Suits

by

Fish

Edit

It took me quite a long time to purchase this CD due to some bad reviews I saw posted in the Amazon.com site, but as a big Marillion fan (Fish era), I had to have it. I got it expecting the worst, but I was happily surprised with its many qualities rather than its faulty moments. The production is excellent, far superior than Fish's earlier releases. The four first songs are great, and they are worth the price of the CD alone (Lady Let It Lie being one of his great songs of all time, a must in any Best Of CD). The record does not quite maintain its great moments afeter that, but still the songs are good. The problem seems to be that Fish wanted to do something different thean the traditional 'progressive sound' one should expect from his work. If the next four songs were shorter, then it'd be another story, because they are quite good. Different from his previous work indeed, but still very good. They're only too long for their own good. In my humble opinion the only real weak tracks are Pipeline and Raw Meat, but only because this scotsmans whining against his former recording companies may be justified, but did not turned out good lyrics or melodies. Don't get me wrong, they are listenable and not really bad, but quite not in the same league as the rest of his output since he left Marillion (the same thing happend in "Internal Exile". Tongues is the weakest song in that algum and dwells about the same subject).

All in all this is not Fish's best album to date, but still is quite good when compared to all his solo works. I still think it is his most underrated CD and did not deserve the criticism it got. I listen to it very often and my opinion didn't change after many atempts to find something to justify those who did not like it.

There are certain events in everyone's life that they will never forget. Some are personal, some are on a grander scale. But guaranteed, you will never forget where you were when they occurred. I still remember where I was the day I bought Fish's "Suits". The day I popped it into my cd player and discovered my hero had fallen to depths of musical depravity I never could have envisioned him capable of. "Suits" is probably one of the worst recordings I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. And I did sit through it, from beginning to end, and I still recall the horrified looks on the faces of my two best friends--also Fish fans--as the disc progressed. I bought it for close to $30 at an import shop and sold it for about $10 a few months later. I couldn't even bear to look at it anymore. It wasn't until the release of Fish's "Sunsets On Empire" and the subsequent "Raingods With Zippos" that I was once again proud to own a Fish cd. The big man has come back, in a way, and I'm glad for that, but "Suits" is a blemish best left forgotten--and, if possible, buried.