Search - Marillion :: Anoraknophobia

Not what I was expecting....but who cares?

Robert M Briggs III | Lake City, PA | 05/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rather late at jumping on the Marillion bandwagon, I'd been filling out my collection of their CD's in mish-mash order: first I bought "Clutching at Straws", "Season's End" and "Brave" in one fell swoop. They seemed ok, and "Brave" caught my attention the most. Then I bought "This Strange Engine" and was even more enmaored. Here was a band that changed with each release. Each successive CD I purchased surprised me and delighted me on different levels and for different reasons. "Holidays in Eden", "Marbles" (their best yet, in my humble opinion) and (...) (vastly underrated in my estimation) came next, and I became rabid to buy the rest.

I've since bought the Marbles on the Road DVD, and am totally mezmerized by the music on it. Have watched it several times in just over a week. Now I have "Anoraknophobia", and it too shattered my expectations. I have to say I was hoping for more like (...), but I've since learned that that kind of hoping and wishing is foolish and doomed to disappointment.

This CD starts powerfully then meanders some. I'm very impressed with "Between You and Me", kind of turned off by "Separated Out" (for some reason", but totally blown away by "This is the 21st Century". This song is so compelling and subtle in ways that seem rather Pink Floyd-ish, but still are clearly Marillion's creativity fully stretched. Although I like other CD's by them more than this one, I still feel it's solid and would recommend it quickly."

Artistic and moving

Matthew Schwarz | Bridgewater, nj United States | 02/04/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although I have all their studio CDs, I really like Marillion's first 2 albums much more than the rest - they had a strong neo-progressive sound with those, full of melodic keyboards and gripping, savage vocals. However, they abandoned that sound after those 2 discs.

For the rest of their career, they mixed modern alterno-pop with a newer style of progressive/art rock: a more subtle, mellow, style - full of understated musicianship and reserved vocals that would swell into passionate crescendos at times. "Anoraknophobia", despite it's silly title and cover, has the best example of the latter. Although there's usually several songs on their later albums that I think are masterpieces, this album has the highest ratio. Only the trite, cliche pop song "Map of the World" is a letdown (and keeps this CD from getting 5 stars), otherwise "Separated Out" and "Between You and Me" are catchy rock songs and the rest of the album is sublime, artistic, and poetic pieces of art.

The overall sound fits in with when it was released around 2001 or so(they sound more like Radiohead and other contemporaries of this time than the early-Genesis-meets-80's-pop sound of early Marillion, but they have for years), but the artistic value of this matches that of their early works."