112-572: Marillion / m ə ˈ r ɪ l i ə n / are a British neo prog band, formed in Aylesbury , Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock , becoming the most commercially successful neo-prog band of the 1980s. Marillion released their debut single " Market Square Heroes " in 1982, followed by their first album Script for
224-610: A zeppelin over Great Britain during WW1 happened in Cuffley. From the 1920s until the late 1980s , the town of Borehamwood was home to one of the major British film studio complexes, including the MGM-British Studios . Many well-known films were made here including the first three Star Wars movies ( IV , V , & VI ). The studios generally used the name of Elstree . American director Stanley Kubrick not only used to shoot in those studios but also lived in
336-573: A 10th anniversary compilation album, A Singles Collection: Six of One, Half A Dozen of the Other , so-titled as it included six tracks from the Fish era and six from the two albums with Hogarth. It also included two new recordings, "I Will Walk on Water" and a cover of Rare Bird 's " Sympathy ". "Sympathy" was also released as a single and it reached No. 17 in the UK charts, the first time the band had been inside
448-437: A Jester's Tear in 1983. They have released 20 studio albums in total. The band achieved eight Top 10 UK albums between 1983 and 1994, including a No. 1 album in 1985 with Misplaced Childhood . The album also produced two UK Top 10 singles in " Kayleigh " (No. 2) and " Lavender " (No. 5), while the follow-up album, 1987's Clutching at Straws , included another UK Top 10 single " Incommunicado " (No. 6). Clutching at Straws
560-559: A Jester's Tear , as well as "Cinderella Search" (B-side to "Assassing") and the debut single "Market Square Heroes", which had not been available on album until that point. Real to Reel entered the UK album charts at No. 8. Their third and commercially most successful studio album was Misplaced Childhood , which had a more mainstream sound. The lead single from the album, " Kayleigh ", received major promotion by EMI and gained heavy rotation on BBC Radio 1 and Independent Local Radio stations as well as television appearances, bringing
672-426: A Marillion album before joining the band. The group had already recorded some demos of the next studio album, which was eventually titled Seasons End , just prior to the split. With Fish taking his lyrics with him, Hogarth set to work crafting new words to existing songs, collaborating with lyricist and author John Helmer . The demo sessions of the songs from Seasons End with Fish vocals and lyrics can be found on
784-543: A Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyr's cross of a yellow saltire on a blue field is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire as the yellow field to the stag or Hart representing the county. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire. With the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century , the now-unprotected territory
896-453: A big house in Oxford with Irish wolfhounds at the bottom of my bed." Fish gave the band a choice to continue with either him or the manager, John Arnison . They sided with the manager and Fish left for a solo career. His last live performance with Marillion was at Craigtoun Country Park on 23 July 1988. The band's second live album, The Thieving Magpie , was released in late 1988, marking
1008-675: A concept and the second containing the other songs that are not a part of the theme. Before the album's release, on 9 September 2008, Marillion pre-released their album via p2p networks themselves. Upon attempting to play the downloaded files, users were shown a video from the band explaining why they had taken this route. Downloaders were then able to opt to purchase the album at a user-defined price or select to receive DRM-free files for free, in exchange for an email address. The band explained that although they do not support piracy, they realised their music would inevitably be distributed online anyway, and wanted to attempt to engage with p2p users and make
1120-454: A different approach and was received by fans with mixed reactions. The short Radiation tour, with only dates in the UK and mainland Europe, ended on 18 November 1998 at the Élysée Montmartre in Paris. marillion.com was the follow-up, released on 18 October 1999, and showed progression in a new musical direction. However, the band were still unhappy with their record label situation. Under
1232-532: A festival in Germany attended by a crowd of over 150,000 people. They were also offered the Highlander soundtrack but turned it down because of their world tour, a missed opportunity which Rothery later said he regretted. The fourth studio album, Clutching at Straws , shed some of its predecessor's pop stylings and retreated into a darker exploration of excess, alcoholism, and life on the road, representing
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#17327648799171344-425: A historic centre, with many Tudor and Stuart era buildings interspersed amongst more contemporary structures. Hertfordshire's eastern regions are predominantly rural and arable, intermixed with villages and small to medium-sized towns. Royston, Buntingford and Bishop's Stortford , along with Ware and the county town of Hertford are major settlements in this regard. The physical geography of eastern Hertfordshire
1456-681: A mix of post-WWII new towns and older/more historical locales. The City of St. Albans is an example of a historical settlement, as its cathedral and abbey date to the Norman period, and there are ruins from the Roman settlement of Verulamium nearby the current city centre. Stevenage is a mix of post-WWII new town planning amidst its prior incarnation as a smaller town. The Old Town in Stevenage represents this historic core and has many shops and buildings reflecting its pre-WWII heritage. Hitchin also has
1568-409: A new line-up of Mick Pointer, Steve Rothery (guitar), Doug Irvine (bass/vocals) and Brian Jelliman (keys). They played their first concert at Berkhamsted Civic Centre , Hertfordshire , on 1 March 1980. According to Pointer, it was at this stage that the name was shortened to Marillion. Other sources have that the band name was shortened to Marillion in 1981 to avoid potential copyright conflicts, at
