Afraid Of Sunlight (With Bonus Disc) [ENHANCED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Marillion

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 2002)
• Original Release Date: April 13, 1999
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sbme Castle Us
• ASIN: B00005Y4ON
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #357,710 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of this world, September 16, 2004

By	Dynamo (The Hague, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Both EMI and Marillion were still reeling from the relative commercial disappointment of the "Brave" album. They thought it was a masterpiece (and right they were), but just couldn't understand how the world hadn't noticed. Racked by self-doubt and emotional turmoil, Marillion started recording "Afraid Of Sunlight". As Steve Hogarth says: 'There never has been an initial "vision", or a master plan ..Like the others, "Afraid Of Sunlight" was another product of flailing around in the darkness. I think it's the best record we've made'. This quote says it all.
On 24 bits it sounds great. Best songs are: Afraid Of Sunlight, Beyond You, King, Out Of This World and Beautiful. The bonus disc, however, is an interesing collectors item but does not add anything special.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their best work with Steve Hogarth, April 25, 2003

By	Heitor Manuel "incommunicado" (Lisboa, Portugal) - See all my reviews

The departure of Fish from Marillion back in 1988 left me sad at the time. His lyrics, voice and presence on stage were unique. The remaining members of the band knew that better that anyone, at it took them some time to find a proper substitute. But they ended up choosing well, as the quality of Marillion's music remained untouchable after more than 2 decades of existence.

This was the 4th album released with Steve Hogarth. On the previous 3, his influence on the band's direction grew gradually. In Seasons End was still reduced (naturally...), in Holidays In Eden we saw him introducing new sounds and different writing themes, and in Brave his integration on the band (and vice versa) was completed. Although I adore The Great Escape/Falling from the Moon & Made Again (from Brave), I prefer the first 2 works.

From this point of view, I think this was the moment were all contribution from the new member were best combined with Marillion trademark sounding. After this, they started searching for new directions, and I think they are being well succeeded (Marillion.com is a good example of that).

It's one of the few albums I listen from start to finish without having to advance a single song. Gazpacho and Cannibal Surf Babe open the album in a promising way and are followed by Beautiful. Each time I listen to this last track I get the feeling that, with proper promotion, it would have been Top10 in several charts (but that doesn't make a difference, does it?). The remaining songs are all quality pieces, specially the last 3 ones (title track, Beyond You and King). The final section of King is my highlight of the album.

For starters or old aficionados who lost contact with the band after the big poet's departure, this album has lots of chances to become a really good surprise.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably h's best so far..., January 12, 2004

By	Rodrigo Llamozas (the last cubicle at the end of the hall...) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is, in my opinion, the best Marillion album to include h (Steve Hogarth) on vocals. It's also one of their most consistent albums in the sense that only 'Beyond you' could be labeled as sub-par in comparison with the rest of the tracks.

Most of the tracks are *monster* pieces, some of the very best the band has penned so far, including 'Gazpacho', 'Beautiful' (the feel good, slow-ish track of the album), 'Afraid of sunlight' and 'King'. I believe that in no other tracks have h's lyrics and the lads' music merged so well as in the above list.

Completing the album is 'Cannibal surf babe' (the *required* weird track) and 'Afraid of sunrise', both of which are also quite, quite good.

As for the second CD, it contains mostly demos and outtakes, as well as 'Icon' and 'Live forever', two b-sides from the album's singles. There's also a different version of 'Beautiful' (with it's working title 'Second chance').