Anoraknophobia - Marillion

As a huge fan of progressive and art rock I am very well aware that many fans tend to conform to a certain character type. Whilst the group Marillion have a musical style that defies explanation and refuses to be pigeonholed into the prog-rock genre they still hold onto the orignal fans from the Fish era and nowadays with Steve Hogarth on vocals still attract a large number of a particular breed of fan: the geek, or in more modern terms, the 'anorak'. This twelth studio album capitalises on this idea by creating a comic character which brands the album cover and is featured in band merchandise. The hooded nerd is known to fans as 'Barry' and he adorns the ...  Read the complete review

Hi, before I start I would like you to go to this web page: http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/219/marillion.html (There's also a link on my profile page, under Favourite sites.) Here you can download and listen to a wonderful track from this CD called THIS IS THE 21st CENTURY absolutely FREE (and legal.) The classiest track on the album, it's a spacey, trancey track NOT typical of the CD (what an album this would have been if it were!) Anyway, I'll just sit here twiddling my thumbs while you go off and start downloading - then you can listen to it while you read the rest of my opinion can't you? ...  Read the complete review

To say Marillion’s 12th studio album has been greeted with a sense of apathy from the media is a understatement. Virtually ignored by many publications, ‘Anoraknophobia’ is a true hidden gem. Yet 12 months prior to the album being released the band asked fans if they would be willing to pre-order their next cd to help finance the recording process, the response was a positive one with 12,000 copies being pre-sold. Of course no one will be interested and it will be missed by many people simple because of their own preconceptions of who and what Marillion are. Packing more passion and emotion than most bands could ever dream of. ...  Read the complete review