1680-417: A new strategy, and following the release of three albums via Castle, they came up with a novel approach for their next album. The band decided that they would try a radical experiment by asking their fans if they would help fund the recording of the next album by pre-ordering it before recording even started. The result was 12,674 pre-orders, which raised enough money to record and release Anoraknophobia in
1792-448: A smaller scale. Digital synthesizers took over many of the roles formerly filled by bulkier keyboards such as Mellotrons and organs, and their modern sound tended to minimise the folk influences that had been typical of 1970s progressive rock. Heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Queensrÿche began to explore the mythological themes and extended concepts that had previously been the territory of progressive rock. Early neo-prog
1904-469: Is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties . It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford , and the county town is Hertford . The county has an area of 634 square miles (1,640 km ) and had a population of 1,198,800 at
2016-462: Is also the UK base of multi-nationals Hilton Worldwide , TotalEnergies , TK Maxx , Costco , JJ Kavanagh and Sons , Vinci and Beko . The 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference , took place at The Grove hotel . Warner Bros. owns and runs its main UK base since the 2000s, Warner Studios, in Leavesden, Watford. Rickmansworth hosts Skanska . Most of the county
2128-428: Is characterised by deeply emotional content, often delivered via dramatic lyrics and a generous use of imagery and theatricality on-stage. The music is mostly the product of careful composition , relying less heavily on improvised jamming. The subgenre relies very much on clean, melodic and emotional electric guitar solos , combined with keyboards . The main musical influences on the neo-prog genre are bands from
2240-656: Is less elevated than the far west, but with lower rising hills and prominent rivers such as the Stort . This river rises in Essex and terminates via a confluence with the Lea near to Ware. Apart from the Lea and Stort, the River Colne is the major watercourse in the county's west. This runs near Watford and Radlett, and has a complex system/drainage area running south into both Greater London and Buckinghamshire. An unofficial status,
2352-560: Is served by BBC London & ITV London , however Stevenage and North Hertfordshire is served by BBC East & ITV Anglia . Some northwestern parts of the county around Tring can also receive BBC South and ITV Meridian . Local radio for the county is provided by BBC Three Counties Radio , BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (covering Royston ), Heart Hertfordshire , Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96), Mix 92.6 (formerly Radio Verulam St. Albans) and Community Radio Dacorum (Hemel Hempstead). Local newspapers in
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#17327648799172464-644: Is supplied to London from Ware , using the New River built by Hugh Myddleton and opened in 1613. Local rivers, although small, supported developing industries such as paper production at Nash Mills . Hertfordshire affords habitat for a variety of flora and fauna. A bird once common in the shire is the hooded crow , the old name of which is the eponymous name of the regional newspaper, the Royston Crow published in Royston . A product, now largely defunct,
2576-468: Is the bedrock of much of the county provides an aquifer that feeds streams and is also exploited to provide water supplies for much of the county and beyond. Chalk has also been used as a building material and, once fired, the resultant lime was spread on agricultural land to improve fertility. The mining of chalk since the early 18th century has left unrecorded underground galleries that occasionally collapse unexpectedly and endanger buildings. Fresh water
2688-752: Is the biggest hit of the Hogarth era. In 2016, the album Fuck Everyone and Run (F E A R) returned them to the UK Albums Chart Top 10 for the first time since 1994's Brave . Their most recent album, 2022's An Hour Before It's Dark , entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 2, their highest chart position since Clutching at Straws in 1987. Marillion continue to tour internationally, becoming ranked 38th in Classic Rock 's "50 Best Live Acts of All Time" in 2008. Despite unpopularity in
2800-495: The 2021 census . After Watford (131,325), the largest settlements are Hemel Hempstead (95,985), Stevenage (94,470) and the city of St Albans (75,540). For local government purposes Hertfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with ten districts beneath Hertfordshire County Council . Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in the Chilterns near Tring . The county centres on
2912-554: The Alan Parsons Project in the early 1990's returning Neo-Prog back to its former glory. Giorgio A. Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens fame brought more attention to the "alien based" concept album through social media and most importantly the attention of the NASA Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong family including Neil's musical son Rick Armstrong who requested to. become a permanent member of Edison's Children during
3024-446: The Alan Parsons Project later in the evening for a two band encore "mashup". Along with Marillion, Fish and Edison's Children, alternative rock band Radiohead 's ambitious work has been credited with inspiring a revival of interest in progressive rock. Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( / ˈ h ɑːr t f ər d ʃ ɪər / HART -fərd-sheer or /- ʃ ər / -shər ; often abbreviated Herts )
3136-693: The Chiltern Hills surrounding Tring , Berkhamsted and the Ashridge estate. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty runs from near Hitchin in the north to Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Many of the county's major settlements are in the central, northern and southern areas, such as Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley , Rickmansworth , St. Albans , Harpenden , Redbourn , Radlett , Borehamwood , Potters Bar , Stevenage, Hatfield , Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City, Hitchin , Letchworth and Baldock. These are all small to medium-sized locations, featuring
