Marillion - Misplaced Childhood


Year of Release: 1999
Label: Capitol/EMI
Catalog Number: CDP 7 46160 2
Format: CD
Total Time: 99:53:00

Reading Stephanie's review of Marillion's Misplaced Childhood (1985) brought back how special this record was to me. As I credit Kiss' Ace Frehley with inspiring me to learn the guitar, Marillion was the start of my interest and ultimate conversion to a progressive fan. Of course, I had a few Yes and Pink Floyd albums in the collection by the time I heard Marillion, but it was more of a classic rock thing than actually being aware of progressive as a genre of rock music. I was introduced to the band by a friend who eventually formed a band that I was the guitarist in for the next 8 years.

So, we have established the personal importance of the album, now the album itself. The way the songs were constructed and connected was new to me, everything running together, yet most tracks were strong enough to stand on their own. "Kayleigh", "Lavender", and "Heart Of Lothian" all were strong, melodic and emotional songs. But, the atmospheric "Bitter Suite" was most intriguing to this new listener. It was so different from anything I had heard. As Stephanie stated, these songs are full of emotion, and that may be the ultimate reason why it became so popular. It is not to lessen the bands other works, but something cuts through on Misplaced Childhood as a whole. Funny, in reading Fish's excerpts in the remastered version of the CD, the inspiration (or at least part of it) came from a bad acid trip. The subject matter deals with the ending of a long relationship, and that is probably what we all connect with on some level.

For me Side One is total perfection, Marillion have never done it better than that. Side Two fails to a certain extent to hold up as well. "Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)" and "Lords Of The Backstage" keep the same intensity as found on side one. Rothery's guitar solos are another key to my enjoyment, his lyrical melodic playing are impeccable. His solos in the "Blind Curve" sections may be my favorites of the record. I also love the keyboard transition from "Childhood's End" into "White Feather." The remaster includes a studio demo of the record along with "Lady Nina" and "Freaks." The booklet has interviews with the band members who discuss their memories of making the record, and it really adds to the enjoyment, knowing what was going through their heads during the writing and recording of what would be the most important music of their career.

I remember sitting in my room learning the guitar parts for "Kayleigh", "Lavender" and "Heart Of Lothian" as our band would go on to play these songs over the next few years. I always enjoyed playing the guitar solos, and hoped I could capture the emotion that Rothery put across in them. But, it was a combination of Fish's lyrics along with the bands performance that brings this album together. An album I will always treasure and go back to again and again.


Tracklisting:
Disc One: Pseudo Silk Kimono (2:13) / Kayleigh (3:54) / Lavender (2:33) / Bitter Suite (7:53) i. Brief Encounter - ii. Lost Weekend - iii. Blue Angel - iv. Misplaced Rendevous - v. Windswept Thumb / Heart Of Lothian (4:08) i. Wide Boy - ii. Curtain Call / Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) / Lords Of The Backstage (1:57) / Blind Curve (9:29) i. Vocal Under A Bloodlight - ii. Passing Strangers - iii. Mylo - iv. Perimeter Walk - v. Threshold / Childhoods End? (4:32) / White Feather (2:23)

Disc Two: Lady Nina (5:49) / Freaks (4:07) / Kayleigh [Alternative Mix] (4:04) / Lavender Blue (4:23) / Heart of Lothian [Extended Mix] (5:53) / Pseudo Silk Kimono (2:08) / Kayleigh (4:11) / Lavender (2:32) / Bitter Suite/Brief Encounter/Lost Weekend (2:56) / Lords of the Backstage (1:48) / Blue Angel (1:45) / Misplaced Rendezvous (1:21) / Heart of Lothian/Wide Boy/Curtain Call (4:25) / Waterhole (1:52) / Passing Strangers/Mylo/Perimeter Walk... (9:25) / Childhoods End? (2:22) / White Feather (2:16)

Musicians:
Fish - vocals
Steve Rothery - guitars
Mark Kelly - keyboards
Pete Trewavas - bass
Ian Mosley - drums, percussion

