MIXED COMPANY

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Fans of Marillion will find much to love about this double live album from Fish recorded at his fan convention in 2002. As a companion piece with the Fool's Company DVDs, this album contains the pieces that were not shown on the DVD in addition to many pieces that are on the DVDs. The main draw to this album is its abundance of classic Marillion material, and contains many classic staples of the Marillion catalogue such as Incubus, Garden Party, and Market Square Heroes (to name a few songs not on the DVDs).

Of the songs on the DVDs featured, there is the opener of Script, the entire Misplaced Childhood album, Fugazi, Vigil, Just Good Friends, and Shadowplay. I'm not going to really get into those songs into detail because I've already described them in my review for Fool's Company. I'll say this, though, that they are all very good renditions and Fish and co. really try their best on these pieces (especially Misplaced Childhood).

You may be asking yourself, what is the point of having the DVDs and the live album if most of the songs on it are just repeats? Well, I'd like to say that the pieces not included on the DVD but are present here are worth the album alone. Incubus never sounded better, although there are minor synthesizer problems at the first solo (quickly corrected by Duguid) and Fish's voice at times can't handle the daunting vocal task (as the song is very wordy). None the less, it's a faithful and heartfelt rendition. Garden Party is as fun as ever, and although Fish makes one fatal error during the song (which he notes many times), the song is well played and the crowd is energetic the entire time. The same can be said about Market Square Heroes, which has never sounded better in terms of Fish's solo career (his days with Marillion are untouchable in my opinion). The only solo song on this album not featured on the DVD is Credo, which has the same power as previous live renditions and Fish is at his best at this point.

In the end, Mixed Company when coupled with Fool's Company is an excellent collection of live material that will satisfy any fan of Fish and Marillion. I highly recommend them both, but this is a good starting point if you're just looking to get one. 4/5.