Marillion - B'Sides Themselves (CD 2003)

This CD was released during the Fish/Steve Hogarth transitional phase to cash in on Marillion's huge popularity at the time. It's a fantastic collection of B Sides - generally not avaliable on any other CDs at the the time. As a collection of songs there isn't a good flow or sense of continuity - but individually, the tracks are all stunning. This CD is notable for the inclusion of the epic on-stage jam "Margaret" which is as Scottish sounding as anything Runrig or The Proclaimers put out. Fantastic stuff. My only gripe is that some of the tracks are edited versions rather than full lenght.

Collection of early songs which are far to good to be considered out-takes. From the opening opus, "Grendel" (now a little dated, but is still an excellent musical achievement) to the fantastic foot-stomper "Margaret" this is a fine collection of rare material from a band which were so much more than the Genesis-clones label they were unfortunately lumbered with.