Marillion has been on a roll recently releasing albums, both studio and live, and with each one, they put forth something different for their fans.  This is one that may not get them new fans but will certainly find its way into their hardcore fans’ collection.  For this album, the band took tracks from the Hogarth era and re-imagined them a little with the help of In Praise Of Folly String Quartet.  The song selection is based more on whether the track could benefit from having additional orchestration and not the “hit single” status of the piece.  That’s not to say that these are all obscure tunes as many of them are fan favorites and are frequently found in their set lists.  As mentioned previously, I don’t think this record would garner Marillion any new fans but I feel that even if you are a casual listener of their latter day material, I suggest purchasing With Friends From The Orchestra.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023  Volume 1. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

The disc starts off with an epic track from This Strange Engine.  It revolves around the sinking of the ship Estonia in 1994.  For such a tragic event, the song has a very uplifting mood about it.  The original studio version has a bit more bombast, while this take is a bit more subdued.  The string quartet also makes their presence felt especially as the song progresses.  

Here is where I feel the original song gets a little bit re-imagined, and we are presented something different.  The original, while still being a mellower tune, get an even more melancholy approach on this version.  The drums on the original helps move the music along while on this recording, the drums are almost absent leaving the song to meander a bit.  I like the new take but feel that it is not as good as the original.

I feel that Marillion will forever be performing pieces from Brave.  This mostly piano number gets some much needed orchestration.  While it is mostly a somber track, the orchestration adds a bit of drama following along to the original.

There are places on this disc that I feel the orchestration added a lot to the rendition but on this one from the album of the same name, the orchestration did not make that much of a difference.  Sure, the performance was spot on, but I didn’t feel the orchestration added anything really new and just took the place of some of the other instruments yet still sounding very, very similar.