Introduction: Script for a Jester's Tear was the first Marillion album and the only one to feature founding member Mick Pointer on drums. Many people have commented upon the naivety of the sound and this can be largely traced to the limitations of Pointer's drumming. Rothery's guitar is arguably at its most cutting on this album and Pete Trewavas' bass playing occasionally displays a slight reggae feel which disappeared on later albums.
Upon its release, many commentators chose to talk about its 'Genesis-a-like' properties. While Genesis was undoubtedly one of the influences in the mix, claims of how similar they are are largely untrue or at the very least exaggerated and based on the simple fact that Marillion chose to work with expansive pieces that sometimes had distinct movements, and the folly that is Grendel. The music was near universally much harder and darker than Genesis' and the lyrics were firmly based in present day, despite the first impression that might be given by a lyric such as Script for a Jester's Tear or The Web. Nevertheless, it is still the sound of a band finding its musical feet and the first time that they had had to write songs in the studio.
Originally Fish had wanted to open the album with a spoken-word piece but the band were not happy with this and the piece later became the basis of Incubus on the next album, Fugazi.
All the songs on this album have explanations.
Cover notes: The cover for Script was painted by Mark Wilkinson. It features many elements that would go on to help define the band's Fish-era image. Wilkinson used his own flat in Kingswood Road, Penge, SE London, as reference material for the bedsit. A blog entitled Putting Prog on the Map: Penge includes shots of Wilkinson's fireplace that is used on the SfaJT cover. According to Clive Gifford's The Script, the famous Fish-era logo was not designed by Wilkinson, but by designer and graphic artist Jo Mirowski who was responsible for the art direction and design of the early covers. Wilkinson and Mirowski both receive credits in the cover art. If you look under the table there is a washing up liquid bottle with a lurid green 'Jo' upon it. Upon a can in the style of the classic 'Coke' logo, the name 'Mark' scripts elegantly up the can. Mick Wall's Market Square Heroes erroneously states that it is the Marillion logo across the can.
The records on the floor are Pink Floyd's Saucerful of Secrets (not Meddle as claimed by Gifford), Bill Nelson's Do You Dream In Colour and, of course, the band's two singles to date; Market Square Heroes and He Knows, You Know. Promo posters for the Marillion singles are also on the rear wall. In the violin case are some lyrics from the Beatles' Yesterday.
In the cupboard behind the jester is a theatre mask that has echoes of the one from the Market Square Heroes cover. The papers on the bed are Sounds (the issue is from January 29th 1983 with Solstice on the front cover), a now defunct bi-weekly paper in the same vein as NME and Melody Maker, but more rock friendly), issue 22 of Kerrang! with Ian Gillan on the cover, the hard rock/ metal weekly magazine that was originally a spin-out from Sounds and which is still being published, and the Daily Mirror, the vaguely left-wing tabloid, from Friday, 04 February 1983. The headline is "After the Ripper", a reference to mass-murderer Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who was convicted in May 1981 of the murders of 13 women and the attempted murders of a further seven. Thanks to Gary Cumberland for the info on Sounds and Kerrang!.
The music the jester is trying to write is not a Marillion song, or indeed a song at all. The EMI lawyers apparently hired someone to try and play the piece to ensure they were not infringing anyone's copyright!
Above the empty fire place is a picture of a flame-haired girl in the style of the Pre-Raphaelite school, Sir John Milias' The Bridesmaid and is meant to represent Ophelia, who appears in Chelsea Monday. Wall's book quotes Fish saying, 'We wanted the original Ophelia painting in there first of all but we couldn't get permission to reproduce it. She's a real girl; she was the model for the original Ophelia painting.' Sadly, Fish is incorrect in this last claim. The model for The Bridesmaid seems to be a Miss McDowell, whereas Ophelia was the famous Pre-Raphaelite model and muse Elizabeth Siddal. The Bridesmaid is on display in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Ophelia appears on Fuguzi in the lyrics of the title track.
This is the famous Ophelia, another painting by Sir John Millias, one of the foremost painters in the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite tradition.
Finally, there is a chameleon on the back of the chair and a Punch character on the television. These refer to song lyrics that were already written but didn't surface until the next album, Fugazi.
Songs with a link have explanations.
Very good job, fantastic blog
ReplyDelete