Background
For this album the band decided to experiment with different instrument tones,vocal effects,samples (making transitions between songs by cutting and pasting pieces from elsewhere in the album),and the like. As the album recording progressed,there was "a desire for new sounds and a desire not to repeat ourselves and to fall into familiar patterns",according to guitarist Steve Rothery. [4]
The first element was that Rothery decided he wanted a different guitar sound. They placed a ban on digital delay and chorus which had been Rothery's sound for years. He borrowed a Gretsch from Dave Gregory,and played on a Harmony guitar on the bluesy "Born To Run". Mark Kelly used a new Roland JP8000,a virtual analogue synth which was very versatile,and he placed a ban on string synths. Pete Trewavas used quite a lot of his old Rickenbacker fuzz bass on the album. [5]
During the recording sessions,the tracks "Tumble Down the Years" and "Interior Lulu" were recorded and mixed,but it was decided to leave them for the next album, marillion.com (1999),as the band thought the songs were incomplete. [6]
They also tried a different approach to mixing that left certain fans criticise the production quality of the album. Rothery said:"I wanted to completely remix it. I think it’s an album with good material,poorly mixed. Sonically it’s a bit flat." [7]
Drummer Ian Mosley said:"We tried to step outside ourselves,it sounds like a second rate version of who we were trying to copy. It backfired. I found it too harsh,not musical enough." [7]
The entire album was significantly remixed 14 years later by Michael Hunter to give a different perspective and rectify many of those complaints.
For the first time ever on tour there were no Fish-era songs in the setlist. "We are playing our most recent material really which is six albums worth" claimed Mark Kelly at the time. [7]
Marillion recorded a promo video for the single "These Chains". Hogarth said in 1998:"Well,essentially the idea of the video was to put me down in a well. Water is dropping on me and the idea is that as a consequence of the water raining into the well the level of the water subsequently rises and I climb to freedom in the end. So it was a metaphor for being trapped only to find that what trapped you released you. So that was it in its simpliest terms. What it amounts to really was me standing in a lot of cold water all day." [5]
Release
Radiation was released in Europe on 21 September 1998 by the Castle Communications imprint Raw Power. [8] It was the second of the three recordings Marillion made on a contract with Castle Communications between being dropped by EMI Records in 1995 and eventually going independent in the 2000s. Due to an announcement on the band's official website before the release,the album's title had been incorrectly listed as either Don't Try This at Home or Radiation Leak. [9] As Marillion's tenth studio album,the number 10 can be seen in the "io" in both "marillion" and "radiation" on the front cover.
The album peaked at number 35 in the UK charts and stayed there for just one week, [10] making it the last Marillion album to enter the Top 40 until Somewhere Else (2007). The only single released from Radiation was "These Chains" which stalled at number 78 in the UK Singles Chart. [11]
In the autumn of 2012,Radiation was remixed by Michael Hunter,and re-released in March 2013 by Madfish as a 2CD deluxe edition [nb 2] containing both the original and the new mixes as well as featuring re-designed artwork by Carl Glover. In July 2013,Hunter's mix was issued on double 180gm heavyweight translucent blue vinyl [nb 3] . [9] Some of the remixed tracks are shorter because the cut-and-paste reprises were eliminated (see track listing below),making the 2013 version almost two minutes shorter than the original. [12]
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