Marillion

Born in Aylesbury in the twilight of the '70s, and originally christened Silmarillion after the Tolkein collection, the fledgling prog revivalists started out as an instrumental outfit before shortening the moniker and recruiting frontman Derek Dick, a.k.a. Fish. Although their impressive and continuing run as a cult act is a tale of two halves — the second of which features Steve Hogarth on vocals — we're kicking off here with a pair of classics from the Fish years: "Kayleigh" and "Incommunicado". Highlights from the Hogarth era form the bulk of our Next Steps.

Season's End (1989) marked the arrival of Fish-replacement singer Steve "h" Hogarth, who quickly made himself at home in fresh surroundings, notably cutting loose on "Uninvited Guest" (delivered here in it all its extended reissue glory). The dust settled, and the new Marillion lineup was in place, on a journey that would lead to the post-millennial surprise of a Top 10 hit: "You're Gone" from 2004's Marbles. The remarkable energy of a Fish-era gig powers our Marillion Deep Cuts.

Fish's departure from Marillion Mk.1 would leave many fans bereaved, but a departing gift came in the form of live album The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra), named after the piece of music by Rossini that had teed-up their Clutching Straws tour shows: "Lords of the Backstage" finds the burly Scot in fine maniacal form. Brave (1994) remains one of the Fish-less lineup's most challenging concept albums, based on the true-life story of an amnesiac girl found wandering in the Severn Bridge — "Living with the Big Lie" sets the tone of the piece.

The story of Marillion is one not just of incredible rock, but also of extraordinary evolution. After an early phase, starting with debut single "Market Square Heroes" (1982), the band scaled the upper reaches of the charts while fronted by Fish ("Kayleigh", "Lavender"), and fed off a strong visual identity based on the iconic magpie 'n' jester illustrations of Mark Wilkinson. Then, with replacement vocalist Steve Hogarth, the outfit trusted in its talents and survived several commercial disappointments by funding tours and albums with an experimental system of fan pre-orders... the success of which has ensured that Marillion has remained a potent rock force deep in the '00s.