VIGIL IN A WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS

The first album released by Fish as a solo artist is 1990's 'Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors', a record whose critical and commercial success allowed the further continuation and development of Fish as a solo artist, following his Marillion exit, of course. Now, whether this could have been the fifth Marillion album pertains to mere speculation and to be honest, we can retrospectively conclude that it does not matter an ounce. What makes 'Vigil' important and beautiful is the fact that this is a very eclectic, bold and romantic neo-prog album with a lot of eighties production values that above all, sounds like the consistent effort of a proper band despite being a solo album with a range of guest musicians contributing to it. It is perhaps Fish's ability to craft great songs and to write vibrant melodies, or it might also be the inherent poetry and depth within his lyrics that seal the deal, but there is an element of divinity to this album.

The music dares to tread a relatively similar ground to what Derek W. Dick had done with his former band over the course of the past couple of years but we also see an expansion and an interest in folk rock, hard rock as well as pop, with progressive remaining the underlying direction for the music overall. With a commentary on consumerism, politics and interpreting personal conflicts, Fish had created a very introspective, far-reaching and musically exciting work that establishes him as a force to be reckoned with. This album also produced fantastic tracks like 'The Company', 'A Gentleman's Excuse Me', 'The Voyeour', View From The Hill' and arguably Fish's greatest hit - 'Cliché', but really all songs on here are memorable entries, all moving and profound. Not to mention the gorgeous painting of "The Hill", a crop-out of which serves to be the album cover, we hear metaphors about it all throughout the LP, part of the general thematic framework of the album.