The end is nigh: a trip through the Fish solo years

It will be October in less than a month. Normally just a quiet month in early autumn. This year, however, that month is unlike any other. It is the month that the farewell tour of Derek William Dick better known as Fish starts. After a number of years starting in the 1980s as frontman of Marillion, he stepped down from the band after the tour around their last album Clutching At Straws. Marillion and he went separate ways and Fish started a solo career. In that solo career with its ups and downs, he released 11 studio albums, 9 of which were reissued.

You can be sure that his farewell tour will be based on his solo work as well as looking back on his time as Marillion’s frontman. It is also logical that he chooses to do so: after all, his catalogue without Marillion is significantly larger than what he made with that band. And besides, did you ever listen to his vast catalogue properly or did you lose track of Fish once he went solo, safe for perhaps Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors and/or Internal Exile?

We think Fish’s musical legacy is more than worthwhile. 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. You could previously read reviews of the EP A Parley With Angels, the albums Weltschmerz and A Feast Of Consequences here.

From tomorrow, September 3, we will dive into the other 9 albums, working back in reverse order from 13th Star to the last reissues from July this year, those of Internal Exile and Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors. So for a month, it’s Fish month at Written, as a tribute to the likable Scottish singer and above all as a preview for the upcoming tour.

For all 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 soon be available again in a limited edition of 1,500.