3248-611: The Chilterns , clayland buffer zone countryside of Braughing and the Hadhams across to ancient hornbeam coppices west of the upper Lea valley. The county has sweeping panoramas of chalklands near Royston , Baldock , Hexton and Tring . Large parts of the county are used for agriculture. Some quarrying of sand and gravel occurs around St Albans. In the past, clay has supplied local brick-making and still does in Bovingdon , just south-west of Hemel Hempstead. The chalk that
3360-605: The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 which eliminated exclaves ; amended when, in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 , East Barnet Urban District and Barnet Urban District were abolished, their area was transferred to form part of the present-day London Borough of Barnet and the Potters Bar Urban District of Middlesex was transferred to Hertfordshire. The highest point in
3472-707: The Marillion 2013 Weekend tour in Montreal which he was granted and has contributed to Edison's Children's next four Supernatural / Extraterrestrial / Apocalyptic -based double LPs. This culminated in the 2019 concert celebration for the Astronaut Scholarship Fund's concert celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, starring Neil Armstrong 's son Rick Armstrong performing with his band Edison's Children and then joining
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3584-540: The Amsterdam Paradiso ), the band returned to their own studio, The Racket Club, in November. During 1997 to 1999, EMI issued 2-CD remastered editions of Marillion's first eight studio albums ( Script for a Jester's Tear through Afraid of Sunlight ), each with a second CD of non-album tracks and other archival recordings. The band's tenth album, Radiation , released on 21 September 1998, saw them taking
3696-652: The Anglo-Saxons: "ford", "ton", "den", "bourn", "ley", "stead", "ing", "lett", "wood", and "worth", are represented in this county by Hertford, Royston, Harpenden, Redbourn, Cuffley, Wheathampstead, Tring, Radlett, Borehamwood and Rickmansworth. There is evidence of human life in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period . It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at
3808-561: The B-side of the 12" version. Following the single, the band released their first full-length album in 1983. The music on their debut album, Script for a Jester's Tear , was born out of the intensive performances of the previous years. Featuring a dark and progressive rock sound, the album was a commercial success, peaking at No. 7 on the UK album chart and producing the singles " He Knows You Know " (No. 35) and " Garden Party " (No. 16). Although they were accused of being Genesis soundalikes,
3920-676: The Blue Turtles , entered the chart in the same week. The third single from the album, " Heart of Lothian ", became another Top 30 hit for the band, reaching No. 29. The album came sixth in Kerrang! magazine's "Albums of the Year" in 1985. "Kayleigh" also gave Marillion its sole entry on the Billboard Hot 100 , reaching No. 74. In the summer of 1986, the band played to their biggest ever audience as special guests to Queen at
4032-685: The Desert, on 22 April 1996. Rothery's project with the female singer Hannah Stobart, drummer Paul Craddick (from Enchant ) and Trewavas, called The Wishing Tree , released their album Carnival of Souls in September 1996. Hogarth released his solo album Ice Cream Genius in February 1997. This Strange Engine was the following Marillion album released in April 1997 in the UK, and in October in
4144-557: The Europeans and the duo How We Live . Hogarth first sang with the band in Pete Trewavas' garage on 24 January 1989, and the first public pictures together were released in Kerrang! magazine issue 230 on 18 March 1989. Hogarth was a significant contrast to Fish, coming from a new wave musical background instead of progressive rock, and possessing a very different vocal style, image and stage presence. He had also never owned
4256-642: The Roses, St. Albans was the scene of two major battles between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. In Tudor times, Hatfield House was often frequented by Queen Elizabeth I. Stuart King James I used the locale for hunting and facilitated the construction of a waterway, the New River , supplying drinking water to London. As London grew, Hertfordshire became conveniently close to the English capital; much of
4368-680: The Sky . A predecessor to this genre was The Enid , who fused rock with classical but were more heavily influenced by Ralph Vaughan Williams than by more modern composers. The change of approach can be heard in the shift toward shorter compositions and a keyboard-based sound in the 1980s Rush albums Signals , Grace Under Pressure , Power Windows and Hold Your Fire . Neo-progressive bands emphasised individual solos instead of group improvisation , and they included more world-music elements. Lyrics became more personal and less esoteric. Concept albums were still created, but not as frequently and on
4480-415: The UK , in 2002. April 2002 marked a new era of Marillion fandom. The band decided to book out a holiday camp and invite their fanbase to enjoy three entire days of Marillion with three concerts, signing sessions, and more. The hallmark of the weekend was the first night which hosts the entire rendition of an album of Marillion's choice. The Marillion weekends began at Pontin 's Holiday Park, Brean Sands in
4592-823: The UK Cereal Partners factory and in pharmaceuticals it hosts Roche UK's headquarters (subsidiary of the Swiss Hoffman-La Roche ). GlaxoSmithKline has plants in Ware and Stevenage . Hemel Hempstead has large premises of Dixons Carphone . The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), the trade association for UK pharmacies, is based in St Albans . Kings Langley has the plant-office of Pure , making DAB digital radios . Watford hosts national companies such as J D Wetherspoon , Camelot Group , Bathstore , and Caversham Finance (BrightHouse). It
Marillion - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-641: The UK Top 30. The success of the album was further underscored by that of the download-only single "See it Like a Baby", making UK No. 45 (March 2007) and the traditional CD release of " Thankyou Whoever You Are " / "Most Toys", which made UK No. 15 and No. 6 in the Netherlands during June 2007. The Somewhere Else tour started in Gibraltar 14 April 2007, and they also played in some places they had never been before like Bratislava. In July 2008,
