Marillion - Punch And Judy (EMI)

This group hail from the same part of the country as the Kajas but their music is totally different. They'll be looking for their first hit but, to my ears, I don't think they'll get it with this one. It sounds a little dated to me. They apparently have a large loyal following so, if nothing else, it will please them. (Limahl, Smash Hits, February 16, 1984)

You've got to admire Marillion. Some bands nick chord sequences, others pinch songs. Marillion, they've nicked a whole group - Genesis. Here they rifle through the 1974 back catalogue, filching bits from every song on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway LP. Six foot nine inch Duranie Fish stumbles about yelling "punch punch punch"as if he was Terry Lawless on a Frank Bruno training session. Undoubtedly the Heavy Medieval record of the week.(Frank Hopkinson, No 1, February 4, 1984)

Marillion - Assassing (EMI)

And what does "assassing" mean? Beats me. A clever-cloggy pun, perhaps. Or maybe just something your average assassin does from time to time. All I can tell you is that at one point Fish does indeed appear to be screaming "I assassing the collector" along with a lot of other stuff that sounds suspiciously like the harmless ravings of a hopeless maniac. This, by the way, is an "edited version". The full-length one probably takes up about six 12" singles. (Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, May 10, 1984)

Marillion - Kayleigh (EMI)

Any record that mentions Belsize Park and "dancing in stilettoes in the snow" can't be all bad, but this one's trying very hard . Marillion are one of those groups you either love or hate, and I must confess they aren't really to my taste. There's a keyboard motif running through this record that sounds very familiar, and I was distracted from listening to it properly by trying to remember what it was. (Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy, Smash Hits, May 8, 1985)

Funny world, isn't it. There's Phil Collins of boring pomp rockers Genesis making great pop singles. Then there's Marillion, young enough to know better, who are aping a style that was tedious enough over ten years ago. (Karen Swayne, No 1, May 4, 1985)

Marillion - Garden Party (EMI)

I am tempted to say, 'Who needs another Genesis circa '75?' but its obvious that plenty of people do from the chart position this has already reached. I'm not one of them. (George Michael, Smash Hits, June 23, 1983)

I can't understand why a band should want to write songs and sound like the bands they admire. This is Genesis round about their Selling England By The Pound LP to a tee. Worthless. (Andrew Ridgeley, Smash Hits, June 23, 1983)

Yes folks, the healthy alternative to all those videos of macho men in leather trousers making a nuisance of themselves on street corners. Grab a ride on the new cosmic roundabout and listen to Fish's enigmatic vocals and that luscious quirky rhythm. For goodness sake, this should be their first real chart hit at last. Don't let it slip away. (Robin Smith, Record Mirror, June 11, 1983)

Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Genesis, Fish. These are the great English poets. Here Fish the younger offers an able demonstration that mid-'70s art-rock is undead. A disc to take a leisurely and thinking bath by. Just make sure the water doesn't overflow before it's finished. Serious means long. (Mark Cooper, No 1, June 11, 1983)