Editor's Choice...
Are there any Prog fans in the audience?
So you should stay tuned because today we are going to tell about "Brave" - "Marillion's" seventh album, which was released on February 7, 1994.
We assume for most of you the name "Marillion" immediately evokes an unconditional reflex that plays the song "Kayleigh" in the background of your mind. But "Marillion" is so much more than one melodic and catchy song, as successful as it may be.
"Marillion" is the band that is almost exclusively responsible for the development of the Neo-Prog genre and thus its historical importance and contribution to the world of music. Neo-Prog is a musical genre developed in the early 1980s in England. It leans on the laps of the classic Progressive Rock of the seventies, just a little less complex and challenging and much more innovative and friendly.
"Marillion" is a very prolific and active band and to date has released 18 studio albums (the 19th is just around the corner), four of which came out during the band's classic era with singer Fish, including the excellent concept album "Misplaced Childhood" released in 1985.
It is interesting to note that the band's lineup is quite stable and has remained unchanged since the band's first album, with the exception of drummer Mick Pointer who was replaced after the first album with Ian Mosley and singer Fish who was replaced by Steve Hogarth in late 1988. The other members of the band are Steve Rothery on guitar, Pete Trewavas on bass and Mark Kelly on keyboards.
So "Brave" is another concept album by "Marillion". This is the band's seventh album and third with new lead singer Steve Hogarth, who also came up with the idea for the plot behind the concept album. Steve heard on the news a story about a girl who was taken into police custody after she was found wandering on the "Severn Bridge" connecting England and Wales. The girl did not know who she was, where she came from and even refused to talk to the police. This story inspired Steve to write a fictional story about that girl and what might have led her to "Severn Bridge" on which she was found.
After two relatively commercial albums released by the band with lead singer Steve Hogarth, "Marillion" returns to her Progressive roots, only this time the emphasis is on slower rhythms and a quiet and melancholy atmosphere, which is warranted by the concept story.
The album opens with the instrumental track "Bridge" designed to put us in the mood of the story, right where the girl was found. The vinyl version of the album allowed the listener to choose the end of the story from two possible options. Thus, the fourth side of the album is recorded in "Double Groove" technology, with 2 parallel soundtracks, with the needle choosing to play only one of them depending on the point where the needle was placed on the record. In this way, the first and "happy" version of the fourth side included the songs "The Great Escape" followed immediately by "Made Again", while the second and "sad" version included the song "The Great Escape (Spiral Remake)" followed by 7 minutes Of water sounds ...
This album was chosen by "Classic Rock" magazine as one of the 30 best albums of the 90's and one of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time. It's recording method and technique influenced the way the album "Ok Computer" by "Radiohead" was recorded.
Curious? great! now be "brave" and listen, it's worth it: Spotify, Apple Music