4816-694: The UK album chart and produced two top five hit singles in the UK. The album has been called "the cornerstone of the entire 'neo-prog' movement". Following this peak, neo-prog declined in popularity as a genre, although several bands have continued to record and tour, with Marillion and their ex-singer Fish in particular both maintaining a large cult following . They would also spawn a Sci-Fi based trans-Atlantic Neo-Prog side project in Edison's Children in 2011 starring, Marillion 's Pete Trewavas and NYC's Major Motion Picture Special FX Technician Eric Blackwood . Their 1st album "In The Last Waking Moments..." marks
4928-511: The UK for an exclusive and intimate 10th Anniversary show at London's Borderline for members of their The Web fan club on 9 May 1992, followed by another European tour in August. Marillion returned to the UK to headline Wembley Arena, for what would ultimately be the final time for the band, on 5 September 1992. The 1992 tour wound up in Baltimore, USA on 23 October. 1992 also saw the release of
5040-535: The UK in July, with a sold out show at Wembley Arena , highlighting how successful the shift from Fish to the new frontman Hogarth had been. Hogarth's second album with the band, Holidays in Eden , was the first he wrote in partnership with the band from the beginning, and includes the song "Dry Land", which Hogarth had written and recorded with his earlier duo, How We Live. As quoted from Steve Hogarth, " Holidays in Eden
5152-648: The US, with limited promotion from their new label Castle. Marillion could not afford to make tour stops in the United States. Their dedicated US fan base decided to solve the problem by raising some $ 60,000 themselves online to give to the band to come to the US. The band's loyal fanbase (combined with the Internet) would eventually become vital to their existence. Following the completion of the extensive 1997 tour (including Marillion's one-thousandth gig, on 27 October at
5264-586: The United States, followed up by the "Not Quite Christmas Tour" of Europe throughout the end of 2005. A new DVD, Colours and Sound , was released in February 2006, documenting the creation, promotion, release, and subsequent European tour in support of the album Marbles . In February 2007, the Marillion weekend was held abroad for the first time in the Netherlands at Center Parcs , Port Zélande. April 2007 saw Marillion release their fourteenth studio album Somewhere Else , their first album in 10 years to make
5376-470: The Unready . A century later, William of Normandy received the surrender of some senior English Lords and Clergy at Berkhamsted , before entering London unopposed and being crowned at Westminster . Hertfordshire was used for some of the new Norman castles at Bishop's Stortford , and at King's Langley , a staging post between London and the royal residence of Berkhamsted . The Domesday Book recorded
5488-551: The West Country, to which fans would fly in from all over the world. In March 2003 they continued and held the Marillion weekend at Butlin's Minehead . The success of Anoraknophobia allowed the band to start recording their next album, but they decided to leverage their fanbase once again to help raise money towards marketing and promotion of a new album. The band put up the album for pre-order in mid-production. This time fans responded by pre-ordering 18,000 copies. Marbles
5600-465: The album reached the Platinum certification and has been credited with giving a second life to progressive rock bands from the previous era. In April 1983, following the UK tour to promote Script for a Jester's Tear , Mick Pointer was dismissed due to Fish's dissatisfaction with what he later described as the drummer's "awful" timing and failure to develop as a musician with the rest of the band. Over
5712-528: The area until his death. Big Brother UK and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? have been filmed there. EastEnders is filmed at Elstree. Hertfordshire has seen development at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden ; the Harry Potter series was filmed here and the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye . On 17 October 2000, the Hatfield rail crash killed four people with over 70 injured. The crash exposed
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#17327648799175824-575: The area was owned by the nobility and aristocracy , this patronage helped to boost the local economy. However, the greatest boost to Hertfordshire came during the Industrial Revolution , after which the population rose dramatically. In 1903, Letchworth became the world's first garden city and Stevenage became the first town to redevelop under the New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). The first shooting-down of
5936-533: The band 18 months to write and record and marked the start of their longtime relationship with producer Dave Meegan . Some of the material had been aired at that sole 1993 show in Utrecht, and was also previewed at low-key gigs in the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany before Marillion kicked off the Brave world tour at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre on 20 February 1994. The Brave tour was another lengthy one, and
6048-527: The band Steam Shed. By the end of 1981, Mark Kelly had replaced Jelliman on keyboards, with Pete Trewavas replacing Minnitt on bass in 1982. Minnitt later formed Pride of Passion and went on to perform with Zealey and Moore. Marillion's first recordings were two demos recorded in March and the summer of 1980, before Fish and Minnitt joined the band. Two versions of the Spring demo circulate amongst collectors;
6160-466: The band posted a contest for fans to create a music video for the soon-to-be released single "Whatever is Wrong with You", and post it on YouTube. The winner would win £5,000. Happiness Is the Road , released in October 2008, again featured a pre-order Deluxe Edition with a list of the fans who bought in advance, and a more straightforward regular release. It is another double album, with one disc based on
6272-523: The band recorded another demo tape, produced by Les Payne, in July 1981 that included early versions of "He Knows You Know", "Garden Party", and "Charting the Single". The group attracted attention with a radio session for the Friday Rock Show . They were subsequently signed by EMI Records . They released their first single, " Market Square Heroes ", in 1982, with the 17-minute epic "Grendel" on
