Fish -The Complete BBC Sessions
	Released: 1999 Label: Blueprint/Resurgance Cat. No.: BP297CD
	Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, March 2000 I was rather surprised to find this two-disk set lurking in my local Best Buy as I had heard nothing about it. Being a big fan of Fish, I, of course, had to pick it up and hear what it was all about - well, other than what the title The Complete BBC Sessions said. The set covers two shows by the Scotsman dating from 1989 and 1991, respectively. The production and performances are better during the 1991 date, a November 15 show at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall. The first show actually bleeds over to disk two with the persistently requested "Kayleigh" and "Lavender" (and "Heart of Lothian") ending the London Town and Country Club show. The all too familiar guitar phrases take on a different character here - not bad, but decided different, making the track seem much sunnier than it was intended. In fact, it almost seems to be out of another song. The performances for the 1989 show are a little too loose, where the band seems a little out of sync. This isn't helped by the often-muddy sound. The band seem a little sluggish, especially in comparison to the more energy Fish seems to exhibit. Disc two fares better; the production certainly does as this has a much clearer, crisper sound. The band sounds and feels more energetic and more in sync. All the expected tracks are here, both from his Marillion days and his solo career to that point. As Fish alludes to in the liner notes, the circumstances surrounding his career at the time (the whole EMI then Polydor "things") provide a subtext to his performance here on the 1991 show. This well above the subtext inherent in the lyrics anyway. "Vigil" has an extra punch, "Tongues," "The Company" too. Because there is so much live Fish material out there both legit and bootleg, it doesn't make this disk essential. I haven't judged this in comparison to those other (legit) live disks, but it is work buying if for disc two alone. More about The Complete BBC Sessions: Track Listing: Disc One: Faithhealer (6:30) / The Voyeur (I Like To Watch) (5:33) / Punch And Judy (5:52) / The Company (4:16) / Script For A Jester's Tear (9:49) / Family Business (6:18) / Warm Wet Circles (4:18) / Slainthe Mhath (7:03) / Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors (9:05) / Big Wedge (5:55) / Fugazi (8:42) Disc Two: Kayleigh (4:35) / Lavender (2:30) / Heart Of Lothian (3:39) / Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors (9:41) / Credo (7:31) / Tongues (7:09) / Incubus (9:23) / The Company (4:02) / Big Wedge (6:29) / Internal Exile (4:34) / Market Square Heroes (5:24) / Heart Of Lothian (4:57) Total Time: 142:75 Musicians: Fish - vocals Mickey Simmons - keyboards Mark Brzezicki - drums (disc 1) Kevin Wilkinson - drums (disc 2) Robin Boult - guitar Frank Usher Steve Brzezicki - bass (disc 1) Davey Paton - bass (disc 2) Contact: Blueprint P O Box 50 Houghton-le-Spring Tyne & Wear DH4 5YP England Resurgance 61 East 8th Street Greenwich Village 189, New York 10003 USA The Company Scotland P O Box 3 Haddington, East Lothian EH41 3TA Scotland Website: www.the-company.com Note: will open new browser window Email: fish@the-company.com Discography Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors (1990) Internal Exile (1991) Songs From The Mirror (1992) There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop  Swears He's Fish (1992)* Toiling In The Reeperbahn (1993)** Derek Dick and His Amazing Electric Bear (1993)** Pigpens Birthday (1993)** Uncle Fish & The Crypt Creepers (1993)** For Whom The Bells Toll (1993)** The Funny Farm Project - Outpatients '93 (1993)*** Suits (1994) Sushi (1994)** Acoustic Session (1994)** Yin and Yang (1995) Fish Head Curry (1996)** Krakow (1996) Sunsets On Empire (1997) Kettle Of Fish (1998) Fortunes Of War Acoustic Set UK '94 (1998) Tales From The Big Bus (Live From Köln 1997) (1998) Haddington Corn Exchange 1998 (1999) The Complete BBC Sessions (1999) Raingods With Zippos (1999) Candlelight In Fog (USA 2000) (2000) Fellini Days (2001) Sashimi (Live In Poznan, Poland 1999) (2001) Fellini Nights (2002) Mixed Company (2003) Field Of Crows (2004) Bouillabaisse - The Best Of Fish (2005) Fish Interview
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