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: #13775 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Double CD, Enhanced, Original recording remastered, Special Edition

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

The lyrics are sheer pop music genius.
Listen to this album from 1987 and you will realise that it is by one of the most misunderstood and hence underrated bands that have ever been. The brilliant and thoughtful mind of their then lead singer, the enigmatic Fish, produces a masterpiece of songwriting that combines poetic skill with some of the deepest lyrics to any songs you will ever hear. Fish's fine vocals are accompanied by the band's particularly good musicianship to make this an album which just has to be in the collection of any person with a heart and a soul. The band's influence on such modern acts as Radiohead and The Manic Street Preachers is often ignored or dismissed but one only need read the lyrics on this album to find it's pretty obvious.

Revisiting British rock's forgotten sons
As a virginal, buck-toothed adolescent I was introduced to rock music by Marillion and for a couple of years I listened to little else. Then I left school, left all that nonsense behind me and immersed myself in grunge, hip-hop and all manner of other abrasive noises. Recently, in my late twenties, a combination of nostalgia and the pitiful state of the current rock world (if Limp Bizkit and Coldplay represent the two extremes of it then we're in dire need of some natural disasters - both bands are equally bland and pointless) has seen me dig out those old shoe boxes full of CDs and revisit some of the gems.

In a rash moment about 5 years ago I gave 'Clutching at Straws' away so I had to buy it again in this version. Until Misplaced Childhood Marillion were nothing special. That album was a sort of self-reflective (and indulgent) opera that must have had their record company predicting their impending demise, but which was ironically their biggest commercial success. I see that album as a prologue to Clutching at Straws, a much more intelligent exercise in demon exorcism. Fish's lyrics could often be too heavy in their use of imagery which makes them seem pretentious when alalysed in detail but what they do masterfully is create a slightly drunken and sombre mood in which morose reflection cannot be avioded. Listening to Warm Wet Circles you can't help but place yourself in some God-awful 80s underground wine bar on a suburban high street (probably exactly the location it was written) drinking heavily and remembering old girlfriends. Fish was openly exposing his fears and failures on record with angst-fuelled sincerity long before Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder were praised for giving the world the same thing.

Musically, Marillion were the perfect keyboard-five-piece. They had a democracy which allowed everything to be as loud as everything else. Nobody in rock used keyboards in as clever a fashion, rather than have them simply playing chords, they had equal pegging with the guitars and on many tracks played the hook while the guitars created moods in the background. The band provided huge and brooding screenplays to compliment Fish's script.

Neither Fish's solo work nor post-Fish Marillion could match Clutching at Straws which is borne out on the 2nd CD on this record which shows that the best bits from Fish's first solo album and from Steve Hogarth's first album with the band came from the bits that weren't good enough to go on Clutching at Straws. Without Fish Marillion were still as good at making music but without his voice they just didn't say anything that anyone wanted to hear. Whilst without the band, Fish's lyrics went out uncensored and without a vehicle large enough to carry them.

Clutching at Straws is not a feel-good record (despite the inclusion of the up-beat boogie of Incommunicado) and will not appeal to everyone but it's a masterpiece of booze sodden despair and the perfect soundtrack for those nights where you want nothing more than to sit, drink and mope.

The pinnacle of the fish-era
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. Stand out tracks are 'At that time of the night', 'Just for the record' and 'Slainthe Mhath'(the best one in my opinion). The bonus disc is also outstanding as you get to hear very early versions of what were to become 'seasons end','berlin','king of the sunset town' and 'the bell in the sea' all of course with Fish doing the vocals. This album is a gem which you'll never tire of. Just buy it right now!