Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: EMI Records
Release: 1994
Runtime: 1:11:18
Rating: 5/5
The conceptual masterpiece “Brave” is one of the best and most important albums in the story of the legendary British progressive rockers Marillion. With it they returned to their prog rock roots and won back the trust of many longtime fans, who had slowly started turning their backs on the band after the pop rock experiment “Holidays In Eden” (1991).
“Holidays In Eden” was a superb album in every respect, and its true worth only showed many years later, but commercially, in the unhealthy climate of the grunge-tinged early nineties, it sadly crashed and burned completely. So EMI had already started piling on the pressure, pushing the band to please, for the love of God, make an album that would fit the “spirit of the times” and, of course, bring in the big bucks. Marillion did promise a new approach on the next record, but boy, did the label bosses miscalculate if they were expecting fresh radio hits!
Instead of “selling their soul to the devil” and losing their artistic identity in a sea of dubious trends and mediocrity, Marillion closed ranks more tightly than ever before recording “Brave” and headed off to France, where they holed up in a secluded studio in the middle of an old château. There they set about creating one of their most complex and deepest albums. The castle setting almost certainly played an important part in the creative process, especially in the album’s dark atmosphere, since the Marouatte château was rumored, among other things, to be haunted. The album also features plenty of sound samples, which legendary keyboardist Mark Kelly took care of with his usual skill. On top of that, to spice up the atmosphere even further, they used sound samples recorded in a nearby cave. These only add to the aura of mystery and tense atmosphere.
By deciding to go back to their prog rock roots on “Brave” and putting out a concept album in the mid-nineties, Marillion took a very brave step, but apart from the contract with a greedy label giant, they had nothing to lose (they walked away from it two years later). On this album they more than successfully made the next evolutionary leap, settling accounts for good with their neo-prog past and sailing at full speed into the far more unpredictable world of art rock.
A key factor in injecting artistic freshness into “Brave” was certainly the charismatic singer Steve Hogarth, who was still a relatively new member of the band at the time. Besides the excellent singing, he impressed with deep lyrics, which he wrote partly with the help of his friend John Helmer. “Brave” has a pretty dark concept: it tells of the hardships of a depressed, drug-addicted girl with suicidal tendencies who fell in with the wrong crowd. The story is partly based on real events that Hogarth learned about from a newspaper article reporting on a lost girl who was found by police wandering aimlessly under a bridge. She couldn’t remember who she was or where she came from, and she refused to talk to anyone.
“Brave” tells of her slow downfall and her gradual arrival at the final dilemma: a quick “salvation” from life’s troubles (jumping off the bridge), or a return to life and the start of a personal transformation (leaving the vicious circle of drugs and violence). The ending of the story, with her standing alone on the bridge, torn over whether to jump and take her own life or turn around and try to live anew, is left to the listener’s own interpretation. So everyone can imagine in their own way whether she ended up killing herself or changed her mind and started her life over, even though the last track on the album, “Made Again”, has an optimistic tint and hints at a happy ending.
Despite the complexity of individual arrangements and lyrics, the early Marillion albums (from the Fish era) were relatively easy to “get” after a few listens, or even after the first one, thanks to their strong melodic side and occasional but recognizable nods to the sonic heritage of the “golden” seventies. With “Brave”, though, the former neo-prog champions kicked off a trend of albums that, because of their unusual variety of ideas and shifting time signatures, usually demand many more listens. In return, the listener is rewarded in the end, since every new spin reveals something new, which means records like this usually pass the test of time with flying colors.
Most of the compositions on “Brave” are structured so that they flow elegantly and almost invisibly from punchier, more complex rock passages into sudden ambient “lulls” (or the other way around), successfully ramping up the ever-present drama that pervades the concept of the lost girl. Already the opening ballad “Bridge” draws us through sound samples into a gentle, dreamy melody led by Hogarth’s melancholic vocals. The album really comes alive after the sudden segue into “Living With The Big Lie”, which in its first part features plenty of minimalist effects and waves of ambient curtains, until in the second part, with a fully immersed Hogarth, it picks up a more energetic edge, ruled by Rothery’s brilliant guitar work.
