Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: Racket Records
Release: 2014
Runtime: 133:33
Rating: 4.5/5
On May 16, 2014, the last night of their South American ‘Best Sounds’ tour, British prog-rock champions Marillion took the stage in the Chilean capital of Santiago, where an outstanding show blew away the crowd at the Teatro Caupolican. The end result of that night was a double Christmas live album titled »Chile For The Time Of Year«. The setlist is impressive once again and played at the highest level, packing some of the best chapters from their long career, while the band was in great spirits all evening long.
Marillion fans still can’t quite agree on whether it’s right for an art-rock-leaning band with Hogarth to keep playing songs from the completely different Fish era, but every now and then it’s nice to hear that they haven’t forgotten their neo-prog roots and biggest commercial hits, so it’s kind of lovely that this double live treat includes Fish-era evergreens like »Kayleigh«, »Lavender«, »Heart Of Lothian«, »Sugar Mice« and »Warm Wet Circles«.
From the Hogarth era, apart from the two representatives of »Sounds That Can’t Be Made« (2012), the 19-minute epic »Gaza« and the dark »Power«, the picks are mostly standards from the early days of the singer’s time with the cult band. The slightly newer ones include a gorgeous version of »Man Of a Thousand Faces«, »You’re Gone«, the closing treat »Neverland« and the magnum opus »Ocean Cloud«, which, along with »Gaza«, is one of the two absolute peaks of this live document. It’s also great to hear that Marillion aren’t ashamed to play the more commercially minded stuff from their rich treasure chest, like »Cover My Eyes«, »No One Can« and »Hooks In You«, while the moving ballads »Easter« and »Beautiful« remind us again and again of the socially critical awareness of the legendary band and just how powerful the emotions poured into them were.
The limited Christmas edition »Chile For The Time Of Year« boasts a killer selection of live performances, courtesy of ‘Britain’s best-kept musical secret’, aka the most skilled crafters of would-be hits (with the exception of »Kayleigh«), whose music is practically banned from trendy radio stations these days in favor of second- or even third-rate modern acts. »Chile For The Time Of Year« is a pretty rare release, available only through the fan club, but it’s absolutely worth adding to your Marillion live collection if only because it has both »Gaza« and »Ocean Cloud« on it, which is a truly exceptional rarity and hard to pull off twice. Another rare treat is hearing the traditionally mellow and friendly Hogarth suddenly lose his cool when some far-too-loud, Spanish-speaking ‘fan’ all but makes it impossible for him to introduce »Ocean Cloud« in peace.
Lineup
Steve Hogarth – vocals
Steve Rothery – guitar
Pete Trewavas – bass, backing vocals
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Ian Mosley – drums
Production
Marillion
Tracklist
CD1 (71:44)
1. Gaza (19:07)
2. Easter (8:07)
3. Beautiful (6:31)
4. Power (6:20)
5. You’re Gone (6:48)
6. Man Of A Thousand Faces (8:33)
7. No One Can (5:43)
8. Warm Wet Circles (10:35)
CD2 (61:49)
1. Cover My Eyes (4:32)
2. The Uninvited Guest (4:19)
3. Hooks In You (9:06)
4. Ocean Cloud (16:46)
5. Kayleigh (4:33)
6. Lavender (2:36)
7. Heart Of Lothian (3:29)
8. Sugar Mice (6:06)
9. Neverland (10:22)
