The Thieving Magpie is a double live album by Marillion

Marillion

Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...

, named after the introductory piece of classical music the band used before coming on stage during the Clutching at Straws

Clutching at Straws

Clutching at Straws is the fourth studio album by neo-progressive rock band Marillion, and is a concept album. Released in 1987, it was the last album with lead singer Fish who left the band in 1988...

tour 1987-1988, the overture to Rossini

Gioacchino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...

's opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 La gazza ladra

La gazza ladra

La gazza ladra is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez....

, which translates as "The Thieving Magpie".
The album was released shortly after singer Fish

Fish (singer)

Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish progressive rock singer, lyricist and occasional actor, best known as the former lead singer of Marillion.-Biography:...

's departure from the band (and before Steve Hogarth

Steve Hogarth

Steve Hogarth also known as "h", is the lead vocalist and occasional keyboardist/guitarist with the British rock band Marillion. Hogarth was formerly a keyboard player and co-lead vocalist with The Europeans and vocalist with How We Live...

's arrival) and was intended to document the "Fish years". It complements the band's first live album Real to Reel

Real to Reel (Marillion album)

Real to Reel is Marillion's first live album, recorded at the Spectrum, Montreal, Canada, and De Montfort Hall, Leicester, England. In addition to two songs each from the first two albums, Script for a Jester's Tear and Fugazi, the original standard version contained two tracks not previously...

insofar as there are no overlaps. The Thieving Magpie is not a continuous live recording, but a compilation of tracks recorded at different times and places, with audible gaps between them and different moods on the individual tracks. However, the double vinyl version does include the first side of the UK no. 1 concept album Misplaced Childhood

Misplaced Childhood

Misplaced Childhood is the third studio album of the neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was released in 1985 and has been their most commercially successful album, reaching number one in the and spending a total of 41 weeks on the chart, the longest chart residency of a Marillion album...

(1985). The CD and cassette version includes the full album, as well as the track "Freaks" - originally the b-side to "Lavender

Lavender (Marillion song)

"Lavender" is neo-progressive rock band Marillion's second single from their breakthrough album Misplaced Childhood. The follow-up to the big UK number 2 hit "Kayleigh", the song was their second Top 5 UK hit, entering the chart on 7 September 1985, reaching number 5 and staying on the chart for 9...

", it was used as the lead single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 for The Thieving Magpie peaking at no. 18 in the UK.

The album was produced by Christopher "Privet" Hedge, who had been Marillion's sound engineer from early on in their career.

Cover art

The cover was designed by regular Marillion contributor Mark Wilkinson

Mark Wilkinson

Mark Wilkinson is best known for his detailed cover art that he created for a number of British bands, most prominently the progressive rock band, Marillion...

, who went on to work for Fish. The front part contains photorealistic

Photorealism

Photorealism is the genre of painting based on using the camera and photographs to gather information and then from this information creating a painting that appears photographic...

 airbrushed renderings of the band members. The back cover features characters found on the covers of the previous albums, i.e. "The Jester" (Script for a Jester's Tear

Script for a Jester's Tear

Script for a Jester's Tear is the first album by the neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in 1983. It reached number seven on the UK album chart and stayed on the chart for 31 weeks, the second longest chart residency of a Marillion album....

), "The Boy" (Misplaced Childhood), and "Torch" Clutching at Straws). The inside of the vinyl gatefold

Gatefold

A gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.- LP covers :...

 sleeve consists of a rather blurred photograph of the band on stage, circa 1986.

Release history

Originally, the album was released on double vinyl and the above-mentioned extended double CD/cassette set. In 2005, EMI Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 released a "vinyl replica" edition, i.e. a CD in a miniaturised version of the original vinyl packaging. The track listing, however, is the same as on the original 2CD version. On 22 June 2009, EMI released a digitally remaster

Remaster

Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...

ed version (along with Recital of the Script

Recital of the Script

Recital of the Script is a live album by Marillion, recorded at a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon , London on 18 April 1983. The recording was made on the final date of the tour promoting their 1983 debut album Script for a Jester's Tear...

and Live From Loreley

Live From Loreley

Live from Loreley is a live album by Marillion, recorded at a concert at the Freilichtbuhne Loreley, St. Goarshausen, Germany on 18 July 1987. The recording, made during the first leg of the 1987 Clutching at Straws tour, documents the band at the peak of their commercial success in the mid/late...

).

