The Rest of Both Worlds Online

Features

Bob Struthers plots a parallel universe:

" 'Just Good Friends' had the smell of ubiquity about it from the moment BBC Radio One first exclusively played the track some 4 weeks before its release. When writing the lyric, Fish had envisaged the song as a duet with a woman, and several singers were approached, although the personal intervention of Ezrin was required to persuade first choice Kate Bush to record with the band, as her most recent public profile had also came from someone else's song - Peter Gabriel's 'Don't Give Up'. The single also featured a band-only version of the track, and rapidly raced up the charts to become Marillion's first number one single in the UK. With the incessant radio play and TV appearance, this was not unexpected within the band's camp, but when that success was repeated in the US they seemed decidedly unprepared."

Dave Cooper decodes 'Raingods with Zippos':

"It may be somewhat pretentious to try and find some kind of link here between a cover version and the original compositions that make up the thread of the album, but that never stopped me before, so I won't let it stop me now!"

Ed Elloway examines the EMI Remaster series:

"As the programme has continued, the quality and rarity of the bonus tracks have become more and more interesting, giving the fans a chance to obtain some really rare tracks, some of which have never even appeared on bootlegs! Many tracks have only been rumoured about before now and it's wonderful to think that we have been given a chance to finally hear them, when the band could have quite easily kept them to themselves. This is something that seems to have evolved over the course of the programme and, although this is only speculation, it would seem that this is probably a result of the good work done by Lucy, Nigel and Peter on the previous remasters, thus encouraging the band to offer up more rare stuff."

Andy Sanderson is in favour of Grendel:

"Often it seems that those people who do care for Grendel are those who also like music such as Yes, and therefore tend towards more complex pieces of music. But many of the fans consider Grendel an embarrassment when compared to more recent albums such as Brave. Perhaps the most ironic part of the whole of Grendel is the musical passage almost immediately after the lyric "cares not for the brave", for the music could so easily be from the album Brave in style. And yes, I am aware that many might consider that comment to border on the heretical."

And Walter Dunlop is against:

"Hey-ho. Sorry to all you people who love Grendel out there. I do not wish to offend anyone, and I also know that there are an awful lot of you; nor do I wish to be confronted one day by a huge man wearing a strange mask screaming "so you thought your locks and bolts would keep me out". Just so long as you don't suggest in the early hours of the morning that we all pile back to my place and listen to Grendel, for old times sake. That. Would. Be. A. Mistake."