RETURN TO CHILDHOOD

A live registration of one of the toughest gigs of 2005 where Fish revisits pieces of his past. I must say, "Misplaced Childhood" has never been my favourite Marillion album. I remember when it was released it was a bit of a letdown when I first heard it due to the romantic tendencies and the soft sound. Moreover Fish's voice had changed drastically when compared to "Fugazi" . In time I learned to love it more for its mystic and romantic elements. After all those years I find myself appreciating all of the song writing.

The set is divided in two parts. On the first part you'll get a sort of best of package of Fish' solo material ; not necessary the best tracks he ever did but it comes close. When you got Fish- and Marillion material united in one gig, comparisons seem inevitable. The Fish stuff is less progressive but more dynamic and powerful and certainly more up to date. "Misplaced Childhood" is smoother, softer and especially more melodious.

A Fish gig is always a bit of a party. In the spoken introductions of the songs, Fish jokes or gives commentary to all kinds of stuff. It's a pity that, his funny stories have been strictly limited on the "return to childhood" gigs but I guess he used that time to play more music. Anyway, I enjoyed his distractions once again.

Everyone knows the vocal abilities of Fish have been eroded by time since 1985. His vocal performance vary from one gig to another. Quite surprisingly he handles "Misplaced childhood" quite well without significant adjustments. I did spot him in better shape on other gigs of the same tour. As always, he doesn't manage to sing "Kayleigh" proper but on the other hand, I don't believe he ever did, even in the Marillion years. Unfortunately his singing doesn't deliver the power on tracks like "Credo" , "Goldfish and clowns" and "Incommunicado".

The concert has been shot in the Paradiso club in Amsterdam. Even though this venue has a great atmosphere, it seems very small when compared to the places Marillion visited in 1985. Too bad there's just so little stage effects apart from the band itself. They seem pretty good organised and all musicians deliver an excellent performance. The way these guys handle the Marillion stuff is slightly different from the original versions. The music has a rougher edge, the guitars are to the fore and sound more chaotic which is most refreshing. In fact, for the most part, I prefer the Fish versions to the original but that may be personal.

This package of 192 minutes live material is recommended for those who didn't made it to the gigs. Those people who did witness the gigs and want a nice souvenir will not be disappointed. Strange enough, this dvd includes the complete track listing of the first part of the "Fool's company" dvd from 2002. On "return to childhood" there's more solo material included. Let's not forget the splendid cover art from Mark Wilkinson which refers to the original cover of MC. On this cover we find the jester stepping back into the room he left in 1985.

Well it's not a bad idea listening to a few old hit singles by Marillion, such as Heart of Lothian, Fugazi, Incommunicado and Fugazi, but unfortunately the technical video mastering has been performed in an uneven manner!! Don't get me wrong, almost the whole stuff is still listenable and sometimes remarkable too, talking about the artistic quality of the old and new songs; but the delay of the video process as well as a few defects within, make this DVD a "not-essential" product...so - according to my opinion - it's better to choose his live in Poland for instance, being dated 1997 but closer to the old spirit of Neo Prog than the present one and perhaps performed with a better production. Apart from my consideration, the new fans of the charismatic singer can appreciate some oldies; instead the collectors can add another chapter of his music career, without particular complaints...make your own choice!!

The best side to this DVD is the stylish cover art by Mark Wilkinson.

Maybe many a listener's expectations were high as this contains Misplaced Childhood completely. It is an important album also in my prog history, one of the first actually, and it still fascinates me - for reasons of nostalgia? But I wasn't excited by this live running of it. Maybe Frank Usher's guitar style doesn't fit into it as Patykk says. But to me listening to a studio album with my own images and associations is very often more pleasing experience than watching the concert from a TV screen, especially if the show isn't visually something special and if the direction is not up to my taste. Here it is somehow tiring to watch. Fish is very much in a close shot, and I know more beautiful things to see than him! The rest of the show includes nine Fish solo tracks (badly chosen IMHO) and 'Incommunicado', 'Market Square Heroes' and 'Fugazi'. The next time I have a chance to borrow a live album or DVD by Fish I may not bother at all.

Oh, one more thing. The interview is an hour long, shot in a street cafe probably, without a single change in the view (escept the river traffic on the background). You can't really hear the words of the interviewer at all, and Fish repeats 'you know' in every half minute. So I can say it must be the most tiresome interview I've seen.

