2023 seems to have flown by. We’ve already made it to December, and that can mean only one thing. It’s time for The Real Gone Advent Calendar!
As is traditional, over the next twenty four days, we’ll be posting a new link. It might be a video. It might be audio only. It might be an old favourite. It might be something brand new and unfamiliar. The only way to find out is by coming back each day and opening a new window!
Following the release of their eighteenth studio album ‘FEAR’, Marillion found themselves somewhere near the top of their game. The recording had gained them a vast amount of praise, and the subsequent tour saw the band sell out London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall. Not a bad result for a band that some quarters of the press had previously written off. Although a rather dense listen, ‘FEAR’ covered a lot of musical ground, and had plenty of moments that suggested the band were in a more creative space than they’d been for some time. Between some dark arrangements, politically charged lyrics and a desire to make their listeners think, it felt like Marillion’s most complete sounding work for some time. Not necessarily their “best”, but arguably their most coherent.
Here at Real Gone, we’ve been big fans of Marillion for longer than we’d care to remember. Unlike some fans, though, we accept that not everything the band has recorded resembles pure gold. Last year, we shared our “ten best” with you – an article that generated a lot of discussion. In the interest of balance and in the wake of the 2019 UK fan weekend, here are ten Marillion songs we think should have been consigned to the dustbin of history…
The UK’s most celebrated reissue label Cherry Red are running a fairly decent Black Friday promotion. It’s easy to sneer about the UK hijacking what was essentially only a US calendar event, but it means that music fans can grab some very cool savings.
For lovers of classic rock and prog – which covers a good proportion of Real Gone’s readership – the sale is decent, with deluxe titles and box sets by Anthony Phillips, Tony Banks and Graham Bonnet available with a hefty discount.
Prog legends Marillion are getting in the holiday spirit. Following the release of their lavish ‘Clutching At Straws’ CD/DVD box set, the band have dug through their stocks and are offering a bunch of great stuff at dirt cheap prices for the Black Friday sales.