Brave (Marillion album)

For the album by Jennifer Lopez, see Brave (Jennifer Lopez album).

Brave
Studio album by Marillion
Released	7 February 1994 17 October 1998 (two-disc edition)
Recorded	Marouatte Castle, France, November 1992 - August 1993
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	71:08 (single-disc edition) 123:01 (two-disc edition)
Label	EMI (Europe) I.R.S. Records (United States)
Producer	Dave Meegan
Marillion chronology
A Singles Collection (1992) Brave (1994) Afraid of Sunlight (1995)
Singles from Brave
"The Great Escape" Released: 10 January 1994 "The Hollow Man" Released: 14 March 1994 "Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury" Released: 25 April 1994

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Dprp.net	(10/10)

Brave is an album by the group Marillion released in 1994. It was selected by Classic Rock in 2000 as one of the top 30 albums of the 90s and in 2003 as one of 30 greatest concept albums ever made.[1]

Background

After trying and failing to reach a wider audience with Holidays in Eden, Marillion figured it was time to go back to their roots and make a more progressive rock-oriented album again. Brave is a concept album, based on a news story Steve Hogarth heard on the radio about a girl who was taken into police custody after being found wandering the Severn Bridge. She did not know who she was, where she came from and refused to even speak. This inspired Hogarth to write a fictional story about this girl and what might have led to her being on the Severn Bridge in this state.

The band relocated to Marouatte castle in France for the duration of the recording of Brave. The influence of these surroundings can be heard throughout the album in a lot of haunting atmospherics. They even went into a cave which lay in the nearby area and taped some cave sounds which were used as background ambiance on the album. This recording concept was later used by Radiohead for their OK Computer album. As engineer, they recruited Dave Meegan, who had previously worked with Marillion on Fugazi. As for EMI, they really wanted the band to do a 'quick record' to gain some revenue, but this project progressively escalated, taking the band nine months to write and produce, partly because of Dave who would go through 'every single new tape made every day' each night listening for any riff or melody which sounded good enough to be included in the songs. This hard and tedious work paid off in the end.

Brave was not a hit, possibly due to EMI's lack of promotion and the fact that it had no real single potential. However, three singles were released: "The Great Escape." (February 1994), "The Hollow Man" (March 1994) and "Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury" (April 1994).

The double-LP vinyl release of Brave features a double groove on the final side of the album, providing two endings to the story of this concept album. The first groove plays "The Great Escape" as heard on the CD, followed by 'Made Again', providing the happy ending; the second groove plays "The Great Escape (Spiral Remake)" and 20 minutes of water noise, providing the downer ending. "The Great Escape (Spiral Remake)" was later included as a bonus track on the remastered re-issue.

Richard Stanley directed a 50 minute film version of Brave which was released one year after the album. This film takes the downer ending presented by the second double groove.

Track listing

All music by Steve Hogarth/Steve Rothery/Mark Kelly/Pete Trewavas/Ian Mosley. All lyrics by Hogarth except as indicated.

Vinyl edition

Side one

1. "Bridge" – 2:55
2. "Living With The Big Lie" – 6:46
3. "Runaway" (Hogarth/John Helmer) – 4:40
4. "Goodbye To All That" – 0:49

Side two

1. "Goodbye To All That (continued)" – 11:51
   1. "(i) Wave"
   2. "(ii) Mad"
   3. "(iii) The Opium Den"
   4. "(iv) The Slide"
   5. "(v) Standing in the Swing"
2. "Hard As Love" (Hogarth/Helmer) – 6:41
3. "The Hollow Man" – 4:08

Side three

1. "Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury" – 8:13
   1. "(i) Now wash your hands"
2. "Paper Lies" (Hogarth/Helmer) – 5:47
3. "Brave" – 7:56

Side four, groove one

1. "The Great Escape" (Hogarth/Helmer) – 6:30
   1. "(i) The last of you"
   2. "(ii) Falling from the moon"
2. "Made Again" (Helmer) – 5:02

Side four, groove two

1. "The Great Escape" (Hogarth/Helmer) – 5:48
2. "[unlisted water noises]" (Helmer) – 20:00

CD edition

1. "Bridge" – 2:52
2. "Living with the Big Lie" – 6:46
3. "Runaway" – 4:41
4. "Goodbye to all That" – 12:26
   1. "I) Wave"
   2. "II) Mad"
   3. "III) The Opium Den"
   4. "IV) The Slide"
   5. "V) Standing in the Swing"
5. "Hard as Love" – 6:42
6. "The Hollow Man" – 4:08
7. "Alone again in the Lap of Luxury" – 8:13
   1. "I) Now wash your hands"
8. "Paper Lies" – 5:49
9. "Brave" – 7:54
10. "The Great Escape" – 6:29
    1. "I) The last of you"
    2. "II) Falling from the moon"
11. "Made Again" – 5:02

The 1998 remaster has the following additional tracks on the second CD:

1. "The Great Escape" (orchestral version) – 5:18
2. "Marouatte Jam" – 9:44
3. "The Hollow Man" (Acoustic) – 4:10
4. "Winter Trees" – 1:47
5. "Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury" (Acoustic) – 2:43
6. "Runaway" (Acoustic) – 4:27
7. "Hard as Love" (Instrumental) – 6:48
8. "Living with the Big Lie" (Demo) – 5:12
9. "Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury" (Demo) – 3:17
10. "Dream Sequence" (Demo) – 2:36
11. "The Great Escape" (Spiral Remake) – 5:48

The second CD also includes a hidden track. Some 26 minutes after "The Great Escape" there is an "instrumental" recording of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer", followed by a snatch of studio chatter.

Personnel

• Steve Hogarth – vocals
• Steve Rothery - guitars
• Mark Kelly - keyboards
• Pete Trewavas - bass
• Ian Mosley - drums

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1994	UK Album Chart	10

External links

Comments by some of the band members (on the marillion.com band page):

• Steve Hogarth
• Steve Rothery
• Pete Trewavas