Fish
13th Star (Deluxe)
October sees the start of Derek William Dick’s farewell tour or, as he is better known, Fish. That farewell tour will be much more than a retrospective of his years as Marillion’s frontman. And rightly so, because although his solo work maybe less well known than his Marillion legacy; whatever you do, don’t overlook that very period. To refresh your memory or to introduce you to his solo work for the first time at all, Written In Music dives into the catalogue of the sympathetic Scotsman and offers you an overview of Fish’s various studio albums. Previously we already shared our reviews of the EP A Parley With Angels, the albums Weltschmerz and A Feast Of Consequences. We now head out to tell you more about 13th Star, originally from 2008 and in 2023 wonderfully reissued as a Deluxe set.
What immediately stands out about this great reissue, even before you have heard a single note, is the more than fine design with glorious attention paid to Mark Wilkinson’s artwork. The reissues are very beautifully designed and, for some, at least for 13th Star it even comes as a Deluxe edition. Where for Fish it meant revisiting the music and the making off process for the liner notes, Mark was allowed to revisit his artwork and add to it where necessary. You simply feast your eyes on the reissue of 13th Star. It is rich in care and printed on high-quality paper. Yes, a lot of time and energy went into it. To give you an idea of how much care has gone into the release, here is the unboxing of the limited vinyl version: it shows all the attention that has gone into the other Deluxe editions and Remasters as well.
To the album, then. Sometimes, when you’re at a loss for words, you can turn your head wistfully towards the sky and expect the heavens and stars to help you move forward in your life. It’s not that crazy, at least not in the strict sense. In fact, the sailors of yore also literally found their destiny by steering towards the stars. 13th Star is therefore not even so much an album that focuses solely on Fish’s then-defunct relationship with then Mostly Autumn singer Heather Findlay. Certainly, we come across that life event on the album. In everything it is a record of how Fish was looking for direction at that time, for direction and his emotions, also concerning relationships and, as said, the relationship with Heather was part of that. But if you consider that Fish paid hefty alimony to his ex-wife around 2005 and that his former office manager had embezzled money, you can imagine that all in all things were not all rosy in his life.
When you consider that at the end of the opening track, Circle Line, he sings ‘Navigator, I need a navigator.’ and considering his collaboration with Steve Vantsis grew firmer around this time, in writing together, he may as well have been singing about Steve and finding his navigator precisely at the start of writing this album. Not only is Steve an excellent bass player, he is a multi-instrumentalist and he provided the necessary musical ideas, whether that was guitar parts, loops or just about anything else. For Fish, Steve was more than a helping hand. From here, he could move on and forge his lyrics to match the music at hand. It marked a new starting point for the two men’s collaboration.
The ten songs that make up the album are all fine examples of where that collaboration leads. For the most part, the atmosphere of the album is dark, you hear it, you feel it. But damn, what a variety of colouring there is on this long-player. The opener mixes Eastern sounds with a mixture of loops and noises in the soundscape before the bass and the other guitars drop in. The song’s rhythm makes you feel like you’ve landed aboard an underground and you just can’t get off. The fine sharp guitar of veteran Frank Usher sets just the right accents with a riff that blends wonderfully with Steve’s bass runs. Frank’s subtle accents also add just the right dimension to the song. Besides Frank and, of course, Steve, we also hear the returned Foss Paterson on keys, Chris Johnson (Mostly Autumn) plays along on guitar and Gavin Griffiths on drums with percussion by Dave Haswell alongside him. Backing vocals on the album are provided by Lorna Bannon.
From Circle Line to Square Go, it almost is a straight line. Steve Vantsis’ bass playing connects the two songs very naturally. How beautiful the build-up of the song! The driving bass, the almost expectant guitars that, although they make themselves known just after the song starts, clearly lend lustre to their presence later in the song. Fish’s vocals suit this song excellently and when he sings the chorus and behind the guitars, drums and bass the textures of Foss’s keyboard playing colour the song further, the song is simply fantastic. Then note the interplay between Frank and Foss. Fish is the name. Just so you know.