Discography:
Script For A Jester's Tear (1983)
Fugazi (1984)
Reel To Real (1984)
Misplaced Childhood (1985)
Brief Encounter (ep) (1985)
Clutching At Straws (1987/1999)
The Thieving Magpie (1988)
B-Sides Themselves (1988)
Season's End (1989)
Holidays In Eden (1991)
A Singles Collection 1982-1992 (1992)
Live At The Borderline (1992)*
Live In Caracas (1993)*
Live In Glasgow (1993)*
Brave (1994)
The Making Of Brave (1995)*
Afraid Of Sunlight (1995)
Made Again (1996)
Kayleigh (1996) (Dutch comp)
Essential Collection (1996) (UK comp; same as above)
Real To Reel/Brief Encounter (1997)
Best Of Both Worlds (1997)
This Strange Engine (1997)
Tales From The Engine Room (1998)*
Rochester (1998)*
Piston Broke (1998)*
Radiation (1998)
Christmas 1998: The Web Christmas (1998)**
Kayliegh: The Essential Collection (1998) (UK comp.; diff. from above)
Unplugged At The Walls (1999)*
Marillion.com (1999)
Zodiac (1999)*
Christmas 1999: marillion.christmas (1999)**
marillion.co.uk (or bonus disk) (Ver 1-2000)*
The Singles: '82 - '88 (box set) (2000/2009)
Christmas 2000: A Piss-Up In A Brewery**
Crash Course (Sampler) (2000)
ReFracted! (2001)*
Anoraknophobia (2001)
Another DAT At The Office (2001)*
Christmas 2001: A Verry Barry Christmas (2001)**
Fallout (2002)*
Anorak In The UK Live (2002)*
marillion.co.uk (or bonus disk) (Ver 2-2002)*
Brave Live 2002 (2002)*
Caught In The Net (2002)*
Crash Course (Sampler) (2002)*
The Singles: '89 -'95 (2002)
Brave Live (2002)*
AWOL (2002)**
Christmas 2002: Santa And Elvis (2002)**
The Best of Marillion (2003)
View From The Balcony (2003)**
Christmas 2003: Say Cheese! Christmas With Marillion (2003)**
Curtain Call (2004) (3CD Box)*
Crash Course (2004)*
Marbles (2004)
Remixomatosis (2004)*
Christmas 2004: Baubles (2004)**
Popular Music (CD oop, avail. as download only) (2005)**
marillion.co.uk (or bonus disk) (Ver 3-2005)*
View From The Balcony (Sampler) (Ver 2-2005)*
Marbles By The Sea (2005)*
Marbles Live (2005)*
Handful Of Marbles (Sampler) (2005)*
Christmas 2005: Merry Xmas To Our Flock (2005)**
Unzipped (The Making Of 'Anoraknophobia') (2005)*
Crash Course (Ver 4 - 2006)*
Smoke (2006)*
Mirrors (2006)*
Marbles Vinyl Edition (2006)
Christmas 2006: Jingle Book (2006)**
Somewhere Else (2007)
Crash Course (Ver 5 - 2007)*
Christmas 2007: Somewhere Elf (2007)**
Friends (2007)*
Family (2007)*
Crash Course (Ver 6 - 2008)*
Happiness Is The Road - Volume 1: Essence (2008)
Happiness Is The Road - Volume 2: The Hard Shoulder (2008)
Early Stages - The Official Bootlegs 1982-1987 (6CD Box) (2008)
Christmas 2008: Pudding On The Ritz (2008)**
Happiness Is Cologne (2009)*
Live From Loreley (2009)
Recital Of The Script (2009)
Less Is More (2009)
Tumbling Down The Years (2010)*
Size Matters (2010)*
Keep The Noise Down (sampler) (2010)*
Live In Montreal / Saturday (2010)*
Live In Montreal / Sunday (2010)*
The Official Bootleg Box Set, Vol. 2 (2010)
Live From Cadogan Hall (2010)*
Afraid Of Sunlight Live 2003 (2011)*
This Strange Engine Live 2007 (2011)*
Live In Montreal / Friday (2011)*
Season's End Live 2009 (2011)*
Holidays In Eden Live 2011 (2011)*
Best Live (2011)*
marillion.com Deluxe Digipack (2011)
Somewhere Else (2LP) (2011)
Marbles Deluxe Digipack (2011)
Marbles (2LP) (2011)
A-Z (2012)*
This Strange Engine - Deluxe Digipack (2012)
Fugazi (LP) (2012)
Holidays In Eden (LP) (2012)
Sounds That Can't Be Made (2012)
Sounds That Can't Be Made - Deluxe Edition (2012)
The Glow Must Go On (2012)*
Crash Course (2012)*
Sounds Live (2012)*
Anoraknophobia (LP) (2012)
Sleighed Again (Christmas 2012) (2012)**
Best Of Montreal (2013)*
Best Of Leamington (2013)*
Brave Live 2013 (2013)*
Best.Live (LP box set) (2013)
Radiation 2013 (2013)
Brave (LP) (2013)
Misplaced Childhood (LP) (2013)
Clocks Already Ticking (CD/DVD) (2013)*
Brave Live 2002 (CD/DVD) (2013)
Radiation 2013 (LP) (2013)
Somewhere In London (CD/DVD) (2013)
Afraid Of Sunlight (LP) (2013)
Clutching At Straws (LP) (2013)
Sounds That Can't Be Made (LP) (2013)
Sounds That Can't Be Made - 2013 Special Edition (2013)*
Proggin Around The Christmas Tree (Christmas 2013) (2013)**
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (dlx bx set) (2014)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (Holland version) (2014)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (Montreal version) (2014)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (3LP) (2014)*
Unsound (DL) (2014)*
A Collection Of Recycled Gifts (xmas comp.) (2014)*
Live At The Forum (2014)
Chile For The Time Of Year (Christmas 2014) (2014)*
Best Sounds (2014)
Glass Half Full (2015
F.E.A.R. (2016)
Waves & Numbers (2016)*
Marbles In The Park (2016)*
Singles Night (2016)*
Live In Chile (2017)*
The Gold - Best Of Convention 2017 (2017)*
Misplaced Childhood (dlx CD/BR) (2017)
Misplaced Childhood (dlx LP) (2017)
Marbles In The Park (LP) (2017)*
Holidays In Eden Live (ltd ed) (2018)
Size Matters (ltd ed) (2018)
Unplugged At The Walls (ltd ed) (2018)
Tumbling Down The Years (ltd ed) (2018)
Smoke (ltd ed) (2018)
Mirrors (ltd ed) (2018)
All One Tonight (2018)
Happiness Is Cologne (ltd ed) (2018)
Popular Music (ltd ed) (2018)
Brave (dlx CD/BR) (2018)*
Brave (dlx LP) (2018)*
Marillion.cl/Viernes.Noche (2018)*
Marillion.cl/Dotcom (2018)*
Marillion.cl/En.El.Marquee (2018)*
Mr. Taurus - The Making Of Somewhere Else (2018)*
Satellite Navigation - The Making Of Happiness Is The Road (2019)*
Live In Glasgow (ltd ed) (2019)
Brave Live 2013 (ltd ed) (2019)
With Friends From The Orchestra (LP) (2019)
Afraid Of Sunlight (Dlx CD/BR) (2019)

