Radiation (album)

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Radiation is the tenth studio album by British rock band Marillion, released in 1998. It reached No. 35 on the UK Albums Chart and stayed there for one week, making it the last Marillion album to enter the top 40 until 2007. The only single released from Radiation was "These Chains", which stalled at #78.

Radiation is the second of three albums in three consecutive years that Marillion released on a contract with Castle Communications between being dropped by EMI Records in 1995 and eventually going independent in the 2000s. The band decided to experiment with different instrument tones, vocal effects, samples (making segues between songs by cutting and pasting pieces from elsewhere in the album), and the like; they also tried a different approach to mixing that left the recording often sounding flat and tinny. The entire album was significantly remixed in 2013 to give a different perspective and rectify many of those complaints.

Due to an announcement on Marillion's official website before the album's release, many suppliers and distributors had incorrectly listed the album's title as either Don't Try This at Home or Radiation Leak. As Marillion's tenth studio album, the number 10 can be seen in the "io" in both "marillion" and "radiation" on the cover; previously, the album had been rumoured to be self-titled as Marill10n (i.e., with the number "10" replacing the letters "io").

The US release of Radiation (on the Velvel label) contains the bonus tracks "Estonia (Acoustic)" and "Memory of Water (Big Beat Mix)", whose original versions appeared on the previous album, This Strange Engine.

The Japanese release of Radiation (on the Pony Canyon label) contains the bonus tracks "The Space (Live Acoustic)" and the Radiohead cover "Fake Plastic Trees (Live Acoustic)", both taken from the Racket Records album Unplugged at the Walls. The latter also featured as a b-side on the single "These Chains".

The 2CD version of the album, containing both the original and the new remixed version, was released on the Madfish label in March 2013. The album was also played in its entirety at the fanclub conventions in 2013.

A 5.1 channel surround version of the 2013 remix of the album was released as part of the Breaking Records Blu-ray set released on Racket Records in 2015.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Steve Hogarth; all music is composed by Marillion

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Costa del Slough"	1:27
2.	"Under the Sun"	4:10
3.	"The Answering Machine"	3:48
4.	"Three Minute Boy"	5:59
5.	"Now She'll Never Know"	4:59
6.	"These Chains"	4:50
7.	"Born to Run"	5:12
8.	"Cathedral Wall"	7:20
9.	"A Few Words for the Dead"	10:32
Total length:		48:17

US release bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Estonia (Acoustic)"	6:43
11.	"Memory of Water (Big Beat Mix)"	8:05

Japanese release bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
10.	"The Space (Live Acoustic)"	4:12
11.	"Fake Plastic Trees (Live Acoustic) (Radiohead cover)"	4:56

Credits

Marillion

• Steve Hogarth – voice, backing vocals, additional piano, anorak and percussion
• Steve Rothery – guitars
• Mark Kelly – keyboards, backing vocals
• Peter Trewavas – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar on "Now She'll Never Know"
• Ian Mosley – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Jo Rothery, Viki Price – additional backing vocals on "Three Minute Boy"

Production

• Marillion – producer
• Stewart Every – co-producer, engineer, mixing engineer
• Rod Smallwood – manager
• Bill Smith Studio – graphic design
• Carl Glover – photography
• Niels van Iperen – portrait photography

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1998	UK Albums Chart	35
	German Albums Chart	46
	Netherlands Albums Chart	26