A-side Incommunicado Released 11 May 1987 Genre Rock | B-side Going Under Recorded 1987 | |
Format 7" single, 12" single, 12" picture disc, cassette single, CD single | ||
Incommunicado is a song by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was the lead single from their 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's "You're Gone". It became a minor hit on the Dutch Top 40 reaching number 31. The A-side is a fast, anthemic rock song with a repetitive chorus and a dominant keyboard sound, somewhat reminiscent of "Market Square Heroes". The extended version on the twelve inch and CD singles is slightly longer than the album version and features some additional sound effects. The b-side, the short, slow and introspective "Going Under", would also appear as a bonus track on the CD version of Clutching at Straws, in a slightly different version. Both tracks were written and arranged by Marillion and produced by Chris Kimsey.
Contents
The line "Currently residing in the where-are-they-now file" is a reference to a scene in the film This Is Spinal Tap.
A CD replica of the single was also part of a collectors box-set released in July 2000 which contained Marillion's first twelve singles and was re-issued as a 3-CD set in 2009 (see The Singles '82–'88).
Cover art
The cover was again designed by Mark Wilkinson; however, instead of the usual airbrush style, it was a collage based on a colourised photograph of fans waiting outside the Marquee Club, then still in Wardour Street (there are some posters advertising a Then Jerico gig on the door). Only the eccentrically dressed, pivotal "angel" character standing at the door apart from the crowd, was painted in Wilkinson's traditional style. The scene alludes to the song's main topic, success alienating artists from their fans and reality in general. On the back cover there is a quotation supposedly from Seneca the Younger's Moral Epistles ("This mime of mortal life, in which we are apportioned roles we misinterpret.")
Side A
- "Incommunicado" (single edit) – 4:00
Side B
- "Going Under" – 2:44
Side A
- "Incommunicado" (album version) – 5:17
Side B
- "Incommunicado" (alternative mix) – 5:57
- "Going Under" – 2:44
CD single
- "Incommunicado" (album version) – 5:17
- "Incommunicado" (alternative mix) – 5:57
- "Going Under" – 2:44