Marillion “Incommunicado” released

Incommunicado Marillion

Writer(s): Fish (lyrics), Mark Kelly, Ian Mosley, Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas (music) (see lyrics here) Released: May 11, 1987 First Charted: May 23, 1987 Peak: 6 UK, 24 AR, 15 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.81 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: I doubt I’ve anticipated an album more than Marillion’s Clutching at Straws. It followed the British progressive-rock group’s third release, Misplaced Childhood, a #1 album in the UK. That was the album that introduced me to the band. After I bought it, I spent the next year gobbling up everything they had done. By the time Clutching was released in June 1987, I was primed for new product. The lead single, “Incommunicado,” debuted at #1 on my personal charts and stayed there for five weeks. To prove the album’s hold on me, it spawned two more #1 songs for me in quick succession – “Warm Wet Circles” for 4 weeks and “Sugar Mice” for three weeks. In retrospect, with its nauseatingly fast pace, “Incommunicado” is the weakest song on the album although it was the logical choice for the first single. Music writer Paul Stenning took a very different stance, calling it “the most original commercial composition of all time.” WK In the context of the album, which explores a narrator named Torch as he struggles with alcoholism, the “fast, anthemic rock song” WK “is a necessary mood-lifter…[which] reveals Torch imagining himself as a ‘winner in the fame game.’” JC Chris Wilkinson, the band’s longtime artist for album covers and singles, depicted a “character standing at the door apart from the crowd…alluding to the song’s main topic, alienating artists from their fans and reality in general.” WK The band thought the song sounded too much like the Who and considered leaving it off the album, but producer Chris Kimsey insisted on keeping the “bouncy, up-tempo number.” JC Adam Wakeman, the son of Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman and a keyboardist in his own right with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, has cited Mark Kelly’s keyboard solo in the song as an inspiration. WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Marillion DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Fish JC Jon Collins (2003). Separated Out. Helter Skelter Publishing: London, England. Page 74. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/3/2022.