Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: EMI Records
Released: 1985
Rating: 5/5
Unforgettable masterpieces like “Misplaced Childhood” happen only once in a career, even for top-tier bands like Marillion. For the band, the album wasn’t just an artistic peak but a commercial one too, and with that, indirectly, the peak of their career. It’s also an album that generations of listeners will remember for a long time, each with their own feelings when they spin it. For some it’s the album best known for the band’s two biggest hits: “Kayleigh” and (to a somewhat lesser extent) “Lavender”. According to the band members, both songs came about through a strange coincidence, or “by accident”. For others, it’s the album that revived the by-then dead idea of the concept album and, in doing so, rekindled interest in progressive rock in the 80s. And for a third group, it’s simply one of the most magnificent creations in the history of rock music, the one that finally placed the band among the immortals and put them shoulder to shoulder with the greatest prog rock bands of all time. The band members certainly never dreamed they’d have such a huge success, and with their first concept album at that, something few bands dared to experiment with at the time, even in their genre.
Although their previous albums already contained plenty of seeds of a concept, this is their first official concept album. This time Fish wrestles with the concept of his too-quickly-forgotten and somewhat wasted childhood, caused above all by the sudden fame of a rock star along with all its negative consequences: loneliness, alienation, lost love and the abuse of various substances. This is followed by his inevitable yearning for lost childhood innocence. In the end, when he’s at his lowest, he manages to revive that forgotten feeling within himself. Above all through beautiful memories: of first love, childhood games with friends and the like, so he can catch the “rainbow” and find meaning in his life again. By his own account, this really happened after one day, following way too many drinking sessions (and who knows what else), he ended up half dead from heavy thoughts and alcohol, lying in a bathtub, and started thinking hard about his life up to then (which is also where he got his nickname – because he liked to read books in the tub). That life was, at that moment, the typical life of a somewhat “burnt-out” rock star. And so he ended up with an excellent concept for the new Marillion album, which, despite lyrics that are mostly extremely personal, lets every listener identify with individual parts of it in their own way. The cover makes it clear this is a concept album (another masterpiece by Mark Wilkinson, showing the “main character” as a child in an officer’s uniform holding a magpie, while the court jester is already peeking through the window of his future), as does the fact that the songs flow straight into one another with no gaps between them. As for the production, it hardly needs saying that it’s traditionally killer, and the current double reissue of the album from 1998 is especially impressive.
The album opens with a tense intro, as usual, with “Pseudo Silk Kimono”, built on atmospheric keyboards and Fish’s dramatically melancholic vocals, and it sounds like a dramatic attempt to summon his forgotten memories. Next comes the biggest hit in the band’s history, “Kayleigh”. At its core it’s an incredibly subtle power ballad in which Fish recalls his first love and all the unhappy relationships that followed. With Rothery’s unforgettable opening riff and the keyboards, plenty of melodic hooks, Fish’s romantic vocals and a string of superb guitar solos, it’s a brilliant piece of work, both technically and emotionally, and it fully deserved its hit status. It’s a song that plenty of people know even if they have no clue about Marillion’s music or prog rock in general, which means it’s by far their best-known work. Hits are usually a double-edged sword for a prog rock band, since they often hurt their reputation, but “Kayleigh” is a completely different story, because it more than successfully combines the band’s commercial and progressive sides. “Lavender” follows right after, another excellent power ballad that was also a hit. After a nostalgic piano intro it flows into a romantic section with a great chorus. Despite its simple structure, it’s yet another wonderful piece from the band that will withstand every test of time, and once you’ve heard it, you won’t forget it anytime soon. Things get a bit more complicated with “Bitter Suite”, a suite split into three sections. Here Marillion return a bit more to their home prog rock turf, since it’s a dramatic, complex and highly