WELTSCHMERZ

Good new album!

I've never been the most faithful fan of Fish, loving much of what he did on the early Marillion albums "Script", "Childhood", and especially "Clutching" ("Fugazi"...not so much...); and his work on some of the Tony Banks solo shtuff was great. Then I took a chance a couple of years ago on his compilation cd "Bouillabaisse" and was really impressed. So I thought I'd give his new one "Weltschmerz" (World Pain) a listen.

I really like it. His vocals are great on this, sounding like an older Phil Collins(?), which is weird as I always thought his younger voice was more similar to Peter Gabriel. And the songwriting is fresh and original, albeit in the Marillion/Genesis vein in many places. The most proggy song is the nearly 14 minute "Waverley Steps (End of the Line)". A couple of songs were on the edge of skippable for me first time through - "Man With a Stick" and "This Party's Over". I thought that they could have been left off of this 84-minute album and it would have been just fine. But subsequent listens have softened me to even those two songs. Leave 'em alone...

This is good stuff overall. And not nearly as downtrodden as a title like Weltschmerz might indicate. 4 stars seems about right.

Upon rating this a "4" I want to say that it is slightly less than a "4", just like Consequences is a bit more than a "4". Consequences, as a Fish album, finally contained material on a par with material found in the early Marillion albums for which he is so famous. Weltschmerz, in my mind, contains no such material. The signature songs - Grace of God, Remembrance, Rose, Little Man, and Waverley are all excellent songs, but close to 25 minutes of that material was already released on an EP in 2018, which is bound to disappoint anyone who already has the EP in possession. One commentator pointed out that this album isn't prog, but sort of a prog 2.0; rather one should ask if the shorter tracks are aimed at sort of a "pop 2.0" rather than prog at all. So, consider it a"4" because otherwise it is technically well executed and contains material that you must have if you are a fan of Fish and/or Marillion.

I have been a Fish fan since I first heard You Know he Knows on the radio way back in 1983. I was crushed when he left Marillion but his solo albums for the most part have been excellent, yes I know Fish writes great lyrics and has a great voice but he knows that you need cool guitar solos and a blend of guitar and keyboards. Most of his albums are like that and his masterpiece as far as I'm concerned were 13th star and A Feast of Consequence.

So I was freaking out waiting for this last album Weltschmerz especially when I saw some quite long songs, 15 minutes is pretty long for Fish. I was expecting some guitar solos or some heavy guitar sounds.To say I was a little shocked when I started listening was an understatement. Was this a Fish album or elevator music.

I'm very disappointed with it. I've listened to it 5 or 6 times and no it does not grow on me. After Steve Vantsis helped write all those cool songs on 13th star and parts of A Feast of Consequences how could he just fall flat on Weltschmerz, even Boult helped Vantsis on A Feast of Consequence with some songs and he also seems lost. Like where did all the good music go? So it's too bad but it looks like Fish is going out with a whimper. If you like good music to go along with good lyrics, this album is not for you.

It has been a long time in the making but Fish has finally released his final album 'Weltschmerz'. If this is indeed Fish's last studio album, he leaves us with a masterpiece. The word 'Weltschmerz' translates as a feeling of melancholy in a world of weariness. This album was created against a backdrop of unprecedented world events, shocks and challenges making the artistic achievement more impressive.

