It’s difficult to recall now what seemed like such heady times: frontman Fish’s abrupt departure from what was then an arena-filling Marillion and the barroom debates that followed; how could they possibly go on without him? Well, with relative ease, it seems.
Although his replacement Steve Hogarth initially resisted the band – he was 24 hours late for his audition – he was the perfect fit and foil for Marillion, as this redoubtable reissue reminds. The excellent stereo mix plus the whole thing done live at last year’s Marillion Weekend are the aural icing on the cake.
There are two documentary films: Seasons Change, in which the band reminisce in The Crooked Billet pub, the scene of their first gig together, and the charming film From Stoke Row To Ipanema, originally shot as the band were recording 1991’s Holidays In Eden, fresh-faced and high on the hugely successful world tour that Seasons End had brought them.
Life would not always be as kind to Marillion, but this is the band showboating and brilliant, surprised to find a whole new world laid out before them.