Recital Of The Script (VHS/DVD) (1983/2003)
Grendel/The Web (VHS EP) (1984)
1983-86 The Videos (VHS [oop]) (1986)
Live From Loreley (VHS/DVD) (1987/2004)
From Stoke Row To Ipanema (VHS/DVD) (1990/2003)
A Singles Collection 1982-1992 (DVD) (1992)
Brave, The Film (VHS/DVD) (1995/2004)
Shot In The Dark (VHS/DVD [oop]) (2000/2002)*
The EMI Singles Collection (DVD [PAL only])(2002)
A Piss-up In A Brewery (DVD) (2002/2010)*
Brave Live 2002 (DVD) (2002)*
Christmas In The Chapel (DVD) (2003)*
Before First Light (DVD) (2003)*
Wish You Were Here (DVD box, oop) (2005)*
Colours And Sound (DVD) (2006)*
Marbles On The Road (DVD) (2005)
Bootlet Butlins (DVD) (2007)*
Somewhere In London (DVD) (2007*/2013)
This Strange Convention (DVD) (2009)*
Snow De Cologne (DVD) (2009)**
Out Of Season (box set) (DVD) (2010)*
Ding Dong Loreley On High (live) (DVD) (2010)
In-Tube DVD Sampler (DVD) (2010)
Out Of Season (DVD boxset) (2010)*
Live In Montreal (3DVD) (2011)*
Holidays In Zelande (BR) (2012)*
Clocks Already Ticking (CD/DVD) (2013)*
Brave Live 2002 (CD/DVD) (2013)*
Brave Live 2013 (BR & DVD) (2013)*
A Sunday Night Above The Rain (BR & DVD) (2014)*
Breaking Records (BR) (2015)*
Unconventional (BR & DVD) (2016)*
Out Of The Box (BR & DVD) (2016)*
Out Of Season (BR) (2017)*
Web Xmas 2017 (DVD) (2017)**
Marbles In The Park (DVD/BR) (2017)
All One Tonight (DVD/BR) (2018)*
marillion.cl (2019)*
* Racket Records releases; ** Fan Club only

Genre: Neo-Prog

Origin UK

Added: March 22nd 2004
Reviewer: Eric Porter

Artist website: www.marillion.com
Hits: 2061
Language: english

  

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