Posts Tagged ‘Pete Trewavas’

CD Review: Marillion, “Less Is More”

lessThe dread that falls over a fan when they hear their favorite band is about to release a live album or an umpteenth greatest hits compilation is palpable. You didn’t get this far being a music appreciator without seeing the hints. Those releases often signal a way out of a contract, a quick fill in order to move on with the messy business and start looking for a new label or, worse, a way of shuttering a career. In the late 1980s and on into the ’90s, artists found new wine in the old skins of the back catalog by recasting those tunes in an acoustic setting. MTV’s Unplugged phenomena held strong for a period of time, but then everyone felt the need to pull out the guitar cable, settle on a stool (or a haybale if one was really trying to make things rustic) and acousticize the hits. And now, the acoustic album has fallen into that same chilly subgenre, the filler album category.

This brings us to Marillion’s latest offering, Less Is More, a collection of their songs spanning the years featuring vocalist Steve Hogarth, roughly 1989 to the present. A couple things to mention up front are that the acoustic arrangements are not a new idea as Hogarth, guitarist Steve Rothery and bassist Pete Trewavas often tour as the acoustic and abbreviated Los Trios Marillos. Also, while the band generally plies in the sound of electric rock/pop/prog, they’ve never been shy about turning off the power for recordings such as the 1997 release This Strange Engine, roughly half of which features acoustic instrumentation. Even so, one can’t help but feel this is a group who has been forced to wait for their muse and have made this album in the interim. (more…)

The Friday Mixtape: 5/15/09

I said I wouldn’t do it. I was called out, however, and if there’s one thing I’m not, that’s a punk. All my neon green hair fell out a long time ago. —Dw.

Ben Lee – Catch My Disease from Awake Is the New Sleep (2005)
Bleu – Could Be Worse from Redhead (2003)
Calexico – Ballad of Cable Hogue from Hot Rail (2000)
Devo – Devo Has Feelings Too from Smooth Noodle Maps (1990)
Fischerspooner – Never Win from Odyssey (2005)
Jethro Tull – Wond’ring Aloud from Aqualung (1971)
Kino – Holding On from Picture (2005)
Otis Redding – My Girl from Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)
Robert Vaughn & the Shadows – Love Came Falling from Love and War (1985)
RPWL featuring Ray Wilson – Roses from Live: Start the Fire (2005)
Sean Watkins – Summer’s Coming from Blinders On (2006)
Spoon – The Fitted Shirt from Girls Can Tell (2001)
Super Furry Animals – Lazer Beam from Love Kraft (2005)
Tammy Faye Bakker – The Ballad of Jim and Tammy from the 12-inch single (1987)
Terry Scott Taylor – Writer’s Block from John Wayne (1998)
Vanden Plas – Phoenix from Beyond Daylight (2002)

Popdose Interview: Ian Mosley of Marillion

I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’m a big fan of the band Marillion, although I came to be one in a roundabout way: finding a cassette tape of their concept album from 1985, Misplaced Childhood, in a cutout bin. By the time I had it, the synths had already dated the recording somewhat, but I listened obsessively anyway. In 1989, original lead singer and lyricist Fish struck out for solo territory and was replaced by Steve Hogarth. Hogarth’s voice added a new dimension to the band — he was suited for just about any material the band presented, and was able to give those songs a great pop feel.

While that would have made “H” the new guy, the position was once assumed by drummer Ian Mosley, who joined in 1984 for the band’s second album Fugazi. Now the band — Steve Rothery on guitar, Mark Kelly on keyboards, Pete Trewavas on bass, “H” at the microphone and Mosley behind the kit — is in full write/record mode for their fifteenth studio album. It is projected to be a double CD, lavishly packaged in a hardcover book in slipjacket, as was their 2004 entry Marbles, and funded primarily by pre-orders from ravenous fans. While the band may be only a blip on the radar in the US, their fans have been known to migrate to the UK from to attend the band’s convention/festival Marillion Weekend.

Popdose recently contacted the band via e-mail, and Ian Mosley took a moment away from the rigors of the creative process to answer a few questions about what’s happening with the group, with music in general, and with the state of the music professional in the up-for-grabs world of illegal downloading. (A side note: You will notice we have posted some MP3s from the band — in the interest of full disclosure, these examples are just that, examples, and have been cleared by the band through their communications manager Lucy Jordache. It is the intention of Popdose to expose new listeners to the music and, hopefully, compel them to buy the full albums.)

Now, on to the interview with drummer Ian Mosley! (more…)