SUITS

Fish's struggle to break away from EMI finally ended in him starting his own record company, Dick Bros. Records. This album is the first release off of that label and it would ultimately be my least favorite Fish album. Now the main problem with this album lies in the fact that each song could have been shorter, but the chorus just seems to repeat on and on for the final two minutes of the song, which not only makes it boring at points, but it also makes for a lot of extra space filled by none other than filler. The lyrics, as always with Fish, are biting, cynical, and snipe out the problems in society as well as his own problems, and are as always are top notch. Returning to record with Fish this time around are Robin Boult and Frank Usher, the guitarists on Internal Exile, Kevin Wilkinson, who joined Fish on the Internal Exile tour, and Dave Paton, who played bass on Internal Exile. So in the end, 1994 would see the arrival of Suits, Fish's weakest studio effort.

Mr. 1470 has a mysterious feeling and some interesting underlying percussion. The guitar riffing and the stellar bass performance only make this track one of the best on the album. Although right from the start you can hear the major problem with this album, the endings, which are too contrived and more importantly, too long, with the same melody repeated over and over again until a fade out. Lade Let it Lie (and most of the other tracks on this album) suffer from this problem. Although it has a nice overall pace and some interesting Rothery-esque riffing, the song is dragged down by a contrived chorus and an overly long ending section. Emperor's Song doesn't really do much for me, it has this overall really cheesy feel, and the synthesizers feel a bit dated in this atmosphere. And the ending chorus takes up a third of the song, which gets really boring really fast. Fortunes of War is a more mellow and somber piece. It doesn't really seem to go anywhere fast, though, despite nice guitar work and some interesting keyboard parts. Once again, the main problem lies in the excessive length of the song itself.

Somebody Special continues the type of songs like Just Good Friends and Dear Friend off of Internal Exile, a heartfelt ballad that doesn't really fit on a Fish album, albeit a rockier type piece. I must mention such great unison guitar work from Usher and Boult, although not as great as the unison work on Tongues off of Internal Exile. No Dummy suffers from the main problem of this album, in that it just goes on forever and ever in the ending. On top of that, the piece doesn't really evolve and it doesn't even go anywhere. Pipeline is a mellow piece with some subtle bongo percussion and some ethereal keyboards, as well as some underlying lead guitar themes, but once again despite many interesting parts, I'm a bit underwhelmed by the piece. Jumpsuit City has a nice groove and some intuitive drumming from Kevin Wilkinson. It doesn't really reach a climax and retains a mellow pace. Bandwagon is a piece that has a commercial edge to it. Some tight grooves and interesting choruses are here, and it actually is one of the better songs on the album. Raw Meat ends the album with probably the best overall piece. Some interesting and melodic keyboards are met with some acoustic guitar arpeggios and some great lead work, as well as probably the best lyrics and vocals on the album.

Overall, Suits is far from Fish's best album. It could have used a lot of editing and some of the songs should have been better refined. Still, if you're a fan of Fish, you'll probably find some enjoyment out of this album. For me, though, I'm underwhelmed by this album and will regard this as Fish's weak point for a long time to come. 2/5.