Customer Reviews

Vol. 2-Happiness Is the Road: the Hard Shoulder

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Hard Shoulder is the second volume of Marillion's 15th album, Happiness is the Road. Essence, the first, is a smooth concept album, but this is a collection of mostly unrelated songs with subjects ranging from sweet ballads to bizarre outer space visitors to American/English culture shock.

It's very hard to pin this disc down, as a result. I think the best advice was supplied years ago with Brave: listen loud and with the lights off. Let the joyful jam of Thunder Fly wash over you and be taken on a trip from there through the strange mind of a British art rock band in a rare vein of creative form. The sound veers from infectious pop (Half the World) to eccentric prog rock (Marzipan) and features plenty of material that only Marillion could write. The climax, Real Tears for Sale, is a heartfelt classic rocker with great replay value.

This is a worthy companion to the magnum opus of Essence, and a brilliant collection in its own right.

RESONATE? What are you talking about, you ask? Well, I made the initial mistake of listening to "Happiness" by playing a couple tracks, here and there, in the car, at work, with no continuity. The result was a lukewarm appreciation...nonchalance. I was a bit disappointed....UNTIL: having the immense fortune of living close to a range of the Italian alps, how could I not be a cyclist??? On one of my 5 hour excursions, I MP3'd both CD's and hit the hills...and slowly, slowly after the second or third play, I started to RESONATE....a term that describes a state achieved when an outside force (wind, sound, light) causes a system to oscillate at a maximum ..it's in tune with it's natural vibrational frequency..think of a bridge swaying in the wind, the silky hum from a wine glass as you rub the rim..that kind of resonance. As humans, we have such a natural frequency..mechanical, emotional, whatever...it's that that instant (albeit ephemeral) that, for some reason, you feel that all is good around you..you are truly at peace, happy. And who the hell knows why??? "Happiness" brought me to that state..which made me realize that these CD's work when you play them continuously, non stop...before I knew it, I found myself on top of one of the peaks..I knew I had suffered but the music dulled the pain..I was resonating. "Happiness" works..it flows, it's gentle but poignant..It's a beautiful CD..period.

Why not 5 stars?? Well, all my fellow drummers would pose the same question..what's going on with Mosley?? Is this the same drummer on "Slainte", "Easter", "White Russian"???? Not much creativity anymore...at the long ending of the title track, for example, he could have done so much, much more. I agree that perhaps the songs require less, still..they could do with some percussive color. Just look as Katche when he drums. I want the old Ian back..desperately.

And Rothery...like Clapton, Santana, Johnson, he has a style recognizable from miles away. We need more classic Rothery. I miss those poignant, heart ripping, soaring solos..Easter, Great Escape..man, goosebumps just thinking about it.

Ok, I'm done...buy both CD's, devote some time to them and you'll understand.

Volume 2 of Happiness Is The Road finds the band in more experimental territory and for me, is the more enjoyable of the two volumes (the other being "Essence").

The CD begins with the uptempo "Thunder Fly", which instantly grabs your attention with its catchiness. The band then shifts gears with the wonderful "The Man From The Planet Marzipan". There is some great playing on this track, from Rothery's other-worldly guitar and Trewavas' funky bass to Mosley's stuttering fills. An A+ for this one.

The band doesn't let up with the next track, "Asylum Satellite #1", as Mark Kelly's deep tones really carry it into one of the top songs they've written in a long time. "Older Than Me" is playful on the keys, while "Throw Me Out" is a fun listen with the horn and orchestration. "Half The World" is quite the pop song and "Whatever Is Wrong With You" is cleverly written and should be an immediate hit...however we all know it won't be.

The only dud here is "Especially True"- good music, however I'm trying to figure out the baseball lyrics. I guess there has to be at least one clunker on every album, right? "Real Tears For Sale" closes it out in fine classic Marillion fashion.

All in all, a fine set. Volume 2 is my preference and may have received 5 stars if it wasn't for "Especially True". Lots of new sounds for the band, however never fear, the bands' classic sound is still firmly intact.

This second volume of Marillion's most recent release is (unlike Vol 1: Essence), a collection of discrete songs without a major concept tying them all together. And a fantastic collection it is, too. I have a hard time separating the two albums despite their differences, as I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy pre-release and have mostly experienced both volumes as one major piece of work.

But the Hard Shoulder may appeal to the hardcore progressive rock fans out there more than Essence, as there are a few real corkers on here. A huge fan of the opening track Thunderfly, this is a bouncing, summery and quirky ode that is really infectious! Try listening to it twice and not get the chorus stuck in your head! The Man from Planet Marzipan is like the slightly eccentric sister to the popular opening track The Invisible Man from Marbles. Asylum Satellite #1 features Rothery's amazing guitar skills wrapped in some new sounds - and by the way - a fantastic lyric from Mr. Hogarth on this! A variety of rhythms, sounds and approaches really stretches Marillion's love of diversity on this album - to its benefit. From the stripped down love song Older Than Me, the beautiful arrangement on Threw Me Out, to the driving pop of Half the World (that should absolutely be all over the radio!), to the rockier Whatever is Wrong With You (around which the band ran a brilliant YouTube contest -- do the search for some amazing entries) -- The Hard Shoulder really does showcase what a comfort the band has experimenting with a broad variety of influences. Personally, it's the closer Real Tears for Sale that is the obvious masterpiece. Classic Marillion. A brilliant lyric, and just a fantastic showing from every member of the band. I expect Real Tears to be a new Live favourite and after 20+years going strong, Happiness is the Road is another Marillion revelation!

