Misplaced Childhood

It sounds like a 70s Genesis album with an 80s production style. The lead singer might even do a better Peter Gabriel impression than Phil Collins.

As an 11 year old I had no idea Phil Collins or Peter Gabriel were anything but clever popstars. Genesis meant nothing to me and so I adored Marillion and Fish on face value. Even now I don't mind that they were unashamed copycats. They made the Genesis/Gabriel sound much more commercial, personal and relatable. I love the synth sound. The guitar, bass and drums are full-on '80s rock. The lyrics are introspective, poetic and pompous in an innocent and warm way. The melodies are infectious and the hit singles are glorious singalongs. Yes, this was my own submission and I believe it deserves inclusion in the original 1001.

Marillion never got a ton of airplay in the states, but I do remember "Kayleigh," probably from MTV. That said, this was a pleasant surprise. Expertly played and highly listenable. Definitely has the vibe of Gabriel-era Genesis. This fits in better with what was going on in 1985 than I would have expected, although the spoken word bit from "Bitter Suite" would have been better left in the 70s. I appreciate how well the songs seamlessly flow into each other and how for the most part none of them overstays its welcome. Thanks for recommending this. Fave Songs: Lavender, Kayleigh, Blind Curve, Pseudo Silk Kimono, Lords of the Backstage

To my hears Marillion exists between crying cats and a cheater begging for forgiveness. It's not the best place to be.

Misplaced Childhood certainly has a timelessness about it. The transitions are expert, with only the slightest elevation change between tracks and suites. It's nice to hear a fully pop-oriented album in this vein, committed to staying on a single LP; Without rough edges, there's little to stick in the mind, a rush of colors, a pleasant word.

Marillion is for NERDS. 3/5.

I am a great enthusiast for progmusic and love what the band did with Steve H., especially with Brave and Marbles. The Fish era just did not do it for me, although it brought their biggest hits.

IN MEMORIAM To the loving memory of Prog Rock, who lived a life filled with hope and love and creativity until she was ruthlessly murdered by Rush -- under the orders of their masters the Eighties, before the latter gave her dead body to Marillion so that they could desecrate it even further. Truth be told, Marillion were ruthless in their own pervert ways: glossy tones and sounds that don't fit the genre well, supposedly "complicated" sections that are actually quite linear and conventional, unchallenging pop single drivel such as "Kayleigh", and some terrible lyrics and vocal performances once in a while -- all of this, and sometimes worse, is the ordeal Prog Rock's sweet remains had to go through under Marillion's hands. Astonishing since singer Fish looks like a good dude on a personal level. Yet his imitation of Genesis-era Peter Gabriel (sometimes straddling that near-invisible bad taste line dividing it from solo Phil Collins turf), all over Mike Oldfield-like guitar noodling and a couple of *Pink Floyd The Wall*-adjacent moments, is not merely derivative. It is a pastiche that, more often than not, is fully offensive for many dwellers of the music lands who still hold Prog Rock's memory dear to their heart. She was nothing but an innocent soul, was she not? To use Marillion's own words in "Blind Curve": Her childhood, her misplaced childhood... Give it back to her. Give it back to her. May she rest in peace now. Amen. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 6/10 for more general purposes (5 + 1) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 1 Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 3 Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 3 (including this one)

41 minutes of fantastic nostalgia. Loved every minute of it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Heavy Pink Floyd vibes (a little too much if I'm finding faults) and that operatic, declamatory vocal style wears thin for me - but it pulled out from that as it went along, and the music overall was strong and inventive enough to bring me around.

When it started, I kind of hated it. And then Lavender kicked in and hit me in the nostalgia bone, reminding me of some of my best times and best people, and by the end I kind of loved it.

To me it sounds like any other prog-rock album

Do hardcore Marillion fans get indignant when their favorite band is compared to Genesis/Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd? I generally like that kind of stuff I like this too, I've always meant to check this band out anyway. Maybe if I delve deeper into their discography I'll have stronger feelings their music.

I definitely get the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Peter Gabriel/Genesis vibe from this, but it feels overly dramatic and self-serious. Like the bombast of Meatloaf without the humor. Nothing was really offputting, but it also didn't really click for me.

It was ok. I was intrigued early on but my interest started to waver as it went on. Funny story (to me) back in the early 2000s I was a frequent shopper at a local used music store. As I'd thumb through the CDs I'd always see this band's album "Fugazi" in there. As a young man with an interest in punk and hardcore I'd always get briefly excited...only to remember that Fugazi never put out an album called Marillion. That tripped me up more times that I care to admit. It was kind of nice to finally hear the band that I once angrily shook my fist at for "deceiving me"

A heaping slab of Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Rush thrown into a blender. It's fine, it just doesn't move the needle enough for me. I did enjoy the other Marillion album I got through here. I think the production is the choke point. I was able to get this was mid-to-late 80s from that alone. Favorite tracks: "Waterhole", "Lords Of the Backstage"

a light, repetitive pop rock without hype

A masterpiece that showed me that ProgRock was still being made after the 70s classic period.