6384-497: The band to the attention of a much wider audience. "Kayleigh" reached No. 2 in the UK and " Lavender " reached No. 5; these remain the only singles by the band to enter the Top 5. Following the exposure given to "Kayleigh" and its subsequent chart success, the album became their only No. 1 in the UK, knocking Bryan Ferry 's Boys and Girls off the top spot and holding off a challenge from Sting , whose first solo album, The Dream of
6496-451: The band undertook the move to perform the whole of their new album in its entirety (as they had done with Misplaced Childhood just under a decade earlier). However, this meant the inevitable relegating of some Fish-era songs from the set. After a series of summer shows in Japan, the Brave tour wound its way down to Mexico in September. An independent film based on the album, which featured
6608-808: The band's first Top 40 entry since "Beautiful" in 1995. The second single from the album, "Don't Hurt Yourself", reached No. 16. Following this, they released a download-only single, "The Damage (live)", recorded at the band's sell-out gig at the London Astoria . All of this succeeded in putting the band back in the public consciousness, making the campaign a success. In September 2004, Marillion returned for shows in Mexico, USA and ended in Canada Quebec City on 13 October 2004. Marillion continued to tour throughout 2005, playing several summer festivals and embarking on acoustic tours of both Europe and
6720-472: The band's lineup, with the recording beset by production problems. Despite this, the album built upon the success of Script for a Jester's Tear , with a more streamlined hard rock sound. It improved on the chart placing of its predecessor by reaching the Top 5 and produced the singles " Punch and Judy " (No. 29) and " Assassing " (No. 22). In November 1984, Marillion released their first live album, Real to Reel , featuring songs from Fugazi and Script for
6832-429: The band's management led to the rift. Although reportedly now on good personal terms, both camps had always made it very clear that the oft-speculated-upon reunion would never happen. When Fish headlined the 'Hobble on the Cobbles' free concert in Aylesbury's Market Square on 26 August 2007, the attraction of playing their debut single in its spiritual home proved strong enough to overcome any lingering bad feeling between
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#17327648799176944-399: The band, was also released in February 1995. The film was directed by Richard Stanley . The band's next album, Afraid of Sunlight , was released June 1995. It would be Marillion's last studio album with EMI Records. It received limited promotion, no mainstream radio airplay and the sales were disappointing for the band. Despite this, it was one of their most critically acclaimed albums and
7056-480: The beginning of May 2001. As a 'thank-you' gesture to the fans who pre-ordered it, their names were credited in the sleeve notes and the pre-order "Special Edition" came in a deluxe 48-page hard-bound case with an extra enhanced CD. The band was able to strike a deal with EMI to also help distribute the album. This allowed Marillion to retain all the rights to their music while enjoying commercial distribution. The band went on tour which started in May 2001. A second leg of
7168-444: The beginning of the Bronze Age . This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age . Following the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 , the Catuvellauni tribe accepted peace and adapted to the Roman life; resulting in the development of several new towns, including Verulamium (St Albans) where in c. 293 the first recorded British martyrdom is traditionally believed to have taken place. Saint Alban ,
7280-521: The best album he made with the band. On 2 August 1995, Marillion began their Afraid of Sunlight tour in USA at the Bayou in Washington DC. They returned to the UK and Europe before ending the tour in Krakow, Poland on 21 November 1995. The band's independent status was confirmed with signing a deal to the UK-based Castle . The first album to be released through Castle was the band's third live album (the first with Hogarth) Made Again . Not only did it release Marillion from its obligations with EMI (as
7392-430: The best of the situation. In April 2009, they took their Marillion weekend to Montreal for the first time. Neo prog Neo-progressive rock (commonly abbreviated neo-prog ) is a subgenre of progressive rock developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band, Marillion , achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the genre have continued to record and tour. Neo-prog
7504-402: The bonus disc of the remastered version of Clutching at Straws , while those lyrics found their way into various Fish solo albums, such as his first album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors , some snippets on his second album Internal Exile , and even a line or two found its way to his third album Suits . The first time Marillion would appear in public with Steve Hogarth as the new singer
7616-409: The county are: Waltham Cross , Broxbourne , is the location of the Lee Valley White Water Centre , a purpose-built venue opened in 2010 for the 2012 Summer Olympics . The site consists of two white water courses; one 300m Grade IV "Olympic" run; and one 160m Grade III "legacy" run. During the games the center was the venue for the canoe and kayak slalom events . Lee Valley has since hosted
7728-407: The county as having nine hundreds . Tring and Danais became one— Dacorum —from Danis Corum or Danish rule harking back to a Viking not Saxon past. The other seven were Braughing , Stevenage , Cashio , Buntingford , Hertford , Hitchin and Odsey . In the later Plantagenet period, St. Albans Abbey was an initial drafting place of what was to become Magna Carta . And in the later Wars of
7840-459: The county is at 244 m (801 ft) ( AOD ) on the Ridgeway long distance national path, on the border of Hastoe near Tring with Drayton Beauchamp , Buckinghamshire. At the 2011 census, among the county's ten districts, East Hertfordshire had the lowest population density (290 people per km ) and Watford the highest (4210 per km ). Compared with neighbouring Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire lacks large towns or cities on
