The Rest of Both Worlds Online

The Rest of Both Worlds Issue 3

Issue 3 of ROBW started shipping at the end of April. Full, as always with a variety of articles, reviews and humour, it is available now by mail order - see the Ordering info for details...

Features:

Touring Marillion.com

by Paul Hughes

"Perhaps the biggest surprise of the entire tour was saved until the last encore. The last time the band had played any of the Fish-era material in the UK was 1995's Afraid of Sunlight tour, and British fans might well have been forgiven for thinking they'd never see any again, despite the appearance of Garden Party and Sugar Mice at the Zodiac a few months earlier. I doubt anybody was expecting the final encore to comprise mega-hits Kayleigh and Lavender, followed by fan favourite Slainte Mhath! Throughout the tour, this last medley would constantly go down a storm with the crowd, accompanied by a subtle jacking up of the light and sound levels and a consistently energetic performance from H, who still seems perfectly happy to sing these songs. Most nights, there would always be a substantial element who would be either thinking 'oh not this old chestnut again!' when Kayleigh kicked in, or alternatively would be annoyed to hear the songs being sung by the 'wrong' vocalist. Either way, most doubters were won over by the energy coming from the band and the obvious lift to the atmosphere throughout the crowd."

The Fish Remasters

by Ed Elloway

"With the Marillion remasters proving so successful, it was perhaps inevitable that Fish's back catalogue would also be remastered and reissued. However, it is unfair to directly compare the two release programmes. In Marillion's case, there was a greater need for remastering, as the albums were recorded longer ago with less advanced equipment. In addition, there was major label support behind Marillion's remaster programme and, although the budget involved wasn't perhaps vast, it could only be greater than the backing of an independent label, Roadrunner. In fact, Fish was planning to reissue his back catalogue long before signing with Roadrunner. Indeed, his first solo album, 'Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors', was repackaged and reissued on Dick Bros. Records on December 18th 1997, following acquisition of the album rights from EMI."

The Lizard Meets The Positive Light

""We were unhappy with the way that Plague turned out, as you know, and we felt strongly that Raingods was very much an album of two halves. We were keen to avoid being involved in that same situation again so the only way we were going to do it was if we wrote the whole album. We had discussed doing a concept album with Fish, possibly resurrecting the Ghost Driver concept that I think was to have come after Clutching at Straws and doing 74 minutes of continual music. I think it would have been impossible for that concept to work if it had had a lot of different writers."

Fish in the USA

by Andy McIntosh, John Sowerby and Matt Gherke

"Normally, Russell, the guitar tech brings on the wine and candles for Plague of Ghosts. Here, unknown by Fish, Susan Goddard had been substituted, and Fish's face was a picture as she strolled on stage in a beret, and proceeded to vamp it up, running her hand up and down Fish's back. The other memory is of the 'Make it Happen' section of Plague. Here, as in all the gigs, the crowd are left singing 'We can make it happen' before the band come back on for the encores. Here, some guy in the audience started to improvise lyrics, turning the thing into a gospel style 'Call and Response.' Amazing, and totally surprising to the band as well."

The Reunion debate continues!

"These new fans on the Freaks list want a reunion because they have stumbled upon Marillion/Fish via a computer. They think if there is a reunion they can join in the past, the way our lives were changed. These people have never even seen Fish with Marillion and have the cheek to make comparisons between line-ups. Yes these people do exist!"

Reviews

Transatlantic - SMPTe

by Tim Bisley

"'My New World' starts quite promisingly. However, the nice uplifting string arrangement that begins the track suddenly gives way to a crescendo of anthemic twin guitar melodies that can't help remind you of the end of "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey". We're into odd time-signature territory again, and vaguely AOR-ish lyrics - example line "Now he's a loner, Now she's a stoner" - until (surprise surprise) it all goes pear shaped and wanders into double-speed-instrumental in the middle. Four or five musical sections later, accompanied by bouts of "aaaah" backing vocals, we come to a well overdue end. Don't you just love the way that long prog tunes more often than not end on the same section they started on, just so you can be sure you're still listening to the same track?"

African Mission - The Positive Light

by Andy Sanderson

"Lucky I checked, because we now have some piano coming in, a bit in the style of that annoying Richard Miles single that everyone claimed to hate, but which stayed in the charts for ever, and you found yourself singing if you weren't careful. Those North African singers are back again too, and someone has found a new button on the synth."

Marillion.christmas

by Paul Hughes

"There are several significant lyrical changes throughout, with lines swapped about and some dropped altogether, and the crazy Wakeman-esque section that rather hamfistedly links the opening two sections is even less convincing here, sounding like Porcupine Tree sneaking into the Racket Club in the middle of the night to record 20 seconds of noise over the top of Marillion's tracks for a laugh."

Marillion.co.uk

by Rich Harding

"The exquisite Afraid of Sunrise from the same CD is also a worthy inclusion. Some fans seem to have a problem with this track - is it because it's in 7/8 perhaps? A rhythm you have to get into, for sure. A proggy band I knew in the early nineties used to have this singer who would always sneak on during a weird intro tape and jump up covered in facepaint as the band launched into a quirky 7/8 opener. Then he'd watch the audience desperately attempting to dance. At least the Oswestry audience don't try to clap to this one."

Zodiac

by Dave Owen

"Given this collection is for the die-hard Marillion fan (something of an oxymoron, I'll concede, there being no more casual Marillion fans than there are casual religious fundamentalists) it should address the gaps in their collection more. For instance, there is no live recording of Under The Sun from Radiation commercially available, yet the version of The Uninvited Guest offered here differs in no appreciable way from those already released. If this has to be a single CD, targeted at existing collectors, then it should focus on the eclectic and the ephemeral."

Sillyness

World exclusive first extracts from Ian Mosley's Tour diary!

"All the while, I've been sitting in the back of the room, smoking quietly and watching everyone else. Trust me, it's no picnic being a drummer. I should know, I've been one since the late 1930's. I've also been keeping a diary of my exploits. It's fascinating reading. And I'm not just saying that 'cos I'm the one who wrote it. Well, I've been reading H's efforts for the last few years. It's not bad, for a beginner., but it lacks flair, a certain mordant wit. Mind you, I suspect he got Helmer to help him out with the difficult words."

The Lizard's Weird & Wonderful World of Marillion

Investigates the falling out between Fish and the Positive Light

Plus...