This Strange Engine is an 1997 album by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band 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...

. It is the first out of three discs the band released on Castle Records, having been dismissed by EMI

EMI Records

EMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...

 after Afraid of Sunlight

Afraid of Sunlight (album)

Afraid of Sunlight is Marillion's eighth studio album, released in 1995. It was their last for EMI ....

(1995).

The first single released from this record was "Man of a Thousand Faces", the opener on the album. A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 was also released of this track. The second single from the album was "80 Days".

The song "Estonia" was written after singer Steve Hogarth met Paul Barney, the only British survivor from the accident where the passenger ferry Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 in September 1994, killing 852 people.

The song "This Strange Engine" is an autobiographical account of 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 life.

Track listing

Lyrics by Steve Hogarth & John Helmer; Music by Marillion

1. "Man of a Thousand Faces" – 7:33
2. "One Fine Day" – 5:31
3. "80 Days" – 5:00
4. "Estonia" – 7:56
5. "Memory of Water" – 3:01
6. "An Accidental Man" – 6:12
7. "Hope for the Future" – 5:10
8. "This Strange Engine" – 15:32

Bonus tracks on the Japanese version (Pony Canyon label, March 1997)

9. "Beautiful" (Acoustic)
10. "Made Again" (Acoustic)

Bonus tracks on the U.S. version (Velvel label, October 1997)

9. "Estonia" (Positive Light Remix)
10. "80 Days" (Acoustic)

Personnel

• 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...
  
   – voice, additional keyboards & percussion, backing vocals
• Steve Rothery
  Steve Rothery
  Steve Rothery is the guitarist of the English rock band Marillion. He was born in Brampton, South Yorkshire, England. From the age of six he lived in Whitby, North Yorkshire.-Biography:...
  
   - guitar
• Mark Kelly - keyboards, backing vocals
• Pete Trewavas
  Pete Trewavas
  Pete Trewavas is an English musician. He joined Marillion in 1982, taking over the role of bassist, from Diz Minnett, while acting occasionally as a backing vocalist and acoustic guitarist.Although he was born in Middlesbrough, Trewavas spent much of his childhood in the Buckinghamshire town of...
  
   - bass, backing vocals
• Ian Mosley
  Ian Mosley
  Ian F. Mosley is a drummer in the progressive rock band, Marillion.Mosley joined the band in 1984 after a long search for a replacement of Mick Pointer, who had been left the band in 1983. Mosley had previously, among others, played with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, both on two of his...
  
   - drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Tim Perkins - balalaika
  Balalaika
  The balalaika is a stringed musical instrument popular in Russia, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass...
  
   on track 4
• Phil Todd - saxophone on track 8
• Paul Savage - trumpet on track 7
• Charlton & Newbottle School Choir - backing vocals on track 1
• Rey Lear - choir arrangement on track 1

Recording information

Written and recorded at The Racket Club, Buckinghamshire, between August and November 1996.

Mixed at Parr St., Liverpool

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1997	UK Album Chart	27

External links

• Album Information

• Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae
  Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae
  Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae is an eight-part, a cappella classical choral composition by the Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. Completed in 1997, the piece was inspired by the MS Estonia disaster of 1994. It won third prize in the European composition competition for cathedral choirs in 1997...
  
  , a classical choral work inspired by the MS Estonia disaster.