FELLINI NIGHTS

I saw this show twice in England during the May 2001 tour. Even got to meet the big guy in Cambridge. :-) It was a great show, and the new material really worked well given that no one in attendance was familiar with the new material. This album nicely captures Fish doing what he does best -- performing live. As good as his studio stuff is, his live albums are always awesome, and this one sounds particularly good. All in all, a must own if you are a Fellini Days fan (as I am).

A good selection of songs from the Fellini tour however whilst the bands performance is very good indeed, towards the middle of the second disc you can hear that Fish's voice is suffering badly. Problems with his voice are widely documented and on the older material he has had to sing in a lower key but I am pleased to say that these problems were not aparent on the recent Return to Childhood and field of crows tours. He has learnt from earlier tours such as this one how to preserve his voice but sadly it does mar this release.

A true Fish live album since no genuine "Marillion" songs are featured here.

Almost all tracks from his last studio album ("Fellini Days") are represented. And even if I was not over enthusiast about it, I have to say that these songs, while split on a double album are rather satisfactory. Especially three of them : "3D" of course, "The Pilgrim's Address" and "Clock Moves Sideways".

This double live CD is shortly formatted (just over ninety minutes of music available), but this leads to a sharp set, very well performed and the old fans won't be forgotten since there is a very good medley of previous Fish tunes ("Lucky", Credo" and "Vigil") as well as the great "Tumbledown" & "The Company".

This set has been recorded in The Netherlands, where neo-prog is very much appreciated. The big man is at home and you can feel it (just listen to the emotional "Company"). Fish also show his profound attachment to his Scottish roots while he interprets the unofficial Scottish anthem "Flower Of Scotland". A capella por favor!

A good live album. Three stars.

As one might expect, Fellini Nights is a live album recorded during the Fellini Days tour - specifically, it offers a show from the Amsterdam leg of that tour. This finds Fish with a strong set of material from another creatively successful album to showcase, as well as old favourites - in fact, by this point in his solo career it was more than viable to fill an entire setlist without including any Marillion material, and that's what happens here.

In the liner notes Fish is enthusiastic about the Amsterdam Paradiso as a venue, praising its intimate atmosphere - and I'm sure that contributed to making this a memorable evening. However, the sound quality of the album reveals that whatever the Paradiso might offer in a live context, it's possible that a decent setup for recording live music isn't one of them - that, or Fish's mixing desk was on the blink. Either way, this is another "no overdubs" qucik-out-the-door live release from Fish, as he'd been doing since 1993, and this time around audio issues are evident from the beginning, with the sound levels on the opening track noticeably wavering up and down.

By the second half of the album this has alleviated somewhat, but Fish's voice becomes noticeably tired - I winced to hear him struggling at points on The Company, usually a triumphant anthem of his. As a result, despite the band being on good form throughout and Fish soldiering on bravely, this just isn't that essential of a live album.