Prog & Progeny

We begin our deep dive into Seasons End - Marillion’s first album with Steve Hogarth.
Mark and Tallulah explore the first four tracks - The King of Sunset Town, Easter, The Uninvited Guest and Seasons End - from the stories and meanings behind them to how they came together during a huge period of change for the band.
Mark recalls finding H, whether there was ever a Plan B if fans rejected him, and why Marillion briefly considered changing their name.
Link: Marathon singer Oliver Smith new E.P.
https://open.spotify.com/album/68ky2prcbswKAT78xeEu5d?si=f0q775D6ShGoaPUMhHCFAQ&utm_source=copy-link

Mark and Tallulah finish Sounds That Can't Be Made. Why Power's lyric leaves Mark cold, how Mike Hunter pulled a buried vocal melody out of Invisible Ink, the home piano noodle that became The Sky Above the Rain, and whether Montréal deserves the bad press.
If you click on this link before listening to the podcast you will probably wonder what that has to do with Marillion: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/04/260406192809.htm

We jump forward to 2012's Sounds That Can't Be Made. We discuss the writing and recording of the first half of the album track by track.

We wrap up our two-parter on Marillion's 1983 debut, moving from the songs the band left behind to the reasons they did. Also, the gear and the studio decisions that shaped how the record sounds, where Fish was drawing his lyrics from, and what it's like to hear your first album again 40+ years on.
Links: The Web trumpet interpretation by Gil Pinatel that we discussed in this episode can be heard here https://youtu.be/LDW5K4Wx8bc?is=2Gb5JlemgdmCcqMu

A short catch-up episode. Mark and Tallulah discuss their Pompeii experience — the choir, the pre-show keyboard crisis, playing "Sugar Mice" in the rain — plus podcast meetups, the UK tour and more...