Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Out of Step, February 10, 2000
I have been a hard core Marillion fan since 1884 and I have to say that, with the exception of "This Strange Engine", "Marillion.com" is the worst CD the band has released to date. I thought that the band might be back on track after "Radiation" which was the best CD since "Brave" (a CD which may be one of the best I'ver ever heard and which should be remembered along with "Misplaced Childhood" as one the band's greatest efforts). However, "Marillion.com just doesn't do it for me. The CD seems rushed and not a single track has the depth or quality that are typically of most of Marillion's work. Don't get me wrong, these tracks are still better than most of the garbage you will hear on top 40 radio, but this CD is no where near the quality of of Marillion's early years or of the better CD's they have released over the last 10 years. It should be noted that many of the newer fans, who have had less exposure to Marillion's other work, are giving this CD high marks. Do yourselves a favor and buy the remastered copies of "Childhood's End", "Clutching at Straws", Seasons End" and "Brave", and get "Radiation". You won't be disappointed and you will get to hear the neo-progessive rock at it's best. Better luck next time!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This album is brilliant, moving, and catchy!, November 18, 1999
By A Customer
Marillion are one of those bands that labors tirelessly in the interest of their music, without so much regard for popular success. The shame of it is, in a world where musicians' success was made by their devotion to craft, and their ability to make truly exciting music, Marillion would be very rich and famous people. marillion.com is full of wonderful songs, performed by the tightest band out there, with lyrics that hit you on multiple levels, music that is a thrill to listen to both the first time, and subsequent listens as it grows into your psyche.This album is a sister to 1998's "Radiation" (two tracks in fact were held back from that album for new treatments here,) and yet is probably more consistently good, and integrated. Pop tracks like "Deserve", "Rich", and "Tumble Down the Years", while full of hooks, don't leave you feeling like you've been played; instead, the hooks make you pay attention to what's really going on in the song--like it should be. Then you'll listen to tracks like "Go", "Enlightened" and the 15-minute "Interior Lulu" and understand this is no ordinary, fad of the week, rock band. You need to buy this album if you're a fan of good rock music of any kind, from 60s psychedelia, 70s progressive rock, 80's synth pop, to 90's Britpop. It's all here, and yet, never derivative of any of those genres, a new synthesis that is still somehow quintessentially Marillion.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Go! buy it., June 11, 2001
Many have derided Marillion for the pop-factor on Marillion.com. I actually enjoy well-done pop music, so I wasn't so apprehensive about getting this. Plus, I thoroughly enjoy Holidays In Eden, which is one of the band's "poppier" releases. I initially enjoyed Marillion.com, aside from the contrived rock infusing "Built-In Bastard Radar," but I wanted to make sure my satisfaction wasn't ephemeral as it sometimes is with albums like this. So I wanted to give it plenty of time before reviewing it. Now I can comfortably say that it's a good album, but not quite up to par with the best the band has to offer. Of course, the song in question is "Interior Lulu," the 15-minute epic. Hogarth's singing at the beginning of it reminds of Tori Amos (that's good!). The second passage begins with some off-the-wall keyboards that remind me of a carnival funhouse (that's bad!). All in all, though, it's a very satisfying epic that takes a good deal of time to fully sink in, with a wonderful Rothery solo at about 8 & 1/2 minutes into it and all the tight instrumental interplay that's characteristic of this band. As for the other cuts, I have no compunctions about saying that Marillion knows how to write good, commercially viable songs (although none of it would ever get on the radio). The opener, "A Legacy," is a great song that's easy to sing with. The ballad "Go!" highlights the emotive power of Hogarth's voice, in sharp contrast to the preceding track "Deserve," which is a more insistent rocker with a great hook. "Rich" is similarly catchy, and "Tumble Down the Years" is a beautiful song with an incredible chorus. The album comes to an end with "House," the 10-minute song that feels much shorter than 10-minutes. It's sort of surreally jazzy and mellow...and great way to bring things to an end. I wouldn't miss "Built-In Bastard Radar" if it suddenly vanished off the face of the album. Although there are some interesting melodies, it seems a little forced and Hogarth's voice on the chorus is suffocated by the arrangement. It's a little shallower than works like Afraid of Sunlight and Brave, and in some ways it might be a little too unlike their other work, but .com is a great album from a band that continues to grow and impress.
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