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Marillion: This strange Engine

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Sanctuary Records
Released: 1997
Time:
 70:47
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.marillion.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2002.07.06
Price in €: 11,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Man of a Thousand Faces (Helmer/Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 7:32
[2] One Fine Day (Helmer/Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 5:26
[3] 80 Days (Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 4:55
[4] Estonia (Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 7:54
[5] Memory of Water (Helmer/Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 3:01
[6] An Accidental Man (Helmer/Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 6:03
[7] Hope for the Future (Helmer/Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavas) - 5:10
[8] This Strange Engine (Hogarth/Kelly/Mosley/Rothery/Trewavs) - 15:41

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


STEVE HOGARTH - Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals, Voices, Arranger, Producer
IAN MOSLEY - Percussion, Drums, Arranger, Producer
MARK KELLY - Keyboards, Background Vocals, Arranger, Producer
STEVE ROTHERY - Guitar, Background Vocals, Arranger, Producer
PETE TREWAVAS - Bass, Arranger, Background Vocals, Producer

PHILIP TODD - Saxophone
TIM PERKINS - Balalaika
PAULA SAVAGE - Trumpet
CHARLTON & NEWBOTTLE SCHOOL CHOIR - Background Vocals, Choir, Chorus
REY LEAR - Arranger, Choir Arrangement

STUART EVERY - Engineer
DAVE MEEGAN - Mixing
MICHAEL HUNTER - Mixing Assistant
ANDREA WRIGHT - Mixing Assistant
HUGH GILMOUR - Art Direction, Design, Cover Art Concep

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1997 CD Castle 138
1997 CD Velvel 79791
1997 CD Raw 121

This was the first Marillion album not to be released on vinyl. It was also available in a limited edition Digipak.



If any self-respecting Marillion fans could have looked into a crystal ball back in the mid-'80s (at the the band's pinnacle) to see where the band's path was headed, most would likely have been shocked and amazed to see how it all turned out. If the Fish-led incarnation steered the band down an often dramatic path of intricate, ambitious material, Marillion's new boy, Steve Hogarth, slowly beat it out of them — but not necessarily in a bad way. Released in 1997, This Strange Engine features the Mach II Marillion lineup in all its commercial glory. The longwinded compositions of previous works are all but forgotten, save for "This Strange Engine," the album's sole proggy track, replete with Pink Floyd-style sax solos. Instead, they've been replaced by the quasi-Journey strains of "One Fine Day" and the uber-commercial "80 Days." The latter features perhaps one of the finest Hogarth-led choruses in recent history. As always, This Strange Engine is a production marvel. Ian Mosley's tight drum sounds intertwine effortlessly with Steven Rothery's guitar leads. Not a bad record, but not a great one either. If one word can sum up this release, it would be: ordinary.

John Franck, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2002 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.
 

 L y r i c s


sMAN OF A THOUSAND FACES

I'm the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part I take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech I make
Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Give me an attitude and watch me make it lie
Pass me a microphone
I need to testify
Well I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience

I'm the man of a thousand ages
You see my face in the stones of the Parthenon
You hear my song in the babble of Babylon
I'm the man of a thousand riches
Be my guest at the feast of Satyricon
You spend the money that my logo's printed on

Well I'll speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience

I stole a fire but it burned up much too soon
I took a leap and I landed on the moon
Look at my life and it looks like CNN
You see something once
You know it's gonna come around again

Well I'll speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to a woman with the fatal charm of a snake
Forgive like a giver and account for all I take
Yes, I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak like a leader with the voice of power and command
And when I talk to God I know he'll understand

Cause I'm the man of a thousand faces
Yes I'm the man of a thousand faces

I stole a fire but it burned up too much too soon
I took a leap and I landed on the moon

Voice of command
Voice of a snake
Voice of humanity
Voice of insanity
Voice of obedience
Thousand faces
Thousand races
Cry me a river
Steal a fire
Face in the stars
Stones in the Parthenon
Babble of Babylon
Landed on the moon


