As I update this website, the great man is now officially in musical retirement. So, let us go back to 1990 when it all started so promisingly.
Marillion had burned themselves out at the end of the 1980's, and Fish left in a rather bitter exchange with his old pals. They effectively reformed with Steve Hogarth, formerly of The Europeans, and released a blinding LP in Season's End and would go on to release some of the most essential progressive rock of all time (yes, I am biased!).
However, in 1990, I awaited Mr Dick's initial solo outing with a great deal of anticipation, and, looking at the cover today reminds me of how I stared in wonder at the incredible artwork by Mark Wilkinson when I first purchased it on the release date. This, I thought, is going to be great.
I don’t think that this album represents a huge shift from Fish away from Clutching At Straws, his last effort with his old band. There is a big sense of the commercial mixed with knowing nods to his progressive roots. There are also some bitter political messages, a feature of his writing from the off, most especially here in Big Wedge, the hit single that pokes a fat index finger at the USA style of capitalism.
He also pokes two fingers at his old comrades in The Company, also, at the same time, making further reference to his drinking issues. A catchy, bitter, and symphonic piece, it is a highlight of the album.
The longest track is the opener and title track. Vigil clocks in at over 8.5 minutes, and it is a marvellous way to open a solo career. Atmospheric, proudly Celtic with its pipes, when I first heard this, I thought that Fish would become about the biggest rock star on the planet. The perfect fusion of catchy rock and progressive rock, something many other acts were struggling to perfect at the time.
I also love the beautiful ballad A Gentleman's Excuse Me. Set against a background of orchestration and gentle piano, Fish sings at his most delicately powerful and emotional. A stunning track which was a deserved hit single for him.
Not all of it is great. The Voyeur (I Like To Watch) seems to me to be an attempt to recreate the hilarious Incubus from Fugazi, but with a catchier and more commercial feel. It fails on all counts. It is not particularly clever or subtle (whereas Incubus was both), and not, in my opinion, very well performed.
Family Business is a catchy tune, but no more than that, really.
The two closers, View From The Hill and Cliche bring matters back on track. The former shows again just how effective Fish was singing in a delicate manner, with feeling, with superb and thoughtful musical backing. In other words, just as he was at his best with Marillion. It is also a fantastic political polemic. The latter is just a hugely effective and enjoyable slab of neo prog, with poetical lyrics, beautifully sung and brilliantly performed by the band, with exceptional guitars and keyboards adding a huge sound to back Fish.
How to rate this? I think that Fishs' best days were way in front of him. He has made a series of excellent albums starting with Raingods With Zippos, and I regard all of them as being artistically superior to this album.
This is an essential album for those who want to have the complete Marillion related collection. It is also for those who wish to understand and hear where one of the,prog giants (literally!) went on to form his own career.
For everyone else, this is a very good album, where the pluses outweigh the minuses by far.
It's 1990. The media, bless them, have long since declared prog rock dead as a doornail, and, unless you are Oasis, Blur, or some sort of similar fare, you will never ever get a look in. Anyone releasing a 60-minute-long track, with the barest amount of voice, on one whole album simply must be past his sell by date and completely and utterly irrelevant, yeah?
Well, no. Oldfield commenced the new decade with a piece of work that not only aspires to previous heights, but matches them, and it is absolutely no accident that this marvellous album features on many sites top 100 albums of all time.
There are very few people who can make a symphonic piece like this interesting. Oldfield is one of them. Aside from some drums, pipes, and voices, the man does it all himself, and how well he does it. However, it is his electric and acoustic guitar work that really shines here - actually, these instruments have always been his strongest points. He is also, by the way, a mighty fine banjo player, as evidenced here again. The solos on this album, when they burst out, are incredible.
This is a very upbeat symphony, from the strains of h.h.h.h.h.h.appy (yes, thank you!), right to the end, and, along the way, we get some very eclectic sounds, rightly described as New Age, interspersed with more traditional Oldfield fare.
This is not the sound of an artist resting on his laurels and assuming the inevitable sales from a loyal fanbase. This is the sound of a genuinely progressive artist reaching out, pushing the boundaries, and his own limits, to create a beautiful piece of work.
There will be a lot of people reading this who will only have Tubular Bells albums, or Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge at a push.
Well, push yourselves. Get this, because it is every inch as good, and, in some respects, more interesting in the moods it creates.