Nothing says band love like telling your lead singer to hit the road in lieu of firing management. But that's exactly what happened to lead singer Fish, when he gave his Marillion band mates the ultimatum of him or them. He'd depart in 1988, with new singer Steven Hogarth joining in 1989.
Hogarth was an interesting choice for a band who had built their career on top of a prog rock foundation. Mainly because the new singer came from a new wave background and showcased very different styles of vocals and stage presence from his predecessor.
Prior to his joining, and the departure of Fish, the group had begun recording some of the music for what would become their final album of the 80's, Seasons End. However, when Fish departed, he took with him the lyrics he'd crafted for the instrumentation. This meant Hogarth's first task would be to set to work on new lyrics to fit the already completed music.
On a side note, these Fish recorded tracks would eventually be released as bonus material for the remastered Clutching At Straws, and additionally, several of the lyrics made it into his own future solo projects.
Playing through it, right away the new vocals didn't work for me. Over the past four albums, my mind had finally accepted the sound of Marillion, and frankly, this wasn't it.
I didn't like this album. The minimal spark that was the band was gone for me, and there were no tracks I found to be even mildly entertaining. In fact, I ended up tuning out most of it in lieu of filling gaps in my collection of albums I was missing, which in hindsight kind of makes me more annoyed. This album made me spend money I didn't necessarily want or need to spend.
Fish and his prior band mates would eventually meat up a decade later and reconcile amongst each other. However, any form of reunion was dismissed.
The band continued on with Hogarth as their lead singer, releasing sixteen more albums since 1989's Seasons End, with their latest being 2022's An Hour Before It's Dark. Amazingly, there's been no lineup changes over the past two (plus) decades.
With that, I say goodbye to Marillion. It wasn't the best of listening sessions, but I suppose it also wasn't the worst. Am I a fan of the band at the end of the day? I am not.
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