Marillion - Marbles (2004)

Marillion - Marbles (2004)

Tracklist front / back album covers

Marillion - Marbles

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Double-CD version

Disc one

"The Invisible Man" – 13:37

"Marbles I" – 1:42

"Genie" – 4:54

"Fantastic Place" – 6:12

"The Only Unforgivable Thing" – 7:13

"Marbles II" – 2:02

"Ocean Cloud" – 17:58

Disc two

"Marbles III" – 1:51

"The Damage" – 4:35

"Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48

"You're Gone" – 6:25

"Angelina" – 7:42

"Drilling Holes" – 5:11

"Marbles IV" – 1:26

"Neverland" – 12:10

Single-CD version

"The Invisible Man" – 13:37

"Marbles I" – 1:42

"You're Gone" – 6:25

"Angelina" – 7:42

"Marbles II" – 2:02

"Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48

"Fantastic Place" – 6:12

"Marbles III" – 1:51

"Drilling Holes" – 5:11

"Marbles IV" – 1:26

"Neverland" – 12:10

Bonus track (in Europe): "You're Gone" (single mix) – 4:05

Bonus track (in North America): "Don't Hurt Yourself" (music video)

Limited edition vinyl reissue

Side one

"The Invisible Man" – 13:37

"Marbles I" – 1:42

Side two

"You're Gone" – 6:25

"Angelina" – 7:42

"Marbles II" – 2:02

Side three

"Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48

"Fantastic Place" – 6:12

"Marbles III" – 1:51

Side four

"Drilling Holes" – 5:11

"Marbles IV" – 1:26

"Neverland" – 12:10

Concept and reception

Marbles was the 2nd Marillion album in a row produced by Dave Meegan, who had already helped the band craft Brave and Afraid of Sunlight, albums to which Marbles was compared by both reviewers as well as the band itself. Unlike Anoraknophobia though, Marbles was mostly not mixed by Meegan but Mike Hunter. Exceptions are "The Invisible Man", "Fantastic Place", "Ocean Cloud", "You're Gone" (mixed by Meegan) and "Genie" (mixed by Steven Wilson) and "Angelina" (mixed by Meegan and Wilson).

While Marbles is not strictly a concept album, it is tied together by thematic threads. Several of the songs are connected via segues or crossfades. The four parts of the title track work as musical interludes, but they also tell a continuing story about the narrator's childhood fascination with marbles, collecting them and losing most of them over the years. ("Losing one's marbles" is slang term for going insane, which has also been described as a theme of "The Invisible Man".) Furthermore, the song "The Damage" includes multiple lyrical call-backs to "Genie"; "Ocean Cloud" mentions "the invisible man" and in a key moment of "Neverland", the line "you're gone" appears.

"Ocean Cloud" is inspired by and dedicated to Don Allum and the Ocean Rowers, even including a link to Allum's at-sea diary and actual samples of him talking about the experience.

On the 2004 tour, the band played the single disc version of Marbles (however with "Drilling Holes" exchanged for "The Damage"). A recording of this made at the Astoria in London was released as the live CD Marbles Live and the DVD Marbles on the Road.

Tracklist (CD version, the DVD has more extras)

"The Invisible Man" – 13:28

"Marbles I" – 1:48

"You're Gone" – 6:41

"Angelina" – 7:33

"Marbles II" – 3:05

"Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:52

"Fantastic Place" – 6:41

"Marbles III" – 1:53

"The Damage"/"Marbles IV" – 6:03

"Neverland" – 11:30

"Estonia" – 7:30

Marillion Band Members Musicians

Steve Hogarth – vocals

Mark Kelly – keyboards

Ian Mosley – drums

Steve Rothery – guitar

Pete Trewavas – bass guitar

Marbles is the 13th studio album from rock band Marillion, released in 2004. Unlike their previous studio album, Anoraknophobia (2001), which was financed largely by a preorder campaign, the band funded the recording, and it was the publicity campaign that fans financed for the album. Those fans who pre-ordered the album received an exclusive 2-CD "Deluxe Campaign Edition" with a booklet containing the names of everyone who pre-ordered before a certain date. The public release date of the retail single-CD version of the album was 3 May 2004 while a plain 2-CD version was made available from the band's website. A limited (500 copy) edition was released on white multicoloured vinyl by Racket Records on 13 November 2006.