Track Listing

1. Hundred Mile High City
2. Better Day
3. Travellers Tune
4. Big Star
5. Debris Road
6. Besides Yourself
7. Get Blown Away
8. Tele He's Not Talking
9. Foxy's Folk Faced
10. All Up
11. Spark And Cindy
12. Half A Dream Away
13. It's A Beautiful Thing

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5762 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 48 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
From the ominous opening powerchords of "Hundred Mile High City" to the mournful, exhausted conclusion of "It's A Beautiful Thing", OCS's third album is not so much an album but a journey, complete with its share of emotional peaks and troughs. Frontman Simon Fowler's elliptical style means that you don't always know exactly what's going on, but tracks like "Debris Road" and "Get Blown Away" resonate on a deeper level, deploying evocative nostalgic imagery to marvellous effect. Musically, Marchin' Already shows OCS drawing on much wider influences they're usually given credit for: the band's mod influences are well-documented, but "Foxy's Folk-Faced" and "Half A Dream Away" respectively repay some dept to Fairport Convention and The Specials (whose trombonist Rico plays on the latter). That it never manages to sound purely like a rehash of pop's past glories must, in part, go to some truly imaginative work by producer Brendan Lynch, who remains the only man in Britain capable of making a guitar sounding like an aeroplane taking off. As Fowler would say, it's a beautiful thing. --Peter Paphides

Customer Reviews

Absolutely top-class album
This is probably the best OCS album along with Mosely Shoals. The singles "Traveller's Tune" and "Hundred Mile High City" are probably the best example of OCS. I would recomend this album to be the first to get. I listen to it in the car, at home, on the bus, I play along to it on my guitar, and now my mum is listening to it! If that don't persuade ya then I give up. 10 out of 10!!!!

They don't make them like this any more!!!
Not even Ocean Colour Scene, who peaked with this late 90's britpop classic. The moment Steve Cradock starts with the opening to Hundred Mile High City, to the crescendo finish of It's A Beautiful Thing, the music is ebgulfing. Not since the the late 70's era of Queen and the Sex Pistls could a frontman be so charismatic. Not since Clapton or Hendrix could guitar sound so emotive. Not since ever was a bassist so cool. Not since Keith Moon a drummer/percusionnist with as much raw talent. And it shows. 13 tunes, a range of styles; from the roar of hundred mile high city to the pure emotion of better day to the folky besides yourself on to the crashing all up. Ocean Colour Scene excelled in writing music for the time. Although Moseley Shoals may have fared better, Marchin' Already is more complete. It is, however, not above criticism. Owing much to Weller, The Jam, Queen and 60's Britpop, this was not new cutting edge material. What it is, is a britpop album filled with tunes, crowd pullers, songs you remember entire summers by. A soundtrack for those who were there. Even if you weren't, listening to Marchin' Already, you feel as though you are there. Not the greatest album of all time, but buy probably in the top 10 from the 90's. No egos, no extras, just pure brilliant music

a defining album of the decade
since the moment i put marchin' already into my cd player, and Hundred Mile High City started to play i have been a fan of ocs. steve cradock on vocals is perhaps the most sincere vocalist i have ever heard, and with amazing support from the other 3 band members, this band really shines. it is one of those albums in which every track could have made a top 10 single. for me, the last track Its A Beautifull Thing, really encapsulates the time, when OCS were the darlings of the British Rock industry. far superioir to there contempories such as Blur and Oasis. So, buy this and listen, and you will drift away to a nostalgic time, when lager started to become fashionable to drink again, going out for a curry with the lads and Friday night was prologed by watching T.F.I friday with Chris Evans. Sheer brilliance.