charged composition. The first part, called “Brief Encounter”, opens with Fish’s narration, where he describes himself as an “obscure Scottish poet”, then comes a transition with intense keyboards and guitar solos. The song is intense throughout, full of time changes and subtle guitar solos, and it also has a melancholic yet triumphant chorus that repeats the main motif from “Lavender”. In “Lost Weekend” an extremely melancholic mood sets in, peaking in the final part, “Blue Angel”. The suite then flows straight into the excellent “Heart Of Lothian”, another masterpiece that was released as a single. It has an outstanding intro and a triumphant chorus, as Rothery’s ultra-melodic solo warbles in harmony with Kelly’s keyboards. In the middle section, “Wide Boy”, Fish impresses with his incredibly energetic singing. The piece is full of melodic and subtle transitions, with loads of first-rate solos, Fish’s excellent and witty singing, and the ever-varied rhythm line of Tewavas-Mosley. In the lyrics, Fish describes his childhood mischief. The main chorus returns several more times over a subtle solo in the second part, called “Curtain Call”. Then comes the frenetic, ultra-dramatic, almost claustrophobic “Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)”, where the listener feels like they’ve landed in some kind of turbulent water carousel. With ominous riffs, Fish’s chilling, frothing-at-the-mouth vocals, and fast, punchy rhythmic shifts, the atmosphere deepened above all by a dramatic keyboard motif, hardly any listener will keep a cool head. The song suddenly morphs into the rowdy “Lords Of The Backstage”, where Fish vividly describes his backstage adventures in the lyrics. All of it with an incredible feel for tragedy and the many frustrations he was often going through at the time. The rhythm is simple, and so are the chorus and the basic motif. This track serves merely as a warm-up for one of the album’s peaks: the majestic epic suite “Blind Curve”, split into no fewer than five sections, which makes it the longest piece on the album. The song features some of Fish’s best vocal moments of his career. In the opening, highly ambient part, “Vocal Under a Bloodlight”, he wishes in the lyrics for “peace of mind”. Then, after a transition, in “Passing Strangers” he questions the meaning of the path he’s walked so far, since he’s never been “this low”. Next comes “Mylo”, with a top-notch Rothery solo that ranks among the best on the album. And when a three-part, nostalgic guitar harmony kicks in, joined by Fish’s dramatic vocals, the song hits its peak. In the “Perimeter Walk” section, Fish’s melancholic vocals alternate with brilliant instrumental passages that create an exceptionally melancholic, almost tragic mood. The drama builds toward its climax. When Fish’s vocals sound utterly crushed and he feels he’s reached the “end of the road”, a complete turnaround suddenly follows, as he feels the child within him again (“I can sense a child”). By the time the last part of the suite, “Threshold”, comes in, he already knows he’s on the verge of an inner change. You can feel it above all in his somewhat more optimistic tone of voice, slightly brighter instrumental passages, and the return of the main motif from “Heart Of Lothian”. That mood peaks on the unforgettable “Childhood’s End”, another of the album’s high points and, in my opinion, one of the band’s finest works, since it shows how in just a few years they reached an incredible level of maturity. With a subtle riff and superb ambient keyboard passages, joined by Fish’s deeply nostalgic vocals, the listener is instantly carried off to “cloud nine”. Especially first-rate is the unforgettable transition and the verse where Fish realizes that the child in him will never pass, that he’s found the answer to his central question in life, and that he knows he has to keep walking his own path. Consequently, a noticeable change in Fish’s personal life followed too, as he increasingly became aware of the unhealthy consequences of the “rock star” life. Fish’s unforgettable line that “childhood’s never over” is downright legendary and ranks among the best in the band’s history. For me, this is also the peak of the whole album and its final revelation, as the main character (Fish) makes a positive shift in his life, realizes there are other paths in it too, and rediscovers childlike playfulness and innocence along the way. Finally, there’s the excellent “White Feather”, which triumphantly confirms the protagonist’s personal victory. With a calm and refined rhythm, followed by an incredibly beautiful and romantic chorus featuring chanting backing vocals, it’s a thoroughly fitting closer for this concept masterpiece.