7952-483: The edge of Hemel Hempstead. Hertfordshire is located in the south-eastern part of England and is the county immediately north of London. It is officially part of the East of England region, a mainly statistical unit . To the east is Essex , to the west is Buckinghamshire and to the north are Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire . A significant minority of the population across all districts commute to Central London . The county's boundaries were roughly fixed by
8064-443: The end of an era. Owing to lengthy legal battles, informal contact between Fish and the other four band members apparently did not resume until 1999. Fish would disclose in the liner notes to the remastered edition of Clutching at Straws that he and his former bandmates had met up, discussed the demise of the band and renewed their friendship. They had come to the consensus that an excessive touring schedule and too much pressure from
8176-419: The fifth album in a five-album deal), as well as paying off the debts without creating new ones, it marked a certain symmetry with the first seven years of the band. Mark Kelly noted: "Our first four studio albums were followed by a double live album that signalled the end of a chapter. Now, after another four studio albums, followed by a live album, we move from EMI." Featuring Brave in its entirety, Made Again
8288-721: The first has four tracks; "The Haunting of Gill House", "Herne the Hunter", an untitled track known as "Scott's Porridge", and "Alice". The second version has an instrumental version of "Alice" in place of "Scott's Porridge". All tracks are instrumental apart from "Alice", with vocals by Doug Irvine. The summer demo has three tracks; "Close" (parts of which were later rewritten into "The Web", "He Knows You Know" and "Chelsea Monday"), "Lady Fantasy" (an original based on an earlier Electric Gypsy song), and another version of "Alice". Both were recorded at The Enid 's studio in Hertfordshire. Following Irvine's departure and replacement by Fish and Minnitt,
8400-418: The first wave of progressive rock such as early Genesis , Camel , and to a lesser extent Van der Graaf Generator and Pink Floyd . Funk , hard rock and punk rock were also influences on the genre. In the book, The Progressive Rock Files , author Jerry Lucky dedicates a chapter to neo-progressive rock with the title "A Neo Beginning!", stating this subgenre "surfaced in late 1981, bearing testimony to
8512-423: The former bandmates, and Kelly, Mosley, Rothery, and Trewavas replaced Fish's backing band for an emotional encore of "Market Square Heroes". In a press interview following the event, Fish denied this would lead to a full reunion, saying that: " Hogarth does a great job with the band. We forged different paths over the 19 years." After the split, the band found Steve Hogarth, the former keyboardist and vocalist of
8624-576: The headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne ; both flow south and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much of the county is covered by the Metropolitan green belt . Since 1903, Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city while Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain 's New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). Services have become
8736-608: The largest sector of the county's economy. The county's landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, to Leavesden Film Studios . The volume of intact medieval and Tudor buildings surpasses London, in places in well-preserved conservation areas , especially in St Albans , which includes remains of the Roman town of Verulamium . In 913, Hertfordshire
8848-672: The lasting values of this musical form" of progressive rock, but distinguishing it from this main genre by saying, "Sure the sound was a bit different ... a little more bite, a little more eighties". Later in the same book, Jerry Lucky suggested this subgenre of progressive rock peaked in the mid-1980s: "As 1984 dawned all of the British neo-progressive rock bands release material." Famous neo-prog albums were Marillion 's Fugazi , Pallas ' The Sentinel , Pendragon 's Fly High Fall Far , Twelfth Night 's Art and Illusion , Solstice 's Silent Dance , IQ 's The Wake , and Quasar 's Fire in
8960-416: The mainstream media and a consistently unfashionable status within the British music industry, Marillion have maintained a very loyal international fanbase, becoming widely acknowledged as playing a pioneering role in the development of crowdfunding and fan-funded music . They have sold over 15 million albums worldwide. "I thought they were a lot like Camel . It was also very clear to me that Steve Rothery
9072-407: The manager was on 20 per cent of the gross. He was making a fantastic amount of money while we were working our asses off. Then I found a bit of paper proposing an American tour. At the end of the day the band would have needed a £14,000 loan from EMI as tour support to do it. That was when I knew that, if I stayed with the band, I'd probably end up a raging alcoholic and be found overdosed and dying in
9184-692: The midst of the Norse invasions, Hertfordshire was on the front lines of much of the fighting. King Edward the Elder , in his reconquest of Norse-held lands in what was to become England , established a " burh " or fort in Hertford, which was to curb Norse activities in the area. His father, King Alfred the Great , established the River Lea as a boundary between his kingdom and that of the Norse lord Guthrum , with
9296-417: The next six months, three drummers passed through the band - original Camel drummer Andy Ward , followed by John 'Martyr' Marter, followed by Jonathan Mover - before Ian Mosley , who had played for acts including Darryl Way's Wolf , Trace , Gordon Giltrap , and Steve Hackett , was secured in October 1983. The second album Fugazi , released in early 1984, was written during this period of upheaval in
9408-644: The north and eastern parts of the county being within the Danelaw . There is little evidence however of Norse placenames within this region, and many of the Anglo-Saxon features remained intact to this day. The county however suffered from renewed Norse raids in the late 10th to early 11th centuries, as armies led by Danish kings Swein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great harried the country as part of their attempts to undermine and overthrow English king Athelred
