Marillion's Afraid of Sunlight: An amazing examination of fame [ re-write off ]
Written: May 30 '01 (Updated Jun 03 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: Emotional; insightful and uplifting; excellent music
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: One of the best albums of the last ten years, hands down. Intense music that is stunning and elegant. This recording is Marillion's finest hour.
adjensen's Full Review: Afraid of Sunlight [Remaster] by Marillion
If you had sorted through my 80 odd reviews as of this writing, you would have found one lonely "helpful" rating among the VHs. That was particularly interesting, in that the sole helpful was my first music review (I'm currently a Music Advisor) and it was on what I consider to be the second best album made in the 1990s (OK Computer by Radiohead being the best.)
So when the "Great Re-write-Off" came down the pike, I happily jumped on the bandwagon to clean up this review. You will find a copy of the original at the end of this re-write.
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Afraid of Sunlight was Marillion's final album for EMI, the label that had carried them since 1983. Both band and label were disappointed with the commercial failure of the critically acclaimed Brave, but one last album was in the offing. (2001's Anoraknophobia marks the band's return to EMI, although they're serving as a distributor, not publisher.)
I can still remember getting this in 1995 and seeing the notation "This album was knocked out." on the back...great, they just threw something together to complete the contract. Initial listenings bore this out -- guitarist Steve Rothery and keyboardist Mark Kelly appeared to have taken a holiday during the production, and the sound was dominated by a powerful bass by Pete Trewavas that had never been a key instrument before.
My disappointment flowed through the album...what's this, Beach Boys music? "Beautiful" sounds like tune more appropriately played by a hippy with a guitar at a "modern, so with it" church. "Out of This World" sounds like it was recorded at the wrong speed. And what's the deal with the sound on "Beyond You?"
I put the album aside and wondered if the bands' salad days were long behind them.
A couple of months later, after ragging on the album repeatedly on alt.music.marillion, I was soundly rebuffed by someone (wish I could remember his name...Ace or Vince or something) and tossed it back in the player...
...and was blown away.
Afraid of Sunlight
Producer Dave Meegan made this album. Period. He took pieces of Marillion, mixed them up and came up with an album that redefined what the band was all about. In the past, the sound was dominated by extensive soloing by both Rothery and Kelly, perhaps to the point of excessiveness. Although both are among the best in the world at their instrument, how many guitar solos does a song really need?
For Afraid of Sunlight, Meegan modified the approach to be more of a "wall of sound" approach with subtle instrumentation instead of over the top soloing. Indeed, the mono mix of "Beyond You" is done in classic Phil Spector style intentionally, although Spector's spectre :-) is all over this album.
I've seen comments that this is a great Steve Hogarth solo album, and while I'll agree that his vocals are as strong as on any album, this claim really sells the rest of the band short. Supplementing Hogarth, Rothery, Kelly and Trewavas was the stalwart Ian Mosley on drums. As is usually the case, Mosley plays solid, if unremarkable drums, although he really breaks out on a couple of tracks, particularly "Gazpacho" and "Cannibal Surf Babe."
The theme of this album is the wretches of success, as it applies to celebrities run amok (Jake Lemota and OJ Simpson in "Gazpacho",) those who tread dangerous waters for fame (Donald Campbell in "Out of This World") and those who feel lost in their own success (Elvis and Kurt Cobain in "King".)
Track Listing
Gazpacho
A boxer, a footballer. Common ground, common end. When the line between the playing field and the field of life begins to blur, tragedy ensues. This song begins with some sampling and symphonic overture and a light repetitive guitar. Very unusual for Marillion, Trewavas' bass is the key instrument here, providing significant melody and also a counter melody for the vocal. There's a remarkable bit where Hogarth sings "now she's gone, you're alone at last. You can tell it to the ocean," and Trewavas plays a running descent on the bass that perfectly reflects the tenor of the song. Mosley also puts in a tremendous drum here, very frenetic yet controlled. Both Rothery and Kelly are fairly subdued, although Rothery kicks in a tight solo just as the song ends. This is likely the best song on the album, a smashing opener, although the end is a bit marred with sampling of OJ's low speed freeway chase through Los Angeles.