Brief and to the point. As I am completely unfamiliar with Fish's solo material, the first part held no interest for me. There was one song that caught my ear, but not enough for me to find out the name. To quote Grand Funk, Good Playing, Good Singing ... just no good songs (IMHO). On to the Return to CHildhood ... WoooooooooHOOOOOOOOOOOOO. As I've said about Marillion's Script concert DVD, a good concert DVD should make you want to have been there, and leave you as happy as if you had been. This part of the show does both. For some reason, even while playing the Childhood CD repeatedly afterwards, many songs keep playing in my head as if I could not get enough. It has even been inching ahead of Clutching at Straws as my fave Marillion album. And btw, having watched this and From Stoke Row to Ipenema on back to back weekends, is it impossible for the song Market Square Heroes to not want to make you get up and pogo the prog way ? I'll rate this one on the good bits.

An artist that gives everything he has...and more, to his audience

I received "Return to Childhood" as a gift from a cousin who liked MARILLION but never cared for FISH solo stuff, well I'm not too far from him, heard very little of his solo material but accepted the DVD, more because of curiosity than for real conviction, but I'm happy to have done it, the show is fantastic

I'm used to read "The great artist has given all what he has for his public"·, hey that's nice, only professionals do it, but when you see a guy like FISH, who apparently is not in the best physical conditions giving such a splendid show, we must accept that gives more than what he has to his public.

If you have seen this DVD, probably noticed that in the instrumental breaks FISH sits holding his head between his hands and seems extremely tired in some moments, but when he stands up and tells stories to his public, he manages to grab the audience with his great charisma, and when he sings, his problems seems to vanish, this guy is a real and complete artist.

The first part of the show consists in FISH's solo material, which I found very interesting, specially "Moving Targets" which has many similarities with early MARILLION music and the delightful "Goldfish & Clowns" a song that has clear influence of PETER GABRIEL.

Even though I wasn't familiar with FISH'S solo songs I enjoyed most of them and will be getting some of his albums because I believe this good material deserves to be listened.

But what I was really expecting was MARILLION'S music, and I wasn't disappointed, the charismatic vocalist maintains the good voice that made him famous and the close communication with the audience with stories and jokes.

The band is extremely efficient, specially Frank Usher who does some outstanding solos like the one in "Kayleigh" and John Tonks who is extremely solid in the drums.

It would be futile to comment and describe the tracks, because all have been commented by several members while reviewing the studio albums, but I believe it's enough to say that the show is worth to be seen from start to end.

The video is not perfect but good enough to appreciate the performance and there's even an interesting interview with FISH, so the correct rating for me is 4 stars.

They say you can't go back again...Fish goes anyway

This 2005 Dutch performance finds Fish going all the way back to the mid 1980s to deliver the entire "Misplaced Childhood" album in uninterrupted glory. The album was the jewel of the Fish-Marillion years, a perfect blend of progressive elements with melodic, catchy songwriting. After nearly an hour of more recent solo material, the second part of the show is dedicated to a new live recreation of perhaps the finest Marillion album bar none.

While I don't want to dwell on age, the show can't be watched without noticing that time leaves no man unscathed. When the vocalist is the star of the show it is even more noticeable. A vocalist like Fish, or Robert Plant, or Ian Anderson, cannot hide behind a cool guitar in the shadows---they are front and center. Fish does not possess either the voice of the energy level he did during the original Childhood shows. This on top of a truly dodgy production make the DVD a challenge at times and yet I think fans of the album should still enjoy it.

Like Ian Anderson, Fish does not allow physical limitations to impede his showmanship or dry up his passion. He goes for it all 110%. His vocals are on-the-mark in terms of emotional punch, they lack mostly in high end delivery. This is soothed by some awesome female backing vocals that fill in the spaces Fish is unable to reach. He is surrounded by a superb band, most notably the dual electric guitars which simply blow the doors off the signature leads from "Lavender" and their later reprise. These important guitar sections seem a bit more pronounced than Rothery used to make them, Fish wanting to push the emotional and melodic high points for all they are worth. Musically the band delivers the outstanding material with enough respect for the original to please album fans, yet with enough spunk to please fans who like live performances to vary from the album.

The downside in my view was two-fold. First the sound on the high end was pretty harsh in several places, especially on the vocal track. Perhaps they were trying to boost the mic but the effect was to make a harsh, over-trebly aftertaste especially on the early vocals in the Childhood set. Second, the video editing and the lighting of this show were visually annoying. The lighting was unnecessarily rave-like, constant strobes to the point of silliness and the stage was very dark so you couldn't see much. Dark stages can be great when handled well but that's not the case here. The editing was way too fast and it seemed like you never had the chance to focus on a performer for more than a split second before you either lost him/her in darkness, or the shot moved on yet again.

