Marillion – Seasons End / Fish – Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors
“Everybody lives and loves and laughs and cries and eats and sleeps and grows and dies” – Marillion
“Everything I say is wrapped up in an old Cliché” – Fish
In late 1988 Marillion were faced with a scenario that only Genesis fans could have predicted. Following the departure of Fish and with a lot of material already well under development for their follow up album, they needed to find a replacement. Unlike Genesis, however, the band would not find the solution behind a drum kit. I do recall ther being a rumour at the time that Ian Mosely would be replacing Fish on vocals but I’m sure it was just people making shit up. I have a sneaking suspicion that Mosely doesn’t have a singer’s voice and he would never have the time to navigate that role between smokes even if he did. Many people auditioned for the open position including Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Nad Sylvan. I’m just kidding I have no idea who auditioned but they definitely wanted someone who was different from Fish, yet with whom they had a good chemistry. Late in their search they came across a tape which was submitted by the guy who posed for the Sugar Mice cover art. Well not exactly but he sure looked similar to me. Steve Hogarth, who would become known to fans simply as “h”, had been in several not so commercially successful bands. First was The Europeans who had released three albums between 1981 and 1985 before disbanding and whom which Steve had played keyboards and was co-lead vocalist. After their breakup Steve and guitarist Colin Woore also from The Europeans, formed the band How We Live who released one album called Dry Land in 1987. The band failed to get any traction and disbanded in 1988. One day Hogarth was out drinking with his buddy Daryl Way from the band Curved Air, who mentioned that Marillion were looking for a lead singer and urged him to send them a tape. Daryl knew drummer Ian Mosely as they had played together in the band Daryl Way’s Wolf. Despite Hogarth not being immediately interested, the tape which contained a few Europeans tracks, an early version of Easter and Dry Land from How We Live, found its way to the band. Hogarth got a call to audition for the singer spot and per lore, showed up at bassist Peter Trawavas’s house with a red fire bucket full of tapes. During the audition they handed him a piece of paper and had him ad lib to some music they were working on, and by the end of the audition the song The King Of Sunset Town came together. Where you might ask, did these lyrics come from? Fish was their lyricist and with him went the lyrics. As it turned out, worried that the replacement singer might not be as adept at writing music or words, EMI put them in touch with a guy named John Helmer who had been in the band The Piranhas around 79-81, to help come up with ideas for the songs they were working on. One of those songs was The King Of Sunset Town. The band were impressed by his vocals, and possibly by the bucket of tapes as well, and ended up offering him the spot as the new lead singer for Marillion. Steve was faced with a choice because at the same time he was asked to join the band, he also had an offer from the band The The to join them as keyboardist on their upcoming US tour in support of their forthcoming Mind Bomb album. Steve has admitted he wasn’t really a Marillion fan at the time but he got along well with the four other members and was forced to make a choice, as he has stated “between the most hip band in the word, or the least”. Feeling the Marillion gig would allow him the ability to be a contributing member of a successful, creative band…he chose the least.
So off the new lineup went to Brighton to rehearse and generally see how they all got along and if it seemed like a good match, which it did. They returned to Hook End Studios to work on the material that would end up becoming Seasons End, their first without Fish. I believe the same apostrophe missing from REM’s Lifes Rich Pageant album was also missing from this album title as well. During this time there was a lot of well documented legal issues the band were dealing with in their divorce settlement proceedings with Fish. After being served with a writ to cease recording, Hogarth, who was not a part of the proceedings worked on vocals while the legal wranglings were being sorted out. Near the studio was a tiny pub called The Crooked Billet and one afternoon after a few pints Mark Kelly returned to the studio and let the rest of the band know that they would be playing a gig there. On June 8 1989 in a poorly kept secret, the band, led by Hogarth and billed as The Low-Fat Yoghurts made their live debut. This whole time period including bits from the gig are fabulously chronicled in the documentary From Stoke Row To Ipanema. Well worth checking out. The pub was a tiny place and word had got out that it was in fact Marillion that would be playing, so it turned into a bit of a mob scene, requiring the band to actually leave the venue via an open window at the completion of their set due to the fact that they couldn’t get to the door, it was so packed. The setlist performed was Slainte Mhath, The King Of Sunset Town, Warm Wet Circles, That Time Of The Night, The Uninvited Guest, Easter, Kayleigh, Lavender, Hooks In You and After Me as the encore. Ultimately the band ended up finishing writing the album and brought in Nick Davis to produce the album which would be released on September 25 1989.
