| Artist: | Marillion |
| Title: | This Strange Engine |
| Label: | Castle Communications |
| Length(s): | 71 minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 1997 |
| Month of review: | 03/1997 |
| 1) | Man Of A Thousand Faces | 7.33 |
| 2) | One Fine Day | 5.31 |
| 3) | 80 Days | 5.01 |
| 4) | Estonia | 7.56 |
| 5) | Memory Of Water | 3.02 |
| 6) | An Accidental Man | 6.12 |
| 7) | Hope For The Future | 5.10 |
| 8) | This Strange Engine | 15.40 + 14.44 |
Going by the numbers one by one Man of a Thousand Voices is a rather straightforward track, but with a very memorable chorus, good melodies throughout, while the instrumentation is formed mainly by acoustic guitar, organ and piano. Although not very progressive, I like this track very much. It ends on a very optimistic note with a children choir. One Fine Day is a peaceful, contemplative track about Carpe Diem, with sensitive piano playing and singing and after a classical intermezzo with synthetic "violins" Rothery has his solo for the first time actually.
80 Days is thematically similar to Splintering Heart. Musically I prefer very much the latter and although there are some strange things in store on this CD I like this track the least. It also wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be the single.
Estonia is a sad track but a lot better than the previous one. The best part of it is the banjo that is used in the chorus in a very effective way and sadly it is hard to make out the lyrics to this one. It breathes more or less the atmosphere of Easter.
Memory of Water about racial memory is an almost a-capella track (just a little keys on the side) and it is very beautiful. Again Hogarths voice makes it a very worthwhile track with a good melody and nice inflections.
An Accidental Man is the only rock song on this album and contrary to some Marillion album it is not the weakest (Paper Lies?). In fact, being a about the controlling factor of conditioning in children on your later life, this is a very nice track that does sound much like the Police, especially in the first sentence. The keyboard interludes are rather experimental.
Hope for the Future is a very joyous sung with Carribean influences throughout. A track that one would not expect from Marillion. Also, it has some parts that remind me of Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side. The song is about Rosacrucians and other secret sects that survive through the ages. The music in this song does indicate where the band spend their holiday.
The autobiographical This Strange Engine is the track most people have been looking forward too and they have not done so for nothing. The song is in the beginning rather similar to the quieter parts of Brave, but already in an early part some more rocking portions can be heard. The rather chaotic, but seemingly very emotional ending of the track indicate that this is a lyric that Hogarth cares about very much.