ONE FINE DAY

When we were young we used to say
Things would be different
One fine day
The walls would crumble
Nations sing as one
We live in hope
Cause so far it hasn't come
Listening to the pouring rain
Waiting for the world to change
Beginning to wonder if we'll wait in vain
For one fine day

Oh, how years change
The things for which we strive
A better world, or just a quiet life
What seemed so simple
Is still so far away
Don't hold you breath waiting
For one fine day

Listenin' to the pouring rain
Waiting for the world to change
Beginning to wonder if we'll wait in vain
For one fine day

Life is strange
It can seem you're high and dry
Turn around
You find there's nothing in this world you recognise
Did we fall asleep babe?
Dreaming that dream babe?

Listening to the pouring rain
Did we fall asleep babe?
Dreaming that dream babe?
One fine day


EIGHTY DAYS

Staring down from this high window
At the faces in the line
Cold from hours of waiting
How many people can you love?
When you're black and blue with bruises
From collisions on the road
The friction grind of travelling
This is the never ending show
All over the world in eighty days
Head in a blur of information
What kind of a man could live this way
I do what I can
I do okay

But right now
All I want to do
Is get real
If that's all right with you

Woke up last night under the mountains
Driving from Zurich to Milan
I lay there listening to the echoes
Thinking of Iceland and Japan
So many smiles, so many faces
And my home so far away
I lose some of me in all these places
And I can't help the way I'm changed

All over the world in eighty days
Memories turn like magazine pages
What kind of a man could live this way
I do what I can
But I can't escape it

Right now
All I want to do
Is get real
If that's all right with you
Right now
All I want to do
Somehow
Be myself with you

All over the world in eighty days
Alcohol haze of information
What kind of a man could live this way
As long as I have
And stay the same

Right now
All I want to do
Is get real
If that's all right with you
Right now
All I want to do
Get real
If that's all right with you
For just one night with you
If that's all right with you

Get real
Get real right now
Somehow


ESTONIA

Feeling you shake
Feel your heart break
Thinking if only, if only, if only, if only
And the salt water runs
Through your veins and your bones
Telling you no not this way, not this way, not this way
And you would give anything
Give up everything
Offer your life blood away
For yesterday

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
We live on laughing and in no pain
We'll stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

Finding the answer
It's a human obsession
But you might as well talk to the stones and the trees and the sea
'Cause nobody knows
And so few can see
There's only beauty and caring and truth beyond darkness

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
We live on laughing and in no pain
We'll stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

And we won't understand your grief
Because time is illusion
As this watery world spins around
This timeless sun
Will dry your eyes
And calm your mind

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
It's okay, we will stay and be happy
Stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today


MEMORY OF WATER

I wonder if my rope's still hanging from the tree
By the standing pool where you drank me
And filled me full of thirsty love
And the memory of water?
I wonder if a king still fishes there
His back towards the burned-out air
His laughing catches singing loud
The memory of water

Your taste is blood and ecstasy
But I must drink you all alone
You're freckled like a speckled egg
A dove, but this bird has flown
O stay with me sweet memory
O stay with me

I wonder if my rope's still hanging from the tree
By the standing pool where you drank me
As pain flows through me like champagne
Of the memory of water


AN ACCIDENTAL MAN

I was taught from much too young
To never give myself away
Yes I was taught for every secret
There's a price you have to pay
An accident of gender
An accident of birth
That holds me to this point of view
This time and place on earth
This time and place on earth

You ask me how I'm feeling
I only wish you knew
How hard it is for me to share
Share those kind of things with you

It's not that I don't love you
It's just I can't connect
'Cause I was taught from much too young
To shine and not reflect

I'm an accidental man

You ask me if I'm happy
I only wish I knew
'Cause happiness is not something
That I ever learned to do

It's not that I'm complaining
It's all the same to me
If everything that happens, happens accidentally

I'm an accidental man

I was taught for every secret
There's a price you have to pay
I was taught from much too young
To never give myself away
I was born to worthy causes
I was born to take the reins
I was taught from much too young
To never give myself away