Wow, was not really sure what to expect here but pretty epic. The opening track kind of settles you in but then the combo of Kayleigh, Lavender, Bitter Suite esclate the experience. So many great moments on here, will definetely listen again.

A really fun throwback! This feels like it came too late for the first wave of great prog albums but a bit too early to initiate a new wave or a nostalgia. But completely out of context and all on its own in 2024, it's a fun time! Reminds me a lot of Genesis.

I had to listen to this at a fairly low volume as my son napped in the car which led to a lot of this sounding like Lin-Manuel Miranda fronting a prog rock band and I am agreeable to that

Wasn't expecting that!

Wow, it’s like discovering a Genesis album you didn’t know existed. That’s a good thing. 4 stars.

I bought this on vinyl at a Woolworth’s going-out-of-business sale sometime around 1988 or so. I didn’t know the group or any of the songs. I enjoyed the album but somewhere in the following years lost track of it. It was great to revisit this, and I think I enjoyed it now more than then. I’m always up for a prog-rock concept album loosely based on an LSD trip!

Yndisleg plata. Frábær frá upphafi til enda!

wow, very good, kinda reminded me of yes at some point. Didn't know this band

Another Marillion album. It's hard not to repeat what I said last time: they figured out how to make prog rock not annoying and that is by keeping it short. At 40 minutes this was fantastic. Not too much wankery but enough to be satisfying. This is how you make prog rock. I will say the album cover is absolute garbage. It looks super AI-art even though it was made in the 80s. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Leaning yes. Same view as the previous user submitted Marillion album. Don't need more than one though.

One fun thing about the user-submitted version of this list, is that I consistently get albums that I really don't know what to make of. It's a neat challenge to think about how to describe and analyze something that doesn't easily lend itself to comparison to works I'm more familiar with. This is like an 80s synth-based prog rock album. I'm not much of a prog guy, which somewhat limits my ceiling with this album, but it's very competently made, and I have to give them credit for crafting something that does not resemble a lot of other works. It takes itself too seriously at times, which is kinda always my issue with prog rock, but I'm glad I listened to it. It's a really solid album 4/5

Marillion dares to ask the question: "What if Phil Collins lead Genesis was good?" The answer may shock you...

Really solid. I can't believe I haven't heard of them before. Sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel or Genesis. Favorite songs: Kayleigh, Lavender, Childhood's End?, Heart of Lothian, Pseudo Silk Kimono, Bitter Suite: Brief Encounter/Lost Weekend/Blue Angel/Misplaced Rendezvous/Windswept Thumb, Blind Curve: Vocal Under a Bloodlight/Passing Strangers/Mylo/Perimeter Walk/Threshold, White Feather Least favorite songs: Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) 4/5

5/10. I see why Kayleigh is the only song from this artist with many plays on Spotify. Very 1980s

I enjoyed it, but did feel it outwore its welcome at a point, maybe a little tighter would have elevated it for me.

Kayleigh will for me alway have that nostalgic break-up song vibe. It struck a nerve when I first heard it, and still does. Rest of the album I'd never heard before, and what do you know? It turns out to be a pretty decent Genesis-like album. (Which for me is a good thing!) Totally different from what I'd expected based on Kayleigh.

It was eccentric at parts. I was generally surprised by it. I was prepared for it be awful. Still not sure I would revisit it.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Kayleigh

little too much prog and not enough rock, fun though

Better than I expected

This was like if you had Pink Floyd and genesis combine for an album. It was perfectly in the mix of prog rock and 80s pop rock. It wasn’t bad or anything but I think being in the middle with their sound made it less appealing than going one way or another. Overall it was okay. Nothing great but the sound was familiar. 6.7/10

Neo-prog. Ni fu ni fa.

I can see why you would like this

Just Ok

some long songs here. Some songs that are short but sound long. It's decent musically. But with most concept albums or epics, it's just difficult for me.

when I got this I thought “marillion sounds vaguely familiar I wonder if I’ve gotten an album from them” and when I looked my review of the other album said it was the most forgettable music ever so I guess I was right. This was also pretty whatever but slightly better I guess.

This tasted like the 80s and I lapped it all up. Not 100% my cup of tea but I let it play a second time so can’t have been too bad.

Sounds a lot like Phil Collins and genesis! Never heard of the band before but it was pretty good

It's a nice listen

I was convinced this was on the original list of 1001, to the extent I even commented on that when reviewing a different Marillion album a few weeks ago Anyway, this is pretty good. I like that all the songs flow really nicely together - so many classic rock ‘concept albums’ are only very vaguely conceptual and just feel like a loose thread tying together a collection of mainly unrelated songs, whereas this is very clearly a carefully considered and cohesive project. It sometimes gets a bit silly and I think it tails off a bit towards the end, but it’s a pretty good effort and I applaud the idea even if not the execution. Also one of the tracks is called The Bitter Suite, which is a phenomenal name

Kayleigh has some chops. Not really my thing.

