its a great song but the intro bugs me too...
it just slams on outta nowhere and seems like a little too much gain was used during the mixing or something...still one of my faves from S/T though

In regards to the sound of the intro, aside from prouction/mixing, i think the choice of pick-up on one of the guitars is probably the issue here. It sounds to me like the second of the five selector switches nearest the treble on a Fender type guitar. I'm really not keen on the sound of that selector switch...it's hard to describe, but it makes the tone really choppy - you can hear the hitting of the strings a lot more. Some people might think it adds to a raw sound...i don't. Mike uses this tone a lot for some parts of Yellow Ledbetter live, which makes me think that he is responsible. He's too good of a guitarist to not be aware of it though - he's conciously choosing that pick-up, i guess it's just a difference in taste.

I've always wondered how great the song would have sounded starting with either:
a) Just the drums with all the guitars coming in after 8 beats and on the word 'marker'...i.e. *drums for 2 bars*, into Eddie singing 'there is a...' and then the guitars/bass all coming in on the word 'marker' on the 1st beat of bar 3.
b) Same as above but with the drums coming in on the same beat as the guitars on the word 'marker'....this would need a count in live: 1..2..3.."there (4)is a..(1 - whole band kicks in) marker"..2..etc...

I'm sure i over complicated that explanation. and i'm more sure that the band probably had it just right with how they ended up doing it, ha =o)

This track is great. One of their best with all 5 guys on top form especially Matt. I must see this live one day.

There's the chance that they may have mic'd his electric to get that string noise. It's a weird technique but I've used it beforeto get a real percussive element to the guitar line/part.

The intro seems to be clipping near digital distortion. and my only real problem with the guitar sound is that there's a frequency where it takes the edge off Eddie, where his vocals could be a touch sharper and cut through more. It's the frequency around 1K-2K. The guitars on this record really cut.

severly overlooked by the band. this is a great, great song

Yup! Was really hoping to see it. Alas... The only Avocado song I regularly put on. Love it.

Probably my favorite song on S/T.

Behind "Parachutes," mine too.

5 or 6 for me, but still a good one. I think maybe this and comeback are the two songs on S/T I wish were really recorded in a different session.


I think the chorus of Marker was probably the thing I was most drawn to in my first few spins of S/T

I feel about this chorus the way others seem to feel about Evacuation. It's not that it's bad, it's just running into a brick wall after the momentum that gets built over the course of the verses.

1. Parachutes
2. Marker
3. Army Reserve
... the rest.

Right there with ya. The chorus kills the song for me.

But the chorus is uplifting/anthemic/soaring!

It's awful.

It doesn't even "soar". It's just dull and flat, especially in comparison to how exciting the verses are.

i like the churchy U2 kinda sound to it. Muddled a bit in production.

There is a bit of a disconnect between how smooth the chorus is and how bumpy the verses are. The bridge seems out of place a bit too, almost like Marker is three different songs spliced together.

i always thought the "soaring" part was the end of the song. "smooth" is a good word for the chorus, when in comparison the verses are jagged. i love the bridge.

the ending felt like uplifting musically yeah, but they didnt went anywhere with it live...its asking them to jam and insted the live versions of the songs were really dull.
A missed oportunity for me.

Pretty much.

agreed

yeah, those guys are idiots