Meanwhile in another part of town Fish was working on material for his debut solo album with new songwriting partner Mickey Simmons who had played with Mike Oldfield. They gathered together Mark Brzezicki drummer from Big Country, John Giblin on bass who had played with Kate Bush and Simple Minds, guitarist Hal Lindes from Dire Straits and Frank Usher, a guitar player friend who he had played with for a short while in the band Blewitt in 1980, before leaving to join Marillion. That’s a seriously bad ass group of musicians by anyone’s standards. They all moved up to Scotland to work on writing. Several months prior to Marillion’s first pub gig, Fish and company did their own first gig at the Rex Cinema in Lockerbie on March 21st 1989. The setlist was State Of Mind, Big Wedge, Family Business, Kayleigh, Lavender, Heart Of Lothian, The Company and Internal Exile. He brought in John Kelly to produce the album which was finished in mid-1989. EMI who still held both Fish and Marillion under contract decided they wanted Marillion’s album to be released first so Fish’s album was held for release until January 1990. In the meantime Fish et. al. embarked on the “State Of Mind” tour around the UK before heading out on the road once Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors was released.
With baited breath fans awaited the new albums. Would it be a double dose of disappointment or a double shot of awesome? That, my friends, is a matter of opinion that varies greatly among fans. Some stepped off the Marillion bandwagon at this point. Some suck with Fish. Some embraced both. Some just stopped listening altogether. That’s what they call a dealer’s choice in cards. No one is right and no one is wrong. Everyone has their own take and story on this specific point in the history of the band. Me personally, like many others waited in nervous anticipation….of another day…or of new material.
Let’s start with Marillion seeing as their album was released first. Prior to the album’s release the band issued the lead single Hooks In You on August 24th 1989, a month prior to the album’s release date. Would it be Entangled or would it be Invisible Touch? Nope it was neither. It was a high energy rock and roll single clocking in at less than three minutes. Who was this band? It didn’t immediately sound like the Marillion I knew. The lyrics were pretty basic and was a fairly simple take on a woe is me relationship gone bad kind of song. Also this new singer dude did NOT sound anything like Fish. This does not bode well I thought. Maybe the affair was over. I have a hunch that the single might have been solely responsible for many fans deciding before they had even heard the album, that they were out. Luckily I thought I’d give it a shot and bought the album on the day it was released, hoping that the glimpse into the new band would not be reflective of who they now were. Boy am I glad I made that decision.
The album starts with a slow fade in of swirly keyboards and bass that set a calm tension for the opening track The King Of Sunset Town which positively explodes with excitement 2 minutes into the 8 minute track. As Rothery’s guitar wails over the intro and Hogarth starts singing about something that clearly had something to with something probably important. I started to feel better. The song as it turns out was related to the Tiananmen Square standoff. Over the course of this one song I can recall actually feeling all of my hesitations and worries melt away. I felt a surge of electricity and excitement from the music and I knew everything was going to be all right. I kid you not, by the end of the first song on the new record with the new singer dude, I could tell this was still Marillion. They sounded different with a new singer and the lyrics seemed much more direct, but it was something I could sink my teeth into and which sounded interesting and fresh. That’s all I needed. It was like they had taken the energy of Hooks In You and elaborated on it, drew it out, and added meat to the flesh. The songs are like opposite twins and in some ways reflect the breadth of what the entire album is like stylistically.
