STATE OF MIND

I vividly remember the time in my late teens when my first major favourite band parted ways with their charismatic vocalist and lyricist. Fortunately both parties carried on making good music, and I naturally purchased both the Steve Hogarth era opening Marillion album Seasons End (1989) and the solo debut of Fish, Vigil in a Wildernerss of Mirrors, at the time of release. Back then I preferred, and still prefer, Vigil over the two-album beginning of the Hogarth era Marillion, helped also by the fact that the fantastic album cover artist Mark Wilkinson stayed with Fish. A bit later Marillion made some terrific albums such as Brave (1994), whereas most of the subsequent Fish albums were disappointing to me. Therefor Vigil has sovereignly remained my favourite Fish album (for your interest, my second fave is Raingods With Zippos, 1999).

The recordings of Vigil were finished in June 1989, but its release was delayed til January 1990 to avoid collision with Seasons End. Fish was accompanied with excellent musicians. Keyboardist Mickey Simmonds co-wrote all the songs on the great album (except 'View from the Hill', co-written with Janick Gers). The bass work of John Giblin, familiar to me from Simple Minds, was a real delight. In particular on 'State of Mind' which features also guitarist Hal Lindes (Dire Straits), who is credited as a co-composer.

This single was released well ahead of the album in October 1989. The lyrics of the slow/mid-tempo 'State of Mind' comment the general political discontent in the late Thatcher years. As I mentioned, Giblin's bass really shines here. The drummer in this song is actually John Keeble from Spandau Ballet. Backing vocalist Carol Kenyon was probably best known from the Heaven-17 hit 'Temptation' (1983). Interesting to learn all these guest appearances with the pop/mainstream background. It would feel a bit funny to name 'State of Mind' as an album highlight (simply because Vigil contains so much bigger things too), but it still sounds fresh and elegant. The single contains also a "Presidential Mix" which is roughly a minute longer, but otherwise I hear no crucial differences between the versions.

The faster-tempo and more aggressive sounding song 'The Voyeur (I Like to Watch)' was not included on the LP, only as a bonus track on the CD version. Musically it comes closest to 'Big Wedge', my least fave of the Vigil songs, and frankly I'm not fond of this one either. The composition is very repetitive, and the sharp synths and heavy drumming make it tiresome on the ears. 'State of Mind' is a four-star song, but three stars is enough for the whole single.