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Fish - Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors

Artist:	Fish
Title:	Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors
Label:	Dick Bros DDICK28CD
Length(s):	74 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1997
Month of review:	02/1998

Line up

Fish - vocals
Mark Brzezicki - drums
John Giblin - bass
Mickey Simmonds - keyboards
Frank Usher - guitars
Hal Lindes - guitars
Carol Kenyon, Tessa Niles - backing vocals
and some more people among which are Luis Jardim, Davy Spillane, Phil Cunningham, Gavin Wright, Aly Bain and Janick Gers

Tracks

1)	Vigil	8.46
2)	Big Wedge	5.25
3)	State Of Mind	4.45
4)	The Company	4.07
5)	A Gentleman's Excuse Me	4.20
6)	The Voyeur (I Like To Watch)	4.45
7)	Family Business	5.22
8)	View From A Hill	6.39
9)	Cliche'	7.06
10)	Jack And Jill	4.28
11)	Internal Exile	4.52
12)	The Company (demo)	4.29
13)	A Gentleman's Excuse Me (demo)	3.55
14)	Whiplash	4.21

Summary

A classic by now, this album has been digitally remastered abd rereleased with addition of five tracks that were available on the singles released on this album, and that are now made available through this release. A later version of Internal Exile was to find its way to the listener through the next album. The release coincides with the news that Fish has financial troubles because of the last tour.

The music

The rerelease features an account by Fish of the period leading up to and including the recording of Vigil including some nice details such as the fact that the lyrics of Family Business was meant for the song that later became Berlin on Seasons End, and the fact that State Of Mind was initiated by the hearing of Oliver North. After the long, dramatic and epic Vigil we come to the all-out-horn-song, Big Wedge. The lyrics and the cover of the single leave no secrets: this is a song containing quite a lot of criticism on the American way of life. The view is a little overdrawn but maybe this is necessary to get the right effect. State Of Mind is a quieter song, but not less critical. Lyrically Fish is pleading again, as in Vigil, asking for friendship, but seeing only conspiracies. The Company is a remarkable song, being both a drinking song, containing a folky jig and even a slight classical edge. Remarkable in such a short period and still sounding like a whole. The string arrangement on the romantic Gentleman's Excuse Me makes it into a flowing, melodic track on which the vocals of Fish stand up front. It is quite possible to like all previous tracks directly, but I think The Voyeur takes some getting used to. The song is up-tempo with plenty of variation, with slightly deranged (or is this the norm these days?) tv-mad protagonists being the subject and giving Fish room to spew his biting criticism. All on the form of a claustrophobic rock song. Family Business is about abuse and incest with an accent on the role of the neighbour, questioning his role, but more than this poses the question what the role should be. Where does interfering become meddling? The song is a desperate one with melodic guitarsolo's and lots of organ and on the whole one of the better songs on the album. View From The Hill was a song I liked quite a lot, but which was omitted from the tour. Still, since the Hill is an important motive on this album (see Family Business for instance and the complete artwork). The song is about people selling out. I remember my impression at the time was that the protagonist was a drug abuser, who was sold the View From The Hill. The best song on the album is the long love song Cliche'. Far better than Kayleigh this is a moving song with some fantastic spaceous, searing guitarwork and a great moving chorus (especially the additions on backing vocals accentuate it well). The bonus tracks are clearly of less quality than the tracks on the original Vigil. Jack And Jill is a nice track with references to the Hill. The contrast between the soft verses and the bombastic chorus is striking with a typical fast synth solo in the middle. Internal Exile was recorded for the Vigil album but dubbed unsuited. With an album as Vigil, being rather moody lyrically and also not very danceable musically, it would have been an ugly ducking. The music on this song can be easily compared to a band such as Tempest. The demo version of The Company reveals quite a few distinctions. The sound isn't as good of course, but also the version of the album is more energetic. This track by the way can be found on the Company single, which was only available in Germany (shops in Holland also had them), but this album does not contain the other tracks on this CD single: the live versions of Family Business and Punch And Judy. A Gentleman's Excuse Me is played without strings with piano and acoustic guitar. The song is more intimate in this way and imo a good alternative for the album version. Whiplash is a rather strange track and well suited as a B-side. The song is based on a ride Fish and with some Fred guy who seems to drive rather dangerously. The song is actually a blues.

Conclusion

Listening to this album seems a meeting with an old friend and it will not surprise you when I say this is an album for everyone (some exceptions are possible), but if you are into any kind of melodic music, this should be a worthwhile addition to your collection. The bonus tracks are nice for completists, but they are not absolutely necessary Fish tracks. Maybe some more albums of Fish will be rereleased and I think many would like a song like Black Canal and Carnival Man to be added to a CD album if that may be possible. Fortunately some attention has been paid to this rerelease making it a nice package with some interesting info added.