Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: Intact Records
Released: 2008
Rating: 4/5
Marillion have been more active in recent years than they’ve been at almost any point in their long career, except maybe at the very start, which they often seem to want to forget. The dust hadn’t even fully settled around the previous album, the solid but somehow not quite exciting “Somewhere Else” (2007), and now here comes a new one, a double album this time, from the camp of “England’s best-kept secret”, who you can usually annoy fastest by mentioning the phrase neo-prog rock. And from that label, Marillion have drifted as far as they possibly could over the years, to the disappointment of the traditional faithful and the applause of the musically open-minded.
As expected, this trend of steadily shedding the more complex elements of classic prog rock continues on “Happiness Is The Road”, which mostly sails on the waves of a subtle blend of art rock, ambient rock and pop rock. In other words, they once again stick roughly to their tried-and-true recipe, which they’ve been using in one form or another since 1994. This mix of ingredients always brings mixed but mostly good results, and it had its greatest triumph on the unforgettable masterpiece “Marbles” (2004), an album that, alongside “Brave” (1994) and “Afraid Of Sunlight” (1995), will clearly remain a yardstick for all future records of the Hogarth era for quite some time.
Even though the recognizable ambient/pop/art rock concept is basically the same, “Happiness Is The Road” brings quite a few important sonic novelties for the band. Some of them are downright thrilling, presenting the band in entirely new guises, which is undoubtedly a very welcome change. This applies above all to the use of some interesting instruments, mostly from the 70s, that they’d never tried before (French horn, harpsichord, harmonium, xylophone, and so on). This time they aren’t the analog samples of keyboardist Mark Kelly, but real instruments used in the studio (probably played by Kelly and Steve Hogarth).
The other main feature of this album is that it’s split into two contrasting halves, which also show two different faces of the band. The first disc, called “Essence”, leans toward more meditative, slower pieces and ballads (some claim there’s a connecting concept running through the songs, but so far nobody’s spotted it), while the second, “The Hard Soulder”, as its name suggests, is noticeably tougher, with more individual and varied songs at a faster tempo, and therefore a more experimental, prog-rock vibe. That said, the split isn’t a hundred percent clean, since both discs have a few exceptions that could easily sit on the other one. Either way, it’s an interesting novelty that might please the gentler souls and the traditional prog rockers and experimentalists among their fans alike.
Marillion have once again earned their reputation as real sharpies, successfully building on their status as the first band to sniff out the internet’s potential and put it to good use for their own promotion and album sales. The album is sold in regular retail as two separate parts at the same price, while pre-orderers can get it online at a discounted price as a limited, combined version. Under certain conditions, you can even download the album early from their official site!
Now comes the moment for the positive and negative sonic aspects of this album. Let’s start the critique with its strengths. The innovative move of using some instruments from the “good old days” is very welcome and has noticeably enriched the keyboard sound, which has often been a target of criticism in recent years, mainly for being too ambiently repetitive. The keyboard textures in all their variety, whether piano, analog samples, traditional synths or samples of orchestral arrangements, are consistently top-notch and tremendously impressive. Mr. Kelly is the main player who saves the album from gray mediocrity, but of course don’t expect his neo-prog synth “bouncers”, which he gave up around 1991.
Hogarth is Hogarth, though, and still nicely consistent in his unique, colorful vocal expression, even if his fragile, mostly melancholic voice can put plenty of people straight to sleep, especially on some of the duller ballads, of which there are quite a few on this album. He uses a lot of falsetto again, which isn’t exactly his strong suit, but he makes up for it by being at a very high level elsewhere. As usual, some compositions simply don’t suit him that well, and he doesn’t get to shine as much as he could. Especially when there could have been more AOR/pop rock elements, where he usually shines brightest. As an instrumentalist, he of course pitched in again on piano and extra percussion.
