Marillion – Misplaced Childhood

Misplaced Childhood is the third studio album by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in 1985. It is a concept album based on the childhood of Marillion singer Fish, aka Derek William Dick, who was inspired by a brief event that occurred while under the influence of substances.

The album was recorded in the spring of 1985 at the Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin and produced by Chris Kimsey, who had also previously worked with the Rolling Stones. Misplaced Childhood is the group’s most commercially successful album to date, immediately going to number one in the UK charts where it stayed for a total of 41 weeks and went platinum. The album spawned Marillion’s two most successful singles, the guitar-driven rock ballad “Kayleigh”, which reached number two in the UK, and the piano-driven “Lavender”, which reached number five.

Misplaced Childhood was ranked the sixth best album of 1985 by Kerrang magazine and was chosen as the fourth best concept album of all time by Classic Rock magazine in 2003.

Misplaced Childhood was Marillion’s first concept album consisting of two thematically unified musical sides on vinyl. The whole story includes thematic elements of lost love, sudden success, acceptance and lost childhood, as well as an optimistic ending. As we predicted, and as Fish himself explains, he conceived the idea for the album during a 10-hour acid trip.

Many of the songs contain notable autobiographical references. For example, “Kayleigh” refers to the breakdown of relationships in general, but essentially focuses on Fish’s ex-girlfriend named Kay Lee. Fish named it Kayleigh in order not to reveal his girlfriend’s real name as the song was very personal. Another example is “Heart Of Lothian” (“I was born with the heart of Lothian”), which is a reference to a traditional Scottish region of Midlothian where Fish hails from and also a reference to the heart of Midlothian, a mosaic heart on the pavement of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh’s Old Town.

The theme of childhood is developed in “Lavender”, which is partly based on the traditional folk song “Lavender Blue” and reminds us of the innocence of childhood.

Like their first two albums, 1983’s Script For A Jester’s Tear and 1984’s Fugazi, Misplaced Childhood was released with a double cover created by Mark Wilkinson, who was assigned this role on all Marillion albums and 12″ singles of Fish’s time.

The front cover depicts a soldier drummer by painter Robert Mead, who was a ten-year-old boy at the time living next door to Mark Wilkinson. Mead also appears on the covers of the album’s three hit singles, “Kayleigh”, “Lavender” and “Heart Of Lothian”, and appears in the video for “Kayleigh”.

Through this excellent neo-progressive rock album, I select, what else, “Kayleigh”.

Tracklist

A1 Pseudo Silk Kimono 2:14
A2 Kayleigh 4:04
A3 Lavender 2:27
A4 Bitter Suite 5:54
A5 Heart Of Lothian 6:02
B1 Waterhole (Espresso Bongo) 2:13
B2 Lords Of The Backstage 1:52
B3 Blind Curve 9:28
B4 Childhoods End? 4:35
B5 White Feather 2:23