Easter is the next up. OOH Acoustic guitar..NICE. It begins gently adding piano and cymbals. Then a gorgeous chorus and another lovely verse. I wasn’t sure what it was about at the time but clearly it was something related to England and Ireland. Later I would discover it was about the problems in Northern Ireland at the time. I also looked up what this Easter thing was, being the good Atheist that I am. Then a short transition section and suddenly we are in the middle of one of the single most incredible guitar solos I’ve ever heard in my life…by any band. I can’t understate the power of this two minute stretch of guitar notes. It is breathtaking in style, restraint and it absolutely oozes with emotion. It is without a doubt one of Steve Rothery’s greatest guitar solos, if not his greatest. It was also the part that was cut from the single when it was released as the third and final one to support the album, which is unforgivable. The song then moves to an almost scatting vocal over an infectious groove and keyboard motif. The song just soars to another level as the backing vocals sing “Forgive forget sing never again”. It is an amazing song which is probably the single most requested of the h years by fans at live shows. It is the one from this era that if the band ever says what do you want to hear…other than some dick yelling Grendel, it is Easter that will be requested. No matter how many times I’ve heard this song live, even if I’m not excited at the prospect of hearing it…the guitar solo alone is always one of the highlights of the show. I’m in awe of it every time I hear it. I’m hook line and sinker sold at this point.
WAAAAAAAIT a minute, what is this we have next? The Uninvited Guest is the third song and the second single from the album. It’s OK. I mean it isn’t my least favourite song on the album but it is my second least favourite song on the album. It is a less frantic sounding song than Hooks In You, and it seems to have a stalkerish kind of lyric, and refers to Banquo which you know, Shakespeare…always a sure fire win on the music charts. The song is actually about the evil that lurks within everyone set to a fairly standard and relatively uninteresting song. It lasts just under four minutes and it isn’t offensive – I just don’t find much about it better than benign. The good news is this. Of the two songs I find least interesting on the album, they only make up just under 7 minutes of the 50 minutes of music. I’ll just leave it at that. Live it can be a fun song, but one that I can’t help but think it is taking way from something else I’d rather hear. But that’s the nature of live music. Something I’ve learned is just take what you are offered. A band doesn’t owe anyone anything and has the right to play whatever they want, and I now live by that idea when I see a live show. I may want to hear lots of stuff that isn’t played and I’ll likely hear things I’d rather not but it is their band, and it is their show. I now go to concerts with an open mind and just take what they are wanting to play, and enjoy it. Even if it is Hooks In You or The Uninvited Guest. That being said I might go for a pee at that point.
The last song on what was originally side 1 of the vinyl release of the album is the title track Seasons End…still without an apostrophe. It is the longest song on the album and is stunning. An 8 minute long lament about the declining state of the natural environment combining memories of things done in childhood with the prospect of having to explain to future generations what exactly we did to fuck up our planet. It calmly seethes between a warning and sad resignation. It is not a hope for the future song, as it doesn’t really offer a solution. Steve Rothery shreds all over this tune, which is made up of two distinct parts, as it shifts to a slow moody ending that builds gently before reprising the lyrics “We’ll tell our children’s children why we grew so tall and reached so high. We’ll never miss it till its gone. So say goodbye to Seasons End”. Beautiful song. I love Pete’s mid-range bass line through this end section. He is such an under appreciated bassist in the world of best bassist best of lists.
The first song on Side 2 aka song 5, is Holloway Girl which is a relatively short but intense song that deals with the idea of incarceration as the only means of dealing with people who break the law. It is a song about mental health and the inappropriate use of prisons when perhaps what is needed is some focused help and attention to root problems, thirty plus years before it became a major social issue. I have a friend who is one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met named Chris Brown. He used to be in the Toronto funk/soul collective called The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. They were and are to this day my favourite bar band I’ve ever seen and I saw them upwards of 100 times between 1989 and 1996. Anyway one of the things Chris does is to go into prisons and record original songs performed by people who are incarcerated as a means of finding a sense of self and expression through music. He has released three albums of music from these sessions. I should get him to play them this song. “One day, freedom will unlock your door. So hold on, believe on. Be who you were before. In deepest darkness, the faintest light looks bright. So hold on, hold on. It’s gonna be all right”. It is a little bit on the outside looking in with sympathy but the sentiment is in the right place. Despite being a bit straightforward in construction it is actually a very genuinely heartfelt song which is much better than it has a right to be. Some people dislike it. I’m a big fan. Plus it has a brief yet great guitar solo and the song builds to a powerful ending. More badass bass on this one as well.
