. On 28th May 2001
Campbell’s body and the wreckage of the Bluebird were raised from its resting
place. Steve Hogarth and guitarist Steve Rothery were there to witness the
event. The BBC did a documentary about the Bluebird being raised; unfortunately
the song never got a mention. As Steve Hogarth says “If Sting or Peter Gabriel had written it, I’m pretty sure the producers
would have made a big thing of it. Maybe Marillion weren’t good enough for
them. I’m just a kid from a council estate. I just wrote a poem and I ended up
sprinkling dust on his coffin as they lowered him into the ground”. The
link above is for this track. Put your headphones on, close your eyes and take
it all in.
Other tracks worth a mention include: ‘Beyond You’, a
beautiful song, recorded in mono and sung with such emotion. ‘Afraid of
Sunrise’ tackles the fear we have of opening up to each other, the opening
track ‘Gazpacho’ is a good opener and a lovely version of this track can be
found on their acoustic cd ‘Unplugged at the Walls’ (definitely worth a
purchase too) and finally ‘Beautiful’ is, well just beautiful.
Q magazine stated about the album “If this were by anything
other than Marillion it would be hailed as near genius”. In my opinion it is
genius because it IS Marillion.
They don’t get any help from the media, shunned by most of
the ‘high profile’ music magazines (including Q) yet they push out stuff like
this because they want to. Not to please a record company or agent but because
they are first class musicians who do what they do with a passion that cannot
be matched by today’s karaoke type groups that fill the charts.
I believe that if you like music you will like this,
regardless of whether you like Marillion or not. Give it a try.
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