In the vein of Rush and Genesis with a vocalist who takes some time to acclimate to, but this was pretty cool.

An album that treads a delicate balance between out-and-out prog experimentalism and tried-and-true prog tropes. I think it often stumbles on that line and ends up with the prog trops. "Heart of Lothian" should really be called "Heart of Tedium, more Dunbar than Edinburgh.

Sounds a lot like 70’s Genesis, maybe a bit more accessible with the 80’s production. Wasn’t bad probably worth its place on the list.

I approached Misplaced Childhood with a mix of curiosity and hesitation. Reading the reviews here, Marillion’s reputation sits somewhere between art rock royalty nostalgia and over-the-top theatrical indulgence, and as someone who both loves and loathes different corners of the prog-rock universe, I wasn’t sure where this would land. First track? Rough start. The vocals come off very theatrical, almost in a forced Peter Gabriel impersonation kind of way. Combine that with thick layers of 80s synth gloss and it immediately felt like I’d landed in the soundtrack to a forgotten fantasy VHS tape. "Kayleigh" was next — a song I already knew from every best-of list under the sun. I still don’t rate it all that highly, but the bassline does some nice work. It wasn’t until Lavender that things briefly clicked. That track had more heart, a touch of sincerity, and even if Fish still seemed to be channeling Gabriel, it worked better. I’ll give them credit for the continuous flow of the album, songs blending into each other in classic concept record fashion. But aside from the occasional sonic curveball like Waterhole (which made me perk up), the rest felt like derivative mid-80s prog that’s too in love with its own gloss. The production is just too 80s for me — not in a nostalgic way, but in that over-sheened, emotion-flattening way that sucks the energy out of the songwriting. Ultimately, this didn’t offend me, but it also didn’t excite me. There are flashes of potential and moments where it reaches for something deeper, but it doesn’t have the emotional weight of Genesis or the bite of Floyd. Just a bit of a pleasant, overacted meander.

I’ve never been able to get into Marillion the way they’re praised by many prog fans. Something about their music is just so… labored. This is one of their better albums nonetheless, but compared to other contemporary, preceding and later bands I don’t find them very impressive

Sin ser un mal disco es un tanto flojo a nivel de composición. Rock suave ochentero, sin grandes alardes, demasiado predecible y que no ha envejecido muy bien. Riffs de guitarras muy poco elaborados y voz buena. No está mal, pero podría haber estado mejor

Second one on the list. I think I liked this one more.

I livked Lavendar. Eitherwise too much -- or not enough.

It feels very like early Genesis but there are some decent tunes. I derided it when I was younger but now feel a bit ambivalent.

Neo-prog. Rock musical. Aburrido.

Neo-prog. Ni fu ni fa.

Marillion happens to share the name of a bard in the first Game of Thrones book... Was just rereading that section when this popped up as today's album. Coincidence?

Huh. I could have sworn there was a Marillion album on the main list? Looking at my records, it seems I gave their album "Fugazi" a couple of spins in 2021, apparently for non-list reasons. 🤷 This is competent enough prog, I guess. I enjoy the flow of the tracks into each other. Doesn't quite click for me overall - I think I need more psychedelic touches. Fish's voice and delivery doesn't quite do it for me, either. If I'd encountered this album back when I was first getting into prog, I expect I'd have quite a bit of fondness for it. Fave track - "Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)" has a fun energy!

This was really fun. Is never heard of them before. And yeah, it does sound like early Genesis. But that's okay. This want derivative. It felt fresh.

Big soaring prog rock that’s trying so hard to be Genesis but ends up feeling goofy and boring in the process.

Two people submitted albums by this band? Bizarre.

I’m a bit stumped by this album. It sounds like Peter Gabriel’s Genesis to a startling degree. I will say, the execution is great aside from a few errant rhymes, however, I’m not convinced this album is a necessary addition to the list.

Prog-dad-rock. Rating: 2 Playlist track: Kayleigh Date listened: 22/11/24

found it a bit boring

The album cover art does not prepare you for how it goes way harder than the album contents.

Prog pop nonsense, but they get a Scottish bonus point for Derek

Misplaced Childhood is another terribly 80s album, not in the worst way, but I can only tolerate small doses of it, which is to say Kayleigh as it's so well-known, and Heart of Lothian isn't bad either. Blind Curve has some nice if generic guitar parts but really Marillion are a poor Genesis and Genesis were fucking shit, so can't be more than 2/5.

What is it with these ugly ass covers of children !? Just had Blue is the colour by the beautiful south 1

I was giving it a chance, it sounded like budget Phil Collins, but the moment he sang, straight faced "Lavender's blue dilly dilly" they lost me. Well more than lost me, I felt like he should be banned from opening his mouth ever again.

Overrated band