POP CAPSULES : MARILLION REGRESSES

If a band proudly performs early ‘70s-style progressive rock in 1987, does that make it’s music regressive rock? Ask Marillion, the English quintet which headlined the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday. The group aims for a certain (melo) --drama, with layered textures, shifting, highly cinematic passages and Very Meaningful Lyrics rendered in a whispery, plaintive deliv1702000928ly chucked his solo career and returned to the old Genesis.

Fish’s singing bears a remarkable resemblance to Gabriel’s, and the husky Scotsman is an expressive performer who frequently changed coats and outfits a la the early Genesis. Marillion did introduce one wrinkle to its meandering, snoozy recycling of prog-rock stylings. The group brought a leggy female vocalist on stage, perhaps to disprove the notion that you can’t dance to progressive rock. And she was pretty convincing--which is more than you could say for the band.