Fish-Era Marillion Live Box Set Coming

For fans of prog-rock, one of the most under-appreciated bands from the 80s has got to be Marillion. The band was kind of a combo of Genesis and Floyd but they certainly had their own style. The band's first four studio albums were with singer Derek Dick, or as he is better known, Fish.

Fish's lyrics were Roger Waters meets Jim Morrison. Kind of psycho, very introspective and poetic. The third and fourth albums, Misplaced Childhood and Clutching and Straws, are my favorites. I felt that the band hit their stride on these albums and they are both for lack of a better word concept albums.

Fish split with the band over artistic and management issues after Clutching, but went on to a pretty cult-status solo career. Meaning, not commercially successful but artistically very successful. His latest album, 13th Star, is said by fans and critics to be his best yet.

Marillion also carried on with a new singer, Steve Hogarth, and have put out 11 more albums and counting!

But now, finally, there is a record label interested in giving us all a glimpse into why the band was so compelling in the first place - its live work with Fish in the 80s.

Marillion: "The Early Stages" - Official Bootleg Box Set 1982-1987 is due to be released this November, just in time for Christmas. The six CDs are all live shows spanning the Fish years. More info can be found here.

To give you a small snapshot, here is a video of the band doing Bitter Suite from Misplaced Childhood in the mid 80s. Dig Fish's Jim Morrison-esque poetic ramblings at about 1:50 minutes in. Also love the Steve Hackett meets David Gilmour guitar work at about 3:30...