So, the big man put out remasters of the following albums: -Sunsets on Empire -Raingods with Zippos -Fellini Days And, of course, Field of Crows is slated to follow and has inexplicably been delayed. I'd been holding off on picking any up until all four were available, but has anyone else laid ears on these and developed an opinion on whether it's worth the upgrade or not?
I only know the original CDs and the remasters of Vigil and Eternal Exile. In both cases the original CDs sound better.
I have the first remasters from the 90's on the Roadrunner. Bonus tracks on them are fantastic, especially on the first 2 albums. And i don't have any problems with the SQ, although i remember that the 1'st CD edition of "Vigil" (on EMI) had more analog sound.
I'd be interested as well (hence the bump). I've seen the pictures and it seems they are very well-done visually. Supposedly Fields of Crows was delayed because Mark Wilkinson hadn't been able to finish the design with his work schedule. The eclipsed magazine praised the remastering - called the guy who did them a 'wizard' - but they are not reliable for sound quality (see those Saga remasters or Rush's Clockwork Angels).
Barring conclusive word that these are garbage, my intention was to wait until all four were available and pick up the set in one go to save on shipping. If nobody else chimes in, I guess I'm it for field testing.
Did he announce that everything was being redone? I ditched Facebook and that seems to be his primary outlet for updates.
I have a sinking suspicion selling them directly has done a lot to shrink his potential sales base. Why he doesn't go with Burning Shed or Madfish for these is beyond me. Everyone else and their second cousin seems to have a distro deal with at least one of them at this point.
The review I read said that the first four, plus "Field...", were also to follow. (So not "everything", as there were albums after that.) I wanted to mention that as well. He's definitely limiting his sales there...
Well, I'll hold out at least until Field comes out (love that album) and pick up the latter four in a lot. If/when the first four come out, I'll definitely pick them up. If nothing else, the sonics could be borked, but I'd pick them up for the essays he's including. Priorities, right?
I agree. Was in the UK last month and thought it would be fun to pick up the Sunsets one at a rather large shop. Was surprised that it was not stocked.
It's a shame. Granted, I sometimes think Fish wasn't well-served by more or less ditching music that sounded prog for something more groovy and bluesy (to say nothing of "heavy") in comparison to what he was known for in Marillion, but he still put out quality stuff and it's a pity he's not more widely known. The fact that he's only marketing to his existing fanbase definitely won't address that anytime soon. Then again, I've probably got a list as long as my arm of musicians in my collection I wish the greater majority were aware of, so at least I can say he's in good company.
I'll get these eventually. Have all of them several times over already for various reasons. I'm only in for the expanded art liners and bonus tracks, I doubt they will sound any better than those I already have, but we'll see when I get there. I won't be all that sad if they don't sound as good since I can just listen to the older versions. I am sad that I never heard anything from Feast Of Consequences live. I'll be all in when that happens.
As far as musical direction is concerned, I'm more in the Fish camp of the last couple albums when compared to Marillion. And a lot of Fish solo stuff is kind of hit and miss for me; but his last couple have been very strong. I've never found his solo albums to be all that 'proggy', but that's not at all a bad thing. Not that I dislike the more recent Marillion stuff but they've gotten too mellow, meandering and atmospheric for my taste. I really have to be in the right mood for it. But I agree with you on the marketing aspect. You really have to have your ear to the ground to know what's going on with Fish releases. There is apparently a 'remastered' four disc set from the "Feast of Consequences" tour that is on pre-order. I didn't even know that a 4 CD set existed in the first place to remaster. Or am I reading something wrong? And I've been meaning to order that Live in the USA DVD for years but forget all about it until I actually think to go to his shop, which doesn't happen often. Whereas Marillion's online shop is so much better, so much more up to date with tons and tons of soundboard downloads available for cheap! Too bad that Fish doesn't do the official bootleg route, although it's possible he has done that and I just don't know about it!
I think those last two Fish albums are among his best myself. But then I feel the same about the last two Marillion albums too. Fish released a few selected official bootlegs in the early '90s (and kind of a "Ban the Boots" kind of thing) that have likely since gone out of print. Fish doesn't employ the overhead that Marillion does. At one point early on in his solo career, his mom was doing mail order. He does have a mailing list you can join, but for some reason, I keep getting removed every so often and have to stay on top of it. Whereas Marillion, or say Robert Fripp, have forced themselves to become involved in the business aspect of the industry, Fish seems to have no interest in this and it has seemingly hurt him more than once.
