This Strange Engine

This Strange Engine
Studio album by Marillion
Released April 1997
Recorded August–November 1996
Studio The Racket Club, Buckinghamshire, England
Genre Neo-progressive rock
Length 56:06
Label Raw Power
Producer Marillion
Marillion chronology
The Best of Both Worlds
(1997)		 This Strange Engine
(1997)		 Radiation
(1998)
Singles from This Strange Engine
  1. "Man of a Thousand Faces"
    Released: 2 June 1997 (UK)
  2. "Eighty Days"
    Released: 13 October 1997 (UK)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

This Strange Engine is the ninth studio album by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in April 1997 by the Castle Communications imprint Raw Power. It was the first of the three recordings, which Marillion made on a contract with Castle between being dropped by EMI Records in 1995 and eventually going independent in 2000. The album was recorded at The Racket Club in Buckinghamshire, England, between August and November 1996 and was produced by the band themselves.

Without promotional efforts of a major record label, This Strange Engine continued the decline in mainstream success for Marillion, reaching only number 27 in the UK Albums Chart and staying there for three weeks.[2] It sold significantly better in the Netherlands, home of one the band's most loyal audiences, peaking at number 10 on the charts.[3] Two singles from the album were released: "Man of a Thousand Faces" and "Eighty Days". For the first time in the band's history, no song cracked the UK Top 40 as the first single reached number 98 and the second one failed to chart at all.

The fourth track, "Estonia", was written after singer Steve Hogarth met Paul Barney, who was the only British survivor of the disaster when the cruise ferry Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea on 28 September 1994, killing 852 people. This is the only song of Marillion to feature a balalaika. On European editions, if the last track is carried on playing, at approximately 29:35, there is a hidden track of Hogarth having a fit of laughing.

A remix of the album, conducted by the electronic music project Positive Light, was released in January 1998 by Eagle Records as Tales from the Engine Room.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Steve Hogarth and John Helmer, except where noted; all music composed by Marillion.

No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Man of a Thousand Faces" 7:33
2."One Fine Day" 5:31
3."80 Days"Hogarth5:00
4."Estonia"Hogarth7:56
5."Memory of Water" 3:01
6."An Accidental Man" 6:12
7."Hope for the Future" 5:10
8."This Strange Engine"Hogarth15:34
Total length:56:06

Personnel

Marillion

Additional musicians

  • Charlton & Newbottle School Choir – choir (on "Man of a Thousand Faces")
  • Tim Perkins – balalaika (on "Estonia")
  • Phil Todd – saxophone (on "This Strange Engine")
  • Paul Savage – trumpet (on "Hope for the Future")

Technical personnel

  • Stewart Every – engineer
  • Dave Meegan – mixing engineer
  • Andrew Gent – artwork
  • Hugh Gilmour – art direction, design

Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
position
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[3] 10
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[4] 39
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[5] 48
UK Albums (OCC)[2] 27

References

  1. ↑ Franck, John. Marillion: This Strange Engine > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Marillion | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Dutchcharts.nl – Marillion – This Strange Engine" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "Marillion: This Strange Engine" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  5. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Marillion – This Strange Engine" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
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