Happiness is the road --- Marillion --- 2008 (Racket Records)
Before I get to the review of this album, I have to award Marillion the prize for the most innovative development in music marketing so far. You probably know the story, but for anyone who doesn't here's how it goes:
When Marillion released their new album "Happiness is the road", they put it up for free download on a certain site, and linked those files to upload them on all the major P2P networks (Limewire, Kazaa, Filepipe etc). Anyone who wants to can download each track off the full album with NO DRM or restrictions, with two conditions: 1, that they do NOT upload the files to a filesharing network and 2, that they have to watch a small video, made by the band, in which they explain their vision and look for the downloader's email address. This is not to spam them, or report them, but to add to their database and I guess mailing list, in the hope that the downloader will buy some other merchandise, other albums, come to a gig, or whatever, but give back something in return. For those who WANT to upload the files, Marillion have even provided DRM-restricted WMA files, so everyone can follow their own conscience.
It's a bold move, and a very positive one. I downloaded the tracks, and will be getting the album, whether it's good or bad, because I feel that if the band trusted me, then I should repay that trust, and hopefully this could be the shape of things to come.
So, on to the album itself. What's it like? Well, those who know me, or know of me will know that I'm a huge fan of Marillion, having been into them from the first album and have never heard a bad album from them. I've only seen them twice (Fugazi tour in the Hammersmith Odeon in '84 and Misplaced Childhood at home in Dublin in 1985), but they were brilliant each time. I have all their albums, and up until the release of last year's "Somewhere else" I had always loved their output, bought the albums without hesitation or fear, knowing, just knowing that they would be worth it. Admittedly, "Marbles" was a slow-burner, and I took some time to get into it, but now I love it. Not so with "Somewhere else" which, despite repeated listens has failed to grow on me. I had hoped this would not start a trend, that Marillion were not becoming a band I could no longer listen to and love, that this was not the beginning of the end.
So, is it?
Well, the jury's still out on that. I must admit, from the opening of the first track, "Dreamy Street", I was impressed. Lovely tinkling piano, understated vocals, slow and relaxing, a good intro to the album. But then, it only lasts a minute or so and the track is over. So my worry then was, 20 tracks but are they all, or are most, going to be short 1 or 2-minute affairs, so that the album is not actually as long as I had thought it would be? "Marbles" had 4 short intermezzos, as it were, all called Marbles, ie Marble I, II, III and IV, but there was also a 17-minute track on the album called "Ocean cloud", so that made up for the smaller tracks. I didn't see any "epic" tracks on "Happiness is the road", so yes, I was worried.
The thing about HITR is that it's a double album, split into two parts (those who are old enough will understand when I say that this would have been two sides on an album), the first called "Essence", the second "The hard shoulder". Now, it's not really important, but I sort of don't understand the thinking behind that. I can understand the second part, as it's named after part of a road (Happiness is the road, see?) but "Essence"? If they'd called part 1 something like "Fast Lane" or "Layby" then I think I might have understood it better. However, names aside, that's how the album is split, and it seems to me that, by coincidence or design, the "slower" songs are on part 1 and the more rockier tunes (though the album seldom DOES get rocky) are on part 2. Again, I would have thought the reverse would work better: rock out on part 1 then slow it down on part 2...
All that notwithstanding, there are some lovely tracks on this album. On "Essence" there is "Wrapped up in time", "Essence" itself and the quietly beautiful instrumental (a first for Marillion? I certainly can't recall another) "Liquidity", but it's in the title track that the album really shines. "Happiness is the road" starts off as a slow, balladish song but then sort of stops halfway and morphs into a bluesy, mid-paced rocker, replete with optimism and the teachings of a band who have been together (most of them) for over a quarter of a century. The central theme of this title track, and the theme running through the whole album, is that happiness is not at the end of the road, happiness IS the road, and that once you've found happiness you no longer need to travel. Basically, I think, what they're saying is that you don't need to travel to find happiness, because it's around you every day. Cheering words, and a welcome sentiment in these dark days of wars without end, credit crunches and global uncertainty.
