Hi all,

The recording process is now in full swing and we are all really excited about what we are hearing so far. The Racket Club is alive with the sound of Harmoniums, Balalaikas, Dulcimers, Xylophones and even a Church Pipe Organ! We are all looking forward to the Autumn when we will have something really special for you all to enjoy. Video and sound sketches of the band working in the studio will soon be available to subscribers of this newsletter.

Here at Racket we're responding to your requests and suggestions for new lines of merchandise and we now have an exciting new collection in stock.

We have a brand new logo for the ever popular 'Signature' range which includes all of the bands signatures in one design. There is a Coffee Mug and the return of the Slazenger Track Tops which were a real success for the Marillion Weekend in 2007.

For the Less Is More Tour we have a Baseball Cap and a Canvas Wallet, both featuring the new L=M Motif. More merchandise for the tour will follow including a new range of T-Shirts later in the year.

We have replaced the Marillion Messenger bag with a 'Laptop' Messenger Bag. This is a really cool and durable bag in chocolate-brown and black featuring the new Marillion logo embroidered on the front. It includes a removable protective laptop pouch that will accommodate a wide range of laptops plus a wide range of interior pockets for all your bits and pieces.

You can find out more about this new range of merchandise by visiting:
http://www.marillion.com/shop/index.htm

We also wanted to take this opportunity to make you all aware of the many other ways of 'connecting' with the band online.
Check out Mark(@markke11y)'twittering' via our ilike pages, where you can also view music and video content and leave your own messages and connect with other members of the Marillion family. You can find out more by following the links, just below the navigation bar, on the home page of the website at:
http://www.marillion.com/home.htm

Finally, for those of you who enjoyed the excellent support act from the Marillion weekend in Montreal we are now selling Sundomingo's latest album 'The World's Alive' via Racket Records. Thoroughly recommended, it is available to buy at:
http://www.marillion.com/racket/albums/Sundomingo.htm
Please go to their MySpace page to check out the soundclips - we can't recommend them highly enough!

More news very soon, until then, au revoir!

The Racket office Team.

P.S. There are still a few of our special 'Somewhere Else' bundle packs
left. Find out more at http://www.marillion.com/shop/offers/StxBundle.htm