Marillion: Seasons End Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Marillion: Seasons End Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 9, 2023

Perhaps a little unexpectedly, Marillion is suddenly getting some pretty luxe treatment from the folks at Rhino, who have now released both this effort and Marillion: Holidays in Eden in editions that may be a cause for celebration among those who like yours truly champion the ongoing attempts to make Blu-ray audio a lasting format. In a way, it's a little "backwards" that Rhino offered Holidays in Eden before this particular album, since Seasons End actually introduced then new vocalist Steve Hogarth in 1989, two years before Holidays in Eden was released. One way or the other, Rhino has done Marillion fans proud with both of these releases, which offer not just a glut of CDs but a nice Blu-ray which offers both audio and video content.

As with Holidays in Eden, no doubt some will feel that the Blu-ray disc is one of the "supplements", but for, well, wise folks who appreciate the quality that Blu-ray discs offer in both the video and audio departments should be well pleased with a Blu-ray disc in this release that offers some really nice content in both categories. The full contents of the Blu-ray disc are listed below.

Audio Content

• Seasons End (2023 Remix) features 48/24 LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options. See screenshot 9 for an indication of what appears on screen when the album plays (track titles of course change).
  
  
• Seasons End B-Sides, Demos and Early Versions are presented in LPCM 2.0.

  1. Strings Groove (Dalnagar Castle, August 1988)

  2. String Groove (with synths, Dalnagar Castle, August 1988)

  3. Amsterdam (The Space Demo, March 1989)

  4. Easter (Demo, March 1989)

  5. Hooks In You (Early Version, March 1989)

  6. At End of the Day (The Release Early Version, March 1989)

  7. Sunset Town (M8 Idea H Dictaphone, March 1989)

  8. The Uninvited Guest (12" Mix)

  9. The Bell in the Sea

  10. The Release

  11. The King of Sunset Town (Demo)

  12. Holloway Girl (Demo)

  13. Seasons End (Demo)

  14. The Uninvited Guest (Demo)

  15. Berlin (Demo)

  16. Bell in the Sea (Demo)

Video Content

• Seasons Change (HD; 1:23:13) is another fantastic documentary very much in keeping with the Pain and Heaven piece on Holidays in Eden. There are a ton of interesting interviews and a lot of background information included which fans should eat up. This kind of unavoidably covers a lot of the same ground that both Pain and Heaven and even From Stoke Row to Ipanema (see below) did/do, but this more contemporary production at least offers a bit of perspective courtesy of hindsight.


• Rock Steady - Live at Leicester de Montfort Hall (HD; 1:32:22)


• From Stoke Row to Ipanema - A Year in the Life 1989 - 1990 (HD; 1:03:28) is an archival piece documenting an epochal transitional time in the band's history.


• Hooks in You (Promo Video) (HD; 2:53)


• Easter (Promo Video) (HD; 4:33)


• Uninvited Guest (Promo Video) (HD; 3:46)


• Montreal Bootleg, Le Spectrum, 2nd & 3rd February 1990 (HD; 1:20:43) is featured under the Films and Video section on the disc, but is in fact an audio bootleg.

Note: All of the above feature LPCM 2.0 audio.

Marillion: Seasons End Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Marillion: Seasons End is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Parlophone and Rhino with a kind of combo platter of AVC encoded 1080p or 1080i content in 1.78:1 and/or 1.33:1, much as with Holidays in Eden, and in fact my comments about that release serve pretty much perfectly well for this one as well. The "and/or" comes courtesy of the fact that documentary is basically in 1.78:1 (see all of the screenshots I've uploaded to this review), but also features some archival material in 1.33:1, while all of the other video content is in 1.33:1. Similarly, the documentary is 1080p while all of the other material is 1080i. The older material definitely shows its age, and I assume is upscaled, due not just to a lack of detail but some anomalies that are typically associated with such efforts. The documentary is considerably better looking, even if some of the archival material may not be significantly improved. The main contemporary talking head segments are all sharp as a tack, with a natural palette and some appealing detail levels. I'm kind of splitting the difference quality wise between all of the video content on this disc with my general score, above.

Marillion: Seasons End Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Marillion: Seasons End features two great 2023 remixes of one of the best remembered albums in the band's discography, with LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options (for some reason, this release does not also include an LPCM 5.1 mix, as Holidays in Eden did, but as I mentioned in my review of that release, I frankly heard little if any difference between the two 5.1 options on that particular disc). You can't really go wrong with either of these choices, as they both offer a really beautifully fluid listening experience that highlights Hogarth's plaintive tenor (which kind of weirdly reminded me of little remembered Johnnie Dee from the equally little remembered but rather enjoyable Canadian band Honeymoon Suite). The band is almost unfailingly melodic, with good layering in the rhythm section accompaniments, and those elements receive some really commendable spaciousness in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 rendering. Both options feature nicely full bodied sound throughout, with clear but never brash high ends, and some really powerful midrange and low end.

Marillion: Seasons End Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As mentioned above, while of course the, um, uneducated may think of the Blu-ray disc in this set as the supplement (that's a joke, folks), one way or the other this handsome looking DigiBook comes with 3 CDs featuring the 2023 remix of Seasons End on one disc and the May 29, 2022 Live at the De Montfort Hall concert on the other two CDs. The DigiBook itself features a really interesting, in depth essay by Rich Wilson which will be a treasure trove for the band's fans, along with lots of photos, lyrics to all of the songs on the album and some more whimsical art pieces.

Marillion: Seasons End Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I mentioned in the Marillion: Holidays in Eden Blu- ray review, probably like a lot of listeners on this side of the pond, my "history" with Marillion was largely confined to "Kayleigh", which continues to be probably their best known single over here, but which frankly doesn't really communicate some of the band's strengths as well as some of their other material. Seasons End is an often very beautiful listening experience, even if it can be a little formulaic. Rhino and Parlophone provide fans with generally solid technical merits and a fantastic array of both video and audio choices on this release. Recommended.