Let's face it, for so many reasons, Marillion's "Live from Loreley" remains the definitive Fish era overview despite its own sound issues. But for those fans who love the "Misplaced Childhood" album, I believe you will enjoy this DVD very much, especially if you don't mind watching rock veterans who are a bit past their glory days.

Review Nº 406

"Return To Childhood" is a DVD of Fish and was released in 2006. It was also released as a double live CD that contains precisely the same songs in the same order. And it was also released in the same year. In 2005 Fish celebrated the 20th anniversary of Marillion's best-selling album, "Misplaced Childhood", with a series of concerts which featured an integral performance of the album. It was recorded from a live concert made at The Paradiso, in Amsterdam, Holland.

"Return To Childhood" has twenty two tracks. The live show is divided into two distinct musical parts. The first part is entirely made of live songs of some of Fish's solo studio albums. The second part is entirely filled by Marillion's songs when he was in the group, and it was especially focused on their third studio album, "Misplaced Childhood", which was entirely performed. So, "Return To Childhood" is divided into two discs, disc 1 and disc 2. Disc 1 has nine tracks, all belonging to the solo repertoire of Fish. So, the those nine tracks are: "Big Wedge" from "Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors", "Credo" from "Internal Exile", "Brother 52" and "Goldfish And Clowns" from "Sunsets Of Empire", "Raingods Dancing" and "Wake Up Call (Make It Happen)" from "Raingods With Zippos", "Long Cold Day" from "Fellini Days" and "Moving Targets" and "Innocent Party" from "Field Of Crows". Disc 2 has thirteen tracks, all belonging to Marillion's catalogue. The first ten tracks all belong to the third studio album of Marillion, "Misplaced Childhood". The remaining three tracks are from other works: "Incommunicado" from their fourth studio album "Clutching At Straws", "Market Square Heroes" from their debut EP "Market Square Heroes" and "Fugazi" from their second studio album "Fugazi".

The line up on "Return To Childhood" is Fish (lead vocals), Deborah French (backing vocals), Frank Usher (lead guitar), Andy Trill (guitar), Tony Turrell (keyboards), Steve Vantsis (bass) and John Tonks (drums). The magic of a Fish's concert is, especially in these days, the enormous charisma that he still has today. That charisma translates particularly well onto the screen on this DVD. The emotion, the heart and the soul that Fish pours into all his performances is absolutely fantastic. The solo hits section of the live collection goes to show that Fish has produced some strong material in his seven studio albums since his departure from Marillion, a collection of albums that has often been overlooked. "Big Wedge" starts everything off in rousing fashion and features some stunning guitar work. "Brother 52" is also great, while the proggy "Moving Targets" is drenched in keyboard sounds. "Goldfish And Clowns" is a real highlight and Fish confirms what a competent front man he is at the start of "Innocent Party", commanding the audience. Anyone who has seen Fish live will know exactly what a huge presence he always has on stage. "Return To Childhood" was a number one album for Marillion, in 1985, and the songs on the second disc still stand up, even today.

The footage is well captured and edited, doing full justice to Fish's antics. Fish's expressions are particularly very well captured by the many cameras around the stage. The footage itself is somewhat dark. There's an occasional spotlight aimed to Fish, but the rest of the band are largely obscured in the shadows. There's also a projection screen behind the band, but the footage that is shown on this screen is hardly ever captured by any of the cameras. The DVD has also an hour long interview with Fish conducted by John Hotten from the Classic Rock Magazine. On it, Fish elaborates the origin of "Misplaced Childhood" and how the album came about. The interview was taken in Amsterdam along one of the many canals of the city. The place of the interview is magnificent for a person like me, who was in Amsterdam few years ago. So, it was magic and a real pleasure for me revisit so beautiful place, also known as the Venice of the north.

To finish, the DVD comes in a slipcase and has a little booklet based on the original "Misplaced Childhood" tour book.

Conclusion: Throughout all the live show we can clearly see that Fish loves Holland. He says to the audience that he has many things in common with the Dutch like that he is a very tall guy, to a Scottish, and that in Holland the Dutch look people straight in the eyes, like Scottish people use to do. So, it wasn't a real surprise this DVD, so important to him, was recorded in The Netherlands. "Return To Childhood" is a great concert, really. The emotion, the heart and the soul that Fish pours into any of his performances are absolutely astonishing. It even makes you forget that his voice isn't as good as it was twenty years ago, or the fact that the music sounds a bit odd when played in a higher key than the original recordings. Concluding, this is a nice release that worth buying if you're a Fish's fan. It shows what a great performer Fish is, and his performance comes across really well. This is an automatic purchase for fans of the big man.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)