Grace of God in my opinion is one of Fish's better album openers. This song resonates with many of Fish's multi-movement pieces but this one is impressive because it builds so well and so naturally. Often with expansive prog pieces the way movements segue into another can become clunky or disjointed. Grace of God is a fine example of a song growing seamlessly with a clear purpose. Next up is a song called Man with A Stick. This song has a wonderful blend of old and new. Following Man with A Stick we have a song called Walking on Eggshells. A song about a torched relationship that should end but will not. The arrangements on Walking on Eggshells carries you on a journey. There are great moments of fine detail, and the vocals from Fish are flawless. This party's over is special song. This farewell song is both joyful and sad. It is a goodbye, but it is also a call to arms that we still need to fix our world. On the fifth track on the album Rose of Damascus, Fish delivers his greatest lyrical performance in years. The album standout for me is track 6 a song called Garden of Remembrance. It has one of the most powerful music videos I have seen in a long time. Garden of Remembrance is a poignant song with great emotional power and depth. The song references the issues of Alzheimer's and its deep emotional impact on family and loved ones. Anyone who has experienced Alzheimer's and Dementia in their family will be drawn into this song and will relate immediately with the depth and the power conveyed by the song and the video. Following Garden of Remembrance, we have a song called C Song (The Trondheim Waltz). This song has a real folk feel and references Fish's Scottish roots. After C Song (The Trondheim Waltz) what is probably going to be a fan favorite, Little Man What Now? This is reportedly inspired by his father's passing. This song this is a definite highlight on the album. Another highlight on this album is Waverley Steps (End of the Line). It brings together all the nuanced skills of Fish's sustained career. It has a powerful moving poetic narrative. On the title track Weltschmerz Fish masterfully brings together the mix of genres, styles and influences that define what the solo chapter of his musical career has been about. Weltschmerz stands as the best album of Fish's solar career and easily amongst the best of this year by anyone.

Rating-88%

Recommended Tracks: Grace of God, Rose of Damascus, Garden of Remembrance, Waverley Steps (End of the Line) & Weltschmerz.

Fish's solo career has had more than its fair share of ups and downs, with a fractious relationship with the major labels nudging him into taking a more independent path from Suits onwards, and patchy finances dogging his homegrown endeavours. Nonetheless, his solo albums have always had something of interest to them, and a few have been outright brilliant - Sunsets On Empire being perhaps the first bona fide classic he produced after leaving Marillion, and A Feast of Consequences being a late-career masterpiece.

Now, however, the game is over. Weltschmerz finds Fish following up the career high point of Feast of Consequences by putting an end to his career - at least as far as making solo studio albums goes. The sole double studio album of his career, it's a capstone to over three decades of toil since his exit from Marillion and, unless his plans change unexpectedly, marks the end of an era.

It would have been embarrassing, then, if it had turned out to be a clunker - in fact, it's quite the opposite. With a brooding, melancholy atmosphere suggestive of the world-weariness that the title implies, the album's long compositions take us on epic emotional journeys, addressing regrets and, perhaps towards the end, showing just a bit of the anger that came forth on Market Square Heroes or Forgotten Sons back in those early Marillion says - a few glowing sparks among the ashes suggesting that the fire has not gone out yet, even if it might fall to others to carry it forwards.

In many ways it's lazy and annoying to compare Fish to Marillion, given the differing musical paths they have followed and their mutual struggles to overcome the gravity well of the four albums they did together. Nonetheless, it's heartening to hear both parties coming into this sort of late-career renaissance, and producing albums like Feast of Consequences, FEAR, Weltschmerz and An Hour Before It's Dark which can act almost as companion pieces to each other - not because they're imitating each other, but because they're looking at the same damaged state of the world and offering their thoughts. Still, if Fish's solo career had one task, it was to prove to the world that he had something of artistic merit to say independent of Marillion, and Weltschmerz was his very last chance to do that. I'd say he succeeded with flying colours.

Review Nº 701

Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish artist from Edinburgh. He's without any doubt one of the leading singers in the neo-prog sub-genre. Fish is mostly known from the band Marillion, but he has a glorious solo career too. With Marillion, Fish released four studio albums "Script For A Jester's Tear" in 1983, "Fugazi" in 1984, "Misplaced Childhood" in 1985 and "Clutching At Straws" in 1987. As solo artist he released eleven studio albums, "Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors" in 1990, "Internal Exile" in 1991, "Songs From The Mirror" in 1993, "Suits" in 1994, "Sunsets On Empire" in 1997, "Raingods With Zippos" in 1999, "Fellini Days" in 2001, "Field Of Crows" in 2004, "13th Star" in 2007, "A Feast Of Consequences" in 2013 and "Weltschmerz" in 2020, his swan studio work that is the subject of my review.