Berlin is up next and is an eerie, quiet, moody song with plucking guitars and bell synths and a low sax for the first 2 minutes, until the song opens up with a sax solo and gorgeous musicality underlying some wonderful vocals and lyrics which were initially written by Helmer. It is a song about the city of Berlin and the division and oppression prior to the Wall coming down. It taps into similar territory as David Bowie’s Heroes but without the love story, and much more anger. The second half of this song is astoundingly great as it builds and builds over the course of 4 minutes from an army like drumroll to an absolutely raging intense filled manifesto for freedom but buried in the reality of the horrors of oppression. The lyrics are amazing and the delivery is for me the high point of the album. The last part of the song reminds me very much of how songs like Forgotten Sons and Incubus and Fugazi built, and to me it is musically the most obvious and direct link to any Fish era material. The lyrics in the context of the title are now dated but the message is universal and I really wish they would play this song more often. It is probably my favourite song on this album.
OK remember all the way back to two posts ago when I talked about bonus tracks being added on to albums to try to entice buyers into moving to the CD format? I mean that’s what they were without a doubt as far as I’m concerned. Lots of albums from this era had bonus tracks only found in the CD format. Sometimes they were tacked onto the end of an album and others they were sandwiched in where they seemed to fit. After Me is another of those songs and again one that depending on the format you first heard the album on, would become a natural part of the flow of the album or a screeching anomaly that is hard to overcome. I’ve had this experience when I bought the reissue of Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut album of which I am a huge fan. My entire life I’ve known the album to go from One Of The Few into the whoosh intro of The Hero’s Return. The only problem with the album is that the reissue sticks the song When The Tigers Broke Free in between these tracks which wasn’t on the original album. It was a song that was in the move The Wall but not on the actual album. Now every time I hear this album on vinyl I’m sidelined by a song that for me shouldn’t be there. Like if you bought a new version of Quadrophenia and right in the middle of it there is suddenly a song from the Tommy movie. It can be distressing for the listener. Luckily for me I was fully into CDs at this point so I’m cool with the placement and addition of After Me which follows Berlin. It is just a part of the album to me. It is an acoustic guitar based song that starts gently and again morphs into a rager in only 3 minutes. The lyrics seem to imply an unplanned kid, a relationship gone bad and maybe someone trying to provide an escape. It is also possible that it is about a dog. All I know for sure is that this was one of the h era songs I sang with my band Tempus Fugit at Brutopia as part of our MarillioFugit set prior to the 2011 Montreal Marillion Weekend and it is a glorious yet extremely difficult song to sing. I’ve seen Steve sing this a few times and I can tell it is a struggle even for him. Probably due to the range of high notes in the song’s second half. So for me After Me, which is the Going Under of Seasons End, is the winner as far as bonus tracks on CDs are concerned.
Second last song on the album is the aforementioned bang your heads and shake your fists single, Hooks In You. At this point in the album it is a quick upbeat tune that almost doesn’t have enough time to overstay its welcome before it ends abruptly in and explosive reverb filled drum beat out of which emerges the stunning album closer The Space…I don’t know for sure the origin of this song but the fact that it is credited to members of The Europeans as well as Marillion leads me to assume it was something Hogarth brought to the party. None of the songs mentioned on the lost Tic-Tac-Toe album I mentioned in the previous post seem to be similar so I’m guessing my assumption is correct. I know I’ve mentioned far too often that a song is stunning or gorgeous or amazing or sublime or intense. I will continue to moving forward as well. In this case all of those words apply. The Space is a tour de force of a song – intense, explosive, melodic, hypnotic and both written and executed with perfection. It brings together every great element of the album and body slams it all into one final statement of purpose. I know I mentioned that Berlin is my favourite song on the album. I should probably restate that. Berlin is my favourite song on the album that reminds me of Fish era Marillion. The Space is actually my favourite song on the album for many reasons, one of which is that I actually think it is the best song on the album. The other is that I think in hindsight it is the most clearly reflective of the direction the band would eventually find with this new iteration. Epic, moody, intense, desperate, hopeful, yearning, honest and relatable. Everything I love about what Marillion became after Fish left the band can be wrapped up in this one song which boldly pointed toward the future, not the past.
