music.wikisort.org - Composition

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.

Marbles
Studio album by Marillion
Released	27 April 2004 (preorder) 3 May 2004
Recorded	The Racket Club, Aylesbury, 2002, 2003 and the beginning of 2004
Genre	Progressive rock, art rock
Length	98:48 (2CD version) 68:11 (1CD version)
Label	Intact
Producer	Dave Meegan
Marillion chronology
Anoraknophobia (2001) Marbles (2004) Somewhere Else (2007)
Singles from Marbles
"You're Gone" Released: 19 April 2004 "Don't Hurt Yourself" Released: July 2004

In 2017, the 2-CD version became available as a retail edition by the Madfish label,[1] who also released the full album on vinyl for the first time, occupying three LPs.[2]

The album did not chart in the UK, due to it being packaged with a couple of stickers, which is against chart rules. So despite selling enough for a top 30 position, the album was declared ineligible for the album chart; however, its first single "You're Gone", reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart, thus becoming their first UK top ten hit since 1987's "Incommunicado". The follow-up single "Don't Hurt Yourself" peaked at #16. Classic Rock ranked Marbles #11 on their end-of-year list for 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Concept and reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
The Guardian	[4]
Record Collector	[5]
Classic Rock	[6]
Guitarist	[7]

Marbles was the second 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.

According to Steve Hogarth, escape is a recurring theme on the album.[8]

"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.

Track listing

All songs written by Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly, Pete Trewavas, Ian Mosley.

Disc one

1. "The Invisible Man" – 13:37
2. "Marbles I" – 1:42
3. "Genie" – 4:54
4. "Fantastic Place" – 6:12
5. "The Only Unforgivable Thing" – 7:13
6. "Marbles II" – 2:02
7. "Ocean Cloud" – 17:58

Disc two

1. "Marbles III" – 1:51
2. "The Damage" – 4:35
3. "Don't Hurt Yourself" – 5:48
4. "You're Gone" – 6:25
5. "Angelina" – 7:42
6. "Drilling Holes" – 5:11
7. "Marbles IV" – 1:26
8. "Neverland" – 12:10

Note: The single CD and double vinyl editions of the album omit the following tracks:

• "Genie"
• "The Only Unforgiveable Thing"
• "Ocean Cloud"
• "The Damage"

Personnel

• Steve Hogarth – vocals
• Mark Kelly – keyboards
• Ian Mosley – drums
• Steve Rothery – guitar
• Pete Trewavas – bass guitar

Charts

Chart (2004)	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[9]	42
French Albums (SNEP)[10]	68
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11]	56
Italian Albums (FIMI)[12]	58

References

External links

• Album information

На других языках

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[de] Marbles (Album)

Marbles (englisch für „Murmeln“) ist das dreizehnte Studioalbum und erste Studiodoppelalbum der britischen Progressive-Rock-Band Marillion. Die CD wurde im April 2004 veröffentlicht.

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- [en] Marbles (album)

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[es] Marbles

Marbles es el decimotercer álbum de estudio del grupo Marillion, producido en 2004.

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