Marbles (album)

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Marbles
Marillion-Marbles.jpg
Studio album by
Marillion
Released27 April 2004 (preorder)
3 May 2004
RecordedThe Racket Club, Aylesbury, 2002, 2003 and the beginning of 2004
GenreProgressive rock, art rock
Length98:48 (2CD version)
68:11 (1CD version)
LabelIntact
ProducerDave Meegan
Marillion chronology
Anoraknophobia
(2001) 		Marbles
(2004) 		Somewhere Else
(2007)
Singles from Marbles
  1. "You're Gone"
    Released: 19 April 2004
  2. "Don't Hurt Yourself"
    Released: July 2004
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic3/5 stars[1]
The Guardian3/5 stars[2]
Record Collector3/5 stars[3]
Classic Rock4/5 stars[4]
Guitarist4/5 stars[5]

Marbles is the 13th studio album from rock band Marillion, released in 2004. Unlike their previous studio album, Anoraknophobia (2001), which was financed largely by a preorder campaign, the band funded the recording, and it was the publicity campaign that fans financed for the album. Those fans who pre-ordered the album received an exclusive 2-CD "Deluxe Campaign Edition" with a booklet containing the names of everyone who pre-ordered before a certain date. The public release date of the retail single-CD version of the album was 3 May 2004 while a plain 2-CD version was made available from the band's website. A limited (500 copy) edition was released on white multicoloured vinyl by on 13 November 2006.

In 2017, the 2-CD version became available as a retail edition by the Madfish label,[6] who also released the full album on vinyl for the first time, occupying three LPs.[7]

The album did not chart in the UK, due to it being packaged with a couple of stickers, which is against chart rules. So despite selling enough for a top 30 position, the album was declared ineligible for the album chart; however, its first single "You're Gone", reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart, thus becoming their first UK top ten hit since 1987's "Incommunicado". The follow-up single "Don't Hurt Yourself" peaked at #16. Classic Rock ranked Marbles #11 on their end-of-year list for 2004.[citation needed]

Track listing[]

All songs written by Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly, Pete Trewavas, Ian Mosley.

Double-CD version[]

Disc one
  1. "The Invisible Man" – 13:37
  2. "Marbles I" – 1:42
  3. "Genie" – 4:54
  4. "Fantastic Place" – 6:12
  5. "The Only Unforgivable Thing" – 7:13
  6. "Marbles II" – 2:02
  7. "Ocean Cloud" – 17:58
Disc two
  1. "Marbles III" – 1:51
  2. "The Damage" – 4:35
  3. "Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48
  4. "You're Gone" – 6:25
  5. "Angelina" – 7:42
  6. "Drilling Holes" – 5:11
  7. "Marbles IV" – 1:26
  8. "Neverland" – 12:10

Single-CD version[]

  1. "The Invisible Man" – 13:37
  2. "Marbles I" – 1:42
  3. "You're Gone" – 6:25
  4. "Angelina" – 7:42
  5. "Marbles II" – 2:02
  6. "Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48
  7. "Fantastic Place" – 6:12
  8. "Marbles III" – 1:51
  9. "Drilling Holes" – 5:11
  10. "Marbles IV" – 1:26
  11. "Neverland" – 12:10
  12. Bonus track (in Europe): "You're Gone" (single mix) – 4:05
  13. Bonus track (in North America): "Don't Hurt Yourself" (music video)

Limited edition vinyl reissue[]

Side one
  1. "The Invisible Man" – 13:37
  2. "Marbles I" – 1:42
Side two
  1. "You're Gone" – 6:25
  2. "Angelina" – 7:42
  3. "Marbles II" – 2:02
Side three
  1. "Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48
  2. "Fantastic Place" – 6:12
  3. "Marbles III" – 1:51
Side four
  1. "Drilling Holes" – 5:11
  2. "Marbles IV" – 1:26
  3. "Neverland" – 12:10

Concept and reception[]

Marbles was the second Marillion album in a row produced by Dave Meegan, who had already helped the band craft Brave and Afraid of Sunlight, albums to which Marbles was compared by both reviewers as well as the band itself. Unlike Anoraknophobia though, Marbles was mostly not mixed by Meegan but Mike Hunter. Exceptions are "The Invisible Man", "Fantastic Place", "Ocean Cloud", "You're Gone" (mixed by Meegan) and "Genie" (mixed by Steven Wilson) and "Angelina" (mixed by Meegan and Wilson).