Volume 2 of HAPPINESS IS THE ROAD is the harder, edgier release. "Thunder Fly" jumps out behind a driving drum beat with cascading keyboards and lush guitar. In "The Man From The Planet Marzipan," H sings the part of a alien observer come to earth, remarking, "What the hell is going on here? Earth creatures. Amazing, beautiful and mad." Mark Kelly creates layers of synths over driving bass and drums. Steve Rothery plays those beautiful soaring guitar lines he does so well on top of everything. The song has the same sort of emotional bearing as "The Invisible Man" from MARBLES.

"Whatever Is Wrong With You" is a lush rocker, with H proclaiming in the chorus, "Whatever is wrong with you, Is so right for me, So right for me." Two unsung heroes of the band are bass player, Pete Trewavis, and drummer, Ian Mosely. They create a tight, driving rhythm section, often underpinning the music with little details, like in "Especially True."

Marillion's music contains bits and pieces of different styles, and different bands, but it's all so completely Marillion. They have evolved into a very unique musical entity. Treat yourself and buy both volumes of HAPPINESS IS THE ROAD. You'll be glad you did. (c) 2008 Michael Bettine

The opening track, "Thunder Fly," is what one might call eccentric...between Steve Hogarth's falsetto vocals, the shifting time signatures, a nice Rothery solo, typically oddball lyrics, it just comes up...odd. More annoying than a "go to" track, and that's primarily because of Hogarth. I just don;t like what he's doing here, but as they say, one man's ceiling is another man's floor.

"The Man From The Planet Marzipan" is another edgy song, with a turgid, swampy rhythm and laid back, understated vocals. Within the first couple of minutes we're on familiar post-Fish Marillion territory...the volume goes up, the angst-ridden vocals come in, everything gets louder, and then it's back to a whisper. Should this be called a formula? That's hard to say...it depends upon how many of the other 15-plus Hogarth era CDs (not counting the stuff they've issued from their Web Site) you've heard. At the five minute mark, when Hogarth (once again in falsetto) is warbling "I'm so close, I'm so close, to a breakdown, a constant crisis in the heart," you might be tempted to click to the next track. Then again, maybe not. It gets louder and heavier again, then just...stops. Such is prog rock.

"Asylum Satellite #1" starts out in a very nice, melodic, trippy, Pink Floyd "Echoes / Dark Side of the Moon" way, then swells into a beautiful wash of bass and keyboards and phased guitars. For me, it was the first track on the album that made me think "NOW you're talking, gentlemen." Sure, they're still relying on a time-tested formula, but I've got to believe that this is what most prog fans came looking for when they purchased the album. If you are considering a purchase based on track-by-track MP3s, this song is the first one that should be on your list. At nine minutes in length, the song's momentum demands a primo guitar solo, and at the five and a half minute mark, right after Hogarth drops the line "We can see the madness perfectly from here," Rothery does not disappoint, going into full-bore Gilmour mode on a tasty little melodic screamer. Things get a little more subdued, and Rothery works his way back in with his closing solo. 5 out of 5 stars for this one.

"Older Than Me" puts us back in the realm of three-minute songs. It's pretty subdued, relying mainly on the Hogarth's vocals and Kelly's keyboards. It's more like an interlude than a song, perhaps intended as a bride from the previous epic into the mid-point of the album.

"Throw Me Out" brings in a few Beatles "Sgt. Pepper / Magical Mystery Tour" elements, but it is four minutes worth of a song desperately searching for a hook.

"Half The World" is more of the same...it ambles along but never quite catches fire.

"Whatever Is Wrong With You"...let's face it, any Marillion song that starts off with the lyrics "We need to talk..." stands a good chance of going down an interesting road. And lo and behold, the song has a hook. "We need to talk, about the wedding cake and the wet suit"...HUH? I don't understand it, but I LIKE it (another hallmark of great prog), and the band rocks hard, and there's a super-distorto-wah wah solo from Rothery, making it my pick for the second MP3 on your list.

"Especially True" is saved by a consistently hot performance from Rothery, but the song itself is nothing special. Throw yourself into the maelstrom in the second half but don't expect to be humming this later.

"Real Tears For Sale" is the third and final 5-star offering from the band...seven and a half minutes, dynamically structured, classic late-period Marillion, more Floyd overtones, faint echoes of stronger overall works like Afraid of Sunlight, but a mighty track in all respects.

21 killer minutes on any CD is nothing to sneeze at, and the only track I flat-out did not like was "Thunder Fly," so this is one of those "buy the MP3s if you can, but if you get the whole CD, it's still not a bad deal" deals. The final track fades out on a snarly, defiant, howling at the moon note, which means I'll be one of the people lined up to buy the next Marillion album.

Get this if you're a fan. It's no Marbles but it's still better than what everyone else is putting out these days.
DO get the Somewhere Else Live In London DVD. It's a classic.
...Same review as the first...Have to give it 5 stars after listening to it with headphones...This is equal to Marbles, and this is still the best band in the world ( There, I said it ).

It took a while to let it grow on me, but once it did, It's hard to put it down!!!!! All the songs are beautiful. Asylum Sattelite #1 has become my favorite song on this cd, or any cd for that matter!!!!!!! Great cd to listen to while driving. Mellow, sweet, and moving are the three words I can use to describe the sounds coming from "The hard shoulder". Marillion fan? Get it, there is absolutely nothing to dislike here, IMO!!!!!!!!
Buy it, and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

This is a dense prog-rock album with many good moments but not the best that Marillion can do. It grows with time and rewards repeated listens but nothing here grabs you and takes hold. There are many very interesting experiments with good results but again, it's an acquired taste. She's Older Than Me is painfully awkward and some of the other songs try too hard as well. Whatever Is Wrong with You was the lead single and the best of the bunch.

Highlights:
The Man From Planet Marzapan
Whatever Is Wrong with You
Especially True
Real Tears For Sale

Amazing band. Too bad not more people know about them. Real Tears for Sale best song.