Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: EMI Records
Released: 1987
Duration: 16:26
Rating: 4.5/5
In the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon world, there’s a popular custom born around the Christmas holidays: bartenders serve guests sugar mice with their cocktails, to take the edge off the usually harsh taste of the boozy concoction they ordered. Fish, the charismatic singer of prog rock legends Marillion, used them in the song of the same name as a metaphor for his social life, worn down by too much fame, when he was losing touch with reality and turning into a mirror image of Torch, the lost bohemian and drunk at the center of the masterpiece “Clutching at Straws” (1987).
The melancholic, nostalgic “Sugar Mice” was picked as the second single from the neo-prog rock champs’ aforementioned fourth studio effort. This deeply introspective piece, which shows Fish at his most emotional, is at its heart an exceptionally beautiful power ballad with gorgeous piano arrangements and a feather-light guitar melody. Marillion crafted quite a few outstanding power ballads over their career, but “Sugar Mice” is the one that captures Fish’s emotional state at the time most perfectly, with a sudden burst of positivity landing in the lively chorus, right as Rothery’s balmy guitar solo almost simultaneously kicks in. That solo feels like a sudden ray of light flooding a dark room with full force. It’s the winning recipe for lifting the listener’s mind, soul and heart all at once, the thing that always set Marillion at least a full class above their eighties neo-prog peers.
At its core, “Sugar Mice” is Fish’s farewell song, since his decision to leave the band can be felt throughout most of the lyrics. The rest of the lyrics are about a British worker who emigrated to the US and left his family behind, only to end up drunk in some bar in the middle of Milwaukee.
On 12-inch vinyl, “Sugar Mice” appears in its untouched album version and an extended form, while the CD edition has the radio edit and the extended version. The second track is the thoroughly average “Tux On”, a not-so-inspired effort with a repetitive slow rhythm and a nondescript chorus, so it’s no surprise it didn’t make the original version of “Clutching at Straws”. The only thing that really wows here is the excellent instrumental middle section.
Fish’s ode to “sugar mice in the rain” is one of the loveliest ballads in the Marillion story, from the moment the legendary singer already had one foot at a career crossroads and the neo-prog champs were staring down a dramatic change in style.
Lineup
Fish – vocals
Steve Rothery – guitar
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Pete Trewavas – bass guitar
Ian Mosley – drums
Production
Chris Kimsey
Tracklist
1. Sugar Mice (Radio Edit)
2. Tux On
3. Sugar Mice (Extended Version)
