Customer Reviews

MARILLION - RECITAL OF THE SCRIPT

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great LIVE DVD with Fish in 1983,

Unlike the original tv clips (Kayleigh as example), the songs are complete, even Grendel for a long 18 minutes !!!!

If you like Marillion for the same reasons, the electric guitar and Fish's voice, you will love this DVD.

As a bonus, the crowd is very quiet !!!!!

I've been a fan of Marillion (Fish era only) since I stumbled across a tape in a record store in Phoenix back in the early 80's. If you like your music thoughtful (both lyrically and musically), provocative and intelligent, this DVD is a must have. It's worth the purchase price for the performance of "Forgotten Sons" and "Market Square Heroes" alone (two of their best). The DVD doesn't have alot of frills but the interview with Fish is a high point. I miss the band very much but am thankful I saw them on the "Clutching at Straws" tour in Germany in 1987, Fish then leaving the next year.

Picked up "Recital of the Script" a couple weeks ago and finally got a second look at the DVD.

Taken from a Hammersmith Odeon concert in '83, this is the Marillion I remebered and enjoyed.

When I first heard "He Knows, You Know" - which gets a good performance - I just knew I had to pick up their music. They're a cross between Genesis (with Peter Gabriel) and Rush, making them a...yah, I know...prog-rock band.

Fish (Derek Dick) is a dynamic singer and lyricist, if pretentious and self-indulgent. His voice is so idiosyncratic that when he left the band, I just could not listen to the new frontman. Steven Rothery is an underrated guitarist who's very expressive and is complemented by Mark Kelly on the keyboards. The rhythm section provides solid backing.

The high point is "Forgotten Sons" - no surprise there but I must admit that my two favorite songs - "Cinderella Search" and "Assassing" - are not on the setlist. If only "Real to Reel" was filmed(?)...I got the CD in '84 as an UK import.

The disc is in stereo and 4:3 format with meager extras - the highlight being an interview with Fish. The video and audio quality is acceptable.

Hey, maybe I'll indulge my curiousity and pick up a post-Fish album after this nostalgic treat.

i still have the original vhs copy and have followed the band since market square heroes in 1982 till fish left the dvd was a great addition to my collection and the interview is just the tip of the iceberg

in a rock mag way back in '85 this was the title of the one page interview with the boys in the band.script was out and getting little airplay in the states,but was huge abroad.they stuck to their guns and played inspired rock/prog/psychedelia,with amazing lyrical content provided by derek dick,or "FISH",the compositions were loaded with off time signatures,and melodic harmonies,and chorus pieces,then an overwhelming eerie,haunting beautiful break where fish inserted incredible voice quality,and words from the wilderness of the english wordscapes.after the fourth offering from the band ,i remained a faithful fan.but not to walk off task,recital is the script in its entirety.a young and long haired fish was electric,his messages were clear and he forms a real bond with his followers.

when fish called it quits,i anxiously awaited his solo release,which was very hard to acquire.after listening to it the clear leader of marillion was recognized.his ballads were the stuff we had become accustomed to hearing.the compositions were arranged so that all members of the company could enjoy .this dvd has become my favorite,a bit late,but artistic and beautiful all the same.i would rate script a solid 5/5,fugazi,a different sort of creation earns high marks as well.misplaced childhood is the masterpiece that would make any music lover an instant fan,and clutching at straws is a capable and captivating swan song for fish.

still an incredible band with so many outstanding creations to their credit,not to mention the solo work,the true fan really must add this dvd to their collection,because it paves the way nicely for both marillion and fish.

I am not a "Marillion isn't Marillion without Fish" guys. I love what they have done with Steve H waaaaaay to much for that. With that said, I do enjoy the original era, and this is a great visual document of that era. The music is phenomenal and Fish's vocals are passionate and always delivered with conviction. If you are expecting 1080 HD, this won't be for you. The picture is as good as you are going to get with something filmed in the early 80s. The sound has been nicely mastered in dobly surround. Good value, good price.

I'm sold to that group to start with !But the DVD is mostly excellent, considering the fact that it is 27 years old !!! The fact that it's in stereo only doesn't bother me....neither that it is a PAL format disc, since my computer is connected to my home theater system thru HDMI cables. It's a great product and I recommend it to everyone.

Service & shipping was above average too...

