In January 2014, Brad embarked on their first full European tour. Twenty years after the release of their debut album ‘Shame’, you could say their visit was overdue. Unsurprisingly, their appearances at medium-sized venues were a sell-out and their London show in particular was an amazing experience. UK Fans finally got to hear tracks like ‘Buttercup’ and ‘Screen’ live, and the experience did not disappoint. Given that response, it seemed possible that Brad may even return at some point, but in April 2015 something even more unusual occurred. Their frontman, Mr. Shawn Smith, returned alone for a short run of one-man shows at a few very intimate venues, the run ending at London’s Bush Hall.
Tag Archives: marillion
FIVE YEARS: Real Gone’s Gold Standard (2009-2014)
In the five years of Real Gone’s existence, there have been dozens upon dozens of fine releases. Some we’ve loved instantly, some demanded a little more time before their magic became wholly apparent. To mark five years worth of internet presence and hundreds of reviews written in that time, we present a brief look back at ten of our favourite albums to ever fill Real Gone’s columns. In no particular order…drum roll please!
New Christmas CD from Marillion
Since the late 90s it has become tradition for Marillion to give their fan club members an exclusive CD. These releases are mixed bag affairs always containing unreleased material, sometimes demo recordings or live recordings. Over the years, these fun items have become treasured by fans.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Incomplete (or rambling thoughts on collecting from an obsessive music fan)
Right up to the 1980s, things were fairly simple as a music fan. Your favourite bands released singles and albums and, as a loyal fan, you bought them knowing you’d kept to your end of the bargain. Sometimes singles weren’t part of albums and in that case you got something extra. Things started to change in the 1980s when the picture disc started to make regular appearances, thus meaning an occasional extra purchase. Labels like ZTT (run by business-minded Trevor Horn and Paul Morley) were quick to capitalise on marketing strategies – with bands like Frankie Goes To Hollywood, they made sure that different formats had different mixes and different edits. In the case of the fledgling cassette single, they even went an extra step by including unreleased bits and pieces from the cutting room floor, often to fans’ bemusement and eventual delight.
Not everyone was as keen to play the game. Towards the end of the decade, Morrissey – in a spiteful lyrical snide against his then record company’s repackaging of Smiths material – gave us the lyrical legend “reissue, reissue, repackage…re-evaluate the songs, extra track and a tacky badge”. Some bands stuck rigidly to the old model of single release followed by album…and then a couple more singles (often with something extra on the b-side, sure; but once that was done, you knew that was it, at least until the next outpouring of new material in a couple of years).
By the mid-90s, albums would occasionally appear as special editions. This usually involved a bonus disc containing a handful of extra songs (or in the case of The Beautiful South’s excellent ‘Carry On Up the Charts’ anthology, a whole disc of hard to find b-sides) or live material. Another easy choice for the consumer: you chose to buy either the standard release or fork out a few extra quid for that bonus disc – job done, everybody happy. Bon Jovi’s ‘Keep The Faith’ was among the first to mark a shifting tide towards fan-testing, record company greed when the special edition appeared months after the original album’s release. This staggered release ensured almost everyone had purchased ‘Keep The Faith’ already…but would they buy it again? Of course they would – if not everyone, then at least a good proportion of the die-hards would want that extra material. Why wouldn’t they? The floodgates were open.
New fund-raising xmas single from Marillion available now
As part of their now-traditional fan-club freebie, rock legends Marillion recorded a version of the festive tune ‘Carol of The Bells’. Normally fan-club tracks stay that way, but this year, the band have made an exception.