Misplaced Childhood [Remastered] - Marillion > Reviews > Not many bands can claim to naming a million kids

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	'Kayleigh', 'Lavender' and some others you won't know
Disadvantages:	Not as good as the first two

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Seeing as how I have already reviewed their first two albums I thought it only fair that I continue the trend and fill you in regarding their biggest selling release to date which made number one in the album charts.

'Misplaced Childhood' is the bands third studio album by Marillion and the final piece in their 'Thoughts' trilogy. Their first LP was classed as 'Bedsit Thoughts', their second 'Hotel Thoughts' and finally this release being 'Home Thoughts'. It differs from the previous two albums as this one is a pure concept album with a continuing theme and tracks that blend into each other. On CD this works great but on the old vinyl release, with a break between the two sides, this broke the continuity somewhat.

Perhaps the most famous track on the album (and by Marillion) is the song 'Kayleigh' which spawned the name for many a child born following its release as a single. With a lyric that was both easy to understand and very open Fish had begun to escape the trappings of his over-active vocabulary and write words with a more universal appeal and with 'Kayleigh' he achieved this with a success previously unheard of for the band. With an appearance on 'Top of the Pops' and a number two single under their belts Marillion seemed to have found a new fan-base. For all those who named their children after the song it is interesting to note that the track was actually about a woman called 'Kay Lee'; Fish just changed the name for the record and thus christened a million unborn children.

'Lavender' was the next single and the next track on the album and sung of childhood dreams accompanied by an old playground lyric. This reached number five in the charts and a memorable showing on TOTP as Fish, having lost his voice and poking fun at the miming of songs during the show, had his lyrics displayed on a flip-chart which he turned to the music, pointing at his words. These two tracks were obvious singles on the album but the third, 'Heart of Lothian', singing of Friday drinking in Scotland was less favourably received and only reached number 29. In all honesty I prefer this single to its preceding two as it harks back to the older Marillion.

The rest of the album flicks between moods from detailing the breakdown of a relationship to the belief that a childhood ends as you grow older. In fact during 'Childhoods End?' Fish sings of his discovery that the inner-child still exists within us all it is just that we have all lost sight of him/her.

The second CD provides all the B-sides that accompanied the singles such as 'Lady Nina' the flip side to 'Kayleigh', a song about a prostitute, and 'Freaks', off the 'Lavender' release, which talks of those who appear different within society. There is also an alternative version of 'Kayleigh' and extended mixes of the other singles from the album. The majority of the time on CD 2 is taken up by the full 'Misplaced Childhood' suite (CD 1) as it appeared in demo form during February of '85 complete with a differing running order and musical changes.

The re-mastered edition comes in the usual plastic case with a fold-out section holding the second disc and is accompanied with a 28 page booklet containing all the lyrics, artwork from the album, photos of the band and thoughts and memories regarding the recording of the tracks written by the band members themselves. There is also a section by Mark Williamson, artist for the album cover and all singles from the LP, who describes his symbolism and inspirations for his drawings.

For me the album is not as strong as the previous two and the lyrics, although being less obscure, suffered from its easier understanding which for me had always been one of Marillion's strongest points. It is still a wonderful piece of music with many flavours and colours that paint a picture about childhood innocence and the discovery of the inner child through a series of emotional encounters and experiences. A great album which was my soundtrack to the summer of 1985.

This review is also posted on Dooyoo.