The second disc of the 1998 reissue is packed with all sorts of goodies for true fans of the band. “Lady Nina”, which was also released as a single, is a pop rock song that’s completely atypical for the band, built on programmed drums and “new wave”-sounding keyboards. As a fan of the band’s more complex side, I think it’s a rather mediocre piece by their usual standards, and given how much of those pop leanings it has, it’s not exactly among my favorites. Still, Rothery’s solos are great as usual, and so is Fish’s vocal, while Kelly’s electronic synths and the programmed drums just sound a bit too electronic, or “new wave”. “Freaks” is another lesser-known and less interesting piece from the band, released as a B-side to a single. It’s important mainly because the fan club of fans who called themselves “freaks” got its name from it. The song has a completely simple motif and a pretty monotonous rhythm. All that saves it from total mediocrity is the usual excellent vocals, guitar and keyboards. The disc also has an alternative version of “Kayleigh”, with a much slower rhythm and a simpler structure, since quite a few guitar sections have been cut out. There’s also a special version of “Lavender” called “Lavender Blue”, with slightly changed lyrics. Plus an extended version of the excellent “Heart Of Lothian”. All three special versions are a must for fans of the band. The rest of the disc consists of previously unreleased versions of most of the album’s songs. They offer the listener, so to speak, an alternative version of the entire album! Among them, it’s especially interesting to see that instead of the suite “Blind Curve” there’s a set of songs like “Blue Angel”, “Misplaced Rendezvous” and “Passing Strangers”, which means the suite hadn’t yet been finalized and was still sitting here in individual pieces.
With this fantastic masterpiece, which will live on for all time, Marillion matured both artistically and in expressive power and created one of the landmarks of progressive rock. In doing so, they also came closest to perfection in their career. At the same time, through the huge success of the hit singles and the album as a whole, they indirectly managed to boost interest in progressive rock again, which was mostly going through hard times in the 80s. With this album, its new subgenre (neo prog rock) was enjoying its heyday, and with “Misplaced Childhood” it also hit its peak and finally proved that the best prog rock works weren’t made only in the 70s. “Misplaced Childhood” is the definitive Marillion album, one that every serious rock collector should own and that belongs in every household. All of you who feel life pressing down hard on you or feel prematurely aged, perhaps spending your days in some boring job, say in bureaucracy, and then going home to put up with a nagging wife with curlers in her hair and a pink poodle, plus a pile of spoiled kids, spin this album at least once, relive Fish’s story through it, and remember that childhood’s never over.
Lineup
Fish – vocals
Steve Rothery – guitar
Pete Trewavas – bass
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Ian Mosley – drums
Production
Chris Kimsey
Track list
1. Pseudo silk kimono (2:13)
2. Kayleigh (4:03)
3. Lavender (2:27)
4. Bitter suite (5:53)
5. Heart of Lothian (6:02)
6. Warterhole (expresso bongo) (2:12)
7. Lords of the backstage (1:52)
8. Blind curve (9:29)
9. Childhood end? (4:32)
10. White feather (2:23)
Album length: 41:05
Bonus CD (1998 edition)
1. Lady Nina (Extended 12″ Version) (5:50)
2. Freaks (Single version) (4:08)
3. Kayleigh (Alternative Mix) (4:03)
4. Lavender Blue (Lavender Remix) (4:22)
5. Heart of Lothian (Extended Mix) (5:54)
6. Pseudo Silk Kimono (Demo) (2:11)
7. Kayleigh (Demo) (4:06)
8. Lavender (Demo) (2:37)
9. Bitter Suite (Demo) (2:54)
10. Lords of the Backstage (Demo) (1:46)
11. Blue Angel (Demo) (1:46)
12. Misplaced Randezvous (Demo) (1:56)
13. Heart of Lothian (Demo) (3:49)
14. Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) (Demo) (2:00)
15. Passing Strangers (Demo) (9:17)
16. Childhoods End? (Demo) (2:23)
17. White Feather (Demo) (2:18)
