Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors


Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors is the debut solo album by Scottish neo-progressive rock singer Fish.
Fish had departed Marillion in 1988. Although the recordings for this album finished as early as June 1989, EMI Records decided to delay the release until early 1990, to avoid collision with Marillion's album Seasons End. However, the track "State of Mind", featuring guest musician John Keeble from Spandau Ballet on drums, was released as a single as early as 16 October 1989, more than three months ahead of the album. Further singles from the album were "Big Wedge", "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" and "The Company".

Chart positions

The only Fish album to be released by EMI, it was also his most commercially successful. In February 1990, the album peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, with the singles reaching no. 32, no. 25 and no. 30 on the UK Singles Chart.
CountryPeak
position
Germany
6
Netherlands
20
Norway
9
Sweden
14
Switzerland
6
United Kingdom
5

Production and recording

The album was recorded at Townhouse Studios, London, during the first half of 1989, and produced by Jon Kelly.

Cover art

The cover art was by Mark Wilkinson, who had illustrated all Marillion albums and singles while Fish was their singer and went on to design almost all Fish solo covers. The front cover features a close-up from a larger, very detailed painting/collage inside the gatefold LP cover and the CD booklet. The painting contains many references to the lyrics, political allusions as well as "hidden" messages only understandable to fans. The central element is a "hill" consisting of junk consumer goods in a post-apocalyptic landscape, on top of which a couple clad in pseudo-oriental clothes stare into the distance, holding an hourglass. The man's cape, flapping in the wind, resembles the east of Scotland, with the Southern Uplands lit by light beams apparently emitted by the hourglass – a reference to Fish's interest in Scottish culture. Only the couple and the top of the hill are on the front cover. The TV sets and the Amiga 500 computer set the couple is standing on show pictures of Fish's face; on the larger version inside, these are replaced with faces from Ingres's painting The Golden Age.

Lyrics

The album is not a concept album, however, several of the songs refer to "the hill" – a metaphor for greed and consumerism. The songs deal with the themes that Fish has always been passionate about – personal issues and politics – but in single-song format. "State of Mind" and "Big Wedge" stand out as the most overtly political songs: "State of Mind" strongly articulates the growing civic disillusionment in the late Thatcher years, "Big Wedge" is an explicit criticism of capitalist greed, American society and policies. Incidentally, the lyric had earlier been vetoed by Marillion as "anti-American", they feared it might have hampered their entry into the U.S. market with the next album. Other songs express a more general disgust with materialism. "Family Business" refers to domestic violence, the bonus track "The Voyeur " to TV voyeurism. Finally, "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" and "Cliché" are love songs.
The phrase "wilderness of mirrors" is originally from T. S. Eliot's poem Gerontion, but has since become a widely used metaphor for disinformation in spy fiction, where Fish picked it up.
A number of the lyrical concepts on the album can be heard in Marillion demo sessions released on the 1999 remaster of Clutching at Straws. These sessions were part of the writing process for Marillion's fifth studio album with Fish, which never came to fruition. Many of the musical ideas developed on those demos can be heard on Seasons End, the first Marillion album with Steve Hogarth.

Musical style and contributing musicians

The album covers a variety of musical styles, including progressive rock, pop rock, hard rock, and folk music. As he is primarily a lyricist and not a musical composer, Fish collaborated with keyboardist Mickey Simmonds in writing all songs except "View From the Hill", which was co-written and recorded with current Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers. Ex-Dire Straits guitarist Hal Lindes contributed additionally to the writing of "State of Mind", "Family Business" and "Cliché". He also played guitar on most tracks, along with Frank Usher, a Fish companion from pre-Marillion times. Drums were handled by Mark Brzezicki, John Keeble, bass by John Giblin, additional percussion by Luís Jardim, backing vocals by Tessa Niles, who had already appeared on Clutching at Straws, Marillion's last album with Fish, and Carol Kenyon. Apart from these, there are performances on individual songs by The Kick Horns, Davy Spillane, Phil Cunningham, Aly Bain and Gavyn Wright.
The band with which Fish toured the album in 1989/1990 consisted of Mickey Simmonds, Frank Usher & Robin Boult, Mark Brzezicki and Steve Brzezicki.

Re-Releases

Remastered by Calum Malcolm in 1997, the album was reissued three times: 18 December 1997 on Fish's old label Dick Bros Record Company, on 28 October 1998 on Roadrunner Records, and in 2006 by Fish's current label Chocolate Frog. All remastered versions contain the original tracks and five bonus tracks originally released as b-sides of the accompanying singles, plus the original 1989 version of "Internal Exile". The edited and extended versions of the singles' A-sides are not included, a solo live recording of the Marillion song Punch and Judy featured on the single "The Company" is also absent.

Legal dispute with EMI

After Fish left Marillion, their label EMI automatically held the rights to his solo recordings under a leaving-member clause. However, Fish was dissatisfied with EMI's promotion and distribution and sought to leave the contract, which he finally achieved after a drawn-out lawsuit in late 1990/1991. As a result, Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors remains Fish's only album on EMI. EMI still owned the rights, which were licensed back to Fish, who has reissued it as described in the previous section. The album is now owned by Parlophone/WMG.

Track listing

  1. "Vigil" - 8:43
  2. "Big Wedge" - 5:19
  3. "State of Mind" - 4:42
  4. "The Company" - 4:04
  5. "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" - 4:15
  6. "The Voyeur " - 4:42
  7. "Family Business" - 5:14
  8. "View From The Hill" - 6:38
  9. "Cliché" - 7:01

    Bonus tracks on the remastered version

  11. "Jack and Jill" – 4:28
  12. "Internal Exile" – 4:51
  13. "The Company" – 4:30
  14. "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" – 3:54
  15. "Whiplash" – 4:25

    Personnel