Back in the 1980s, British progressive rock band Marillion were one of the leading lights of that genre at a time when a lot of mainstream rock had been streamlined and simplified. Led by their towering, poetic Scottish frontman Fish, the group used classic Genesis as a musical springboard to jump into other ideas that assimilated everything from ambient to hard rock into the mix. Their third album, the classic Misplaced Childhood, became their international breakthrough, with “Kayleigh” becoming its famed hit breakup ballad.
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But after their intense fourth album Clutching At Straws, another masterpiece, there was a parting of the ways. Fish was going in a decidedly more socially conscious and political direction with his lyrics, and he needed more space to explore that on his own. What resulted is the greatest rock album you likely never heard over here—and is this writer’s personal favorite—Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors. Not only is it a musically eclectic album that holds together as one cohesive unit, but its lyrical themes are more relevant today than when they were written.
This classic album recently received a massive box set reissue with alternate mixes, bonus and live tracks, videos, and a 100-page book, and is available through Fish’s website. The man himself is in the midst of a farewell tour that runs through March 10, 2025, in the UK, then he officially retires. Check him out if you’re over there.
Taking The High Road
Released in January 1990, Fish’s debut album never got a truly proper U.S. release. His label EMI was nervous about the anti-consumerist slant of “Big Wedge.” They didn’t think it would fly here at the tail end of the decadent ‘80s. The album went Top 5 in the UK and Top 20 across Europe, and it produced three hits in the UK. When Roadrunner Records acquired and reissued his catalog in the late ‘90s, they promoted it in Europe where his fanbase mainly resides. It landed in CD bins in the States, but it deserved greater fanfare.
Vigil features a great mixture of musicians including guitarist Frank Usher and Hal Lindes (formerly of Dire Straits), and soon-to-be Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers on one track; keyboardist Mickey Simmonds; and former Simple Minds bassist John Giblin. The album offers a rich musical tapestry where each song sounds different from the next—there’s everything from brass-driven rock to a Scottish jig to a delicate piano and orchestral ballad.
A Voice in the Crowd
The opening title cut begins with a moody atmosphere as Fish ruminates on feeling alone in a world that seems to be selling its soul for greed and consumerism. Then the song explodes into a dramatic anthem about wanting to change the world, uniting together, and solidarity in the face of oppressive powers. Then in its chilling coda, the song dissolves back into forlorn musings, as the singer quietly and mournfully declares:
Day by day it’s getting louder
and day by day it’s getting stronger
But when I can scream no more
and I need reassurance
I listen to the crowd
Given our incredibly tumultuous world today, that line matters more than ever. The album is full of songs that deal with the human condition in the face of temptations that threaten one’s way of life. “Big Wedge” is about how greed and consumerism is ruining our lives. “State of Mind” deals with politicians who don’t represent the people. Originally a CD bonus track, the aggressive “I Like To Watch” encaspulates the television voyeurism that mesmerizes us yet also keeps us from acting. “Family Business” is about knowing that domestic violence is happening right next door, yet feeling powerless to try to stop it even though that’s the right thing to do.
The View From the Hill
One image that repeatedly surfaces throughout the album is that of the Hill. It’s the place that we are being lured to by those in power. If you get to the top, you will get a grand view. But what is the price to get to the top of the heap? How much of your soul are you willing to sell to get there? Even the ballad “A Gentleman’s Excuse Me” deals with a man in love with a woman with a Cinderella complex, unaware of what she has right in front of her.
Both the fiddle and whistle-laced “The Company” and the hard-rocking “View From the Hill” deal with the concept of the Hill—the former song in terms of not giving in to the temptations of those who would buy you out; the latter about the deception of dreaming of a future that will likely never be, the ship that will never come in.
They sold you a view from a hill
They told you that the view from the hill
Is further than you’d ever seen before
Throughout his subsequent solo career, which has included such dynamic albums as Internal Exile, Suits, Sunsets on Empire, and his 11th and final studio album, Weltschmerz, Fish has always been about standing up the common man, the little guy, and embracing the idea that you are allowed to be who you are and not have to sell your soul so someone else can profit from it. His catalog has been incredibly diverse, powerful, and insightful.
More Relevant Now
In an age when news has become entertainment, when people trumpet socially conscious messaging without action, when people refer to their lives and careers as their brand, when social divisions are leading to a survivalist mentality, Vigil In a Wilderness of Mirrors remains an incredibly profound and important album. With its incredible musical diversity, Fish’s impassioned singing, and his ever-enigmatic word play at its core, the album is really asking us who we are and what do we want? Do you define yourself by what others think and demand? Or will you be truly free to be who you are?
The closing of the title track remains, for this writer, the most chilling end to any rock song. For nearly eight minutes, Fish builds up this plea for us to stand together against powers that would compromise our way of life. Then his character seems to give in. Yet that’s where the power of that ending comes in, for at the core of the album is the message that we have the power to change things, even when things seem dark and hopeless. But we have to reach out, make connections, and work together.
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Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns
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