Afraid Of Sunlight

In the days before the internet, anyone wishing to access pornography generally had to walk into their local newsagent and acquire a hard-copy publication from the top shelf (usually purchased with a newspaper so you could hide the glossy mag inside it so that no-one would mark you out as a user on the walk home. Although if they did the standard response was to claim you bought it for the articles…). Clearly this was relatively tame stuff compared to the sort of thing available on the internet today. For a start it didn’t “move”. Yet it served some sort of social purpose; many a teenager’s first encounter with pornography was via a countryside hedgerow, which is where users would toss (pun absolutely intended given how the pages used to stick together) their magazines once they were “finished”. In fact the demise of hedgerow pornography is one very notable benefit from the rise of the internet; on the downside teenagers today have the altogether more daunting task of accessing their first glimpses of red hot action via Dad’s laptop, which does have the potential to leave one scarred for life. However I digress. One curiosity of Playboy or Penthouse or whichever publication took your fancy was the section entitled Readers’ Wives. To anyone who has grown up in the internet age, this is probably going to sound “just plain weird”, but the Readers’ Wives sections in these magazines was literally just that: photos taken by husbands of their wives in various states of undress (including complete) and sent to the magazine for publication. With probably a £10 reward for all those published. What motivated anyone to even contemplate sending photos of their beloved in (other than the £10) is hard to fathom, but presumably these men regarded their other halves in the buff as the loveliest thing on earth and therefore felt compelled to share that loveliness with other men. The problem of course is that none of the Readers’ Wives ever matched up to the standards of the glistening lovelies who posed for a living. A problem that wasn’t just down to the poor standards of photography being employed. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but quality requires an objective view. Which brings us to the music and the whole reason for this preamble. Once you have completed the 1,001 album challenge, you can nominate one album which does not appear on the list and you can elect to listen to all the other nominations which other users have put forward once they have finished the original list. Now the original list does have its faults and not everything is a certified banger. However it does cover a wide range of musical styles and you always get the feeling that whatever the style, this is the best that style has to offer (however crap the style might be). It has also been decided on by a panel of experts who do this kind of thing for a living. In short, the original list is your genuine pornography. The nominated list however is very much the Readers’ Wives section: in short, fan favourites filtered through adoring ears. I can understand why all these albums might be someone’s favourite, but let’s be honest here, none of them really stand up to any scrutiny, something the piss-taker who put forward “Come And Get It” by Rachel Stevens presumably understood straight away. And I include my own nomination in this. This isn’t a particular dig at Afraid of Sunlight. It just isn’t essential listening and I’ll be honest I kind of wish I’d stopped at the end of the original list, because of the 63 albums that have come later there is nothing worth going back to. Although the memory of the looks on the faces of my younger colleagues when I explained the Readers’ Wives concept will stay with me forever, so maybe something good has come of it after all…

I think there was another album by this band, I can't recall I'd it was on the main list or contributor submitted. I also think my reaction was similar. Clearly a lot of talent here but a dominant ratio of it lands in this kind of zone... proclamatory, almost operatic vocals, music on a kind of rising swell... like it's all climax. It wore me out.

The reading on Afraid of Sunlight deceives. The production is lush, sure; At the same time, the record starts with three reasonably different productions then slides into diet U2 space. Nothing wrong with that; The vocals only get a little bit annoying on the second half and the sound is entirely appropriate for a wistful radio-prog venue. It's not an affect to dazzle. Doubling down on variety or majesty would have, ironically, produced a more dynamic listen.

Wtf is this length 1

Another user put Marillion’s “Misplaced Childhood” on the list, an album I was familiar with from back in the day and I liked it. When this appeared I thought (based only on assumptions) that we didn’t need two Marillion albums on this list. And then I pressed play… The album opened up with the rockin’ Gazpacho which felt very much evolved from their album ten years prior. Cannibal Surf Babe then surprised me with its Beach Boys stylings. This album is off to a great start! I probably should pay more attention to Marillion now that I know they can do this. I liked “Misplaced Childhood” a lot, but I love “afraid of sunlight”.

I like progressive rock, but I've never really gotten into the more modern stuff. This is very good. I like it better than some of the other more modern prog rock I've heard, e.g. Porcupine Tree. 4 stars.

Didn't know them before, but easily understand why one would choose this album. Gives me Idlewild vibes.

I'm not sure I needed another Marillion album but Cannibal Surf Babe and Afraid of Sunrise were totally worth it.

Pop sensibilities, as well as the grand, sweeping feeling that comes with neo-prog. Cohesive, and feels like a fully contained work. Call it a 3.5. Favorite tracks: "Gazpacho", "King"

Wikipedia tells me that this is a "Modern prog rock band" Yep. They are.

First, I'm more a fan of the Steve H. era than the few albums they did with Fish. So, this album has a head start. I have to say this is definitely not their best effort. Simply because it's too precarious in contrast with albums like their magnum opus Brave and Marbles. On the other hand it inhabits beautiful songs like the titletrack and one of best progrocksongs in my opinion: Out of This World. All in all, 3 stars are sufficient.

Wasn't really what I would listen to

lol, second Marillion album in the user list. I don't mind some of their 80s stuff with the other singer, but I'd never heard this. They really are a nerd band for nerds. So up their own arses. 3/5.

This album was not really for me. The music was well arranged, but it seemed to keep building with an unsatisfactory release. It is also very of its time which didn’t work for me in this case.

I particularly enjoy Fish-era 1980s Marillion and stopped following them after Seasons End. This is mature and sounding like Talk Talk and U2. Out of this world has the Marillion instrumentation that I recall fondly, but they seem to have moved away from the synth sound or as much chorused guitar I enjoyed. Nonetheless, it's a pleasant sound.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Icon, Second chance

Rock progresivo. Ni fu ni fa.

pretty nice at times, goes a bit Aerosmith 2.8

This album was fine for the most part, well-played with some pleasant moments to be found. But it mostly doesn't do too much for me. Its best songs are quite lovely; its worst moments are just silly. Honestly, I think the bonus disc has a couple of songs on it that are better than anything on the original album. Fave Songs: Out of This World, Afraid of Sunlight, King

Big overwrought indie rock. Rating: 2.5 Playlist track: Wouldn't It Be Good Date listened: 16/10/24

In a way this would be a perfect addition to the standard 1001, as it falls right into the bland, cloying Britpop that makes up a good chunk of the list. Some good melodies here and there but not nearly enough to salvage the LP.

I was with it until "Beautiful," then I lost all hope of making it through the rest.

These guys have a lot to tell. 1 hour and 40 minutes worth of stuff. Stuff that doesn't really interest me that much.

Far Too long, the other Marillion entry I preferred far more

Too long, too average.

Ok

I found this kind of cheesy and annoying.

Nope.

This wasn’t nearly as good as the other Marillion album that was on the original list. The song has a good voice, but for an album that’s over 90 minutes it had plenty of time that was dull and fell flat. They’re like if Creed had a complex similar to The Smiths. It’s just an odd combination style wise that makes this album not that great. 4.5/10

this was some of the blandest music I've heard throughout the entire list. I can guarantee I will remember nothing about this except that it's the most unmemorable stuff I've ever heard. Definitely feels like an album someone's parents had and they just happened to latch onto this one for no reason other than it being the first thing they threw in their boombox as a 10 year old.

It's good until it sounds like U2...

For my taste it was very numbing or just for background, the kind of music that while you listen to it you think about something else except the effect of the music, I don't remember a single memorable track.