There were two b-sides that were also released from this album which I referred to in the previous post and which are both fan favourites. The Bell In The Sea was the flipside of The Uninvited Guest single and had its origin in the Fishmash song Shadows On The Barley from the unreleased and Darrin Cappe titled Tic-Tac-Toe album. The other song is The Release which was the flipside of the Easter single. This is the one that had its genesis in the song Tic-Tac-Toe from the aborted follow up to Clutching At Straws. As I stated prior I think both of these songs are better in their revised form than their progenitor state. Both are excellent songs that are still pulled out at the odd live show to rousing results. Fans love hearing them as they are rarely played gems from this new beginnings era for the band. Both songs could have easily been added to the album proper and it would be better for it. I’d even go so far as to say if you replaced The Uninvited Guest and Hooks In You with these two songs you’d have an album that would be hard to criticize convincingly.
So that’s my take on Seasons End, Marillion’s first album without Fish and first of many with Steve Hogarth. It is a bold confident first new step towards a different musical path that would see them develop in ways no one could have predicted. It isn’t perfect but it is pretty close in my books. The other half of this story has to do with Fish’s first post Marillion offering Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors. I live in Toronto, Ontario which is in Canada which is part of North America. Marillion didn’t get a lot of radio airplay outside of Kayleigh and Incommunicado, so chances were that Fish solo wouldn’t be shattering the airwaves….aaaaannnnddd… it didn’t. For me in my little Canadian town of Toronto I didn’t really know what the deal was until suddenly in January of 1990 there it was on the shelves of my favourite music stores….well maybe one shelf…and maybe only one or two copies….BUT IT WAS THERE. I always find myself looking under the letter M in every music store I ever enter just to see if they have anything by Marillion, which is why I probably found this album….being filed under M for Fish.
Alright let’s dig into Vigil and answer the question how did this album fare? First up is the almost nine minute long title track…retitled just Vigil. “Listen to me just hear me out. If I could have your attention” Fish asks in a quiet sad way before embracing a progression of gradually more intense emotions. It is an INTENSE song which begs for your attention. It shifts through several distinct movements as it builds to a wailing banshee of a song that feels almost like an exorcism via a plea for help. There is a great deal which can be read into this song but suffice it to say it is about what you think it is about. It also sounds resoundingly Scottish with the addition of a bagpipe solo half way through. It is much better than you might think. It is fantastic actually. I mean it is Scottish so by its very nature it can’t be crap. Vigil is a sublime song, executed and recorded masterfully. As good a song as one could hope to kick off the album, one could not have wished for.
Second song is the romping horn driven barn stomper Big Wedge. It is all bravado fully of catchy melodies, great music and a lyric that I believe is a scathing attack on both his former manager, his record company, corporate greed and the “Me” generation. It is a super duper fun song all rock’n progg’n soul with an acid tongue delivery. Great backing vocals by Tessa Niles and Carol Kenyon who would contribute to several other tracks on the record. The non-album track Jack and Jill was released as the b-side to the single version of this song. It is a solid tune worth checking out by fans, but I think it was probably right to keep as a b-side.
John Giblin’s burbling bass announces the next song and first single from the album, State Of Mind. This is a scathing anti-Thatcher political song but wrapped up in a blanket of Sugar Mice like fur. It has Celtic tendencies and is an incredibly restrained and understated song, but immensely powerful despite the restraint. The song is bettered by not delving into intense territory, as the lyrics serve notice enough. Gorgeous song in every way.
The Company follows State Of Mind which feels a bit like a pissed off Robin Hood talking about how all his mates were a bunch of dicks. It sounds harsh and that’s exactly what it is. It comes off a bit like a semi symphonic Renaissance musical letter to his buddies telling them to go fuck themselves. To me it comes off a bit too literal and a bit too overtly pissed off. Like airing your dirty laundry in public. It isn’t subtle enough to go unnoticed as anything other than bravado filled hate mail and it feels dated and unnecessary. My least favourite track on the record but one that Fish would eventually use to name his record company/business.
