***Label: Toshiba Records (Japan), TOCP-67787
***Style: Neo-Prog, Progressive Rock, Art Rock
***Country: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
***Time: 52:18
***Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
***Size: 322 Mb
Charts: UK #2, CAN #81, FIN #15, FRA #20, Ger #3, NL #3, NOR #4, SWE #9, SWI #3, US #103. UK & GER: Gold.
The character of Torch (supposedly a descendant of the Jester from earlier album sleeves) is a 29-year-old out-of-work man whose life is a mess. He seeks comfort mostly in alcohol to numb himself. He is trying, but failing, to forget what lies at his feet-a failed marriage, being a deadbeat father, and his lack of commercial success as a singer in a band. As he gets drunk, he also writes about his surroundings and his laments. Since Torch has no other real outlet at his disposal, he ends up in bars, hotel rooms, and on the road, screaming and drunk, thus, he is described as beyond redemption or hope.
Marillion took a break after their tour in support of the album (with Fish eventually quitting) after it was released. The song "Incommunicado" describes the pitfalls of the business, and how pressures in real life exerted by the band's US label Capitol Records were crushing in from outside for them to either succeed or get dropped by the company, which would happen to Marillion anyway a few years later.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutching_at_Straws)
01. Hotel Hobbies (03:35)
02. Warm Wet Circles (04:25)
03. That Time Of The Night (The Short Straw) (06:00)
04. Going Under (02:47)
05. Just For The Record (03:09)
06. White Russian (06:27)
07. Incommunicado (05:16)
08. Torch Song (04:05)
09. Slainte Mhath (04:45)
10. Sugar Mice (05:46)
11. The Last Straw, Happy Ending (05:58)
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