Editing Marillion (section)

====''Brave'', ''Afraid of Sunlight'' and split with EMI Records (1993–1995)====
''[[Brave (Marillion album)|Brave]]'' was released on 7 February 1994. A dark and richly complex [[concept album]] inspired by a true news story, it took the band 18 months to write and record and marked the start of their  longtime relationship with producer [[Dave Meegan]]. 

Some of the material had been aired at that sole 1993 show in Utrecht, and was also previewed at low-key gigs in the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany before Marillion kicked off the ''Brave'' world tour at Liverpool's [[Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool|Royal Court Theatre]] on 20 February 1994. The ''Brave'' tour was another lengthy one, and the band undertook the move to perform the whole of their new album in its entirety (as they had done with ''Misplaced Childhood'' just under a decade earlier). However, this meant the inevitable relegating of some Fish-era songs from the set. After a series of summer shows in Japan, the ''Brave'' tour wound its way down to Mexico in September. An independent [[Brave (1994 film)|film]] based on the album, which featured the band, was also released in February 1995. The film was directed by [[Richard Stanley (director)|Richard Stanley]].

The band's next album, ''[[Afraid of Sunlight]]'', was released June 1995.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ewing|first=Jerry|date=March 2010|title=Marillion History|url=|journal=Classic Rock Presents Prog}}</ref> It would be Marillion's last studio album with EMI Records. It received limited promotion, no mainstream radio airplay and the sales were disappointing for the band. Despite this, it was one of their most critically acclaimed albums and was included in ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'''s 50 Best Albums of 1995.<ref>''Q'', February 1996.</ref> A particularly notable track on the album is "Out of This World", a song about [[Donald Campbell]], who died in January 1967 whilst trying to set his eighth world water speed record on [[Coniston Water]], in the English [[Lake District]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sheppard |first1=Neil |title=Donald Campbell, Bluebird and the Final Record Attempt |date=2011 |publisher=The History Press Ltd |location=Stroud |isbn=978-0752459738 |pages=161–163}}</ref> The song inspired an initiative by Bill Smith,<ref>{{cite journal |title=In search of Bluebird K7: Donald Campbell's hydroplane |journal=Newcomen Society Links Magazine |date=February 2025 |issue=263 |pages=34-39 |url=https://www.newcomen.com/ |access-date=7 April 2025}}</ref> an underwater surveyor and amateur diver, to recover both Campbell's body and ''[[Bluebird K7]]'', the [[Hydroplane (boat)|hydroplane]] in which Campbell had crashed, from the lakebed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marillion.com/music/lyrics/aos.htm#ootw |title=Out of this World, Trivia |website=Marillion.com |access-date=19 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824163846/http://www.marillion.com/music/lyrics/aos.htm#ootw |archive-date=24 August 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The recovery was finally undertaken in 2001, with both Steve Hogarth and Steve Rothery invited.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marillion.com/news/2001/20010308.htm |title=Band Member Journal : A Day in the Lakes |website=Marillion.com |date=8 March 2001 |access-date=19 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914022052/http://www.marillion.com/news/2001/20010308.htm |archive-date=14 September 2011 }}</ref> Steve Rothery produced a photographic record of the event. In 1998, Steve Hogarth said he considered ''Afraid of Sunlight'' the best album he made with the band.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.marillion.com/music/albums/aos.htm | title= Afraid of Sunlight Sleeve Notes|website=Marillion.com}}</ref>

On 2 August 1995, Marillion began their ''Afraid of Sunlight'' tour in USA at the Bayou in Washington DC. They returned to the UK and Europe before ending the tour in Krakow, [[Poland]] on 21 November 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-08-01|title=setlist.fm|website=setlist.fm|url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/marillion/1995/stadion-korona-krakow-poland-23caac93.html}}</ref>