FIELD OF CROWS

Field of Crows is a catchy collection of enjoyably prog-tinged rock songs from Fish, with all the usual emotional and social commentary issues he loves to include in his lyrics present and correct. This is, of course, precisely the sort of thing Fish has regularly attempted to create - it's what Vigil In a Wilderness of Mirrors was meant to be, for instance - but he's never succeeded to quite this extent before. The sidestep back to a more full-blooded prog direction for the albums from Sunsets on Empire to Fellini Days seems to have helped the songwriting process here - plus, once again Fish seems to have a good songwriting partner in the form of Bruce Watson. Either way, it's the most successful album of the more poppier side of Fish's sound by far, and it's another great album in the streak of successes that began with Sunsets.