Script for a Jester's Tear (Mlps) [Import, Original recording remastered]

Marillion | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Toshiba EMI Japan
• ASIN: B000AU1O4G
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,510 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Script for a Jester's Tear

2. He Knows You Know

3. The Web

4. Garden Party

5. Chelsea Monday

6. Forgotten Sons

Disc: 2

1. Market Sqaure Heroes [Battle Priest Version]

2. Three Boats Down from the Candy

3. Grendel [Fair Deal Studios Version]

4. Chelsea Monday [Manchester Square Demo]

5. He Knows You Know [Manchester Square Demo]

6. Charting the Single

7. Market Square Heroes [Alternative Version][Alternate Take]

Editorial Reviews

Japanese remastered pressing of the 1983 album comes in a miniature LP sleeve. EMI. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1983... Gabriel back with Genesis? - not quite, it's a new band ..., February 1, 2006

By 

Duke "Duke" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Script for A Jester's Tear (Audio CD)

I can remember the guy at our local Record store telling me about this "new band" in England who were really good. Evidently all the Iron Maiden fans were into them, they were called Marillion. So I listened to this album and from the first notes thought, sounds more like Peter Gabriel back with Genesis to me, being a big Genesis fan I thought... I'll take it!

Listening to it at home that night, the first track made me think of what would have been the first new track after the "Lamb lies down on Broadway", it just sounded so Gabriel period Genesis. By the end of the album I played it again it was fantastic one of the best albums I had ever heard. The lead singer (Fish) was very emotional both lyrically and in his vocal style - and also sang with great passion. Guitarist Steve Rothery seemed very talented and at times reminded me of Steve Hackett (who was in Genesis from 1971 - 1977). Mark Kelly - Keyboards was also very accomplished, as was drummer Mick Pointer on drums and Pete Trewavas on Bass (who would also join up with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Neal Morse (Spock's Beard) and Roine Stolt (Flower Kings) to form a superb "sideline" band called "Transatlantic" in 2001).

Certainly the intensity and emotion of the lyrics / vocals and music combined were captivating to me and it was an album that I played over and over and seemed to find something new in each listening. The songs build beautifully and contain a number of changes (of the 6 tracks 4 are over the 8 minute mark (Script for a Jesters Tear / Chelsea Monday / The Web / Forgotten Sons), Garden Party clocks in at 7 minutes. (The shortest track is "He Knows You Know" at just over 5 minutes). The title track was a highlight for me together with the song about drugs - "He knows You Know", "Garden Party" (which would go on to become an in concert favourite) and "Forgotten Sons" (which reminded me a lot of "The Knife" from Genesis (from Tresspass - 1970). "The Web" is a very well put together track with "Chelsea Monday" providing brilliant guitar work (both electric and acoustic) and again very well put together, very emotional.

In summary, a stunning debut album from a band that sounded so "Gabriel style Genesis" to me that had Genesis released it I would have been over the moon. It is really that good. Fish's lyrics and powerful vocal delivery together with Steve Rothery's exceptional electric and acoustic guitar work really carry this album to another level.

For me this is an extremely enjoyable album from start to finish. I enjoy listening to it as much today as I first did almost 24 years ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, it's superb.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't forget these sons..., May 15, 2002

By 

Steven Cain (Temporal Quantum Pocket) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Script for a Jester's Tear (Audio CD)

While Marillion were always dogged by the Genesis Clone label, they really were an excellent band in their own right. The quality of the songwriting and musicianship is particularly strong on this, their magical debut.

The first thing to grab you about Marillion is the haunting cover art of the superb Mark Wilkinson, who continued to work with fellow genius, Fish, after the big fella left Marillion. (Their lavishly illustrated book Masque is an absolutely essential purchase.)

Script is one of those rare albums where every single track is a classic. Yet this double CD version is most definitely the one to go for, as Disc 2 contains further indispensible classics, such as Market Square Heroes (2 versions), the breathtaking Three Boats Down From The Candy (which perhaps more than any other track truly encapsulates the very core of Fish-Marillion's magic) and the epic Grendel, which has been described as their Supper's Ready.

Just as Genesis carried on in name only when Peter Gabriel left, so too Marillion continued to (legitimately) use the name after Fish moved on. However, in each case, however well the remaining band members rallied and put out solid albums, a large part of the original magic left with the lead singers.

If you only ever buy one Marillion album, let this be it... but... why stop at only one?

I agree with reviewer Jorge that it is sad there had been no previous reviews of such a fine and defining album. It would be a tragedy if the original band and this magical album should be forgotten.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dark and complex album reissued with extra tracks, August 17, 2000

By 

Graham Adair - See all my reviews

This review is from: Script for a Jester's Tear (Audio CD)

When the 1970's turned into the 1980's, the leading progressive rock bands of the day felt they had to evolve. Genesis ditched their complex technical noodlings and turned into a pop band; Pink Floyd imploded and ground to a halt; Rush blazed an intelligent path into complete obscurity; and Yes, well, Yes became No, frankly.

Into the gap, then, stepped Marillion. Script for a Jester's Tear was their debut, the first of five thoughtful, well crafted affairs, followed by another half dozen anonymous and turgid ones (after Fish left). 'Script' captures the musicianship and the spirit of Marillion perfectly, complete with flashy keyboard and guitar solos and unfathomable lyrics. Garden Party seemed an unlikely hit single, but you have to remember that in those days there really wasn't anyone else making this kind of music, and Marillion won the kind of fan base that's prepared to stay the course through thick and thin. Perhaps that's they key to Marillion: if you're a fan, you're probably a HUGE fan. Marillion's music always seemed to be meanighful, personal, something to be lived in.

Accusations of sounding like Genesis are unfair - Marillion were what Genesis never managed to become. If you like, Marillion represent what Genesis might have become if Peter Gabriel hadn't left. Anyway, 'Script' still sounds superb after 17 years, which testifies to the immense musical talent within the band. Producer Nick Tauber (who had previously worked with the likes of Thin Lizzy back in the seventies) excelled himself here, giving the album a depth and atmosphere that suited the band perfectly.

As for the second CD - a collection of alternative versions and B-sides - it's an interesting document of the band's early days but not something for the casual listener. Market Square Heroes and Three Boats Down From the Candy are superb, presented here in their original versions (rather than the re-recorded and rather bland versions reissued some years later, and available on the 'Bsides Themselves' album). The version of Grendel here isn't a patch on the 'proper' version, sounding amateur and a bit unrehearsed, with all the interesting musical bits not yet dreamt up. Chelsea Monday and He Knows You Know are truly dismal affairs - stick to the finished items on the album proper - while Charting the Single was always a good track, if a little tongue-in-cheek. In summary then, the album itself is indispensible, but don't pay a fortune to get the extra CD.