Great sophomore outing

Review Score: (10/10)
This was h's second album as Marillion's lead singer, and was the first sign of the *new* Marillion. Just as their following records, Holidays in Eden is quite different from previous releases.

After achieving a somewhat large following and a little bit of a name for themselves while with Fish, the label had *high* expectations for the band in terms of releasing hit singles. The lads had had some chart exposure with Kayleigh and Incommunicado, but didn't do so well with the singles from Seasons end (at least in the eyes of label executives!!), so they were pushed into making a more commercially viable album. The result is this here CD, Holidays in Eden, which although including a couple of true chart seekers (Cover my eyes, No one can, Dry land...) is NOT a pop album by any means (just give a listen to The party, Splintering heart or the CD closing trio of This town/The rakes progress/100 nights and tell me that that is pop!). What it did end up being is an excellent collection of music and a tremendous sophomore outing by h.

As for the second CD, it includes a few demos, a great acoustic version of Cover my eyes (maybe even better than the original version), and a few extra tracks like How can it hurt, A collection (both included in the U.S. release of the album), Sympathy, I will walk on water (both included in the Six of one, half a dozen of the other compilation), You don't need anyone, Eric and The epic.

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