I’ve been a Marillion fan for a long time, collecting about anything Marillion I could get my hands on. Some might call me a die hard. I don’t think I am. Yes, I’m pretty loyal to this band; visiting their gigs whenever I get the opportunity, yet I’m always critical about every step the band takes.
Although I prefer the early years, I have great admiration for the changes the band has gone through since Seasons End, the first Hogarth era studio album.

My passion for the band started to fade since the rather poor This Strange Engine album was released in 1997. This album finished off a period where almost every single track that the band released was spot on. Sure, you could find one, maybe two tracks on each album of just not the same high quality as the rest, but even these songs were so much better than any other band could come up with and loaded with emotion.
This Strange Engine was the first of four albums that mixed up my feelings. Every single one of the albums featured a couple of songs that were classical Marillion stuff. Problem was, these albums featured just as many crappy songs. In fact, after yet another rather disappointing release in 2001, I almost gave up on the band.
Anoraknophobia was the fourth album in a row that turned out to be a major disappointment. Then, out of nowhere, the band kicked back with the brilliant 2004 double album Marbles. Like Brave, Afraid Of Sunlight, and the pre-Hogarth releases, emotion from the first `till the final note. Man, I hoped that Marbles was the beginning of a Marillion Renaissance.

The new Marillion album is called Somewhere Else. It features ten tracks, of which one is even worse than the other. The opener `The Other Half` sounds as if Hogarth has just finished off a bottle of whiskey. I can clearly spot double tongues here. The entire band seems to lack form. Even the solo by Rothery lacks emotion.
`See it like a baby` is the new single. There is some neat drumming here, but the band is playing "safe" with their single again, resulting in a very boring track.

If these guys want to rule the charts one more time, they should come up with something extraordinary, like the single-that-wasn’t: `Cannibal Surf Babe`.
Hogarth again doesn’t sound the way we know him. He sounds spoiled at times. He doesn’t seem to be able to catch the right vibe either with `Thank You Whoever You Are`. This track is average to Marillion standards though. `Most Toys` is the worst song the band has written in ages. I didn’t like it at this years convention, and on the album I simply hate it. The bold simplicity, the undefined sound and the stubbornness (they should know this track is utter crap) are striking.
The title track doesn’t sound bad, but than again, even Celene Dion wouldn`t sound bad following `Most Toys`. `Somewhere Else` has probably been written with the liking of the fans in mind. Structurally and sound wise it’s not that different from Marillion`s second best track ever: `Neverland`.
Of the remaining tracks only `No Such Thing` and `The Wound` stand out; where somehow the pieces of music come together and Hogarth convinces. This is probable the sound that the band was looking for with Somewhere Else. Too bad that only worked for two out of ten songs.

Somewhere Else is without any doubt the worst Marillion album ever. It’s utterly boring and you get the feeling that the musicians sensed this while recording. Hogarth sounds uninspired, Rothery doesn’t sound like Rothery, and the keyboard parts of Kelly stand alone most of the time. Mosley and Trewavas alone prove to be just not enough to bring the music to an average level. Too bad, because `No Such Thing` and `The Wound` obviously have great potential.
I hope that the band plays only a very small selection of the songs of Somewhere Else, during their 2007 tour. I had already bought tickets for two of the four Dutch gigs, something I wouldn’t have done had I heard this album beforehand. Marillion indeed seems "somewhere else" with this record.