VIGIL IN A WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS

I was 17 when Fish left Marillion and I was very upset about that. I remember I was listening to their albums the whole week and crying (I was a quite sentimental teenager). Then after one year the Season's end appeared and I was agian dissaponted. I recognized it was the band after a few tones played in the Polish radio, that was one of a few free islands in the Eastern Europe Radio brodcastings ( I am from Slovakia). However, after several rounds of listenings I started to like it, especially the tracks Berlin, Easter and the title one. One can still smell the atmosphere of the former Marillion and one can soon get used to the voice of Steve H. Then, the next year it appeared the first solo album of Fish, and I liked it from the beginning very much. I found it very strong, especially the tracks Gentleman's excuse me and cliche. However, after several rounds of listenings I started to miss something in it. So to summarize it, I think that both albums are nice and good, but lacking something. SE lacks a strong, straight and pressing expression which was the case in the Fish era. VIAWOM needs more expressive style of playing. The band does not have its own style, one can hear here the echoes of former Marillion but not played with the former mastership. I remember, the one of polish radio editors, Tomek B., expressed it nicely: new marillion is like a sea without a fish and solo Fish is like a fish out of water. Still, they both found their styles later and all their achievements are worthy listening. But I cannot tell the same what I can about Gabriel and Genesis, ie. it was better for the music that he left the band. To conclude, both albums are good through inertia.