Ten Albums: Number 3 - Marillion - Marbles

In the time of pandemics, we all seem to have a bit more free time. For me, the cancelling of, well, everything has really killed my writing routine, where most of my writing was done at coffee shops while my kids were at sports practice. I haven't been able to adjust and man is it frustrating.

But a friend tagged me in one of those annoying, yet fun, Facebook challenges to post 10 albums that have influenced my musical taste. One record a day for ten days. No explanation, no review, just the cover.

Yeah, I can't do that without an explanation. Plus, it gives me something to write about. So, here, over the next ten days will be my ten albums followed by a bunch of words.

Marillion - Marbles

Where to start with this one. Well, you probably wonder who the hell Marillion is, so let's start there. Well, they are a British prog-rock band. Um, they've been around since 1982. They have released 19 studio albums. Their history can be split into two, the first 8 years with lead singer Fish, the second, with lead singer Steve Hogarth, who replaced Fish in 1989.

Marillion is the band that I've successfully gotten zero other people to listen to. They are totally not cool. Anytime I wear a Marillion t-shirt, people don't even try to ask me who they are. They don't even try! But Marillion fans are dedicated. For nearly twenty years, Marillion has been hosting Marillion weekends in Europe where they play different sets over multiple nights and thousands of people travel the globe to go see them.

Some Smolareks in the Album liner thank yous.

Marillion was the first band to crowdfund the recording of an album way back in 2001 before it was cool. Marbles was also available for preorder and if you did, your name was listed in the album notes. I even let them call me Michael, although my brother went by Dave. And I wouldn't have listened to Marillion without my brother's influence. Hell, I've never been to a Marillion concert without my brother.

But you don't care, and that's fine.

Marbles was released in 2004. It's a two CD album that clocks in at 98 minutes and 44 seconds, and starts with a thirteen minute song, ends with a 12 minute song and has an 18 minute song to close the first disc. There's mellow tracks, rockers, epics songs, short snippets bringing back theme with variation. The opening song, The Invisible Man, is fantastic. The slow, quiet build of Fantastic Place to its string driven crescendo as it ends is majestic. The back to back punch of the The Damage and Don't Hurt Yourself.  The closing song, Neverland, (yes, Peter Pan) is my favorite Marillion song off all time. 


Marillion played the Park West in Chicago when Marbles came out, playing most of the album as part of their set that night during one of the best live shows I've ever been to. How great was it? When Marillion finished their second encore, no one in the Park West left. They had to be retrieved from the tour bus to play a third encore for the crowd that wound not leave.

Listen, I know you're never going to listen to this album. Who has nearly two hours to listen to music? Wait, we all do right now. But it's okay if you don't listen. I'll listen to it for you over and over and over and over again.

So don't listen to it. It might not be for you. And that's okay.