Cannibal Surf Babe
Weird, weird, weird. This marked the beginning of an era in which the band put one totally bizarre song on each album (which continues today with Anoraknophobia's creepy "Separated Out.") Take the Beach Boys, cross them with Baywatch and you end up with this whacky tune that really should have been a single, it's that catchy. Again Trewavas presents a lively bass, but the real star here is Kelly's Theramin, which duplicates the California beach music feel so well, combined with background harmony vocals that are perfectly in mode. Rothery is left to a background role, although with bits and pieces of solos that weave in and out of the riffing. Lyrically, this is an indictment on the whole Los Angeles scene, whether it's turning out blonde bimbos or brain fried 60s pop stars.
Beautiful
Primarily bass and acoustic guitar, this is largely Hogarth's piece. As noted above, it comes off, lyrically and musically, as a modern church piece (and apparently it has been used as such in some UK churches.) Amazingly, this is one of the few Marillion songs I've heard somewhere other than my own stereo -- for a while, the clothing chain "Petite Sophisticate" had it on their in-store tape, and I just about fainted when I heard it at the mall one day when walking by the store. Lyrically, this is about how we label things beautiful because we're told they are, not because we truly believe they are. Pretty emotional, nice musical dynamic, but my least favourite song on the album.
Afraid of Sunrise
An odd combination of heavy bass, off beat acoustic guitar, meandering flute like synthesizer and drums that follow a classic jazz pattern, this song succeeds to set a Southwestern United States feel without any directly attributable reason. It just feels hot and logy like the desert. Hogarth's vocal has a dreamy quality to it that emphasizes the looseness of the song. When the track picks up about 2/3 of the way through, more desert images in the lyric with "agave flower", "Nevada" and "Phoenix rising." The end of the song blends perfectly into...
Out of This World
...one of the most amazing songs that the band has done. While the previous tracks have all been kind of unusual, "Out of This World" is the first true Progressive Rock song on the album. It begins (as noted above) with a very odd time signature that makes the song sound like it was recorded at the wrong speed. In fact, this song is about death and the moment of life that precedes it, and how that can feel stretched out, so the overall effect of the intro is of a s t r e t c h e d out song. Donald Campbell was a speed demon who set numerous land and water vehicle speed records. In 1967, Campbell crashed his speedboat, the Bluebird, on Coniston Water in England and died in his effort to be the first man to reach 300 mph on water. Neither the Bluebird nor Campbell's body was recovered at the time of Afraid of Sunlight, and his quest for fame, which left a wife and children alone, led to this lyric:
So we live you and I
Either side of the edge
And we run and we scream
With the dilated stare...of obsession and dreaming.
What the hell do we want?
It is only to go
Where nobody has gone?
A better way than the herd
Sing a different song
Till you're running the ledge
To the gasp from the crowd
Spinning round in your head
Everything that she said...
(lyrics by Steve Hogarth and John Helmer)
One can imagine Campbell, in the flash between life and death, perhaps thinking these thoughts.
Musically, the beginning of the song uses Kelly's keyboards to create a haunting soundscape, which bleeds into an intense guitar solo about two minutes in. The remainder of the song is Hogarth's impassioned vocal over soft music and a bit of sampling of radio broadcasts that Campbell made during his fateful journey. This is a particularly emotional and haunting song that captures the mood perfectly.
As an addendum to the song, a Marillion fan named Bill Smith heard this song and made it a personal goal to find both Bluebird and Campbell and bring closure to the event. On March 8, 2001, he was successful, and with the BBC, Campbell's wife Tonia, Steve Hogarth and Steve Rothery watching from shore, the Bluebird saw the sun for the first time in 34 years. Campbell's body was brought to the surface on May 28, 2001. You can find more information about this amazing effort at http://www.bluebirdproject.com Steve Hogarth's personal thoughts about the day are at http://www.marillion.com/band/hogarth/bluebird.html I hope you'll check it out.
Afraid of Sunlight
Coming out of the ether of "Out of This World," "Afraid of Sunlight" reprises the themes and imagery of "Afraid of Sunrise" but turns that peaceful tune into a full out rocker about a minute in. Prior to that, the haunting synths of "Out of This World" are supplemented by acoustic piano and guitar behind Hogarth's vocal. Mosley's drumming on this song is fantastic, cleanly punctuating the lyric, which deals with those who find fame and hope to flee its impact. The ending of the song reprises the lyric and music from "Afraid of Sunrise" and the two "sun" songs effectively bookmark "Out of This World" for a fantastic trilogy.
