''The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra)'' is a double live album by the British

neo-progressive rock Neo-progressive rock (also known as neo-prog) is a genre, subgenre of progressive rock which developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band, Marillion, achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the genre ...

band

Marillion Marillion are a British rock music, rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becomin ...

. It was named after the introductory piece of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

the band used before coming on stage during the ''

Clutching at Straws ''Clutching at Straws'' is the fourth studio album by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released on June 22, 1987. It was the last album with lead singer Fish, who left the band in 1988, and is a concept album. Although ''Clutch ...

'' tour 1987–1988, the overture to

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

's opera ''

La gazza ladra ''La gazza ladra'' (, ''The Thieving Magpie'') is a ''melodramma'' or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini based on ''La pie voleuse'' by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigni ...

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

Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

's departure from the band (and before

Steve Hogarth Steve Hogarth (born Ronald Stephen Hoggarth, 14 May 1956 in Kendal, Westmorland) also known as "h", is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Since 1989 he has been the lead singer of the British rock band Marillion, for which ...

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

Misplaced Childhood ''Misplaced Childhood'' is the third studio album by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in 1985. It is a concept album loosely based on the childhood of Marillion's lead singer, Fish (singer), Fish, who was inspired by a ...

'' (1985). The CD and cassette version includes the full album, as well as the track "

Freaks Freak has several meanings: a person who is physically deformed or suffers from an extraordinary disease and condition, a genetic mutation in a plant or animal, etc. Freak, freaks or The Freak may also refer to: Fictional characters * Freak (Ima ...

" – originally the b-side to "

Lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

", it was used as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

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 (born 3 October 1952) is an English illustrator. He is best known for the detailed surrealistic cover art he created for a number of British bands. Wilkinson's breakthrough came through his association with the neo-progressive r ...

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

photorealistic Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...

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'' is the debut studio album by British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 1983 by EMI Records. The album reached number seven and spent 31 weeks in the UK Albums Chart ...

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

gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...

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 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 refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed version (along with ''

Recital of the Script ''Recital of the Script'' is a live album by Marillion, recorded at a concert at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, Hammersmith Odeon (as it was called then), London on 18 April 1983. The recording was made on the final date of the tour promoting their ...

'' and ''

Live From Loreley ''Live from Loreley'' is a live album by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, recorded at a concert at the Freilichtbühne Loreley (Open-Air Stage) Loreley, St. Goarshausen, Germany on 18 July 1987. The recording, made during the ...

'').

Track listing

Double LP version

Side 1

#"Intro: La Gazza Ladra" – 2:45 #"Slàinte Mhath" – 4:49 from ''

'' (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987 #"

He Knows You Know "He Knows You Know" is a song by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was their 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 ...

" – 5:12 from ''

'' (1983), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", 6 March 1984 #"Chelsea Monday" – 8:00 from ''Script for a Jester's Tear'' (1983), recorded live at Leicester "De Montfort Hall", 5 March 1984

Side 2 (''Misplaced Childhood'' Part 1)

#"Pseudo Silk Kimono" – 2:19 #"

Kayleigh "Kayleigh" is a song by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was released as the first single from the concept album '' Misplaced Childhood''. It was the band's most successful single in the UK, where it peaked at number-two an ...

" – 3:52 #"

" – 2:27 #"Bitter Suite" – 7:38 #"Heart of Lothian" – 5:12 All 5 tracks recorded live at London "Hammersmith Odeon", 9/10 January 1986

Side 3

#"Jigsaw" – 6:24 from ''

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their style-tr ...

'' (1984), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", 6 March 1984 #"Punch & Judy" – 3:23 from ''Fugazi'' (1984), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", 6 March 1984 #"Sugar Mice" – 6:03 from ''Clutching at Straws'' (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987 #"Fugazi" – 8:39 from ''Fugazi'' (1984), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", 6 March 1984

Side 4

#"Script for a Jester's Tear" – 8:45 from ''Script for a Jester's Tear'' (1983), recorded live at Sheffield "City Hall", 6 March 1984 #"

Incommunicado Incommunicado, from the Spanish incomunicado, means "cut off from contact", "impossible to reach". It may also refer to: *''Incommunicado'', an album by Alex Smoke * "Incommunicado" (song), a 1987 single by Marillion * Solitary confinement, one o ...

" – 5:23 from ''Clutching at Straws'' (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987 #"White Russian" – 6:14 from ''Clutching at Straws'' (1987), recorded live at Edinburgh "The Playhouse", December 17/18/19th 1987

Double CD version

CD 1

#"Intro: La Gazza Ladra" – 2:45 #"Slàinte Mhath" – 4:49 #"He Knows You Know" – 5:12 #"Chelsea Monday" – 8:00 #"Freaks" – 4:06 * recorded live at Mannheim, Germany "Maimarktgelände", 21 June 1986 #"Jigsaw" – 6:24 #"Punch & Judy" – 3:23 #"Sugar Mice" – 6:03 #"Fugazi" – 8:39 #"Script for a Jester's Tear" – 8:45 #"Incommunicado" – 5:23 #"White Russian" – 6:14 * CD only

CD 2 (Complete performance of ''Misplaced Childhood'')

#"Pseudo Silk Kimono" – 2:19 #"Kayleigh" – 3:52 #"Lavender" – 2:27 #"Bitter Suite" – 7:38 #"Heart of Lothian" – 5:12 #"Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)" – 2:16 #"Lords of the Backstage" – 6:07 (the track is not divided properly here, and continues into the first three parts of Blind Curve) #"Blind Curve" – 5:34 (this track is parts four and five of Blind Curve) #"Childhoods End?" – 2:48 #"White Feather" – 4:22 All 10 tracks recorded live at London "Hammersmith Odeon", 9/10 January 1986

Cover art

Release history

Track listing

Double LP version

Side 1

Side 2 (''Misplaced Childhood'' Part 1)

Side 3

Side 4

Double CD version

CD 1

CD 2 (Complete performance of ''Misplaced Childhood'')

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References