The second album from Marillion has always been my least favourite from the Fish-era band. Having read about the disasters surrounding the album's recording, including a turnover of drummers that would give Spinal Tap a run for their money, it is not surprising that Fugazi is the least impressive of their early albums.It is this album, more than any other, that exposes the weaknesses in Marillion's songwriting technique. Passages are written individually, with no particular relation to each other, and then put together as the band feels is best. Done with care, the results can be quite good; however, there are a number of points here where the songs seem hastily cobbled together. This is also not Fish's finest hour with Marillion; lyrically, he has some good moments, but there are also a couple of less than inspiring metaphors ("Adjectives of annihilation" and "Syllables of slaughter" from "Assassing" spring to mind). He also spends too much time dwelling in maudlin angst for my taste.
The album is not all bad, though. This is one of Mark Kelly's best efforts on keyboards, with a swath of delicious fills, and the drummer Marillion eventually decided on, Ian Mosley, managed to settle into the band very nicely. There are also some superb band moments, including the last minute and a half of "Fugazi," which is the apotheosis of eighties neo-prog.
The remastering of this album has helped bring a little bit more life into it. There is also a bonus disc, but aside from "Cinderella Search" and "Three Boats Down from the Candy," the songs are mainly of curiosity value only. The demo version of "Punch and Judy," for instance, features short lived member Jonathon Mover, and would seem to indicate that Fish was right when he insisted on a change of drummers.
All told, despite not being the best thing Marillion has ever released, there are still enough moments here to make the purchase worthwhile for fans of the other albums from this era. Perhaps due to connoisseurs of Mark Kelly's keyboard style, there is a significant portion of Marillion fans who list this album as their personal favourite. For me, however, Fugazi remains significantly inferior to the other Fish era albums.
review by Conrad Leviston — 6-14-05 —
