Published on Jun 2, 1999
When it comes to talking about the Scottish singer Fish, there
are a couple of schools of approach. Number one is the fan who has
followed his work from the days he spent fronting Marillion in the
’80s; they might have a harder time separating his solo efforts
from the work he did with Marillion. Then, there’s my school:
someone who heard precious little of Fish’s work until getting his
latest solo release,
Raingods With Zippos.
Now, I immediately realize that I’m put at a disadvantage in
that I can’t compare his work to either his days with Marillion or
any of his other solo albums. However, letting this disc be my
maiden voyage allows me to ignore all the words written about him,
and approach the disc with unbiased ears. And, taking the disc via
this manner, it proves to be reminiscent of Genesis in many ways,
but is both original and entertaining.
The gentle piano strains that open “Tumbledown” help to lure the
listener into a false sense of security; before you know it, Fish
and his backing band whip things into an electric frenzy, and take
this tune into areas previously thought untouchable. Some of the
chord progressions on this one are a bit uncomfortable, though, and
this might not have been the best way to kick things off.
After a decent but uninspiring performance on “Mission
Statement,” Fish really gets things cooking (no pun intended) with
the next group of songs. “Incomplete” is carried to new levels
thanks to the duet between Fish and Elisabeth Antwi; it really does
help to hammer the point of the song home. Likewise, “Tilted Cross”
is a song that is both haunting and beautiful, and is one that will
captivate the listener.
There are two high points to
Raingods With Zippos. The first is Fish’s leaning towards
the “hit single” with “Faithhealer,” a track that sounds a lot like
vintage Peter Gabriel without sounding like he was trying to mimic
Gabriel’s sound and style. I vaguely remember some stations in
Chicago around 1985 giving some airplay to Marillion’s
Misplaced Childhood album – one of the albums featuring
Fish. It would be nice to see things come full circle and have
radio give “Faithhealer” a chance.
And then, there is the six-part “Plague Of Ghosts” that dares to
push the musical envelope. There are a few songs in this suite that
I easily could have plucked out as potential singles, but Fish has
written the music so that the songs both relate to and overlap each
other. And, in the end, I think that this was the right decision;
the interplay between “Digging Deep” and “Chocolate Frogs” or
“Waving At Stars” and “Raingod’s Dancing” is quite important to the
success of this whole piece.
One would think that you would need some patience in order to
really be able to appreciate Fish’s style of rock (somehow, I don’t
feel right calling it progressive). However,
Raingods With Zippos is an album that you can appreciate
almost right out of the starting gate, despite the brief stumble at
the beginning of the album. If anything, this is the type of album
that should get the listener interested in the rest of Fish’s
backcatalog.
Raingods With Zippos is an album that hopefully will start
catching fire soon – even if it has to build a real head of steam
with word-of-mouth.