marillion.com is the eleventh studio album by the British neo-prog band Marillion, released on 18 October 1999 by their own label, Intact Records, and distributed by Castle Communications.[2]

marillion.com
Studio album by
Released18 October 1999
RecordedDecember 1998 – August 1999
StudioThe Racket Club (Buckinghamshire)
GenreNeo-prog
Length62:28[nb 1]
LabelIntact
Producer
Marillion chronology
Radiation
(1998)
marillion.com
(1999)
Anoraknophobia
(2001)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Background

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It was the last of the three recordings the band made on a contract with Castle between being dropped by EMI Records in 1995 and eventually becoming independent in the 2000s. Continuing Marillion's decline in mainstream success, it became the first album to fail to reach UK Top 40, peaking at number 53 and staying in the charts for just one week.[3] It was also the first album from which no singles were released officially. However, "Deserve" was used as a promo single, and "Rich" served as a radio single in Brazil.

Recorded at The Racket Club between December 1998 and August 1999, marillion.com was self-produced with additional production from Steven Wilson on five out of nine tracks. The tracks "Tumble Down the Years" and "Interior Lulu" were first recorded and mixed during the recording sessions for Radiation (1998), but it was decided not to include them on that album as the band thought the songs were incomplete, and re-recorded them to this album.[4]

The track "House" features a laid-back dub influence and had the working titles "The Massive Attack Song" and "This House Aches".[5] "House" was about the disintegration of Steve Hogarth's marriage; he said, "The house seemed to somehow ooze the pain we were in, even when nobody was there. There wasn’t a level to which I could turn up the hi-fi that drowned out the silence that was still there."[6]

The title of the album is a reference to Marillion's then-new approach in using the Internet to communicate with their fans and in particular to ensure the financing of projects that would later become known as "crowdfunding". In 1997, fans had funded a North American tour, which the Red Ant label had been unable to support, by means of an Internet campaign,[7] and the next album, Anoraknophobia, would be completely financed by pre-orders, making the band independent from record company support, except for distribution.[8] The line "Thank God for the Internet" from the track "Interior Lulu" (although used ironically in the original context) can also be read as an allusion to Marillion's internet activities, and was in fact used as a slogan later.

While preparing the album, the band's management invited fans to send them passport photographs and 732 of these were then used to make up the artwork for the slipcase. As the eleventh studio album, the number 11 can be seen in the "LL" of the name "marillion" on the cover. The front cover was taken at the intersection of Long Acre and the Garrick St looking at Great Newport St near the Palace Theatre.[9]

In 2012, the independent label Madfish, a division of Snapper Music, re-released marillion.com as a deluxe edition[nb 2] packaged in a 36-page digibook format with an additional artwork designed by Carl Glover,[10] and as a limited double 180gm heavyweight vinyl edition[nb 3] featuring a slightly modified track listing.[11]

Track listing

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All lyrics are written by Steve Hogarth, except where noted; all music is composed by Marillion

No.TitleLyricsLength
1."A Legacy"John Helmer6:16
2."Deserve" 4:23
3."Go!" 6:11
4."Rich" 5:43
5."Enlightened" 4:59
6."Built-in Bastard Radar"Helmer4:52
7."Tumble Down the Years"Helmer4:33
8."Interior Lulu"Hogarth, Helmer15:14
9."House" 10:15
Total length:62:28

2012 Madfish 2xLP edition

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Side one
  1. "A Legacy"
  2. "Deserve"
  3. "Go!"
Side two
  1. "Rich"
  2. "Enlightened"
  3. "Built-in Bastard Radar"
Side three
  1. "Interior Lulu"
  2. "Tumble Down the Years"
Side four
  1. "House"

(Actual vinyl tracklisting, the LP sleeve is incorrect for sides 3 and 4)[12]

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from the album's 1999 liner notes[nb 1].

Charts

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Chart (1999) Peak
position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[13] 40
French Albums (SNEP)[14] 66
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 55
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16] 90
UK Albums (OCC)[3] 53
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[17] 4

References

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Notes
  1. ^ a b Intact RAWCD 144
  2. ^ Madfish: SMACD976
  3. ^ Madfish: SMALP976
Citations
  1. ^ Hill, Gary. Marillion: "marillion.com" > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Album: marillion.com". Bert ter Steege. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  4. ^ Hogarth, Steve (September 1999). "A diary of events recalled from the famously unreliable memory of Mr. H ..." (Interview). marillion.com. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  5. ^ Pelletant, Olivier; Leroy, Aymeric (October 1999). "Marillion: "Marillion.com"". Big Bang. Vol. 32. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  6. ^ Collins, Jon (2003). Separated Out Marillion History 1979-2002. Helter Skelter. p. 173.
  7. ^ Golemis, Dean (23 September 1997). "British Band's U.S. Tour Is Computer-Generated". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  8. ^ Masters, Tim (11 May 2001). "Marillion Fans to the Rescue". London: BBC. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  9. ^ Collins, Jon (2003). Marillion History 1979-2002. Helter Skelter. p. 174.
  10. ^ "Marillion – Marillion.com (CD)". Madfish Store. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Marillion – Marillion.com (double vinyl)". Madfish Store. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Marillion.com (Discogs)". Discogs. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Marillion – Marillion.com" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  14. ^ "Lescharts.com – Marillion – Marillion.com". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  15. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Marillion – Marillion.com" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  16. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  17. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
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