Marillion

Brave

One of the few albums that make me cry ALWAYS

Review Score:

(10/10)
"Brave" means to Marillion what "The Wall" means to Pink Floyd. That is, a beautiful concept-album based on a whole story. In that case, a strange case of a runaway girl found in a bridge by the police. The whole record is a kind of "flashback" in which we recostruct her history and the reasons that lead her to that strange end.
Just for the record, the concept is inspired by a REAL story that happened in England; it seems to be that the police found a girl on a bridge and she was in a kind of shock so she couldn't remember anything:
(" When they ask her name/Would she please explain/She simply chooses to say nothing "-Bridge)
We have to remember as well that Marillion already had a fantastic concept album,"Misplaced childhood" and "Clutching at straws"(altough isn't really a concept album it has its "spirit")
In the first "real" song, "Living with the big lie", we find out how sick of the world our heroin is.It has some great lines,and despite Steve Hogarth is not Fish in terms of lyric-writing, he can sing twice as good as the scotsman.
In "runaway" we also know she is escaping from a broken home,and besides the pride,she is running away because of his father was molesting her.She have a quite tough and dark reality,living in misery.It seems that she is losing the sense of reality, and desperately trying to seek for some peace of mind.
In "HArd as love", one of the rare hard-rocking moments of the album (it's a relaxing album indeed),she is saying that her heart is closed so you can't reach into.She seems very hurt.
One of my favorite songs of the album,and by the way,one of the most memorable Marillion-songs,is "Alone again...".I have to really fight back the tears when the guitar melody appears.It is a beautiful sad song!She remembers how miserable was her former life,and that she won't forget what they did to her.She feels ok to be away,but is far from being happy ("I don't remember the last time I cried/I don't remember much except lies")
"Paper lies" is perhaps the weakest moment of the album(the second "rock"song of it).It seems that media want to take profit of her pain,publishing some sensationalist news.
Finally, in the last songs, it looks like she is trying to commit suicide (it's not clear for me) but something or someone release her("And it's all because you made me see/What is false and what is true/Like the inside and the outside of me/Is being made again by you"-Made again).By the way,another perfect song.
In conclusion, this is a beautiful album,all its songs are perfectly placed and the action runs smoothly.All the band was really inspired while doing this; they even hired a studio placed in a castle to get in the melancholic mood.You can notice how good team they are.This record and "Grace" by Jeff Buckley are sadness turned into music.
I have a wise advice for you:Don't touch this album unless you are in the appropiated mood.Its darkness can really hurt you and bring you down almost instantantly.The very beginning,with the boat sound and some mellow music starting in,is one of the best starters I've ever listened to.And the end,with "Falling from the moon" and "made again",a perfect way of closing.I ALWAYS cry whenever I listen to the former.The voice of Hogarth and the guitar arpeggios put me in a depresive groove.But sometimes is good to cry,don't you think so?
Thanks for your patience and buy this record now,you will return again and again to this dreamy and sad world depicted in "Brave"

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