Holidays In Eden (deluxe edition) – Marillion

What does it sound like?:

“Holidays In Eden” (HiE) was the first Marillion album where all the material was written by the band and then newboy, Steve Hogarth. There had been inevitable development in the band (then together for a decade, more or less, drummer and singer coming in a bit later), but huge success in the mid-80s then loss of loud frontman meant that while big enough to play 2 nights at Hammersmith, in relative terms, as the phrase goes, their “appeal was becoming more selective”. They needed more hits like “Kayleigh” to get the pop market as well as the regular fans, so hopefully replacing the fans who moved on when Fish did, or soon after. A poppier sound had worked for Peter Gabriel and Genesis, so why not Marillion too? The band were happy to create and try new things, but not to compromise TOO much. In came producer Chris Neil, who had form livening-up The early 90s Moody Blues and “Mike and the Mechanics” (be still, my beating heart). This is better than that sounds, being an album very much in the spirit of later albums by The Police, late-80s U2, or enormodome Simple Minds. These are BIG songs with pop-rock chops in the classic late 80s/ early 90s style, and they still work.

Chris Neil did a great job in bringing out the poppier potential in Marillion, whilst still being true to the spirit of the band, such that when I hear HiE, I hear a more successful mainstreaming of a progressive rock band; compared to “I Can’t Dance”, Union”, or “Us”, HiE is full of tight tuneful and inventive songs, a couple of sweet ballads that don’t make you wish to cut your ears off and which your wife might genuinely like, some experiments with midi that take the sound in an organic new direction, and the genuinely affecting “The Party” (written when Steve Hogarth was sent home because he was bored with the rest of the band noodling instead of seizing the moment, as was his preferred way of working). The remix makes a very well-produced and pristine album sparkle even more. They rock-out when needed, and you can hear a bit of modern prog in the arrangements, but not enough to bore new fans.

The Album also has a pile of demos and tracks that were released around the time, for example a nice cover of Rare Earth’s “Sympathy”. (I would quite like to hear a Marillion “Pin-Ups” album, if they could resist playing their influences too straight to the originals.) The demos (which were previously released on then earlier double version of HiE from some years ago) are a revelation, with earlier forms being sometimes very different from the final recording. A supper-club type “Cover My Eyes” works well, a “Splintering Heart” without the ominous electronica pre-amble we now know it for is interesting, and there are some perky and attacking rockier drafts of the album title track, and “This Town”. There is also a complete concert from Hammersmith which shows them in good form, and giving the fans a very good value concert involving much of the new album, plus lots from their earlier Hogarth work, plus a smattering of earlier content to appeal to the Dickheads in the fanbase, which Steve Hogarth does a fine job with, Hogarth not being quite as shrill or Roger Chapman-like in his singing. The fans clearly love it all, as so they should. If you like the band, so will you.

And there’s more. A cracking Blu-Ray DVD with an informative and touching 85-minute documentary about the making of the album, with some nice clips of the young looking chaps relative to their more grizzled and venerable current selves. There is also a Rockpalast gig from one of the European shows on the tour where the band address a lot of the songs from the earlier set. The digital remastering here is exemplary, with Steve Hogarth’s pretty boy looks and “pouched-out succulence” to the fore. This gig has some corking early-90s rock ‘n roll looks, and I am sure Pete Trevawas will not mind my noting his “Croydon Facelift” ponytail, nor Mark Kelly’s colourful t-shirt and leather trousers combo. And did Steve Rothery have his suit jacket sleeves rolled-up? I’ll leave that for you to decide – he DOES need to be able to play his axe, and a bloody good job of it he does, as ever. There are, lastly, copies of the videos made to promote some of the tracks, which, true to the time, involve moody shots of folk standing on glaciers, limestone terraces, beautiful women in red lipstick, and suchlike.

What does it all *mean*?

This is a really good value package which any fan should love. Though there is an inevitable repetition in songs across demos, recordings, and concert versions, I didn’t get bored as a tune came around again. Marillion live often bring even more to recorded material as they get inside it, and so this package proved, with lots of new bits and bobs. I’ve said it before, but Marillion have made more good songs over a wider period than any of the classic 70s symphonic progressive rock bands, who have had their 7 year phases of imperial grandeur, but that was generally followed by decades of diminishing returns. Only Van der graaf Generator have similarly sustained quality over the decades. For many of the classic acts, it’s best not to ask what has been their best material in the past 45 years, as the answer could be embarrassing. Marillion have a bunch of fans who let the act get on with it, and the band deliver, perhaps because of the band has autonomy from record companies. But even when they were not autonomous to the record company, they could produce decent material, as HiE shows.

Goes well with…

Ukrainian progressive rock act “Karfagen”, which popped up on my ITunes as I was writing this, and definitely deserve a shout-out; herbal tea and small Cheddars.

Release Date:

Out now, pop-pickers

Might suit people who like…

Intelligent mainstream pop-rock from the 80s and 90s; progressive rock beyond that in the symphonic mode; those who don’t care about what’s in, out, or makes you look hip and fashionable, preferring that you like what you like (and like people who are like that too).

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