“Runaway” is yet another in the long line of splendid ballads this band has tossed off over the years as if it were nothing, and of course it wouldn’t be complete without Rothery’s weeping slide guitar solo. Hogarth shines as always in the sheer amount of emotion he pours into telling this dramatic concept. Next up is the 12-minute suite “Goodbye to All That”, made up of five sections, where they prove why they remained one of the most exciting prog rock bands in the nineties too. A relatively innocent, dreamy intro suddenly tips over into a dramatic, almost chaotic section with all sorts of unexpected time changes and complex instrumental solo flights. The longer ambient section, with its many sound samples and distant guitar slides, is especially impressive.
“Hard As Love” is almost a hard rock number, with traditionalist touches of Hammond organ and drawn-out guitar phrases over energetic vocals and the hard graft of the Trewavas-Mosley rhythm section. It’s also one of the few compositions on the album whose chorus easily lodges itself in the listener’s mind. “The Hollow Man”, which also came out as a single, is another gorgeous ballad where Mr. H couldn’t feel more at home behind the piano. This time there are no big complications, but the results are incredibly deep. The next single from the album, “Alone Again in the Lap Of Luxury”, is another chance to show off the band’s livelier, rockier side, with an excellent balance between a melodic chorus and short instrumental solo flights. Thanks to the superb production, the harmony between the guitar phrases and keyboard textures is at a truly enviable level.
The bouncy “Paper Lies” keeps up the optimistic ambient shades, and the biggest surprise is Rothery, who this time throws in some almost bluesy, salt-of-the-earth guitar phrases. Thanks to the Irish whistles in the intro, the title track has some authentically Celtic-flavored arrangements, which goes a long way toward creating an exceptional melancholy that only intensifies until the end of the album. A longer ambient section, built from all sorts of sound effects and digitally compressed vocals, is followed by an artful transition into “The Great Escape”. The third single from the album, made up of two vivid sections each better than the other, is still among the most recognizable pieces from “Brave” today. The closing ballad “Made Again”, with an unusually cheerful H and playful acoustic guitar arrangements, conjures up an openly optimistic mood, so it more or less gives hope for a happy resolution of the concept and with it a “new beginning”.
“Brave” isn’t just one of the peaks in this legendary band’s career, it’s also one of the greatest concept albums of all time, and it signaled a much better era for art rock in general in the second half of the nineties. Few “old school” or “new wave” prog rock bands (that is, former comrades-in-arms) can boast, as Marillion can, of reaching one of the high points of their career in the nineties.
The album of course didn’t bring EMI the commercial success they so craved, partly because of the poor promotion, which the band had themselves to blame for in part. They also had to accept that none of the three singles, despite their excellence, carried real hit potential, since the compositions are structured to have the best effect when listened to as part of the album as a whole. And to wrap up, it’s worth mentioning that the acclaimed director Richard Stanley shot “Brave” as a 50-minute film that coincided with the album’s release. Like the album, the film has gained cult status over the years.
Lineup
Steve Hogarth – vocals
Steve Rothery – guitar
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Pete Trewavas – bass guitar
Ian Mosley – drums
Production
Dave Meegan
Tracklist
1. Bridge
2. Living with the Big Lie
3. Runaway
4. Goodbye to all That
(I) Wave
(II) Mad
3. (III) The Opium Den
4. (IV) The Slide
5. (V) Standing in the Swing
5. Hard as Love
6. The Hollow Man
7. Alone again in the Lap of Luxury
1. (I) Now wash your hands
8. Paper Lies
9. Brave
10. The Great Escape
(I) The last of you
(II) Falling from the moon
11. Made Again