Next comes something that I still to this day am amazed actually exists. The song is A Gentlemen’s Excuse Me and it is the most delicate, pretty, gentle song I believe I have ever heard Fish sing. I don’t know why but the song reminds me of the beauty evoked by the E.E. Cummings line “nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands”. It is so movingly beautiful I barely have words to describe it but I do know that it is one of my all-time favourite songs by any musician. It is painfully sad and moving, being just vocals, piano and strings, and I can be reduced to tears every single time I listen to it. Please listen to it. The song was the third single released from the album, following Big Wedge and State Of Mind. Here is a link https://youtu.be/3BL1EgIJ_Lo. The b-side of this single was a song called Whiplash which is a stylized jazz bar sounding song. It adds to the range of styles Fish was working with for his first solo outing. It is by far the most un-fish-like song from the sessions but is by no means bad, just different. It almost reminds me of something Joe Jackson would have done in the early 80’s combined with sound effects from The Friends Of Mr. Cairo by Jon and Vangelis.
A sharp left finds us in totally different territory that is almost like progressive funk. Lyrically the song taps similar territory to the song Incubus from Fugazi but wrapped up in a much less creepy musical veneer. It is also a scathing observation of the feed me culture of the time, and in some ways predated the entire age of media control, everyday apathy, cynicism and the big brotherness of our current world. It is an interesting song and succeeds more than it doesn’t, though it is probably my second least favourite song on the record after The Company. By no means do I dislike it, however. Same goes with The Company. I give top marks to Fish for stretching out stylistically on this album. I hate to draw comparisons but in many ways Vigil is to Peter Gabriel’s first album as Seasons End is to A Trick Of The Tail. Both singers really tried to cast a much broader net than they had in their respective bands on their first stab at freedom to experiment. By contrast both bands tended to stay the course of gradual progression with their new singers. Again probably due to the nature of what each took with them and what each lost.
Third last cut is another incredible song that tackles the taboo subject of domestic abuse. Family Business is possibly the most prescient song ever written on the topic. It is absolutely brilliant lyrically and the music underscores the intensity of the topic superbly. For the second time I’m posting the lyrics to a Fish song cause I think they are a work of art. The tension and restrained intensity of this song is hypnotic and incredibly moving.
I heard a battle raging, On the other side of the wall
I buried my head in a pillow and tried to ignore it all
Every night when I hear you I dream of breakin’ down your door
An avengin’ knight in shinin’ armor to rescue you from it all
From this family business
Family business
How long does it stay
Family business
Oh, it’s nobody’s business
This family business
But tell me how long it should stay Family business
When I see you in the supermarket, Sunglasses in the shade
Avertin’ your eyes from those starin’ questions, How were those bruises made
The children clutch tight to your legs, They’ve got so much they want to say
But daddy’s sittin’ home drunk again, So they bite their lips and pray
‘Cause daddy don’t like people pryin’, Pokin’ in his family affairs
And if anyone ask from the social well, You fell down the stairs
It’s family business
Keep it in the family business
Can you tell me how long it remains
Family business
Oh, it’s nobody’s business
This family business
Can you tell me how long it should stay
Family business
She’s waitin’ at the bus stop, At the bottom of the hill
She knows she’ll never catch it, She knows she never will
The kids are all she lives for, She’s got nothin’ left to lose
Nowhere to escape to, But she knows she’s got to move
‘Cause when daddy tucks the kids in, It’s takin’ longer every night
And the heaven that she’s waitin’ for, Through the hell it lasts all night
It’s family business
Keep it in the family business
Can you tell me how long it remains
Family business
Oh, it’s nobody’s business
Oh, this family business
Can you tell me how long it should stay
Family business
So I become an accessory, And I don’t have an alibi
To the victim on my doorstep, The only way I can justify
It’s family business
Family business
How long do we keep it
Family business
A View From The Hill follows Family Business and it immediately feels much lighter. Crisp and clear production and lovely guitar work, with an infectious melody and amazing bass tones. The song quickly kicks it up a notch in places but overall it is a wonderful balance of tension and build/release. Lyrically it is more along the lines of the song The Company but it is a WAY more subtle and realized lyric. It might be scathing and slicing and dicing everyone who he felt wronged him, but it is a an absolutely glorious song musically and the lyrics are excellent, so in the end the song succeeds in hitting a height that I feel The Company failed to reach for similar yet opposite reasons. It is blissfully cinematic and epic in scope and is near the top of the list of my favourite songs on an album that is immensely difficult to pick a favourite.