I've got to agree with you on the "Fish vs. Marillion" thing. I listened to Sounds That Can't Be Made all of twice and just found it kind of... unremarkable. It didn't offend me, but it never seemed to resolve or go anywhere. Where it gets difficult to gauge is that, to judge most fan responses, it's the best thing they've ever done, which is the same answer you get about the newest album. Where, with some acts, I can use other fans' reactions to gauge whether I want to take the plunge on a new album or not, there are a few artists where the fans seem to love that anything was put out at all. So much for having a barometer. It's "place your bets" or nothing. For my money, the new one may blow me away, but I've found increasingly that Marillion stuff without Fish has shed any kind of restraint or tendency towards structure and kind of... plods along, for lack of a better term. Songs that would be punchy at 3.5 minutes go for the endurance run at 6-8. Ideas that might have worked as part of larger suites get blown up into their own songs... And so on down the line. Sometimes it works, but I've found it's become a bit narcoleptic of late. Incidentally, I did like the variety of Happiness is the Road. Even where that one didn't really grab me, it tended to keep things moving well enough, but even Marbles had filler (then again, I need to revisit that one sometime soon because where it was good, it was GREAT). With Fish, it's funny because you'll have a bunch of people who insist that the latest album is the one they're jumping off the trolley for, so each album is worse than the last depending on who you ask. I thought 13th Star was a great piece of work and I've been looking forward to the new one - held off only by the exchange rate and shipping cost to order it on its lonesome (I'll probably hear Feast when I order the four remasters in their turn). The big man's increasing reliance on social media is kind of a double-edged knife. I doubt it brings out much by way of extra sales and it leaves people who might be trying to keep their ears to the ground in the dark as to what's coming next because "what's next" was three comments down on a post about something else entirely. Sorry if that was a meandering reply. It's the witching hour and I should be hitting the hay. Priorities and all that.
I think Feast of Consequences was very well received, with people saying it might be the best thing he did besides his solo debut. But certainly he hasn't enjoyed the exposure that his ex-band members continue to have.
I sometimes wonder if his financial issues in the late '90s contributed to a hyper-conservative approach to his career. He went from having big plans to grow his audience to being very much of a, "Well, I guess this is what I'm working with," mentality. It's a similar theme I've seen with Bill Nelson, unfortunately. There's very little genuine enthusiasm to use the new tech as a way to reach new people - more a lament for the fact that the old audience didn't just follow by default. Actually, that's a little unfair - I haven't seen Fish lamenting that as much as all that. In his case (well, both cases, if I'm being honest), it's just a pity there isn't someone more savvy on staff for the material to get its push into a wider public awareness. That said, I have no friggin' clue how Marillion keep the audience that they have. Just my take, but I didn't like the last one and it's put me off hearing the new one and yet they never seem to lose fans no matter what. The human connection? I have no idea.
There does seem to be two different approaches, but then Marillion seems to share the fan communication thing and have a bit more efficient plan in place whereas Fish pretty much does things on his own. Also Fish's music career has become less of a 24/7 priority over the years for him as he seems to enjoy writing and gardening. He usually gives very detailed, if infrequent, updates on what he has been up to in his life and some of it still includes music. It just seems to be that his priorities have changed. He's also no fan of the music business and apears to deal with that side of his career as little as possible.
It's a shame because I suspect there are loads of people who'd be into what he's doing now if only they were aware he was still out there doing his thing. To a point, "playing the game" is essential just to get on the radar of the average person.
As you said, all of that record company business in the '90s really soured him. He still does his thing, but you have to find him. He isn't going to come looking for you. The difficulties in playing in the US since 9/11 didn't do him any favors either. Too much hassle to get the paperwork in order. At least on that point, I can see where he's coming from. I think Marillion has only been in the US for three tours since then. Fish only managed one time since 2001 (He'd been in the US in 1997 and 2000 before that after completely ignoring us since the split (He even admitted back then that was a mistake.)
