FISH HEAD CURRY

Because this is a fan club edition via mail order, my CD is numbered 1871. I am not aware, in fact, that I have this live CD for fans only, recorded live in Luzern 12/11/95. But finally I understand why I have not been aware about it - it's mainly that this live record has nothing special in it unless it's limited to fans only. From all of Fish live albums, it's probably this one is the worst in terms of performance and recording quality - even though it was recorded on DATs as regular case with other Fisl live albums. This can be understood with the fact that 1995 was a year of tiring tour for Fish and his band and during the tour the bass player David Paton left the band. The replacement came two days later - Ewan Vernal. As far as Fish stamina it was already 125 hours of singing and 84 hours of interview. Well, you know, Fish is a heavy talker. In fact some of the "verbals" in this record have been omitted due to their arguably contentious and libelous nature.

The live record starts with an ambient music "Black Canal" (6:47) which does not attract me at all especially when it's followed with "Jumpsuit City" (6:41) from Suits album. Well, this is a major problem with this live concert because the first five tracks are mundane tracks that are performed poorly. "Lady Let It Lie" (6:02) gives me some piece of mind because it has good intro. "Vigil" (9:04) which supposed to be performed perfectly but it experienced Fish being loose of control in his singin job - it's probably he's been so tired touring. "Shadowplay (Medley)" (4:10) is also very poorly performed. Disc Two has also similar quality. It's not enjoyable at all - for my taste.

Overall, this is the worst Fish live performance that has ever been recorded.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This was a fan club release capturing a gig in Switzerland on Fish's epic 1995 live tour, and frankly it's a release which doesn't need to exist. The Luzern concert in question took place a few weeks after the gig captured on the Krakow album, and if you compare the two you'll find that the setlist is basically identical; the only difference is in the between-songs patter, and the fact that this release doesn't have the Boston Tea Party encore that the Krakow crowd got to enjoy.

In terms of performance quality, it's alright but Fish and the band inevitably sound just a bit more tired than they do on Krakow, since this concert comes just a shade later in a tour which Fish notes in the liner notes was exhausting for the whole band. When it comes to the production, it's at best on a par with Krakow, at worst just a shade bit shakier.

In other words, it's the same songs as Krakow, performed by a slightly more exhausted band, recorded almost as well but not quite, and because it was a limited fan club release it's harder to find a legitimate copy. If you have Krakow, you don't need this, and if you're interested enough in Fish live releases to even be contemplating this one, you probably already have Krakow (and if you don't, I would pick that over this if you're after something to represent the 1995 tour).