VIGIL IN A WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS

With this album, it is more clear to me that it was impossible to keep FISH as a member of MARILLION. As he explains in MARILLION`s official website (in a section on which he tells his view about the history of the band), by 1987-88 he was having different ideas with the rest of the band. One of the things were his political ideas, as his Scottish nationalism started to be more important to him. Another thing was that his ego was bigger and stronger, as he said (this is more reflected in his last album with MARILLION, "Clutching at Straws", with lyrics written by him more related to his personal life). He also had different musical ideas which can be heard on this album. Also, he was tired of the endless working schedule in MARILLION. He wanted a new Manager for the band, but the rest of the band didn`t agree with him. He also had at that time more serious problems with the use of some substances.He argued a lot with the rest of the band. He was recently married, and he wanted to spend more time with his new wife as he didn`t want to "sacrifice" this relationship as other relationships he had at the start of the band. So, after some rehearsals, concerts, and the recording of new demos for a new album, he finally left the band in September 1988, in not very good terms. MARILLION`s next album, "Seasons End", has music which was composed during FISH`S last days with the band. The same is for some of the lyrics used in his first album which were originally used in some demos with MARILLION. This is a very good album, but a bit different to MARILLION`s music in some ways. For the first time, he uses orchestral arrangements. Some of the songs have (I think so) Scottish Folk music arrangements. Other songs have critics about politics ("State of Mind"). He also used horn arrangements in one song ("Big Wedge"). Also the guitar arrangements sound different, nearly like some Heavy Metal guitars. For this album, he co-wrote all the songs (except "View from a Hill") with keyboard player Mickey Simmonds (who years later played with CAMEL). Other collaborators in songwriting were guitarists Hal Lindes (in three songs) and Janick Gers (in "View from a Hill"). The keyboard arrangements are a bit different than with MARILLION, but for me, when FISH left the band, it was a very important loss for the band. It seems to me that FISH influenced a lot the sound of the band, and with his departure, the band changed a lot after the "Seasons End" album, an album which still sounds for me with some influence by FISH. He contributed a lot of the "Feeling" for the band`s original sound, IMO. Unfortunately, MARILLION didn`t have a "Phil Collins" in the band to continue contributing to the original sound of the band.With the addition of a new singer, MARILLION changed a lot. His first solo album shows how important was FISH for MARILLION, IMO. He took with himself a lot from that band.