Finally we come to the end of this extremely long musical journey with the last song on Fish’s Vigil album, Cliché. Again it is a beautifully delicate song with an earnestly sincere lyric that is both a love song to fans, relationships and at the same time is, like The Space…,, a manifesto for change moving forward. The entire album is almost like a shedding of one’s skin and the proclamation for a new way of functioning. Like musical rehabilitation. Cliché is a long song at just over 7 minutes, with wonderful backing vocals and solos. It is restrained but at the same time bordering on a bit overblown. The only point of contention I’ve held onto about the music on this record over the years is the ending of this song. The song builds up to the line “I Love You” at which point everything stops. Then the song kind of jumps the shark for the remaining 2 and a half minutes. Despite it being a completely musically satisfying ending, full of earnest emotion and wonderful musicianship, for me it actually diminishes the song as a whole. I have a similar issue with the song Sky Above The Rain from Marillion’s Sounds That Can’t Be Made album. My personal feeling is that the song and the album would have ended better had the last line simply been “I Love You” without the bombast of the outro. It is a minor point but one that I can’t help but think about every time I listen to the song.
So that’s my take on Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors. For me it is an astoundingly accomplished work of art, both musically and lyrically. I writhes with emotion and it seethes with anger but not the same kind found on the early Marillion material. It is a more mature, experienced form so the overall effect is much more tempered. I absolutely love this record. Is it better than Seasons End? That’s a question I can’t actually answer. They are very different albums in many ways and yet very similar in some as well. Both have a couple songs that I feel aren’t at the level of the rest of the material, but the rest of the material is almost impossible to differentiate which song is better than the next. Both are extremely successful in my eyes and each album served as both a nod to the past as well as an arrow to the future.
A word on the artwork for these albums. In some ways they are actually reflective of the fact that one is more forward looking and the other more bitterly backward looking, at least lyrically. Seasons End was the first Marillion studio album to not feature artwork by Mark Wilkinson though it did retain the band’s logo. The artwork centers around the four elements and with imagery drawn from the Fish era but all in settings of putting things to rest. The lizard from Script For A Jester’s Tear burning in a fire, a feather from Misplaced Childhood floating lonely in a desert, the jester’s hat from Clutching At Straws just at the edge of falling out of frame, and a sinking painting of the clown from the Fugazi cover. This was a statement of a band looking to establish a new identity and to prove they were going to survive without Fish at the helm. The artwork for the Vigil album was painted by Mark Wilkinson who Fish had won in the divorce. It is much more ominous and stark in tone, and reflected the somewhat bitter acrimony of the split and some of the music contained within. I suppose it makes sense as the words define the story a song tells and being the lyricist he had some stories to tell. With Marillion and a new set of lyricists, the baggage, context and experience the band had wasn’t something that would be reflective in the new songs. So while Fish publicly expressed his opinions in song, the rest of the guys in the band were left to address them in interviews. Unfortunately everyone wanted to talk to Steve Hogarth about it and he didn’t even know the guy, but was put in a position to have to speak about other people’s spoiled relationship. It wasn’t a fair position to put him in but he managed to navigate it with the grace and deftness he has come to be known to possess.
From this point forward both camps would forge very different careers and it is here that I need to part ways with our fishy friend. I know his second album Internal Exile very well and it has some incredible songs, especially Shadowplay, Credo, Just Good Friends, and the title track all of which are exceptionally good. The cover of Something In The Air by Thunderclap Newman which ends the album is actually quite good as well. It is a hit and miss album overall for me though. I kind of lost focus on Fish’s career after this point and despite knowing some other tunes I’ve never really given his solo catalog the attention I know it deserves. At some point in the future I may return to review his extensive body of work, but for now I’m throwing him back into the sea. Sorry Fish and Fish fans. From here on out it is all Marillion: The h Years.
Recommended Listening Marillion: The King Of Sunset Town, Easter, Seasons End, Holloway Girl, Berlin, The Space…, The Bell In The Sea, The Release
Recommended Listening Fish: Vigil, Big Wedge, State of Mind, A Gentleman’s Excuse Me, Family Business, View From The Hill, Cliche