9520-490: The north and west of the county, forming the Chiltern Hills and the younger Palaeocene , Reading Beds and Eocene , London Clay which occupy the remaining southern part. The eastern half of the county was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age and has a superficial layer of glacial boulder clays . Much of the west – and much more in the east – have richly diverse countryside. These range from beech woods of
9632-483: The only time that all active members of Marillion (and Robin Boult, the lead guitarist of Fish) appeared on the same album that wasn't an official Marillion album. " In The Last Waking Moments ...'" Extraterrestrial / Alien Abduction theme garnered tremendous attention including the Top 40 FM Radio Hit "A Million Miles Away (I Wish I Had A Time Machine " marking the first time that Neo-Prog has had an FM hit since
9744-465: The press. The band released " You're Gone " as the lead single from the album. Aware that it was unlikely to gain much mainstream radio airplay, the band released the single in three separate formats and encouraged fans to buy a copy of each to get the single into the UK Top Ten. The single reached No. 7, making it the first Marillion song to reach the UK Top 10 since " Incommunicado " in 1987 and
9856-651: The purple star-shaped flower with yellow stamens, the Pasqueflower is among endemic county flowers . The rocks of Hertfordshire belong to the great shallow syncline known as the London Basin . The beds dip in a south-easterly direction towards the syncline's lowest point roughly under the River Thames . The most important formations are the Cretaceous Chalk , exposed as the high ground in
9968-625: The release of Seasons End . The band ended 1989 with their traditional Christmas show at London's Hammersmith Odeon , and kicked off 1990 with the beginning of the Seasons End world tour, in front of 180,000 people at Hollywood Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro in January, then rolling through Canada and North America before returning to Europe. The tour would prove to be the longest that Hogarth has thus far undertaken with Marillion. The tour ended in
10080-418: The release of their 1996 live album Made Again , and the dissipation of the band's mainstream popularity in the late 1990s; save for a resurgence in the mid- to late-2000s, they have essentially been a cult act since then. Since the arrival of Hogarth, Marillion have achieved a further 12 Top 40 hit singles in the UK, including 2004's " You're Gone " from the album Marbles , which charted at No. 7 and
10192-607: The same time as singer Fish and bassist William 'Diz' Minnitt replaced original bassist/vocalist Doug Irvine following an audition at Leyland Farm Studios in Buckinghamshire on 2 January 1981. The line-up of Rothery, Pointer, Jelliman, Fish, and Minnitt performed their first gig at the Red Lion Pub at 35 Market Square in Bicester on 14 March 1981. Many years after his departure from Marillion, Irvine eventually joined
10304-528: The same town, Airbus (Defence & Space Division) produces satellites. Hatfield was where de Havilland developed the first commercial jet liner, the Comet . Now the site is a business park and new campus for the University of Hertfordshire . This major employment site notably hosts EE , Computacenter and Ocado groceries and other goods e-commerce. Welwyn Garden City hosts Tesco 's UK base, hosts
10416-470: The scale of Luton or Milton Keynes , whose populations exceed 200,000, but its overall population (1.2 million in 2021) is greater than those of the two aforementioned counties. The River Lea near Harpenden runs through Wheathampstead , Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, Ware, and Broxbourne before reaching Cheshunt and ultimately the River Thames. The far west of the county is the most hilly, with
10528-595: The shortcomings of Railtrack , and resulted in speed restrictions and major track replacement. On 10 May 2002, seven people died in the fourth of the Potters Bar rail accidents ; the train was travelling at high speed when it derailed and flipped into the air when one of the carriages slid along the platform where it came to rest. In early December 2005, there were explosions at the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal at Buncefield on
10640-422: The singles Top 20 since "Incommunicado". Marillion would play only one live show in 1993, a fan club gig at Tivoli Theatre in Utrecht on 19 June, as a duo with only Hogarth and Trewavas. The band spent most of 1993 recording what would become one of the most significant albums of their history. Brave was released on 7 February 1994. A dark and richly complex concept album inspired by a true news story, it took
10752-536: The strains of constant touring that would result in the departure of Fish to pursue a solo career. It did continue the group's commercial success, however; lead single " Incommunicado " charted at No. 6 in the UK, gaining the band an appearance on Top of the Pops , and the album entered the UK album chart at No. 2. " Sugar Mice " and " Warm Wet Circles " also became hit singles, both reaching No. 22. Fish has also stated in interviews since that he believes this
10864-917: The terms of the deal, this was to be the third and final album distributed on the Castle label. The Dot Com tour, again with dates only in the UK and mainland Europe, started on 13 October at the MCM Cafe in Paris, and ended with a special Christmas show for the Web fanclubs worldwide in Aachen, Germany on 5 December 1999. For the whole of 2000, the band were writing the next album at the Racket Club and in November 2000 they played 2 Charity gigs at Bass Museum in Burton-on-Trent, before playing some more Christmas shows for their European fan clubs. Marillion needed
10976-636: The tour (with a setlist largely decided by a poll of the fans) reached places that had never been played before, such as in the Azores at Ponta Delgada 22 September 2001. A US Tour was still not a possibility. A four-part BBC documentary 'The Future Just Happened' aired in the UK on BBC2 in the Summer 2001. Featured in Episode 3 was Marillion's revolutionary internet pre-order campaign for Anoraknophobia . The band released its fourth live album, entitled Anorak in
