Artists | Issues | CD Reviews | Interviews | Concert Reviews | DVD/Video Reviews | Book Reviews | Who We Are | Staff | Home
 

Marillion

Somewhere in London DVD

Review by Gary Hill

I’ve never seen Marillion live. I only recently got to see Fish in concert. Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a big fan of Marillion. I’ve just never had the chance to make one of their shows. Well, this DVD set is a good way to feel like I have. It’s filmed quite well and both the sound and video are quite good (more on that later).

I have to admit that I tend to prefer the Fish incarnation of the group. I mean, Steve Hogarth is great and everyone in the band is talented. They still produce incredible music. It’s just that to me the Fish stuff was approaching the surreal in terms of how good it was. This band is heads above most of the prog rock bands out there. They just aren’t on the same level as the older incarnation of the group in my opinion. So, for me the fact that the majority of the set is from this newer version of the band is not necessarily a good thing. And, for reasons to be discussed in the next paragraph, I didn’t get to hear the tracks that were from the Fish era.  All in all, though, this is a great concert and sure to please Marilion fans. It’s a good first look for those who haven’t yet embraced this incarnation of the group.

So, I had one problem with the set and it’s kind of a biggie. The copy I’ve got – mind you, it could be this particular copy or some issue with compatibility with my PC’s DVD player (and my DVD recorder that I use for playing on my TV) won’t play in stereo mode. Well, it will play, but there is no sound. The only way to get sound is to switch it to surround sound. The problem is, the second DVD (which includes some cool bonus rehearsals and other stuff) doesn’t have a menu selection to allow you to change the audio settings. Mind you, the final bonus feature is several album tracks mixed for surround – and those work fine – but other than that my disc two is pretty well unusable. As I said, this could be the particular copy or some sort of compatibility issue with my equipment. Either way, it’s a bit of a disappointment. Still, disc one is strong enough to make it worth getting either way – and yours might just work.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2008  Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.

You'll find concert pics of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.
 
Return to the
Marillion Artist Page
Artists Directory
 
Google

   Creative Commons License
   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

    © 2024 Music Street Journal                                                                           Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com