Antes que nada; hay que ubicar el momento histórico en que se dió este concierto y en general el surgimiento de Marillion. Era 1983 y los mejores días del rock progresivo habían terminado; Pink Floyd se deshacía, ELP no existía, Rush se "modernizaba" con "Signals" y King Crimson con "Discipline", Genesis hacía "That's All" y Yes tocaba fondo (artísticamente hablando) con "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", por mencionar a los grupos clásicos. Fue entonces que apareció Marillion con "Script For A Jesters Tear", un grupo que pese a contar con notables e innegables influencias del progresivo de los setentas, logró recrearlo y perfeccionarlo. Al escuchar el album y ver este DVD, confirmamos que en aquel entonces Marillion si sonaba a Genesis y sobre todo Fish era un clon de Gabriel. (Eso siempre se dijo), ya después esto cambió y Marillion sonó a Marillion y Fish llegó a lo mas alto en genialidad creativa.

Enfocándome en este DVD, debo decir que vale las cinco estrellas; el audio y video son buenos, el concierto es magnífico e históricamente es un documento importante, aunque no lo parezca, fué hace 20 años y debemos considerar que eran muy jovenes para ser tan buenos, que esta fué su primer gira y que fué el último concierto de Mick Pointer como baterista. Aunque sabemos que lo mejor vino después, este DVD es indispensable.

This is NOT a review of the Marillion DVD, because I haven't received the Recital Of The Script that I ordered. I purchased this DVD through an Amazon dealer and it arrived in a Marillion case, with a disc marked Marillion. However, the content was a Pat Benatar anthology. I returned it and the seller sent a replacement disc. This also turned out to be a mis-marked disc and contained the same Pat Benatar content. This is an extremely frustrating experience and I just wanted to warn potential buyers about what they might wind up getting. There have been notices up at the Marillion site about this as well, so it must be a fairly common error.

Back in April of 2006 I reviewed this disc, or rather my repeated failed attempts to get a copy of it here on Amazon. My first two attempts resulted in me receiving a Pat Benatar video on a disc marked Marillion! Happily, all turned out well and the third try was the charm. One viewing of this DVD and you'll wonder how this band failed to take the world by storm. You get it all here, excellent songs, stellar musicianship and a mesmerizing performance by the entire band. This is vintage Marillion and shows the band in all their early glory. I highly recommend this to anyone who wonders what all the hype was about or wants to take a trip back in time to a magical time in music history. Essential prog rock.

The most pedestrian prog rockers to gain any real commercial stature (in the UK and pockets of Europe) the appeal of Marillion has for many years been lost on me. Having picked up Script for a Jesters Tear and found a wealth of prog/math music of undeniable talent but very little connectivity or bollocks it was solely due to my desire to continue to try to figure out what people saw in this band that I bought this at all. For about the price of a hamburger.

And while this DVD is quite clearly a re-release of some earlier VHS product due to it's limited camera numbers/angles and overall feel it has to be said that this live gig at the Hammersmith Odeon has a certain charm and a feeling of celebration of a band hitting their stride and really building some commercial impetus. And the crowd itself adds to this feeling as they seem quite educated about the bands music and happy to sing along to the labyrinthine lyrical constructs.

The problems with the live Marillion experience at this point are many fold however. Firstly musically there really only seem to be two people in the group. Frontman Fish and the keyboardist. Because they about the only two making any impact. I'm all for keyboards, finding them a worthwhile addition to many of the albums I have loved over the years. But I'm not really interested in hearing them ride over the top of proceedings utterly. And perusing the songwriting credits it seems everyone had a hand in these tunes. So evidently his voice was drowned out or the guitarist was happy to noodle away and totally give up any pretence of trying to drive the odd tune with some guitar heft. Oh well.

Further to this is the fact that there is no sense of show coming from the stage apart from the enigmatic Fish who swoons, roars, prances and looks at times totally fragile and plaintive all the while maintaining a strange masculinity (not easy in that stage clobber). Unless you count the keyboardists bright red leather pants. Barely any movement at all though in all fairness perhaps this was the first time they'd been recorded live or were informed that that the cameras ability to follow movement was limited. But Fish is followed relentlessly.

For Marillion fans out there (i.e. people who write for Classic Rock) this is a pretty good release to pick up as it showcases Fish in fine form and it allows you to scoop up not only the 1983 original video release but also the 1984 video ep release which makes up some of the bonus features of this disc. And the - very brief - liner notes from both releases are included on the booklet as are full credits for production etc.