Bags of Blood (More Songs About Death and Water)

 "The world has seen enough impatient bags of blood" - Marillion - Be Hard on Yourself

“We are but bags of blood and bone.” - Sting - The Bridge

As we emerge from the morass of 2020/21, one of the first questions to elicit a response is how the pandemic will influence the cultural subconscious and how that will be manifested in artistic constructs, since it certainly could not be avoided.

Of personal interest, both artists of primary significance to me, are releasing albums at the same time, both consisting of themes admittedly motivated by the pandemic event. In an example of synchronicity, both artists (the pre-eminent songwriters about death and water) have converged on the "bag of blood" image of post-pandemic human reflection. 

 

The first "single" release from Marillion's An Hour Before It's Dark - Be Hard on Yourself is a promising track, following FEAR's attention to the larger global threats to civilized stability. Musically this is clearly a continuation of fifth-era [1] Marillion, with structure similar to Sounds that Can't Be Made and FEAR.   But this time there is the feeling of a more dynamic motivation and tension, an ongoing momentum, unlike the tempo slow-downs on FEAR which impeded the flow of the songs, and undermined the critical urgency of the content. Their piece-together-a-bunch-of-musical-bits approach has yielded some great music, although it retains some clunky transitions and could perhaps use some more editing (where a less-is-more attitude might improve the flow). Hearing Hard, along with a snippet of Care, Marillion has seemingly evolved the experiments of the last two records into something that more resembles their essential sound.  As for any water themes, we'll have to wait until March for the full release. 

As a side note regarding the title (and yes I know I do not yet have the full context, but as it is my page here, I'll give my initial thoughts), the titles of this era have seemed a bit . .. awkward.   Returning to something a bit more concise and literary, Before Dark would have seemed sufficient and appropriate, but then I think titling Sounds That Can't Be Made as simply Power, would have exerted ... more power.

As for Sting's record, the pandemic force has seemingly pushed him in the opposite direction.  While The Bridge is a nice collection of songs, the first thing I would say is that this is not a rock record.  It is the most stripped down work he has ever done.  There is acoustic guitar, and presumably some bass, but overall not much electric guitar or drums, and lacking in foreground keyboards (maybe next time we'll see the return of the venerable David Sancious). This is a work of classical, traditional English, and folk music.  While Miller's classical approach to guitar has had a tremendous impact on the direction of  Sting's composition for the last 30 years, this work feels, finally, like a collaboration between the two, with Miller's style merging with Sting as a singer and writer/storyteller.  While there are hints of Ten Summoner's Tales, it is with a post-57th & 9th band and mentality.  There are also a lot of hints of Mercury Falling, both the best and worst results of that session. [2]  Thematically, like Ten Summoner's Tales, Mercury Falling, and Sacred Love, this is collection of tales - morality tales.  There is a lot here about God and redemption, in a quite explicit manner.  Similar to much of Marillion's work, this could be viewed as a religious work, without the religious ideology, ritual, and dogma over-dominating the personal experience found in examining the self as coming-to-terms and living with itself.

[1] Eras: 1- Fish, 2- Classic H (SE through TSE), 3 new sounds (Radiation through Anorak), 4- the 5 discs in 4 years output of cross-session songs (Marbles through Happiness), and 5- the post-near-breakup return with the stitch together method.

[2] Best: traditional maritime "water" style, worst: 70s feel (with horns).  Less apparent on the album is the classic Blue Turtles to Soul Cages feel.