Clutching At Straws by MARILLION songs, tracks list, members, credits, reviews, information, discography on ProGGnosis

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Clutching At Straws

a Studio Release

by: Marillion

Release Year:

1987

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Added To Proggnosis on: 10 Apr 2001
Last Updated on: 29 Jun 2010 by: Rob

Track Listing

CD-1

Hotel Hobbies (3:35)
Warm Wet circles
That Time of the Night (The Short Straw) (6:00)
Going Under (2:47)
Just for the Record (3:09)
White Russian (6:27)
Incommunicado (5:16)
Torch Song (4:05)
Slainte Mhath (4:44)
Sugar Mice (5:46)
The Last Straw I) Happy Ending (5:58)

CD-2

Bonus Disk - Reissue:

Incommunicado [Alternative Version]
Tux On
Going Under [Extended Version]
Beaujolais Day
Story from a Thin Wall
Shadows on the Barley
Sunset Hill
Tic-Tac-Toe
Voice in the Crowd
Exile on Princess Street
White Russian [demo version]
Sugar Mice in the Rain

Performer Credits

Fish
Vocals

Mark Kelly
Keyboards

Ian Mosley
Percussion

Steve Rothery
Guitar

Pete Trewavas
Bass

Reviews

review by: Plamen’Clutching at Straws’ is the last album of Marillion with Fish. After the phenomenal success of Misplaced Childhood the people from ‘Charisma Music’ (a subsidiary of EMI) have placed a request to the band – to record next album – copy of the previous and the most important – to do it immediately. This is a very delicate moment of Marillion’s history when the five have to decide which way of their musical growth to take – the commercial one or to stay in the Prog-rock. The result is not late – Fish announced in the end of 86 they are starting to work on a new conceptual album dedicated to the alcoholism. Already having a status of stars Marillion could afford to hire the producer Chris Kimsey and to entrust the recording of the album to Nick Davis – two of the greatest names of the showbizz of that time.
Today we already know that ‘Clutching at Straw’ achieved the status of the one of the most successful albums in the Marillion works and compositions as Warm Wet Circles, White Russian and Slainte Mhath are engraved with golden letters in the every fan collection. The album is raw and direct and the romanticism from the previous years is changed with realism.
But still the comparison with Genesis goes on. When the band releases the single ‘Incommunicado’ the authoritative Melody Maker publish a review in which is announced that Rutherford and Banks are co-authors of the composition. This definitely drives Fish mad and in an emotional interview along with the denial of this lie he talks also for problems and tension between the five members.
Too soon after that follows the break off. After one of the gigs Steve Rothery asks ironically Fish: ‘ Are you really a vocalist of a Prog-rock band or a jester enjoying the audience with incomprehensive lyrics?’ And if you know the temper of the “Big Scottish’ you will admit this is big enough for a scandal and parting.
For many of us – the real fans of the band – ‘Clutching at Straw’ is the swan song of Marillion and after that the myth has gone. If there is somebody who doesn’t have this album in its collection it is time to catch up for ‘The Last Straw”…

Studio Releases
DVD/Videos
Live Releases
Compilations
Singles & EPs
Official Bootlegs
Fan Club Releases

	Script For A Jester's Tear 1982	Fugazi 1984	Misplaced Childhood 1985	Clutching At Straws 1987	Seasons End 1989
Holidays In Eden 1991	Brave 1994	Afraid of Sunlight 1995	This Strange Engine 1997	Radiation 1998	Marillion.Com 1999
Anoraknophobia 2001	Marbles 2004	Somewhere Else 2007	Less Is More 2009	Sounds That Can't Be Made 2012

	Recital of the Script 1983	Grendel/The Web EP 1984	1982 - 1986 The Videos 1986	Live from Loreley 1987	Sugar Mice/Incommunicado 1987
From Stoke Row To Ipanema - A Year In The Life 1990	A Singles Collection (Six of One, Half-Dozen of the Other) 1992	Brave: The Movie 1995	Christmas 1998 : Happy Christmas Everybody 1998	Shot In The Dark 2000	A Piss-up In A Brewery 2002
Brave Live 2002 2002	The EMI Singles Collection 2002	Before First Light (DVD) 2003	Christmas in the Chapel 2003	Marbles On The Road 2005	Wish You Were Here 2005
Colours and Sound 2006	Bootleg Butlins 2007	Something Else 2007	Somewhere In London 2007	Thank you whoever you are/ Most Toys 2007	This Strange Convention 2009
Live from Cadogan Hall 2010	Out of Season 2010

	Real To Reel 1984	The Thieving Magpie 1988	LIVE at The Borderline 1992	Live In Caracas 1993	LIVE in Glasgow 1993
LIVE from Loreley [CD and VHS] 1995	Popular Music 1995	Made Again (Live) 2 CDs 1996	MARILLIONROCHESTER 1998	Piston Broke 1998	Unplugged At The Walls 1999
Zodiac 1999	Anorak in the Uk Live (limited edition) 2002	Brave Live 2002 2003	Marbles by the Sea 2005	Marbles LIVE 2005	Mirrors 2006
Smoke 2006	Family 2007	Friends 2007	Happiness Is The Road, Vol-1 2008	Happiness Is The Road, Vol-2 2008	Happiness On The Road: The Forum, London - 19 November 2008 2008
Happiness is Cologne 2009	Recital of the Script 2009	Live at High Voltage 2010	Live from Cadogan Hall 2010	Size Matters 2010	Tumbling Down The Years 2010
A-Z Live 2011 2012	Sounds Live 2012	The Glow Must Go On 2012