Steve Hogarth's voice ("H", as he prefers to be known, and no, NOT the guy from Steps!) is on top form, crooning, pleading, cajoling and dispensing wisdom like a golden-tongued sensei, exorting us to, in the immortal words of Bill and Ted, be excellent to each other. Steve Rothery can still make a guitar do ANYTHING he wants it do, and wring the most incredible emotion out of solos and even just simple plucking motions on his six-stringed companion. Mark Kelly can blast arpeggios like a lunatic Rick Wakeman or tease out the most sensitive ivory teardrops with consummate ease, and as ever, Pete Trewavas' bass keeps a deep counterpoint and balance to every song, and often has much to say itself. I find it hard generally to enthuse or even have much to say about drummers --- and I hope no-one takes offence at that, as none is certainly intended: there are good ones and bad ones, but perhaps my musical ear is not sufficiently sensitive enough to pick out one from the other. To me, a drummer drums, and though he or she is an absolutely integral part of any band --- imagine “In the air tonight” without percussion, for instance --- it's hard to be critical, either constructively or negatively about them. So all I can say is that Ian Mosley does a fine job behind the skins, and hope that's not seen as dismissive, as it's not in any way meant to be.
In short, Marillion are a tight-knit group, a well-oiled machine and a band who are still at the top of their game, 26 years on, and 22 years after losing what could have been their biggest asset as Fish left to fly solo. They've output consistently brilliant albums, and I do think that in the end, for me at least, "Somewhere else" will either become an unfortunate blip on an otherwise flawless repertoire, or will end up taking its place, belatedly, on my record shelf somewhere between "Script", "Brave" and "Marillion.com". It's probably just a matter of time.
Anyway, on to the second half, or "side" of the album, "The hard shoulder". As mentioned before, this seems to be where the rockier and uptempo tracks live, and so is more louder and generally faster than its sister side. This is not to say it has NO slow tracks --- "Older than me" and “Throw me out” are very acceptable ballads, and in that regard would not be out of place on “side one”. But it's more tracks like "Whatever is wrong with you" (released as a downloadable YouTube before the album came out, and which by all accounts had thousands of viewings very quickly), "Especially true" and “thunder fly” that make up the majority of “The Hard Shoulder”, and they do keep up the old Marillion traditions, but the standout tracks so far for me are "Asylum Sateliite 1" and the closer "Real tears for sale". To my ears, so far, this side complements the other side quite well.
My fear is, and this may not be the case, that Marillion are turning more and more not into just a pop band, but almost a lounge band. There are very few tracks on this album that I could honestly see myself rocking out to, or even dancing to, and it all seems to me a little laid back, perhaps too much so. Okay, in fairness, Marillion were never a band you'd put on at the disco (can you imagine trying to dance to “Script” or “Emerald lies”?), but where they really gelled was as a serious progressive rock band, and to my ears they have definitey begun to stray from this model. Certainly, "Happiness is the road" seems to bear little resemblance to opuses like "Marillion.com", "Brave" or "Afraid of sunlight", and you would definitely be hard pressed to believe this was the band who produced "Script for a jester's tear", "Fugazi" and "Misplaced childhood".
That said, the change in direction could very well open up new avenues for the band, gain them new fans, but I hope not at the expense of old and faithful ones (very old, in my case!), who just may not "get" this new Marillion.
Whatever happens, you have to give them kudos for if nothing else trying to change the way bands and the music industry do business, how they treat their fans and how they protect their intellectual property without locking it behind huge DRM gates. I just hope that, in their zeal to push back the frontiers of music marketing, they haven't forgotten the simple and important truth that, money and advertising campaigns and record labels aside, in the end, it should be all about the music.
So, in the end, the question is, is happiness the road? Or are they on a road to nowhere? Have a listen and perhaps you can decide for yourself.
TRACKLISTING
Volume I: Essence
1. Dreamy Street
2. This train is my life
3. Essence
4. Wrapped up in time
5. Liquidity (instrumental)
6. Nothing fills the hole
7. Woke up
8. Trap the spark
9. A state of mind
10. Happiness is the road
11. Half-full jam (hidden/bonus track)
Volume II: The Hard Shoulder
1. Thunder fly
2. The man from planet Marzipan
3. Asylum Satellite #1
4. Older than me
5. Throw me out
6. Half the world
7. Whatever is wrong with you
8. Especially true
9. Real tears for sale
Suggested further listening: (Fish era) "Script for a jester's tear", "Fugazi", "Misplaced childhood" (Hogarth era) "Marillion.com, "Marbles", "Afraid of sunlight", "This strange engine", "Radiation"