Track Listing

1. Hotel Hobbies
2. Warm Wet Circles
3. That Time Of The Night (The Short Straw)
4. Going Under
5. Just For The Record
6. White Russian
7. Incommunicado
8. Torch Song
9. Slainte Mhath
10. Sugar Mice
11. Last Straw
12. Incommunicado (2)
13. Tux On
14. Going Under (2)
15. Beaujolais Day
16. Story From A Thin Wall
17. Shadows Of The Barley
18. Sunset Hill
19. Tic Tac Toe
20. Voice In A Crowd
21. Exile On Princes Street
22. Exile On Princes Street (2)
23. White Russian (2)
24. Sugar Mice In The Rain

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31828 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Double CD

Amazon.co.uk Review
After the commercial breakthrough of Misplaced Childhood, their somewhat syrupy previous album, Marillion returned with a much more focused record. Both musically and lyrically much tighter and more hard-hitting, Clutching At Straws was Marillion's finest hour. The band's final album with Fish as vocalist and lyricist, it unfortunately did not gain the acclaim of its predecessor and those put off by the flaws evident in their earlier work may never have had a chance to re-assess the band on the basis of the strengths present here. Partly this relative lack of success must have been due to the intensity of the album's lyrics. They are a soul-baring manifesto centred around alcoholism, self-deception, self-loathing, fear, pride and lack of communication. The flashes of inspiration and reliance on ingenious word-play evident on previous releases are here transformed into a remarkably coherent and sustained set of perspectives of which much has the force of the best pop poetry. Only "White Russian" and "Torch Song" do not really live up to the promise of the rest. Musically, the rest of Marillion once more prove their humility and professionalism by providing a gloriously tuneful, adept and fluent backing to the sweep of Fish's vision. In keeping with the subject matter, the music is both grittier and more subtle than any they had produced before. Together, words and music make a seamless package that is well worth investigating. --James Swift

Customer Reviews

A great drinking album!
Despite its strong theme of alcohol misuse running throughout, this melodic, deep and moving record actually lends itself well to a listen last thing at night with a good single malt in hand!

One or two tracks just don't fit. These will stand out to you and you'll skip them. The rest is pure genius; timeless, and accomplished. A great album, with a surprisingly 'light' yet technically brilliant and intricate sound.

This album should never be confined to history. Fish and the boys did good here.

Marinated!!
Marillion have always been a grossly underrated band, always at the soft metal end of the scale, their prog rock influence is evident. They are good solid backing musicians to be sure but like Queen need a showman to give them a drive and direction. That showman they had in Fish This cracker is Fish's swansong with the band and is living proof that the man is a poet and a troubadore if there ever was one! His growling impassioned Sottish accent is everywhere, the lyrics are verbose verging on stupendous" I seen teenage girls like gawdy moths..." "..feigning casual silence in strained romantic interludes.." The man isn't short of a word or two. The whole album is suffused with alcohol from the pub theme of the cover through multiple references in the songs " till the barman wipes away the warm wet circles.." " sweating out a happy hour.." Our hero Torch is warned by his doctor "Continue this lifestyle and you won't reach 30!" The album is lyrically so rich that it be on the syllabus for English GCSE. Stand out tracks include "warm wet circles" "at that time of the night" "white Russian" "incommunicado" a song which proves Marillion aren't without a sense of humour with hilarious video as Fish spills drink over a talk show hostThe hit single "Sugar Mice" is also here"if you want my address it's number one at the end of the bar..". The absolute cracker in my mind are "Torch Song" a lovely languid guitar line whichs opens with the magnificent"Read some Kerouac and it put be on the track to burn a little brighter now.." "Slainte Mhaith" is so Scottish it deserves to be in a banquet scene in Highlander "trapped in the indecision of another fine menu.." Fish though technically not as good a singer as Steve Hogarth is more impassioned and is an amiable drunk of a man but has a fearsome passion, a bite like a be tartaned were wolf. That is not to say that Hogarth didn't get there, it just took a few albums to get into his stride. This album I would put up there with "Dark Side of the Moon" or even "Seargant Pepper"...from your local boozer!

Empty Glass
One of the previous reviewers is quite right:

'From start to finish, this album is just the most melodic, moving and passionate music that the band ever recorded with fish at the helm.'

Like a lot of art, this album is a paradox: Fantastic music about a hell-ish situation that you would hate to live through yourself. Other peoples' misery produces thought-provoking, emotional, enjoyable art.

This album was written in the midst of Fish's real-life alcoholism. It's an album about someone's life collapsing. Is booze the symptom - or the cause? Either way, heed the warning and stay off the sauce! What could be more relevant in today's 24-hour drinking culture?

With that in mind, it's not surprising that this is a self-pitying album, full of depression and bitter regrets. However, it's also a rich rock album with some staggering musicianship. The way the words and the music gel together on this album is amazing. Beautiful musical textures abound, and I don't believe the band have ever produced something this stylish, before or after. Whether this is down to producer Chris Kimsey or not, I don't know - this is simply Marillion at their very best!

The songs White Russian and Incommunicado are upbeat and somewhat different in mood, but I disagree with the reviewer who said they shouldn't be on the album: they should - all great albums need a change of pace, and Incommunicado is simply the best single of the 1980s!

The bonus disc is very interesting. It's generally very poor sound quality, but the sense of history makes it compelling listening. There's a sadness in the band's final demos with Fish and you can't help wishing that they could have sorted it out and carried on together.

The only thing that spoiled this album for me is the use of the word 'Christ', which Fish uses a couple of times. Sure, it's how people talk in real life but it seems totally unnecessary to commit it to record for posterity as some of us still find it offensive. So, docked a star for that.