	B Sides themselves 1988	A Singles Collection 1992	The Making of BRAVE 1995	Essential Collection 1996	Real to Reel / Brief Encounter 1997
The Best of Both Worlds 1997	Kayleigh: The Essential Collection 1998	Tales from The Engine Room 1998	Marillion.co.uk 2000	The Singles Vol 1 82-88 2000	Another DAT at the Office The Making of This Strange Engine 2001
Re-Fracted (2 CDs) 2001	Caught in the Net (Making of Marillion.com) 2002	Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [2] 2002	Fallout (The Making Of Radiation) 2002	Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [3] 2003	The Best of Marillion 2003
The Singles Vol 2 89-95 2003	Warm Wet Circles 2003	Remixomatosis 2004	You're Gone 2004	Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [4] 2006	Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [5] 2007
Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [6] 2008	Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [7] 2009	Best.Live 2011

	Market Square Heroes 1982	Garden Party 1983	He Knows You Know 1983	Assassing 1984	Punch and Judy 1984
Heart of Lothian 1985	Kayleigh 1985	Brief Encounter 1986	Garden Party / Kayleigh / Script for a Jester's Tear 1986	Lady Nina 1986	Lady Nina / Heart of Lothian 1986
Incommunicado / Going Under 1987	Sugar Mice / Tux On 1987	Warm Wet CIrcles 1987	Freaks 1988	Beautiful 1995	Beautiful 1995
These Chains 1998	Crash Course An Introduction To Marillion [1] 2001	Don't Hurt Yourself 2004

	Front Row Club Issue 01 (Ludwigshalle, Dieburg, Germany, 9 November 1998) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 02 (The Academy, Manchester, England, 18 November 1999 2002	Front Row Club Issue 03 (The Luxor, Arnhem, Netherlands, 25 June 1995) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 04 (The Borderline Club, London, England, 9 May 1992) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 05 (The Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland, 4 December 1989) 2002
Front Row Club Issue 06 (Michael Hunter, River, 1994) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 07 (Salle de Fetes Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland, 19 October 1991) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 08 (Le Spectrum, Montreal, Canada, 6 September 1997) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 09 (Forum, London, England, 28 April 1996) 2002	Front Row Club Issue 10 (Moles Club, Bath, 12 December 1990) 2003	Front Row Club Issue 11 (Bass Brewery Museum, Burton-On-Trent England, 17 November 2000) 2003
Front Row Club Issue 12 (Sala Bikini Barcelona. Spain, 12 December 2000) 2003	Front Row Club Issue 13 (Ahoy Rotterdam, Netherlands, 29 September 1995) 2003	Front Row Club Issue 14 (The Ritz Roseville, MI, USA, 22 February 1990) 2003	Front Row Club Issue 15: Curtain Call - A Live Archive 1983-1988 2003	Front Row Club Issue 16 (Ateneu Popular de Nou Barris Barcelona, Spain, 10 January 1998) 2003	Front Row Club Issue 17 (013 Tilburg, Netherlands, 13 October 2001) 2003
Front Row Club Issue 18 (The E-Werk, Köln, Germany, 2 September 1992) 2004	Front Row Club Issue 19 (Civic, Wolverhampton, England, 4 November 1998) 2004	Front Row Club Issue 20 (Copenhagen, 28 May 1994) 2004	Front Row Club Issue 21 (Dingwalls, London, England, 28 February 2001) 2004	Front Row Club Issue 22 (Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands, 29 May 1997) 2004	Front Row Club Issue 23 (Civic Centre, Aylesbury, England, 30 April 2004) 2004
Front Row Club Issue 24 (Zodiac, Oxford, England, 25 July 1999) 2005	Front Row Club Issue 25 (Elysee Montmartre, Paris, France, 18 November 1998) 2005	The Early Stages 2008	The Official Bootleg Box Volume 2 2010	North Amerian Tour 2012: Irving Plaza, New York City, USA on 13 June 2012 2012	North American Tour: Park West, Chicago, USA on 22 June 2012 2012

Artists Alphabetically: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0-9
List Artists by Country	List Tribute Recordings	List VA Label Samplers	List Various Artists Recordings
Releases by Year:	Releases Added On:	Releases Reviewed by:

	Christmas 1999 : marillion.christmas 1999	Christmas 2000: A Piss-up In A Brewery 2000	Christmas 2001 : A Verry Barry Christmas 2001	Christmas 2002 - Santa and his Elvis 2002	Christmas 2003: Say Cheese! 2003
Christmas 2004: Baubles 2004	Christmas 2005: Merry Xmas to our Flock 2005	Christmas 2006: The Jingle Book 2006	Christmas 2007: Somewhere Elf 2007	Christmas 2008: Pudding On The Ritz 2008	Christmas 2009: Snow De Cologne [DVD] 2009
Christmas 2010: Ding Dong Loreley On High... [DVD] 2010	Christmas 2011: German Space Day 2011	Christmas 2012: Sleighed Again 2012