Album Review: Fish - Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
When Fish announced his departure from Marillion after four successful – two of which incredibly so – albums in late 1988, eyebrows were understandably raised as to how this most individual collection would fare separately.
Much has been written about the spilt, so I would refer interested parties to seek out those writings; save to say that history has proved the schism to have resulted in two enduring, endearing and engrossing artists, forging their own paths,
Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors was Fish’s first solo record and was released the same years as Marillion’s Seasons End disc. The Blu Ray Deluxe version of Clutching at Straws – and the 1998 remaster - includes some of the band’s demos, which is rather surreal to hear what we know as Family Business and View from the Hill to be sung against the music that would become King of Sunset Town and Holloway Girl.
It is those EMI deluxe packages that both Vigil and Internal Exile most favour. I was not able to view the packages as a whole, but knowing the care and attention went into the creation of those releases – and the independent release of Fish’s 2020 masterpiece, Weltschmerz (which I do have on deluxe Blu Ray) – and seeing the content digitally, you can be sure the physical products will exceed expectations.
These collections (see the review of Internal Exile, featured separately) follow the same regimen of the Marillion sets, with four CDs and one Blu Ray, containing a wealth of material. First up is the album itself, given a fresh make-over for 2024 by Callum Malcolm, and sounding clean and fresh for it. If you’re reading this it’s reasonable to suggest you’re already familiar with the record, and the spruce up had added some sonic extras that supplement what always was a phenomenal album. The title-track now features a previously unheard coda, foreshadowing events later in the album; Big Wedge benefits from additional guitars, as does View from the Hill, with soon-to-be Iron Maiden six-string slinger, Janick Gers adding his tones to the middle section.
The remix is lush and crisp and the new additions, small supplements, rather than massive overhauls, only add extra listening pleasure to an album I’d heard countless times. Being of the old-school – or just old – it is my vinyl version that I’m most familiar with, so the cd track-listing is still something a little alien to me – even though I had the 1998 remaster from the get-go – I always expect side 2 to run from Family Business, View from the Hill, and into Cliché; yet this digital track list is antagonistic to my memories, slipping State of Mind B-side, The Voyeur (I Like to Watch) after A Gentleman’s Excuse Me, and following it with Family Business, positioning View from the Hill after Cliché. Change, grrrr!
This new running order is going to take some getting used to, but it’s a first world problem so in the scheme of things it’s small potatoes. Additional tracks come in the shape of the album’s other single B-sides; Jack & Jill, from Big Wedge, is a stirring tune that could have found a home on Clutching at Straws; an early re-record of Internal Exile from 1989, and A Gentleman’s Excuse Me’s Whiplash, which finds Fish morphing into a lounge-lizard for the duration.
The second disc is a collection of demos from the gestation process of Vigil. The title-tack was a stripped-down version, complete with a bagpiped middle section, State of Mind feels it needs to fill the gaps the album version doesn’t, and The Company sits closer to being a drinking song than the final version manages.
The Hill features other guitar fireworks that didn’t make it passed the quality team; Family Business and A Gentleman’s Excuse Me are almost oven-ready and the two versions of Big Wedge has alternate lyrics and some ripping guitar work, while a live instrumental demo version has a Chris Rea Road to Hell thing going on. The curio on this disc is The Curious Hill, an unused piece which finds Mickey Simmonds at his piano, developing a rousing, though less-familiar version of the tune.
Discs three and four are assorted live tracks from across this great nation and beyond, which sees disc three loaded with BBC archival material. Vigil and Family Business come from the Town & Country Club in London not long after the album’s release, and from BBC Nottingham, at the Royal Court Theatre, comes, Big Wedge, The Company and a dramatic Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors, with Fish sounding like he is living the part to the maximum.
Disc three also features four tracks from the PigPen birthday bash of 1990, the entirety of which can be found as one of the two live sets on the Blu Ray portion of this collection.
Disc four is a far more varied – as far as the origin of the tracks is concerned – focusing on recordings from the Fish fan club events and the recitals of Vigil’s tunes. There’s another couple of versions of Vigil which, have always got something new to say in their performances, a couple of Family Business, one in which the gathered attempt to out sing Fish himself, and a mournful, piano version, which adds a new level of thought to the serious subject matter.
The Blu Ray disc is packed with features, including a Dolby (or is that Dobly???) Atmos and 5.1 mixes, as well as a couple of full live audio shows. Pigpen’s Birthday took place on 2 April 1990 at Hammersmith Odean and is present here as an ‘Official Bootleg’.
It’s a full-blooded affair, with Fish as the fired-up host and ringmaster to the evening’s shenanigans. All Vigil’s nine tracks are here (like the best Freaks!) supplemented by six Marillion tunes, which, to me, are of the most interest. There is a uniqueness to Marillion’s sound that is difficult to replicate and is noticeable by its absence. Clearly highly skilled musicians in their own rights, but Frank Usher and Robin Boult just don’t seem to emulate whatever it is that Rothery does to get that tone.
But, in the interests of balance, I’ve not heard Steve Hogarth attempting the likes of Chelsea Monday, Fugazi or Grendel, as they are so idiosyncratically the Big Man’s songs.
From Fish’s previous employment we get an early Punch & Judy with a real driving rock sound, a rapid Assassing, Script for a Jester’s Tear still manages to create a watery eye, and the Top of the Pops trio of Kayleigh, Lavender and an acoustic Sugar Mice.
The other full audio of a live show, and also an Official Bootleg, comes from the Edinburgh Playhouse on New Years Eve 1991 and is as riotous a Hogmanay as your likely to encounter. The Marillion tunes are reduced to but a pair: Market Square Heroes and (of course) Heart of Lothian, while the set is mixture of Vigil’s tunes and songs from Fish’s then-current album, Internal Exile.
The disc has a couple of documentaries included: Climbing the Hill, and The Art of Vigil, an interview with Mark Wilkinson about the concept of Vigil’s visuals; and the original promo videos for State of Mind, Big Wedge and A Gentleman’s Excuse Me.
If all of this is a bit too much Fish, there is a cut-down, three cd only version which includes the first two discs and an amalgam of the contents of discs three and four.
The Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors Deluxe Blu Ray has been an absolute treat to listen to and sent me a wandering down Amnesia Lane (© SFP) to the time I gave my vinyl version a prolonged hammering.
Good review. What song from the Fish/Marillion demos developed into Holloway Girl? Story from a Thin Wall became Berlin & Family Business. The one song I can’t identify in any later Marillion song is Exile on Princes Street.