Kelly is thus, along with Mr. H, the main “star” of this album, while the other three members mostly hang back this time, especially on the first disc, which at times sounds almost like a Hogarth solo record or, at best, a Hogarth/Kelly project. And that’s where the album’s main minuses hide. Above all, you miss a bigger creative and instrumental contribution from Mr. Rothery, once the audience’s central darling, whose guitar here often seems somehow absent. At times the listener finds themselves wondering where all those monumental solos and clever riffs have gone, the ones that once thrilled prog rock gourmets so much. On the other hand, his instantly recognizable guitar tone is still there, along with moments where he truly shines with his slide passages and mischievous arpeggios. But the fact is that his guitar stays in the background on this album. The relatively monotonous, flat production is also quite bothersome. Because of it, Trewavas’s bass parts often sound totally muddy, which is certainly a great pity with such a good bassist. Mosley’s drumming talent is (again) not properly showcased either, and he usually plays a merely statistical role, only occasionally breaking through to the front, mainly on the second disc.
If we take a quick stroll through the first disc, “Essence”, we find quite a few top-notch ambient moments, with a shared lyrical concept circling between them. These compositions will especially please anyone into meditation and various spiritual pursuits. Along the way there are even two Marillion classics, though sadly we can’t avoid some solid but slightly too sleepy ballads that aren’t for every occasion. The opening “Dream Time” could already be called a lullaby of this kind, with H’s vocals, backed by piano, daydreaming about his unlived dreams. A truly odd opening for an album. The album continues in a similarly drowsy tone and with slow rhythms on “This Train Is My Life”, which will probably thrill fans of the likes of Radiohead more than Marillion devotees, though the excellent closing guitar solo, with which Rothery “rises from the dead”, deserves praise.
“Essence”, originally a pretty sleepy affair until the orchestral sounds of the harmonium come to a pulse and the great debtor Mosley finally wakes up behind the kit, is a decent track, but no more than that. The series of solid ambient pieces continues with the next songs, “Wrapped Up In Time”, the instrumental “Liquidity” and “Nothing Fills The Hole” (apart from the energetic chorus), which are fitting moments for devoted meditation. On “Woke Up”, Kelly shines with special oriental keyboard arrangements that bring a hefty touch of Indian mysticism. The ambient adventures go on with “Trap The Spark”, where undulating curtains of keyboards take the front, H sings excellently, and toward the end Rothery wakes up with a characteristically melancholic solo. Things turn quite a bit in another direction with “A State Of Mind”, the first more energetic, rocking piece on the album and certainly one of its best songs as a whole. It’s an excellent mix of art and pop rock with a hypnotic chorus that even has noticeable hit potential. Mr. H confirms once again with an outstanding vocal performance that he always shines brightest in precisely these AOR/pop moments, and finally the rhythm section wakes up too, teaming up with superb guitar passages and bringing back some of the rhythmic charm of their past. Next up is the thrilling title track, over 10 minutes long, which even comes close to the idea of a classic prog rock epic. And that’s despite an opening that hints at yet another daydream with an almost new age pulse, plenty of soundscapes and H’s fragile singing. Later on comes a thrilling twist through the use of harmonium and, by extension, majestic orchestral arrangements of a kind you haven’t heard in their music for a long time. More than enough for a new Marillion classic and the best piece on the first disc. The limited edition of the album also includes the track “Half Empty Jam”, which, ironically, is one of the better pieces on the first disc.
The second disc, “The Hard Shoulder”, as already mentioned, has considerably more upbeat pieces that will be much closer to the hearts of their longtime fans. These too contain a noticeable dose of experimenting with some instruments they’d never used before, demonstrating some as-yet-undiscovered sonic capabilities, but showing a completely different face of the band. The first surprise is already the opening, psychedelic-tinged and very lively “Thunder Fly”, which, thanks to the retro sound of Hammond organs, occasionally sounds like it came out somewhere at the end of the 60s. You can only applaud this kind of clever borrowing from the elements of classic prog rock/psychedelic rock and combining them with the protective Marillion finesse. The epic “The Man From The Planet Marzipan” is also a very pleasant surprise. It’s a song of numerous contrasts that at times sounds almost like some krautrock thing with very good electronic samples on the synths, while the ambient, space-rock atmosphere created by the interplay of emotional guitar passages and keyboards delivers almost eight minutes of top-shelf prog rock mood. Also worth praising is the use of assorted percussion, including a xylophone, which is something new in their music.
