Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: Intact Records
Release: 2009
Length: 57:24
Rating: 4/5
In recent years, Marillion have been putting out studio albums in fairly quick succession with seemingly playful ease. Within their extremely loyal community of followers, those records always stir up pretty mixed feelings, but in the end almost everyone agrees that the art rock legends just don’t run out of imagination and adventurous spirit, which keeps them in the elite of the most interesting bands working on the tricky border between experimental and popular music. This time they went for a completely different approach that’s going to surprise plenty of people, because “Less Is More” isn’t your usual electric-leaning studio album. It’s their first fully acoustic record ever, which means they’ve dressed up some longtime favorites in acoustic threads.
This rather unusual step for a traditionally electric band has produced mixed results. Some new takes on old favorites turn out wonderfully, while others lose almost all of their original magic. Of everyone on the album, guitarist Steve Rothery probably enjoyed himself the most. A master of guitar subtlety, he adapted to the acoustic setting beautifully, while keyboardist Mark Kelly follows closely with almost entirely minimalist synth touches. This kind of acoustic approach was an especially big challenge for drummer Ian Mosley, who usually loves to step into the spotlight but this time had to tactfully retreat into the background. Trewavas’ bass lines, too, are often not as audible as usual. Steve Hogarth, on the other hand, gets a great chance, with the near-total absence of electrified and complex walls of sound, to shine once again as a singer who has managed to keep his voice in great shape even in his later years.
The selection of reworked material can hardly be called spectacular, as everyone will miss one of their favorites. Mostly these are songs the band has played live “countless times” over the last twenty years. All the acoustic arrangements come from most of the albums since 1989, that is, since Mr. H started earning his bread as their lead singer. For a warm-up they picked two of the more popular songs from “marillion.com” (1999), “Go!” and “Interior Lulu”, and the latter works better, coming alive with a changed, much more subtle mood. The longtime classic “Out Of This World” from “Afraid Of Sunlight” (1995), which tells the tragic story of Donald Campbell, a man who wanted to set a water speed record in his vehicle, is another of the better reworkings. “Hard As Love”, a classic from “Brave” (1994), also turns out interesting, taking on a much more optimistic charge in its new guise. “Memory Of Water” (originally on “This Strange Engine”, 1997), a traditionally quiet, ballad-leaning piece, is the only rework that, thanks to a completely refreshed ambient magic, is a serious rival to the studio original.
Much less convincing are the acoustic reworkings of the more dramatic and epic pieces, such as “The Space…” from H’s debut album “Season’s End” (1989). Many will miss the pompous keyboard arrangements and the greater emotional commitment from H that permeated the original. The album “Anoraknophobia” (2001), which is no secret to be among the band members’ favorites, is represented by as many as three acoustic versions, and the best of them is “If My Heart Were a Ball It Would Roll Uphill”, thanks to some jazzy improvisations between the keyboards. One of the performances also comes from the last (electric) studio album, “Happiness Is The Road” (2008), namely “Wrapped Up in Time”, which follows the original’s atmosphere almost completely. At the end there’s also a so-called hidden, unnamed bonus track, but it’s no dramatic surprise, since it’s “just” a nice reworking of the psychedelic, off-the-wall “Afraid Of Sunlight” classic “Cannibal Surf Babe”.
There’s only one new song on the track list, “It’s Not Your Fault”, and it’s nothing special at all, not to say a disappointment, at least by their usual standards. There are also no songs from the Fish era, which is of course no surprise and is in its own way even welcome, given H’s usual emotionally unconvincing performances of material from before he joined the band. You could fault some of the reworkings for lacking a bit of imagination and not stretching the arrangements out at least a little, since they were left at their original length or even shortened, but that in no way diminishes the overall enjoyment of listening to this record.
At heart, “Less Is More” is an interesting acoustic experiment that will surely warm the hearts of the most devoted Marillion fans, while leaving the less invested relatively cold, let alone winning over any new converts. With it, Marillion mostly confirmed that they remain among the top masters of sonic reinvention. There’s no doubt the band had a blast making it, even if not all the fruits of the acoustic re-arranging are equally successful. Every so often it’s fascinating to listen to those longtime classics that survived the acoustic transformation well, and to soak up again the instrumental versatility and sharpened sense of improvisation that reigns among the members of this legendary band. They’ll best live up to their reputation as a “people’s” band that communicates with its followers in the most down-to-earth way by not selling “Less Is More” at the usual price of a regular, electrified studio album.
Lineup
Steve Hogarth – vocals
Steve Rothery – guitar
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Pete Trewavas – bass guitar
Ian Mosley – drums
Production
Marillion
Track list
1. Go!
2. Interior Lulu
3. Out of This World
4. Wrapped Up in Time
5. The Space…
6. Hard as Love
7. Quartz
8. If My Heart Were a Ball It Would Roll Uphill
9. It’s Not Your Fault
10. Memory of Water
11. This is the 21st Century
12. Cannibal Surf Babe
