Marillion, Misadventures & Marathons: The Life & Times Of Mad Jack

Being a massive Marillion fan, Mark Kelly’s book is a fascinating insight into Mark’s life and role as keyboard player for this much loved British rock band. It is well written and is packed with fantastic photographs. Highly recommended.

I like this book because it seems honest and to the point. Good to have an insight into Mark’s life and a good history of his career and of Marillion.

An interesting book detailing Kelly's early life, how he ended up Marillion and then the rise, fall and rise again of Marillion. It's very informal in style and easy to read, and Kelly comes across as like-able without any sort of ego, and quite often a bit self-deprecating. We get a bit of his family life and some honest reflections on his own failings in life and some honest criticism of Marillion's recorded output (Somewhere Else isn't a favourite.).The only thing I don't like about this book is the spacing between each paragraph. This makes it feel a bit amateurish.Kelly thinks YES's DRAMA album is terrible. He is, of course, wrong here.If you are a fan of the band, this is well worth reading.

If you’re a Marillion fan (or want to know a little about the music business) then this is the book for you. I’ve enjoyed Mark Kelly’s candor - this is an inside story of Marillion’s rise, fall and eventual levelling out (of sorts)! There’s some moments that now seem to make things from the band’s history make sense, there’s honesty from Mark about his own pitfalls and there’s heartwarming accounts of the closeness of the band - life in a band isn’t always rock & roll but if you’d like an entertaining read - buy this book.

Expected a bit more dirt on the Fish split but certainly wasn't as bad as it has been made out to be. MK comes across as a pretty decent guy...his ex's may disagree. Worth a purchase for any Marillion fan.

Arrived on a Thursday ,was finished on the friday. What a fantastic book, full of interesting Marillion stories, funny tales throughout,wouldn't have thought of Mark Kelly as being funny but he is ,I actually laughed out loud at some things,was surprised about him being a thriving little scrote when was a kid,the coat is genius. The fall out with Fish, just stunned me as to what went on. This is one of the best Rock books out there, idadvise you to read it and not love this guy and band.

An honest, funny and engaging read, unlike other publications this keeps turning pages.

I thought I would take a punt as a Marillion fan and loved the Mark Kelly's Marathon album. Great read for around 3/4 of the way and then seemed to skim over the years as if there was a hurry to complete the book. I am sure it could have been much longer with more memoirs. perhaps publishers of books are of a similar vein to those in the music industry, who knows.Looking forward to seeing the Marathon band on tour and I hope Marks relationship with Freya gets sorted very soon. Life is too short as they say.

It was a real pleasure to read the story of one of my favourite bands ever from a band member. I recommend it.

The book got me intrigued, so I originally subscribed to the crowed-funding initiative, but never got it delivered. This was a bit of a disappointment, but ordering it on Amazon I got it in the usual reliable delivery quality. I am not a "Freak"/hard-core Marillion fan, but I like very much the first 4 albums and once attended a Fish concert, just after the split up, where they plaid many of my favorite songs - like "The Web". For me the book is very authentic and shares an ambundent amount of details and background stories, how the band strived and fought to create the magic music it is known for. Funnily, it is much more detailed on the first 4 albums - however for me this is the music I appreciate most. Additionally, it gives at least the essentials on how they managed to rescue the band and become truly independent from the record industry. I like most Mark Kelly's music, but the life behind is equally impressive and a great story of personal achievements. If you are more a "Fish" fan or a hardcore admirer of "Steve Rothery", you may not agree on all of Mark's assessments, how certain event have played out or certain songs have been created - however the book brings you extremely close to the events and gives you plenty of events and facts. I have very much enjoyed the read and will try once more, to better understand some of the "Post - Fish-era" records.

Very good and interesting reading. Unfortunately somebody from packageing department just glued the envelope to book sleeve. Impossible to clean without destroying the book's cover.