“Asylum Satelite #1” is a fantastic piece that will make all lovers of atmospheric progressive rock happy, and at the same time proves that Marillion’s love for the progressive rock of the 60s and 70s has never died. The balance between keyboard and guitar harmonies is exceptional, and Rothery truly returns to his role as guitar hero here. The space-rock motif even recalls the golden days of the legendary Nektar! It may even be one of their best pieces in recent years. The series of splendid songs continues with the romantic ballad “Older Than Me” and the symphonic folk-rock treat “Throw Me Out”, where you can hear, among other things, harpsichord, excellent orchestral arrangements and even choral vocal harmonies. Add dreamy slide passages on guitar and you get the kind of song we’ve been waiting for from Marillion for a long time. “Half The World” is yet another excellent cross between AOR and ambient art rock, where H’s vocals, especially in the chorus, get the chance to bloom in all their glory, and the very witty guitar riffing is also worth a mention.
The splendid pop rocker “Whatever Is Wrong With You”, with its extremely energetic, catchy chorus and memorable riff, proves why it was chosen as the first single from the album, and it might even chart higher worldwide than “See It Like A Baby” from “Somewhere Else” did. All the criticism that flew around Rothery’s status on the first disc finally vanishes on “Especially True”, where the man shines with all sorts of passages, soaring arpeggios and an outstanding solo at the end. The closing “Real Tears For Sale” is a kind of collage of all the album’s main elements, containing roughly equal measures of meditative, ambient sections with waves of synths and exotic percussion, energetic guitar passages and mighty drum fills (Mosley proves too that he’s not ready for the old folks’ home yet). If only the second disc were judged, “Happiness Is The Road” would surely rank among their best records, but combined with the “sleepy” first disc, it falls slightly short of heavyweight-champion status.
“Happiness Is The Road” was conceived very ambitiously (maybe even too ambitiously), yet it still lags slightly behind their greatest masterpieces. With its bipolar nature, it lands somewhere in the golden middle of the Marillion discography up to that point, which is far from a bad achievement, especially considering its rather “sleepy” first half, which promised nothing more than a kind of gray mediocrity. In the second half, when they show their more energetic and above all experimental and adventurous face, and the other instrumentalists get more room alongside the keyboards, Marillion really prove why they are (still) one of the leading prog rock bands of our time and why it’s still worth following their career. Thanks to its dual, contrasting nature, the album will split plenty of listeners, and it’s unlikely anyone will like both halves equally, the “red” and the “blue”. Those who prefer meditative, ambient music and new age will surely be more thrilled by the first half, while traditional fans who haven’t forgotten their neo-prog days will enjoy the second half immensely more. On one hand, it’s a shame the album doesn’t realize its full potential as a whole. On “Happiness Is The Road” you constantly feel plenty of untapped possibilities, potential that could have yielded yet another masterpiece, but in the end it’s “merely” one more very good, but undramatic record.
Lineup
Steve Hogarth – vocals
Steve Rothery – guitar
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Peter Trewavas – bass guitar
Ian Mosley – drums & percussion
On this album Marillion experiment for the first time with a bunch of new instruments, including harpsichord, xylophone, harmonium, French horns, bells, harp, zithers, and more.
Production
Michael Hunter
Track List
Happiness is the Road, Volume 1: Essence
1. Dreamy Street (1:59)
2. This Train Is My Life (4:47)
3. Essence (6:25)
4. Wrapped Up In Time (5:03)
5. Liquidity (2:09)
6. Nothing Fills The Hole (3:20)
7. Woke Up (3:37)
8. Trap The Spark (5:39)
9. A State Of Mind (4:30)
10. Happiness Is The Road (10:01)
Happiness is the Road, Volume 2: The Hard Shoulder
1. Thunder Fly (6:20)
2. The Man From Planet Marzipan (7:51)
3. Asylum Satellite #1 (9:28)
4. Older Than Me (3:08)
5. Throw Me Out (3:58)
6. Half The World (5:05)
7. Whatever Is Wrong With You (4:13)
8. Especially True (4:34)
9. Real Tears For Sale (7:32)
Album length: 99:48
