Marillion
„Clutching At Straws“
Progressive Melodic Rock. CD 1987.

Das vierte Album der Band 1987 läutete das Ende der Ära des Sängers Fish ein. Noch eine Tour und das war es. Marillion rappelte sich wieder auf und fand in Steve Hogarth einen neuen Sänger. Für viele Fish-Heads war damit kein Boden zu machen, obwohl Marillion eigenständiger, aber musikalisch nicht schlechter wurde. Also machte Fish als Fish holprig Solo weiter, doch dazu in anderen Rezensionen mehr. Die Kritik und auch Fans nahmen Clutching At Straws gemischt auf. Zu viel Mainstream. Gegenüber Script For A Jesters Tear und Fugazi zu wenig Prog. Dafür mehr melodic Rock. Zwischen „Genial“ und „geht so“. Lustig ist nur, das viele Rezensenten den Verfall der Band vorhersagten. Natürlich erst nachdem bekannt war, das Fish die Band verlassen hatte. Konzentrieren wir uns nur auf die Musik und versuchen nicht nachträgliche Propheten zu sein.

The first three songs are quite something. "Hotel Hobbies", "Warm Wet Circles" and the short straw "That Time Of The Night". "Fish-esque" lyrics. From gentle to rocky. The beginning? I think it's brilliant. Unfortunately, "Going Under" and "Just For The Record" seem out of place to me and break down the brilliant beginning. "White Russian" picks up again strongly. It is also directed against racism, which makes this song even more likeable. I'll take "Incommunicado" with me and look forward to "Torch" Song", which is about the musician Fish... I mean Torch, of course. "Slainte Mhath" means "good health" and is about the social injustices in Scotland. As a reviewer, it's not my place to call "Sugar Mice" stupid and it doesn't do the song justice. We're dealing with a "normal" ballad, but that doesn't make it bad or even stupid. On the contrary, the lyrics flow wonderfully. And that is Fish's great strength. "The Last Straw / Happy Ending" is a brilliant closer and the lyrics echo those of Hotel Hobbies. A quiet start, a rocky finish.

“Clutching At Straws” is not a concept album, even though Fish deals with some of his own problems here. But “Torch” doesn't seem consistent enough to me. I wouldn't call it disjointed songs, though. In any case, “Clutching At Straws” is musically based on its melodic prog/rock predecessor “Misplaced Childhood”. Compared to “Script For A Jesters Tear” and “Fugazi”, the higher level of professionalism in the production stands out here. I get something out of all the albums, but after Fish left, the Marillion thing was over for me. I just can't stand Steve Hogarth's voice. It's not Steve's fault.

More reviews of Marillion

Script For A Jesters Tear
Fugazi
Misplaced Childhood
Real To Reel / Brief Encounter

The photos are all from my CD. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.

TheProgThief
©05.03.2025