While Marbles is not strictly a concept album, it is tied together by thematic threads. Several of the songs are connected via segues or crossfades. The four parts of the title track work as musical interludes, but they also tell a continuing story about the narrator's childhood fascination with marbles, collecting them and losing most of them over the years. ("Losing one's marbles" is slang term for going insane, which has also been described as a theme of "The Invisible Man".) Furthermore, the song "The Damage" includes multiple lyrical call-backs to "Genie"; "Ocean Cloud" mentions "the invisible man" and in a key moment of "Neverland", the line "you're gone" appears.

"Ocean Cloud" is inspired by and dedicated to Don Allum and the Ocean Rowers, even including a link to Allum's at-sea diary and actual samples of him talking about the experience.

On the 2004 tour, the band played the single disc version of Marbles (however with "Drilling Holes" exchanged for "The Damage"). A recording of this made at the Astoria in London was released as the live CD Marbles Live and the DVD Marbles on the Road.

Tracklist (CD version, the DVD has more extras):

  1. "The Invisible Man" – 13:28
  2. "Marbles I" – 1:48
  3. "You're Gone" – 6:41
  4. "Angelina" – 7:33
  5. "Marbles II" – 3:05
  6. "Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:52
  7. "Fantastic Place" – 6:41
  8. "Marbles III" – 1:53
  9. "The Damage"/"Marbles IV" – 6:03
  10. "Neverland" – 11:30

Encore

  1. "Estonia" – 7:30

Marbles By The Sea & Marbles In The Park[]

Since 2002 and on two-year cycles, Marillion welcome their fans to a weekend long event, the Marillion Weekend. On the three nights of the weekend, Marillion perform three different shows with different set lists, consisting, variously, of full records played from start to finish, fan favourites or rarities. The events attract fans from all over the world to be part of these shows. At the Weekend in 2005, the band played all of Marbles but with a revised setlist ("The Damage" appearing in the place of "Ocean Cloud", which was performed after "Neverland"). This was released as a double CD called Marbles by the Sea.

  1. "The Invisible Man"
  2. "Marbles I"
  3. "Genie"
  4. "Fantastic Place"
  5. "The Only Unforgivable Thing"
  6. "Marbles II"
  7. "The Damage"
  8. "Marbles III"
  9. "Don't Hurt Yourself"
  10. "You're Gone"
  11. "Angelina"
  12. "Drilling Holes"
  13. "Marbles IV"
  14. "Neverland"
  15. "Ocean Cloud"

In 2015, from Friday March 20 to Sunday March 22 the Marillion Weekend took place at Center Parcs, Port Zélande, The Netherlands. On the Saturday night Marillion performed Marbles in its entirety and in original order. The show was released as a two-CD set and as a DVD or Blu-Ray (part of the Out of the Box three-disc set, named after the line that appears in "Genie" and "The Damage").

  1. "The Invisible Man"
  2. "Marbles I"
  3. "Genie"
  4. "Fantastic Place"
  5. "The Only Unforgivable Thing"
  6. "Marbles II"
  7. "Ocean Cloud"
  8. "Marbles III"
  9. "The Damage"
  10. "Don't Hurt Yourself"
  11. "You're Gone"
  12. "Angelina"
  13. "Drilling Holes"
  14. "Marbles IV"
  15. "Neverland"
Encore
  1. "Out Of This World" (originally on Afraid of Sunlight)
  2. "King" (originally on Afraid of Sunlight)
  3. "Sounds That Can't Be Made" (originally appeared on Sounds That Can't Be Made)

Personnel[]

References[]

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Betty Clarke The Guardian, 30 April 2004.
  3. ^ Tim Jones Record Collector, May 2004, Issue 297.
  4. ^ Jon Hotten Classic Rock, May 2004, Issue 66.
  5. ^ Roger Newell Guitarist, June 2004
  6. ^ https://www.discogs.com/de/Marillion-Marbles/release/10751921
  7. ^ https://www.discogs.com/de/Marillion-Marbles/release/10716478

External links[]

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