This is the final album of a great man, a great man who walks with a stick, like that guy in the song "Man With A Stick". He worked on this album for five years. More than ever, pensiveness, mental exhaustion and melancholy define Fish's songwriting. The themes of his final compositions are very dark but very human too. In magical and picturesque images he becomes painfully sympathetic and palpable, a man hurt and disillusioned with the world. In the background there's the political and social rollercoaster ride of the last few years, with the Scottish referendum, the unfortunate Brexit, Trump and the corona pandemic. And he didn't know it at the time, but the invasion of Ukraine was still missing. So, all the pain, all the depression that resulted from it couldn't fit on a single album because he had so much material to present to us as his final testimony, a testimony of some regrets and things that remained to be done, his world of pain.

So, "Weltschmerz" is the eleventh studio album of Fish and that was released in 2020. The line up on the album is Fish (vocals), Doris Brendel (backing vocals), Steve Vantsis (guitars, keyboards, bass and programming), Robin Boult (guitar), John Mitchell (guitar), Liam Homes (keyboards), Foss Paterson (keyboards), David Jackson (saxophone), Mikey Owers (brass), Craig Blundell (drums), Dave Stuart (drums) and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (strings).

The album opens with "Grace Of God", two different pieces strung together, a clever guide to what follows. It offers a powerful opener, one of the best of Fish, with a lot of pressure and variation that defines the atmosphere of the album. "Man With A Stick" is very acccessible with some catchy keyboard passages. It has a wonderful blend of the old and new, a Genesis' vibe from the keys, yet at the same time modern in its spirit. It's not great, not bad. With "Walking On Eggshells" Fish is back at his best. It sounds slightly menacing thanks to its booming riffs. It's a rich track with great arrangements and fine details that carries you on a journey. The vocals here are flawless. With "This Party's Over" Fish celebrates his farewell. It sounds downright cheerful with its Celtic folky touch. It's a very simple song, a mixed-salad of many of the creative elements that defined his solo career. An ending with a smile. "Rose Of Damascus" is one of the central pieces on "Weltschmerz". The piece is beautifully orchestrated where Fish delivers one of his greatest lyrical performance for years with a song that is cinematic in both its narrative and soundscape. It difficults to accept the end of his career. "Garden Of Remembrance" is a fantastic and very poignant track with great emotional power and depth. It proves that he's still capable of producing some amazing moments and that it isn't only the prog epics that are required to do that. "C Song (The Trondheim Waltz)" is a simple piano song with a real folk feel and references of Fish's Scottish roots. Despite its nature as a waltz, there's nothing lethargic or dragging on this track. "Little Man What Now?" is also a highlight on the album with its heavy and slow rhythm and spreads a morbid mood. Plus an eerily beautiful saxophone from David Jackson of Van Der Graff Generator. This is properly a broody and captivating listen, a down brilliant track. "Waverley Steps (End Of The Line)" is another central epic. It starts quietly and builds up to a rocking and driving piece where Fish turned up full again. It's rousing, emotional and is the crowning glory of the entire album, both lyrically and musically. "The title track "Weltschmerz" closes the album in a dark mood. Fish doesn't mince his words and shouts his disappointment at humanity's failures. It's all here, laid bare. The old anger may have been tamed, but it still burns.

Conclusion: "Weltschmerz" is the most recent and last album of Fish, the end of a brilliant career of an iconic artist. As Fish said, "Weltschmerz" is a German expression that means "world pain". It's a dark album with a feeling of world weariness and melancholy. "Weltschmerz" is a very personal album of Fish. It reflects a variety of circumstances of his life, his mistakes, his illness, the bereavement due to the death of his parents, band changes a global pandemic and the political changes already mentioned by me above. So, "Weltschmerz" is his best solo album? I really don't know. But it's certainly a completely successful and very coherent work. With his last album, the Scots has once again made an impressive statement about his music. I'm sure that this farewell will earn him the recognition and respect he deserves.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)