After such an opening salvo of two pretty heavy songs, you might expect another transitional number, but here we find the third track that is best described as a ballad (well, sort of) with again a starring role for Frank Usher, this time on acoustic guitar. A lovely quietly building song that Fish wrote together with Foss. Sometimes you can forget how good a singer can sound in ballads, but the moment you hear Fish in a ballad, you know, you feel, it fits. And that’s certainly the case here. There’s something very relaxing in the song, South American ambience and, again, that fine bass from Steve Vantsis. Yes, Miles De Besos is also a great addittion to the album.
Zoe 25 is another beautiful song. Fish co-wrote this with Foss Paterson. His piano and other parts form a great combination with both the other instruments and Fish and Lorna’s voice. Nice how the tension builds up in the song. Yes, maybe before, but especially when you get to this point, it becomes clear to you how good the album’s production is all the way through. The production was in the hands of Calum Malcolm and he found the perfect capture of Fish’s music for this album.That also just makes this release more than worthwhile, because 13th Star sounds even better than the original.
That string of great songs really isn’t interrupted on this album either. Arc Of The Curve, a relationship put into perspective with again very fine textures, a heavenly singing Lorna and fantastic playing by Foss already give this song a fine dimension. A ballad that suits Fish’s voice very well and one that is indeed inspired by the course of his relationship with Heather. Then Manchmal which, of the ten songs, is perhaps the most rocky and the most solid. As if to ask if you haven’t fallen asleep yet. The tracks may well have stirred your spirits, but this rocks like crazy. And that rocking can also be found in Open Water. The song is somewhat atypical of Fish but damn how perfectly it fits!
The concluding three songs, they all ask to be listened to. The sequence of the three together makes them a more than worthy finale to 13th Star. As far as that goes, the title and closing track is already so beautiful that it can put a lump in your throat. 13th Star, the album, may be one of Fish’s darkest albums in his catalogue, but there is a lot of beauty in its experience. A balance between rock and ballads, partly rooted in rock, partly open-sounding through contemporary influences and using modern studio techniques as well as wonderfully written tracks, the album shows the direction Fish’s work would take. Both in compositions, in vocals, in performance, in arrangements and in production, 13th Star, with quite a few years on the clock by now, is still solid.
This reissue, you already read it at the beginning, has been designed particularly strongly by Fish with the help of Mark Wilkinson and others. With extensive accompanying words, sketching a picture of the creation of the album and, the great thing is, you can go back in time using the demos recorded in the set and, as it were, listen in on the creation of the album. Well worth listening to the demos again.
But that’s not all. Fish has carefully gathered together a number of live recordings that give you an excellent picture of the tour around 13th Star. Even with those 2 extra CDs, it doesn’t stop there. The Blu Ray that comes with the set offers the album in several audio mixes, two fine documentaries about 13th Star and the concert Fish gave with his band at Nearfest in 2008. Definitely not a bad concert! And a very successful setlist. Of course, the Marillion diehards will say: ‘It’s no Rothery on guitar, no Mark Kelly on keyboards’, which is true, but that flyer is not expected to ever fly again. Fish and band put on a wonderful rock show and, including twangy guitar work, give their own interpretation of the songs the band brings from that long-forgotten era. And mind you, this is the band that belongs to his solo work: then it is allowed, nay, should sound different.
Besides, when you consider that this concert was originally a standalone release, you can understand how Fish goes about his reissue campaign, he shows that reissues can really appeal to fans. 13th Star has thus become an exceptionally characterful reissue with both the band and Fish full of fire. Not only that, it is a musical treasure trove from one of the most eventful episodes in Fish’s life.
For all the releases in this series, you won’t find them at retail. If you are interested in purchasing the titles, go to www.fishmusic.eu. There you will find most of the titles still in stock. Suits and Sunsets On Empire will be available soonish in an edition of 1,500.