13TH STAR

I just read lazland's review of Thirteenth Star, and it convinced me that not only did I need to write a review of Fish's Thirteenth Star, but also that I should go against the common wisdom of the community and award it 5 stars.

Let me explain. lazland was mentioning all of his favorite tracks from this album and I was reading along and saying amen to every thing he had to say.

Then I realized that he hadn't mentioned any of the songs that I consider to be the high points of this album.

Ever had an album that took you ages to listen to because you kept going back to certain tracks over and over again? Well, Thirteenth Star is one of those rare albums for me. It literally took me a couple months to hear it all the way through, because I never made it past Zoe 25. By the time I got that far I would either go back to the beginning or start over again at Miles de Besos. Of course I eventually made it to the second half of the album and loved it just as much as the first.

Now THAT to me says that an album is truly a masterpiece. Not many CD's capture me that way from the get go. The only two that I can think of offhand are Steve Hackett's Spectral Mornings and Echolyn's Suffocating the Bloom. And I'll stack Fish's latest work up against those two great CD's any day.

As for the music, it is classic Fish but edgier. Fish is more relevant to the progressive scene today than he has been ever since his time with Marillion. The lyrics too (and Fish is a great lyricist even when he's off his game) are some of his best.

5 stars. One day we will all acknowledge this to be Fish's greatest contribution to prog (well, except maybe for his performance on Script.)