Marillion - Anoraknophobia

First of all, this album does itself no favours by its dreadful title (even worse than the title of their previous album!). The "anorak? what's wrong with that?" imagery is cute but rather teenage-sounding. Musically it's generally along the same lines as marillion.com: middle-of-the-road but interesting rock songs, interleaved with longer spaced out numbers. The real gem here is "Quartz" - perhaps the most original song from their last four albums put together. Its bubbling bassline, bitter, driving chorus, and inventive lyrics prove they still have the creative juices left to sound contemporary, without rehashing old ideas. "When I Meet God" also has a strong, haunting tune and good lyric, but could be a couple of minutes shorter without losing anything. "Fruit of the Wild Rose" has some pleasing bluesy noodling, but tends towards drippiness. "Separated Out", one of the more uptempo rock numbers, briefly quotes the organ theme from Doors' "Light My Fire". "This Is the 21st Century" is laid back, with a relaxed contemporary feel.

August 26, 2003

7 out of 10

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