Marbles

Behind "Marbles" facade of generous dance beats and FX jiggery pokery lays the stubborn prog beast of old, albeit one that acknowledges the recent past more readily than when Fish was at the helm all those years ago. Thus, you could be forgiven for mistaking "Fantastic Place" to be the work of "Colour of Spring" era Talk Talk (Hogarth does a rather good Mark Hollis) while "Don't Hurt Yourself" borrows from the Manic Street Preachers' "If You Tolerate This" and adds the spiritual protest and folk strum of the Levellers (Hogarth can do a good Mark Chadwick as well). And to avoid any sense of disorientation, there's a reasonable, but never blatant, nod in the direction of Genesis. Old rambling tendencies remain--the pretty "Angelina" has a rather dreary and entirely superfluous two-minute intro--and try as they may Marillion will never be as vital or relevant as Radiohead. That said, committed fans (and there are many) will have their enduring faith in Marillion handsomely repaid by Marbles. --Kevin Maidment