Track Listing

1. Invisible Man
2. Marbles I
3. You're Gone
4. Angelina
5. Marbles II
6. Don't Hurt Yourself
7. Fantastic Place
8. Marbles III
9. Drilling Holes
10. Marbles IV
11. Neverland
12. You're Gone [Single Mix][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189352 in Music
• Released on: 2008-10-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
As curtain-raising lyrics go, Steve Hogarth's initiatory assertion on Marbles that "The World's gone mad" really isn't very far from the truth. After all, this same shuddering sentiment must have been echoed by perturbed pop watchers up and down the land as Marillion's inexorably adult single "You're Gone" (included here in two versions) gatecrashed the teen-flavoured UK Top 10. The wind did howl and there were dark murmurings that the prog rock bogeyman had finally come for our children. Relax. Thirteen albums in and Marillion don't have designs on our youth.

Behind "Marbles" facade of generous dance beats and FX jiggery pokery lays the stubborn prog beast of old, albeit one that acknowledges the recent past more readily than when Fish was at the helm all those years ago. Thus, you could be forgiven for mistaking "Fantastic Place" to be the work of "Colour of Spring" era Talk Talk (Hogarth does a rather good Mark Hollis) while "Don't Hurt Yourself" borrows from the Manic Street Preachers' "If You Tolerate This" and adds the spiritual protest and folk strum of the Levellers (Hogarth can do a good Mark Chadwick as well). And to avoid any sense of disorientation, there's a reasonable, but never blatant, nod in the direction of Genesis. Old rambling tendencies remain--the pretty "Angelina" has a rather dreary and entirely superfluous two-minute intro--and try as they may Marillion will never be as vital or relevant as Radiohead. That said, committed fans (and there are many) will have their enduring faith in Marillion handsomely repaid by Marbles. --Kevin Maidment

Album Description
Refusing to compromise their music by bowing to marketing pressures, focus groups or record labels seeking a chart-busting single, Marillion--described by Classic Rock magazine as a "wonderful, idiosyncratic and dramatic rock band"--have pressed on to create their own unmistakable and unique music whilst amassing a huge underground following around the world. Their new CD, Marbles, is a creative milestone of atmospheric and stirring songs. It's intense, deep-seated and musically multilateral--you'll either get it or you won't.

Customer Reviews

Floydian ferturn to top form
Starting with the epic and brooding Invisible Man this album gives no quarter. The band unlease the 12 minute epic using their trademark time changes on a track which has to be heard several times to get it. No one could accuse Marillion of 'selling out'! The rest of the album is a top notch mix of up beat emotional pop like the single You're Gone and Don't Hurt Yourself contrasting with the sublime Fantastic Place, surely the crown jewel in this sparkeling package. Other highlights (and we are talking 'stand out' in a sea of stand out tracks, includes Angelina and the closer, another 12 minutes epic, Neverland. Interspersed are the four Marbles tracks, very remenicent of Pink Floyd!
The only thing missing from this is the 18 minute cinematic master piece, Ocean Cloud. If you want this one you will have to buy the special 2 disk version from Marillion themselves!

This has to be the best CD from the boys since 1994's Brave, and I think that it will be remembered longer as this CD only gets better with each listen. If you buy into Marillion today, you will still be putting this one on in 5 years time!

Underated Master piece
What can I say. I used to be a huge fan of Marillion around the time ofSeasons End, Holidays in Eden and Brave. All three albums I thought weregreat records. I never thought they could surpass the greatness of Brave. They never seemed to catch the mainstream and I really can't understandwhy, and it didn't seem fair. Yet the whole campaign of Marbles andYou're Gone has proved that it's about the fans not the record companiesand entering the top 10 with the single You're Gone. I received my deluxe2 CD copy yesterday - and been looking forward it for ages. I have beenlistening to it none stop, and each play it gets better and better. To methere are some stand out tracks Fantastic Place, Don't Hurt Your Self andthe truly brilliant Neverland. Yet on another listen another track willstand out more. This is the beauty of this album; it's an album you haveto listen to from start to finish to really appreciate how good it reallyis. It's very rare for a group to produce an album that can be listenedto from start to finish without skipping the odd track. The likes of NMEand Q will probably slag this album off because there not from New York ornot the next big thing, but this album is worthy of five stars and standsup there with the great records we have had in the last few years.
Isaid they would never surpass Brave..........well they have with Marbles - anamazing record.

Marillion's best
I have followed Marillion for a long time but this is the most beautiful piece of work they have made. All the stuff through the Hogarth-era reaches maturity on Marbles. The Invisible Man is an amazing track but it does take a few listens to get it. You're Gone has some gorgeous Steve Rothery guitar e-bowing all over the place. Angelina is sublime. Don't Hurt Yourself is a wonderful upbeat track. Fantastic Place is an amazing emotional trip. Drilling Holes is really cool with some adrenalin guitar all over it and great echoey vocals. Neverland is a really powerful way to end the album. The 4 Marbles tracks are great little vignettes that show that Steve Hogarth was always a few sticks short of a bundle. He is a visionary genius with a fantastic voice and Marbles is Marillion's crowning achievement, although The Only Unforgivable Thing, Genie and Ocean Cloud make buying the 2CD version essential as these songs are simply glorious and cannot be missed out on.