Disco de Marillion: “Live from Loreley”

This Video was recorded during the 1987 world tour. The show recorded was from an open air festival in loreley ( Germany ) on the european leg of the tour. This video will be of little interest to Hogarth era fans, as it was shot before he jioned the band< but on the other hand if you are a fan of the Fish era you really need to see this video, it captures all the great songs from that time, when some say, Marillion were at their best!

If you are a big fan of 'old' Marillion, this is the one to get! It's a redoing of the old VHS, but the sound has been bumped up a notch with a 5-channel option. And it includes tunes from their last two LPs with Fish, as I think this must have been the last tour he did with the band before leaving for his solo career. Fish looks a bit 'chubby', but he never did play himself off as a 'rock idol', so it's actually quite endearing an aging geezer like me!

First of all the sound is very good and the performance here is near-perfect. This is a performance in Germany with a slightly husky Fish firmly at the till and he delivers. The band's setlist is very good giving a large nod to "Clutching at Straws" and "Misplaced Childhood". If I must nit-pick, the arena's stage was a bit small and drab looking, with numerous shots of Rothery standing in front of some kind of ugly white plywood wall, and very harse spolights that made the stage look rather ugly, but that's the venue's fault and not the bands, of course> Given the fact that the sound is great, and picture quality is very good it's a worthy pickup

I was fortunate to see Marillion on the Clutching At Straws tour so watching this dvd for the first time was a blast from the past. The 5.1 sound mix and picture are both excellent and the band was on top of their game during this performance. The only thing that would make this release better is if they had interviews with the members talking about their memories of the performance and the tour. Particulary some thoughts from the singer at the time, Fish. That man is quite a character and hearing a few of his anecdotes would have rounded out this dvd nicely. Also, it would have been cool if they did all of Misplaced Childhood like they did on The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra).

I've had this on VHS for years and it's great to finally convert it over to DVD. There's not much in the way of extras and it would have been nice to get some interview material from the band reflecting back on what was Fish's last tour with Marillion. The film is a time capsule of 1987, especially when you see the fashion trends on display by both the band and their fans. Still, the production qualities are excellent and for the most part the camera work and audio throughout is solid. Fans of Fish-era Marillion owe it to themselves to have this in their collection.