Sheer brilliance . (Anoraknophobia - Marillion)

Member Name: Bish

Product:	Anoraknophobia - Marillion
Date:	25/05/01 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything.

Disadvantages: Nothing.

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. ‘Anoraknophobia’ deserves your attention, in fact don’t bother reading the rest of this review simple get hold of a copy and hear it for yourself. I’ve no doubt that had an album like this been made by the U2's and Radiohead’s of the music world then it would have been hailed as a complete triumph and be named album of the year.

Its been a long time since I’ve purchased an album of such quality and many recent-ish releases particularly from UK bands have been disappointing to say the least. Words like prog rock are totally irrelevant, it’s the year 2001 and Marillion know it. Their past few album’s I have to admit have been slightly patchy affairs, they have had some great songs but not always been great albums. ‘Anoraknophobia’ is at the time of writing the best cd I have bought for a long time and I buy a lot of cd’s which include many diverse musical styles and contrasts.

So what about the songs on offer?, well the album starts with a solo piano before it explodes into action with an upbeat tune called ‘Between You and I’ which is a great way to open up the cd. Next is ‘Quartz’ a slow and funky track with a killer chorus. Clocking in at over 8 minutes you would be forgiven for thinking this is an epic
of a track that overstays its welcome but it doesn’t feel bloated and overlong at all. ‘Map Of The World’ for me is the nearest to an album filler you will find here and is probably my least favourite track but even after saying that it is still a fine song.

‘When I Meet God’ is truly a beautiful and haunting song and at 9 minutes is another long track. Yet again despite this it doesn’t drag on. Name me another band capably of producing a track of this length without becoming bland and tiresome. After this we are treated to another superb song number ‘The Fruit Of The Wild Rose’ which has a jazzy/blues feel to it with some excellent guitar work by Steve Rothery. Following on from this is ‘Separated Out’ another upbeat number similar in vein to the album’s opening track.

The first song I actually heard from this cd was ‘This Is The 21st Century’ which I downloaded as a legal mp3 a few weeks ago. It is still currently available online via their web site marillion.com. Go on give it a listen, after all you have nothing to lose. The album closes with ‘If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Up Hill’ and this makes it 8 great songs out of 8.

Even the albums packaging is brilliant featuring a cartoon character called Barry (well nine of them actually), Who has a liking for anoraks and coat hangers. In summing up the band deserve to be credited for making an exceptional album such as this but it’s a real shame that due to peoples musical prejudices the record will go largely unnoticed. But like the band themselves I don’t care if you do ignore this release after all there is always something special about being part of a something others don’t know about. No doubt for me then that this is the album of the year (so far) and one of Marillion’s greatest.

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