11088-555: Was watercress , based in Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted supported by reliable, clean chalk rivers. This is a table of trends of regional gross value added of Hertfordshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Hertfordshire has the main operational and/or headquarters UK site of some very large employers. Clockwise from north: In Stevenage (a subsidiary of: BAE Systems , Airbus and Finmeccanica ) MBDA , develops missiles . In
11200-541: Was a brilliant guitarist." —Fish on his first impression of the band In 1977, drummer Mick Pointer joined Electric Gypsy, which also included Doug Irvine on bass, Alan King on vocals and Andy Glass (later of Solstice ) on guitar. Pointer and Irvine left to form their own band, Silmarillion, named after J.R.R. Tolkien 's book The Silmarillion , in late 1978. They played one London show as an instrumental band with Neil Cockle (keys) and Martin Jenner (guitar). 1979 saw
11312-589: Was followed by a headlining appearance at the second and final Cumbria Rock Festival at Derwent Park in Workington 13 July 1991. The Cumbria appearance kick-started another lengthy world tour that would see the band course through the UK, before venturing through Europe and returning to the UK for some Christmas shows. At the beginning of 1992 the band built their own recording and rehearsal studio, The Racket Club, in Buckinghamshire. March and April 1992 saw Marillion back touring Canada and America, before returning to
11424-496: Was included in Q ' s 50 Best Albums of 1995. A particularly notable track on the album is "Out of This World", a song about Donald Campbell , who died while trying to set a speed record on water. The song inspired an effort to recover both Campbell's body and the "Bluebird K7", the boat which Campbell crashed in, from the water. The recovery was finally undertaken in 2001, and both Steve Hogarth and Steve Rothery were invited. In 1998, Steve Hogarth said he considered Afraid of Sunlight
11536-656: Was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons . By the 6th century, the majority of the modern county was part of the East Saxon kingdom. This relatively short-lived kingdom collapsed in the 9th century, ceding the territory of Hertfordshire to the control of the West Anglians of Mercia . The region finally became an English shire in the 10th century, on the merger of the West Saxon and Mercian kingdoms. In
11648-631: Was marked by sophisticated lyrics and often dark themes. While the accessibility of neo-prog to the mainstream is debatable, the form did generally seem more radio-friendly, with shorter and less complex songs than earlier progressive rock. Nonetheless, neo-prog never achieved the heights of popular success that the first wave of progressive rock in the 1970s did, with only one band, Marillion, achieving arena status. Marillion achieved major success across Europe in particular and produced eight top ten UK albums between 1983 and 1994, peaking in popularity with their album Misplaced Childhood in 1985, which topped
11760-475: Was printed in the album credits (like with the previous album, Anoraknophobia ). The band's management organised the biggest promotional schedule since they had left EMI and Steve Hogarth secured interviews with prominent broadcasters on BBC Radio , including Matthew Wright , Bob Harris , Stuart Maconie , Simon Mayo and Mark Lawson . Marbles also became the band's most critically acclaimed album since Afraid of Sunlight , prompting many positive reviews in
11872-495: Was released 25 March 1996 as the final EMI-era Marillion release in the UK, with Castle handling the release in mainland Europe and the US. The release was followed by a brief tour with four dates in Europe at the end of April. In the months prior, Rothery, Hogarth and Mosley used the break from Marillion to record separate solo projects. Mosley's project, IRIS, with French guitarist Sylvian Gouvernaire and Trewavas, released Crossing
11984-619: Was released at the end of April 2004 with a 2-CD version that was only available at Marillion's website. The pre-order version (known as the Deluxe Campaign Edition) of Marbles was packaged as a 128-page hard-bound book, packed in a rigid slip case. Those who purchased the Deluxe Campaign Edition by the end of 31 December 2003 were directly helping the Campaign Fund, and as a "Thank You" their name
12096-595: Was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder . Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. Many of the names of the current settlements date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with many featuring standard placename suffixes attributed to
12208-570: Was the band's last studio album with original lead singer Fish , who left for a solo career in late 1988. Altogether, during the Fish era, Marillion scored 11 Top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart . "Kayleigh" also entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. In early 1989, Marillion announced Steve Hogarth as their new lead singer. The first album with him, Seasons End , was another Top 10 hit, and albums continued to chart well until their departure from EMI Records , following
12320-410: Was the best album he made with the band. The album came sixth in Kerrang! magazine's "Albums of the Year" in 1987, equalling the ranking given to Misplaced Childhood . It was also included in Q magazine's "50 Best Recordings of the Year". Fish made the decision to leave the group after this tour, explaining his reasons for departing in a 2003 interview: "By 1987 we were over-playing live because
12432-565: Was to become Marillion's "pop"est album ever, and was greeted with delight by many, and dismay by some of the hardcore fans". EMI also wanted Marillon to deliver three hit singles from the album. Marillion returned to their pseudonym Low Fat Yoghurts in December 1990 to preview their forthcoming album at the Moles club in Bath, Somerset . Holidays in Eden wouldn't be released until June 1991, and
12544-734: Was under the banner of Low Fat Yoghurts, at the Crooked Billet pub in Stoke Row , on 8 June 1989. Only about 100 fans attended that Crooked Billet show, while considerably more attended Hogarth's official introduction to fans at the recording of the promo video for " Hooks in You " at London's Brixton Academy on 1 August that year. Hogarth's first proper concert with Marillion was at the Palais des Sports in Besançon, France on 5 October following
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