Side 1

1. "Intro: La Gazza Ladra" - 2:45
2. "Slàinte Mhath" - 4:49 from Clutching at Straws
   Clutching at Straws
   Clutching at Straws is the fourth studio album by neo-progressive rock band Marillion, and is a concept album. Released in 1987, it was the last album with lead singer Fish who left the band in 1988...
   
   (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987
3. "He Knows You Know
   He Knows You Know
   "He Knows You Know" is Marillion's second single, with "Charting the Single" as the B-side. It was released from their first album, Script for a Jester's Tear, and peaked at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. The song's theme is drug abuse, and alludes particularly to intravenous drug use...
   
   " - 5:12 from Script for a Jester's Tear
   Script for a Jester's Tear
   Script for a Jester's Tear is the first album by the neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in 1983. It reached number seven on the UK album chart and stayed on the chart for 31 weeks, the second longest chart residency of a Marillion album....
   
   (1983), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", March 6, 1984
4. "Chelsea Monday" - 8:00 from Script for a Jester's Tear (1983), recorded live at Leicester "De Montford Hall", March 5, 1984

Side 2 (Misplaced Childhood Part 1)

1. "Pseudo Silk Kimono" - 2:19
2. "Kayleigh
   Kayleigh
   "Kayleigh" was a number two UK hit for British neo-progressive rock band Marillion in 1985. It remains the group's most successful single in terms of chart position. The single was kept from the UK Number 1 spot by charity single "You'll Never Walk Alone" by supergroup The Crowd in the summer of...
   
   " - 3:52
3. "Lavender
   Lavender (Marillion song)
   "Lavender" is neo-progressive rock band Marillion's second single from their breakthrough album Misplaced Childhood. The follow-up to the big UK number 2 hit "Kayleigh", the song was their second Top 5 UK hit, entering the chart on 7 September 1985, reaching number 5 and staying on the chart for 9...
   
   " - 2:27
4. "Bitter Suite" - 7:38
5. "Heart of Lothian" - 5:12

All 5 tracks recorded live at London "Hammersmith Odeon", January 9/10th 1986

Side 3

1. "Jigsaw" - 6:24 from Fugazi
   Fugazi (album)
   Fugazi is the second studio album of the neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was released in 1984 and was the first album with Ian Mosley on drums. It reached no. 5 on the UK album charts, stayed on the chart for a total of 20 weeks and contained the UK top 40 singles Punch And Judy and...
   
   (1984), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", March 6, 1984
2. "Punch & Judy" - 3:23 from Fugazi (1984), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", March 6, 1984
3. "Sugar Mice" - 6:03 from Clutching at Straws (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987
4. "Fugazi" - 8:39 from Fugazi (1984), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", March 6, 1984

Side 4

1. "Script for a Jester's Tear" - 8:45 from Script for a Jester's Tear (1983), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", March 6, 1984
2. "Incommunicado
   Incommunicado (song)
   Incommunicado is the lead single of Marillion's fourth studio album, Clutching at Straws. Released 11 May 1987, it reached number six in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's third top-ten hit, the last until 2004. It became a minor hit on the Dutch Top 40 reaching number 31...
   
   " - 5:23 from Clutching at Straws (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987
3. "White Russian" - 6:14 from Clutching at Straws (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987

CD 1

1. "Intro: La Gazza Ladra" - 2:45
2. "Slàinte Mhath" - 4:49
3. "He Knows You Know" - 5:12
4. "Chelsea Monday" - 8:00
5. "Freaks" - 4:06 * recorded live at Mannheim, Germany "Maimarktgelände", June 21, 1986
6. "Jigsaw" - 6:24
7. "Punch & Judy" - 3:23
8. "Sugar Mice" - 6:03
9. "Fugazi" - 8:39
10. "Script For A Jester's Tear" - 8:45
11. "Incommunicado" - 5:23
12. "White Russian" - 6:14

* CD only

CD 2 (Complete performance of Misplaced Childhood)

1. "Pseudo Silk Kimono" - 2:19
2. "Kayleigh" - 3:52
3. "Lavender" - 2:27
4. "Bitter Suite" - 7:38
5. "Heart of Lothian" - 5:12
6. "Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)" - 2:16
7. "Lords of the Backstage" - 6:07
8. "Blind Curve" - 5:34
9. "Childhoods End?" - 2:48
10. "White Feather" - 4:22

All 10 tracks recorded live at London "Hammersmith Odeon", January 9/10th 1986