Marillion released B-Sides Themselves

B-Sides Themselves Marillion

Recorded: 1982-1987 Released: January 4, 1988 Peak: -- US, 64 UK, -- CN, -- AU, 18 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: neo progressive rock

Tracks: Click on a song titled for more details. Grendel [17:15] Charting the Single [4:48] Market Square Heroes [3:56] Three Boats Down from the Candy [4:01] Cinderella Search [4:21] Lady Nina [3:43] Freaks [4:04] Tux On [5:12] Margaret (live) [12:17] Total Running Time: 59:42 The Players: Derek Dick, aka “Fish” (vocals) Steve Rothery (guitars) Mark Kelly (keyboards) Pete Trewavas (bass) Ian Mosley, Mick Pointer, John Martyr (drums)

Rating: 3.666 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Marillion had released four albums at this point, all with Fish as the lead singer. He would leave the band in October 1988, making this his last studio album with the band. This album did not, however, contain any new material. Instead, as the title suggests, this was a collection of B-sides from the singles Marillion had released. B-sides are often considered throwaways that didn’t past muster for placement on an album. In the case of these songs, they often didn’t make the cut simply because they didn’t quite fit whatever theme the current project had. Some of these songs, including Tux On and Freaks are strong songs that hold up just fine and would have made decent singles. In fact, a live version of “Freaks” was released as the band’s final single from the Fish years. You can see a full discography of Marillion’s singles here. This page, however, will detail the songs featured on B-Sides Themselves and their original appearances on singles. The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Grendel Marillion

Released: 10/25/1982 as a B-side for “Market Square Heroes,” B-Sides Themselves (1988) Peak: 12 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: Considering the 17-minute running time of Grendel, the “Market Square Heroes” single was really an EP and not a single.

Charting the Single Marillion

Released: 1/31/1983 as the B-side of “He Knows You Know,” B-Sides Themselves (1988) Peak: 15 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: This was the B-side of “He Knows You Know,” which was released in January 1983 and reached #35 on the UK charts and #21 on the Billboard album rock tracks chart. “He Knows You Know” was the first single from Marillion’s debut album, Script for a Jester’s Tear.

Market Square Heroes Marillion

Released: 10/25/1982 as a single, Real to Reel (live, 1984), B-Sides Themselves (1988), Best of Both Worlds (1997), Return to Childhood (Fish live, 2005) B-sides: “Grendel,” “Three Boats Down from the Candy” Peak: 60 UK, 7 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: This free-standing single was Marillion’s first release on October 25, 1982. The version on B-Sides Themselves is actually a re-recorded version which was used as the B-side of 1984’s “Punch and Judy.”

Three Boats Down from the Candy Marillion

Released: 10/25/1982 as a B-side for “Market Square Heroes,” B-Sides Themselves (1988) Peak: 27 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: The version of Three Boats Down from the Candy featured on B-Sides Themselves is the re-recorded version of the song which was released as a B-side of “Punch and Judy.”

Cinderella Search Marillion

Released: 4/30/1984 as the B-side of “Assassing,” Real to Reel (live, 1984), B-Sides Themselves (1988) Peak: 6 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: The lead single from Marillion’s second album, Fugazi, was “Assassing” in April 1984. It climbed to #22 on the UK charts. The B-side was Cinderella Search, which would also appear on Marillion’s 1984 live album Real to Reel.

Lady Nina Marillion

Released: 4/7/1985 as the B-side of “Kayleigh,” Brief Encounter (EP, 1986), B-Sides Themselves (1988) Peak: 30 AR, 30 UK, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: Marillion’s third album, Misplaced Childhood, was released in 1985. The lead single, “Kayleigh,” gave the band their greatest success, reaching #2 in the UK as well as #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 on the album rock track chart. The B-side, Lady Nina, would also be featured on the 1986 EP Brief Encounter.

Freaks Marillion

Released: 8/27/1985 as the B-side of “Lavender,” Brief Encounter (EP, 1986), B-Sides Themselves (1988), The Thieving Magpie (live, 1988), November 1988 as a single (live version) Peak: 24 UK, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: “Lavender” was released as the second single from Misplaced Childhood. It reached #5 in the UK, making for the band’s second most successful single in its history. The B-side, Freaks, was also released on the 1986 EP Brief Encounter and ended up being the last Fish-era single when a live version of the song was released as a single in November 1988 in support of the double live album The Thieving Magpie. That version got to #24 on the UK chart.

Tux On Marillion

Writer(s): Fish (lyrics), Mark Kelly, Ian Mosley, Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas (music) (see lyrics here) Released: 7/13/1987 as the B-side of “Sugar Mice,” B-Sides Themselves (1988), The Last Straw (Fish live, 2022) Peak: 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.25 video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Marillion only released four studio albums with Fish on vocals. However, those four albums cemented the band as my favorite of all time. Thankfully, there were also enough B-sides from singles released from 1982 to 1987 to warrant the release of the B’Sides Themselves compilation in January 1988. The release of the double live album The Thieving Magpie in November of that year would then serve as the finale to the Fish era. As big as Marillion had become for me, the B’Sides Themselves collection introduced me to “new” Marillion songs. I already knew some of the material. “Market Square Heroes” and “Cinderella Search” were featured on the 1984 live album Real to Reel. “Lady Nina” and “Freaks” had been released on the 1986 EP Brief Encounter. The song that most captured my attention from the collection was “Tux On.” The song was initially released as the B-side of “Sugar Mice,” the second single from 1987’s Clutching at Straws album. The song uses the tuxedo as “the uniform that symbolizes the comfortable life,” taking the listener through various scenarios in which a man might wear a tuxedo, including him lying in state in a coffin. “’Tux On’ points the way towards the sort of music the band would be producing a couple of albums down the line and dispenses with the neo-prog sensibilities to embrace the poppier side of the band’s psyche. It is a catchy little number nonetheless and shows that Marillion had ambitions beyond their cult status which were finally realised when Misplaced Childhood broke them into the mainstream.” SK

Margaret (live) Marillion

Released: 6/6/1983 as the B-side of “Garden Party,” B-Sides Themselves (1988) Peak: 19 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: The song reached #16 on the UK charts. This live performance of Margaret was recorded on April 7, 1983 at Edinburgh Playhouse and released as the B-side of “Garden Party,” the second single from the Script for a Jester’s Tear album.

Notes: There were a few B-sides which didn’t make this collection, including the aforementioned “Going Under,” released as the B-side of “Incommunicado.” Beyond that, a live version of “Chelsea Monday” (a song from Script for a Jester’s Tear) was the B-side of 1985’s “Heart of Lothian” and live versions of “White Russian” and “Incommunicado” were released as B-sides of “Warm Wet Circles.” Studio versions of those songs were initially featured on 1987’s Clutching at Straws. Resources/References: SK SputnikMusic.com review of B-Sides Themselves WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/2/2022; last updated 8/5/2025.