An accident of gender
An accident of birth
That holds me to this point of view
This time and place on earth
So try and understand
If I don't say all I can
A stranger to myself I am
An accidental man
I'm an accident
I'm an accidental man


HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

I've been feeling kind of down and loose
Like a Rosicrucian pope
Head down deep in the womb of time
Carrying a message of hope
My hands steady as a hangman's hands
Surer than the hangman's rope
I could sleep for invisible years
Carrying a message of hope
For the future
Carrying a message
Carrying a message
Message of hope

I found a power on a dusty shelf
Hey! the languages I learned
Now I'm so powerful I hurt myself
I hurt myself
I feel kind of limbic brain
Like the library of an astronaut
Found hidden in a pyramid
Shadowing a body of thought

Carrying a message
Carrying a message
Message of hope

Madam I'm Adam, I'm a palindrome
Never odd or even any time
Fishin' and smilin' like a garden gnome
Twisting tales and spinning lines
Why don't we twist like we did last year?

Carrying a message
Carrying a message
Message of hope


THIS STRANGE ENGINE

There was a boy who came into this world
At the hands of a holy woman in a holy place
He wore a red coat and walked a bulldog
Saw them reflected in the mirror of the lakes
Lived in the shadow of the mountains
With the smells of disinfectant, dusty old leather
And the polished wood of his bed
No more than a baby feeding swans on the river
Holding the hands of his mother
And the wax paper bag of yesterday's bread
And his father on the other side of the world
On the ships railings and some far away tide
With the silent dry tear of home thoughts from abroad
In his far away eyes
In his far away eyes

The smell of the wax on the wooden floor
Mixture of polish and soap
No children to fear or to play with
Rows of empty hooks for the coats
An upright piano and the boys in the choir
Still remind him of just before he was born
Remind him of just before he was breathing
Strange misty visions of God
Turn the cities into families
Into villages of souls
Hovering in the air while they're sleeping
With their houses invisible
Chase the moon between the buildings
Running as fast as I could run
Send to me the ghosts of Christmas
Whispering, "You're the only one"

And ever since I was a boy
I never felt that I belonged
Like everything they did to me
Was an experiment to see
How I would cope with the illusion
In which direction would I jump
Would I do it all the same
As the actors in the game
Or would I spit it back at them
And not get caught up in their rules
And live according to my own
And not be used, not be used
To find the fundamental truths
It was going to take some time
Thirty five summers down the line
The wisdom of each passing year
Seems to serve only to confuse
Seems to serve only to confuse

Daddy came out the navy and took us away
To his dirty grey home town
And he worked down on a coal mine for National Service
So that he could be around
There was a magical purple in the chrome of the exhaust
Of his Triumph motor bike
And a warmth of oil and metal and the thrill of the hard corner
Holding tight

From the horizon
Came home from the Navy to the mine
From the horizon
To buried alive
Took his dream underground
Buried his treasure in his faraway eyes

And one day as the boy lay sleeping in the sunshine
Of a half remembered afternoon
A cloud of bees with no particular aim, and no brain
Found the boy, decided that his time had come
Came down out of the sky
Stung him in the face
Again and again
Blue pain
Screaming like baptism
Intravenous, Jesus!
Like being chosen
Blue pain from something with no brain
I can't explain
It's happening again
It's happening again

Oh Mummy, Daddy, will you sit a while with me
Oh Mummy, Daddy, will you jog my memory
Tell me tall tales of Montego Bay
Table mountain, flying fish, banana spiders, pots of paint
And the sun on the equator
Setting like an ember thrown to deep water
From crimson to black
But coming back
Tomorrow
On the horizon

The blue pain
Fades to a point where it doesn't fade
It stayed
Blue
Stirred his red coat heart to this strange engine
This love

This love
This inconvenient, blind, blood-diamond
This puzzle
I don't understand
That knows no faith
And tries and fails
And tries again
Stares at the sea
The night's dark deep
For one last time
And bleeds
And bleeds
And dies for you
And lies
And is to blame
And is ashamed
And is not the same
And is true
And is true

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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