Beyond You
Recorded in mono to encourage feelings of emptiness, this is Hogarth's very personal examination of unrequited love and how it tears a person up. For many years, he would not perform the song live because it would break him up, but he's mustered the ability to do it a couple of times recently. This is another great bass song that misses a lot of upfront guitar, although if you listen closely, Rothery chugs out another great solo in the background.
King
There are frequent musical treatises on fame as it applies to rock stars (being kind of a natural subject, I suppose,) like "Juke Box Hero" (Foreigner), "Shooting Star" (Bad Company) and even Marillion's later track "Three Minute Boy," but I think this one tops them all. "King" opens with heavy guitar that is interrupted by sound bytes related to the Beatles and Elvis which fade as Hogarth sings over the top accompanied by a feathery guitar and tambourine. Finally, the song really kicks into gear with a tremendous bass drum attack supplemented by hard guitar and pipe organ. Rothery is finally cut loose and plays a frenzied guitar like he's a man who has bottled it all up for one song (which I suppose he kind of did.) After a bit of this, it settles down again to an electric piano and an echoed vocal:
And they call you a genius
Cause you're easier to sell.
But the fire in the belly
That gave you the songs
Is suddenly gone.
And you feel like a fake
Is that what you want?
I hope for your sake,
You've got what it takes...
...to be spoilt to death.
(lyrics by Steve Hogarth and John Helmer)
Kurt Cobain, anyone? The track ends, as did Sgt. Pepper, with a building rage that explodes in a cacophony of noise. One of the greatest albums of the last ten years had gone out with...a bang.
Everything else
The graphics on this album (by Bill Smith Studios, not the same Bill Smith as on Coniston Water) are beautiful and recall bits of the album, including Campbell's boat (a painting, obviously) a day-glo Jesus statue (from "Afraid of Sunrise") and a crown of thorns over a flower field ("Beautiful"). This remastered version includes photos of the band and Meegan in the studio, liner notes by Hogarth, Kelly and EMI Project Coordinator Lucy Jordache.
The remaster also includes a "bonus" disc that includes early versions of "Beautiful" (then titled "Second Chance",) "Beyond You," "Cannibal Surf Babe" and "Out of This World," an acoustic version of "Afraid of Sunlight" with Hogarth on piano and vocal, and four other songs from the general timeframe, "Icon," "Live Forever," "Bass Frenzy" and "Mirages."
Conclusion
I feel completely confident in stating that Afraid of Sunlight is one of the best albums of the 1990s. While I think that OK Computer was more innovative, AOS captured Marillion at their best -- emotional, complex and melodic. With the exception of "Beautiful," every song on this album is absolutely stunning in its grandeur.
One of the greatest tragedies in the musical industry is that Marillion is largely known for "Kayleigh," a hit single in 1985 with a different lead singer and a completely different sound. If you've ever heard of them, it's likely because of that track. In addition, the band's roots in Progressive Rock twenty years ago continue to dog them to this day, and they're generally derided in the UK press as outdated, outmoded and every so much out of fashion.
However, as Afraid of Sunlight proved, there is nothing dated about this band. Talent will win over hype to those who can recognize it, and this is a band with nothing but talent. If my scribing on Epinions convinces one person to check out this amazing band, I'll consider it a job well done. Sometimes publicity does accomplish something!
Re-write off
As noted at the beginning, this is part of the "Re-write off", organized by scmrak. My original review of Afraid of Sunlight appears below.
Be sure to check out the other participants, who include:
Utterly brilliant. Hogarth's best outting
by adjensen | Oct 26 '00
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Pros: Deep music and lyrics
Cons: Bonus cd weaker than some others
Recommended: Yes
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Marillion abandons the traditional soloing emphasis and produces what turned out to be the most cohesive and brilliant release of the band's lengthy career.
There are parts of this album that will not appeal to many, particularly the oddball Beach Boys parody "Cannibal Surf Babe" and the lilting "Beautiful", but the majority is some of the strongest writing that the boys have shown since the early days.
Marillion is only casually a progressive rock band, a label they've been saddled with since 1983, but Afraid of Sunlight is definitely one of the more progressive releases, particularly the trilogy "Afraid of Sunrise", "Out of this World" and "Afraid of Sunlight".
Of the eleven albums that the band has released to date, polls on Freaks, the Internet Marillion mailing list, have consistently shown Afraid of Sunlight to be at or near the top of most fans' lists.
This remaster, done with loving care by the band, has been released with a bonus cd of outtakes, demos and b-sides. However, this is the weakest of the bonus cds in the series and should be judged appropriately.
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